Virtual Reality Gaming Center Coming to the Quad Cities

Virtual reality has been the cutting edge of the gaming and entertainment industries and it's making it's way to the Quad Cities.

I remember when virtual reality, or VR for short, first hit the gaming scene. There was a corner store inside Southpark Mall in the late 90's that had it. There were glass windows so everyone could see you trying it, as you stumbled around inside of something that looked like a boxing ring. The ropes were on the edges to help keep you contained, so you wouldn't fall and hurt yourself. I had a goggle-like screen put over my head and felt dizzy and couldn't quite get used to the pixelated images.

I imagine now that viritual reality is so much better developed, so real and so much more life-like. E-sports is also gaining in popularity. Even colleges are giving scholarships to students to compete in E-sports and gaming. It truly is the wave of the future.

According to WQAD.com, that 'wave,' is coming to 2nd Avenue in Davenport, IA.

"Paradigm is a company started by Steve Grubbs, who also owns victorystore.com and Victory Enterprises. The facility will combine e-sports, virtual reality and free-roam virtual reality for gamers, educators and companies. Free-roam virtual reality allows people to move around a space freely to experience a virtual world."

"The Paradigm team expects to be open for Bix Weekend."

Fortnite fans and all will be able to participate in gaming at Paradigm in a way that is exclusive world-wide to Davenport. There is currently no other place in the world that has combined all of these gaming modalities in one place. I am excited to see what kind of tourism this will attract to Davenport. It's just one more unique thing to put the Quad Cities on the map.