Sense Arena For Goalies | Still Worth it?

[@KC_thegoalie]

I love it - it's crazy how often they're updating features and I know for a fact it's made a huge difference to my game. I'm sure if I had practice regularly, then maybe it's not as valuable, but the fact I can strap it on for 20 min or do a warmup pre-game is brilliant.

[@KC_thegoalie]

ALSO V10s baby!

[@goalietraining]

That's one of the biggest things for me, I can just go down to the lab and do a quick practice session, so convenient. And it always helps.

[@goalietraining]

Used the new Vaughn set on Sunday - felt pretty good!

[@KC_thegoalie]

@@goalietraining Yeah - my V9s are my most favourite setup ever

[@yanngagnon1484]

How realistic can the warm-ups really be if your teammates can't hit you in the head? /s

[@yanngagnon1484]

@goalietraining Love this update. One of the questions I have, do you see added value of doing this with skates on on synthetic ice to integrate the butterfly into the save selection?

[@goalietraining]

I do see added value wearing my skates and gear on synthetic ice. Not so much for the butterfly element, although that is nice, but more for the skating element. I am much quicker moving from my shoes than from my skates, so that added practice is helpful to me.

[@switchables4375]

I bought the basic pack for 30 bucks and I love playing as a goalie even though I have never played hockey in my life. the deflections sometimes going and I'm like "bro no way that went in". and it really helps with my reaction time

[@goalietraining]

That's totally ME. I down there like "NO WAY!!" ha ha. Glad I'm not alone on that. Funny thing is, I do the same thing on the ice :)

[@Goalier95]

Maria, was there a reason you didn’t include the on ice sounds of the pucks or the shots being taken? I’m guessing it’s better for your voice narration for the video demo but please tell interested buyers that the sounds in the tutorials do make it more immersive just as it would be as on a real practice session. Thanks!

[@goalietraining]

Just not tech savvy enough :) I downloaded the stream from Meta and I don't think it had the sound on it. It was hard for me to figure out how to capture the POV footage - not really my wheelhouse - but great point.

[@Goalier95]

@@goalietraining thanks Maria for the quick reply... NHL Sense Arena seems like they have made great improvements in the last few years and with their lower price point, I'm seriously going to look into this investment to help my game. Maybe, just maybe (hopefull in the near future) Meta Quest or SA will sell an add on attachment for goalie's actual leg pads to fully immerse us in complete "off ice" VR training. Please tell us they are at least doing R&D for this 🤞🙌

[@goalietraining]

@@Goalier95 It is 100% on their radar since they started more than 3 years ago. The limitation is in the MetaQuest as it's what limits the number of reference points to 3 (hands and headset). I don't know if Meta is looking to add more, but I would think it would help them deliver a more immersive experience for more than just hockey goalies.

[@yanngagnon1484]

@@Goalier95 I'm going to try and help answer why this is taking a long time. The limb tracking has to work 100% of the time in VR, otherwise they may as well not be there. We see this in other VR apps where only hands are present. The reason is that if you see your limbs in VR not in the position that they are in real life, it can create a pretty nasty dissociative feeling that isn't good for the user experience. I used to work on VR applications (not sports related).

[@toddashton9696]

This looks like you can only make saves with your hands. How does that work? You don't practice any saves other than blocker & catcher?

[@goalietraining]

The VR can only track 3 points - the headset and the controllers, so you can make glove, blocker, body, head, stick saves, but not 'pad' saves. Which sounds like a huge limitation, but oddly enough it's not THAT big of an issue.

[@toddashton9696]

@@goalietraining Interesting feedback. The device sounds interesting but, of course its a big issue if you need to work on saves in the bottom half of the net.

[@goalietraining]

@@toddashton9696 it is an issue, but oddly enough, not as big as I would have thought. It's one of those things you have to try to see how helpful it is, hard to describe.

[@toddashton9696]

Thanks. Really appreciate the responses

[@goalietraining]

@@toddashton9696 You are welcome Todd.