Playdium Toronto Opens
Over the past 10 years, Canada's largest city Toronto, has become a hotbed for Hollywood both in terms of production and revenue. Recent box office figures for North America point to the strength of the Toronto market. Along with this interest in going to movies, Torontonians have demonstrated a keen interest in all forms of entertainment. What started as an old warehouse district has slowly transformed into the premier entertainment district. Take a stroll through this area and within minutes you will find a wide selection of bars, night-clubs, movie theatres, Broadway productions and most recently Playdium Toronto, a location-based entertainment centre. 
Playdium Entertainment Corporation is the brainchild of partners Jon Hussman and Steven Warsh who in 1992 identified a niche market opportunity for innovative, location-based entertainment centres in Canada. Playdium Entertainment Corporation is in partnership with Sega GameWorks. Within itself, Sega GameWorks is a partnership of Dreamworks SKG, Universal Studios and Sega Enterprises. With two sites successfully in operation, PEC put forth its most ambitious project to date, a plan to build a 54,000 square foot site, known as Playdium Toronto, in the heart of Toronto's prestigious entertainment district.
This past Saturday saw the opening of Playdium Toronto. I was, however, able to get a taste of things to come by attending the opening gala on Friday night. Here is a rundown of this world class facility.
Reality meets fantasy at Playdium Toronto where more than 300 state-of-the-art attractions are featured over the four levels and 54,000 square feet facility. Built of a cost of more than $20 million, Playdium Toronto features adrenaline-pumping interactive attractions, rock climbing, bungee jumping, a four-story tree-house, 4 restaurants including an exotic Moroccan Kasbar, high-tech corporate meeting rooms, and a mega sports bar.
On the first floor you will find the Speed Zone and Kids Corner. Test out the road on Yu Suzuki's Ferrari F 355 or the classic Harley Davidson deluxe. You will also find other greets like Hydro Thunder, Daytona 2, and Sega Rally 2. Feel the rush while zooming down an ice tunnel on the virtual bobsled attraction, Power Sled. Still looking for more? Then how about a ride where you can design your own roller coaster and then ride it. Such crazed dreams are reality with the Virtual Coaster. The kids corner houses creative games and attractions for the 3-8 age group bracket.
Up for a fight or target practice? Then head on up to the second floor : Contact and Target Zones. Where marshal arts come alive in an Asian themed environment, the Contact Zone features the latest and greatest contact simulators for hand to hand combat challenges. Whether it be Tekken Tag Tournament, Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter or Zombie Revenge, all fighting enthusiasts will be kept busy. One of the more interesting attractions in this area is Combattica. Combattica is a virtual reality simulator that senses your every move and replicates your body actions in characters on a giant screen in front of you. Tekken 2 was the base game used for Combattica. Set in a themed city streetscape, defeat your enemies on a wide selection of gun games in the Target Zone. This area included the likes of Jurassic Park, Time Crisis 2, Star Wars Trilogy, Ace Combat, and Silent Scope.
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