The V-ARC. A brilliant advance in technology. Created to meet the demands of a gaming community, who would be satisfied by nothing less than a completely immersive gaming experience.
Well, they got what they asked for.
The Virtual Alternative Reality Connector, more often known as the V-ARC. The brainchild of the two biggest names in software known to man. On initial inspection, it looks like someone took a motorcycle helmet, attached a set of ski goggles, added some cords and a pair of gloves.
In reality, it's so much more.
The simple version is that it intercepts and recieves the signals from the brain, allowing the player to experience the world of their chosen game as if they were inside the world.
And that's all anyone really wanted to know.
For the first year, all the games released for the V-ARC were disappointments at best. Nobody was harnessing the potential of this system, making games the way they always had, using the input of commands to preform actions, rather than letting the player act as they might in reality.
But then things began to change.
It started rather innocently. A gamer posted something he'd recieved in an email on his blog. It was a download file for the beta for a new game on the V-ARC. The file was simply labeled 'The Game-beta'. Someone decided to try it, then shared it to their friends. Things passed like this, until The Game had been downloaded a thousand times.
Talk of it spread like fire, and reviews started popping up from those lucky enough to get the download before it closed. Everyone was interested, and speculation spread steadily over the internet. By the end of the year, The Game was the most anticipated release in recent memory.
Six months passed, and The Game was released for world wide download. It didn't cost anything, and reviewers insisted that nothing in the game required real money.
It's amazing how oblivious people can be to a warning sign like that...
