Make it so: virtual reality Enterprise hits Canada

The 1,500 Trek-obssesed citizens of Vulcan, Alberta are spicing up their annual Galaxyfest this year with the launch of the "Vulcan Space Adventure," an immersive VR game that takes place inside a recreation of the Enterprise. The CA$250,000 game, built by VR firm GestureTek, allows up to three players cast as Starfleet trainees to simulataneously interact with a virtual environment created by multple cameras and holographic screens. After being led into the simulation chamber -- built to look like the bridge of the Enterprise -- by "Captain Krok," visitors take orders from Starfleet Command and then use GestureTek's "point-and-click" VR system to complete their mission. The system, which doesn't require the player to wear any cumbersome VR gear, is one of only two GestureTek installations in Canada. We just hope the game doesn't get too real: what happened to that poor redshirt in these photos? A couple more after the jump...

[Eric @ May 14th 2007 9:25PM]

Alberta, Alberta... where you been so long?

Is it worth the trip just to play a really cool non-game?

[Gadgetguy @ May 14th 2007 9:45PM]

IS THIS BUILT FOR KIDS OF 5 YEARS

[Brent @ May 14th 2007 10:13PM]

Sorry, this is old news

http://www.spacecamputah.org

If you want to live Star Trek, don't use VR - Actually be there, and not as a Video Game.

[Tracy in Cary @ May 15th 2007 9:59AM]

Oh I finally get it... Space - Camp - UTAH !

I kept looking at it and wondering who thought it was cool to spell "computer" as "camputah".

Hey give me a break. It's not even noon yet so I'm not really awake.

[Richard @ May 14th 2007 10:19PM]

250,000 Canadian? So, thats like $20 US right?

/I kid, especially with the direction the dollar is going...

[adaminc @ May 14th 2007 10:28PM]

I've been to vulcan, have cousins there (who've been there since before the star trek craze) and its kinda weird there now, lol. Although the whole town isnt vulcan crazy, a lot of them are, or at least use it to market the town and bring in revenue, the sad thing is, this is all they have, especially since they are in southern alberta i.e. the badlands, so other than dinosaur fossils and lots of sun, there is absolutely nothing in that area, unless you like the desert.

[kyle allen @ May 15th 2007 12:48AM]

WOW!! a computer in Canada? what next!!?!!

[Aooogah @ May 15th 2007 1:10AM]

What no LCARS?

[Miguel @ May 15th 2007 3:43AM]

If you're cast as Starfleet trainees, why don't they let you play the Kobayashi Maru scenario? It would be far more interesting...

[Randomness @ May 15th 2007 7:19AM]

Why doesn't that "recreation of the Enterprise" look ANYTHING like the enterprise? Surely the enterprise controls aren't that hard to imitate, but they used some big buttons instead(see woman's left hand). The screen, colors, and surroundings are also not from Trek. The floor and underneath the screen are just concrete. How much did they pay for this? Sorry, but this is a really poor "recreation" of the Enterprise, or even of making it look like something from any Trek series. You say these people are obsessed with it? The lady is wearing white khakis with that uniform t-shirt; at least take it seriously and wear the black pants. /end overboard critique

[John Stracke @ May 15th 2007 10:51AM]

Agreed—they must've been thwarted by copyright problems. She's not even wearing Star Trek red; that's more like pink. She's never gonna get shot at that rate.

[Sporkinum @ May 15th 2007 5:19PM]

It's dorky, but not really any dorkier than what we have here in Iowa. Riverside, future birthplace of Captain Kirk. They have their own Enterprise in a little park in town, and every year they have Trekfest where the kids wrap their bicycles in aluminum foil. http://www.trekfest.com/

[grjohnston @ May 15th 2007 6:26PM]

Why does Trekfest require aluminum on your bicycle?