Virtual reality has been toyed with for 50 years, but there is one industry that could help the technology finally gain widespread acceptance – pornography. Las Vegas hotels are now testing devices offering “ultra-realistic” adult experiences.
What happens in Vegas won’t be staying in Vegas, if companies like VR Bangers have their say. The charmingly named company is behind the latest amenity offered at some Las Vegas hotels, where guests can shell out just $19.99 to use a headset programmed with interactive, virtual reality sex scenes, billed as the “VR Bangers Hotel Experience.”
“You will then choose a girl or guy of your choice, and see your hotel room replicated in the VR headset, making the experience much more realistic,” VR Bangers said in a statement. “Next you will hear a knock on the door (in the virtual reality world), and the girl or guy will come into your room in order to enjoy an erotic or sex experience with the viewer.”
The headset equipment – not the 3D porno software – began as a crowdfunding campaign on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, raising a total $300,000, according to Engadget. However, it is the emerging interest in its most mass-marketable use that will move the product, as VR Bangers awaits orders from hotels around the world. It is unclear when the headset will be readily available. Manufactured by AuraVisor, it is available for pre-order on Indiegogo for $400.
“The true number is not known, but most studies suggest that around 30% of web traffic is adult content,” VR Bangers said in its statement. “Despite this, the porn industry has remained stagnant for years, and many consumers have become bored by conventional porn. VR porn looks set to shake up this stagnant yet huge market, and VR Bangers and AuraVisor are well placed to benefit from the growing adoption of VR technology.”
The device, which is not dependent on any smartphone or other device, would be connected to the Google Play store, and the titillating fantasy world would fit on a 5-inch screen with a 100-degree visual field.
The “immersive porn” that VR Bangers is marketing would be available on all mobile and virtual reality devices, but it wouldn’t be the only game in town. The PornHub website already has a channel dedicated to the futuristic smut, which launched last month with 10,000 free giveaways of Google Cardboard virtual reality goggles.
Virtual reality may play a much larger role in entertainment other than just porn in the near future, but like many technological advances, it could be porn that determines when and how that occurs. Before BlueRay and DVDs, everyone used VCR, but VCR only outmaneuvered the arguably superior Betamax technology thanks to a proliferation of X-rated VHS tapes. And that is just one example of porn’s influence over the decades.