Virtual Reality - VR - is generating a lot of headlines right now. PS VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are all offering rather different options and targeting their own demographics, and a lot of talk around VR video games is down to how successful they'll be and whether the likes of Nintendo should be jumping on board.
A bit of a misconception is that Virtual Reality is new technology, whereas what we're seeing now is the realisation - and commercialisation - of a long-established concept. VR is finally at the point where it can offer high-resolution images without extensive lag and display issues, and can do so at affordable(ish) prices. Yet it's been part of the technology and gaming scene for decades, and in rather interesting ways.
The PBS Game/Show video below explains this rather nicely. Yes, there's a brief mention of the Virtual Boy, but there's a lot more neat information too - check it out and let us know what you think.
Comments 11
I love the history of VR. I was loving the holodeck. Atari lab. Wow. I am nerding out. I am still going to wait and see if it is up to par.
Interesting
at least the virtual boy is only mentioned in passing instead of in focus. mentioning the virtual boy is like reminding nintendo of that terrible ex they had once.
Just like everything else, it takes 50 years to get around to the public
I hate it when I open a page hoping to read an article, and am then directed to a video.
Yeah, I know there's a giant tag that says "Video", but I would prefer if NL stopped acting like a portal to YouTube and gave us more interesting articles.
At this point I feel that VR in the head-mounted display style is finally ready for the general public. The tech is finally here and the quality is finally here.
The only things they need to fix, which can be done over time, would be to shrink the headsets while still obscuring your field of view in order to completely immerse you, and also continue the fight to bring down the price. There's also stuff like utilizing the light and mirror tech that a certain media player HMD has for VR instead of using actual screens.
VR in the sense that you're uploading your brain to a computer like in SAO is likely 50 years away, but HMD VR is good now.
Yeah, I know it's been around for quite some time—but now is its time.
This is also a really good source of info on the history and development of VR:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality
Haven't you watched those Matrix movies? Your life is a VR.
@Nintendian gripping documentary, that.
@LemonSlice Agreed. I know it says video, but in my opinion both as a reader and a writer, a description or summary of interesting things in the video should be included.
I remember the video of the NASA work when I was a kid. It launched my imagination and I even wrote a short fiction story about it that got my teacher's attention, but it's amazing how far we are from realizing even what I was thinking back then. It's an easy idea to understand and imagine, but a crazy hard one to execute on.
This year will be the expensive experiments with some very cool experiences, but it will be a couple years before it starts to fill its potential as something that fits into people's lives naturally.
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