Every neighborhood has a kid with the cool toys. And in the rapidly growing VR neighborhood there may be no cooler toy than Birdly. A sleek contraption akin to an origami-ed massage table, Birdly is a flight simulator in the truest sense of the word. Players aren’t in a cockpit flying a plane. Players are a bird, soaring majestically in a virtual world while awkwardly splayed on the the Birdly set-up in the physical one.
Naturally, most consumers won’t ever own Birdly because most consumers aren’t even sold on VR yet, or even aware that it exists. So when presented with the opportunity to try Birdly at GDC 2016 I leapt at the chance. Well, more like swan dived.
So what’s it like to fly in virtual reality on top of a machine designed to give me all the dips and swoops that could make your stomach churn? Surprisingly, Birdly doesn’t induce the motion sickness or disorientation you’d expect. It’s a GDC “Best in Play” for a reason. And that reason is a fan.
Ok, maybe that’s not the reason Birdly picked up the award, but the fan mounted on the head of the play table that simulates the rush of air as users soar around Manhattan is perhaps the most pleasant immersion trick ever. It’s refreshing to dive down and feel the wind in your face before levelling off into a gentle glide while you peer around and drift away.
Birdly is available for purchase, although the site doesn’t list the price. So if you’re not lucky enough to be the kid with the cool toys, hopefully you’re lucky enough to know him.
