Virtual Reality - it's not just for games and it's coming soon.

For decades Sci Fi writers, games designers, and everyone in between have dreamt of Virtual Reality. During the 80's and 90's there were many attempts at creating something that could mimic what those dreams were. All of them failed, some more than others. During the early 90's I was lucky (?) enough to attend an exhibition at Edinburghs Waverly Station that British Telecom were using to show of lots of new and exciting tech. The main attraction being VR. I walked in and donned the huge helmet which covered my entire head. Out of the back of it were various wires and cables, if Daleks had frizzy hair coming out of their heads... well you get the picture.. Next was the glove (think Minority Report with 80's fashion sense). The scenario was simple. I was standing in a bedroom, and there were various AirFix model planes hanging in the air. I could either grab one of those and throw it around or pick up a ball and bounce it around the room. I achieved none of those goals. No matter how I wiggled my gloved hand at the planes or ball I simply couldn't make the damn things move.

Fast forward to 2015. Some of you may have heard of Oculus Rift which started out as a Kickstarter project that gained so much popularity it sold out to Facebook for rather a lot of cash. Sony decided it was going to enter the fight for consumers money (well if Facebook think it's worth a billion or two it's got to be worth something) and create the Morpheus. More recently a new contender has arrived trying to grab a share of the market. HTC. Yes that's right, HTC the phone company are trying to make a Virtual Reality headset. Don't make me laugh. Only I'm not laughing. In conjunction with Valve (very big successful games company) they have made quite a stir. Everyone I know of who has been lucky enough to try a demo version of one has been amazed. Sure this was in a game. Being able to look around in a game with no motion sickness is good, but as the more astute of you may have guessed by this thread title I'm not talking about games here.

One of the demo programs / scenarios that is available for people to try out and play with, one that industry leading artists have played with is called Tilt Brush. It lets you draw in 3D space. While it's possible to do this just now using a monitor, imagine actually standing next to the person,car,cow,plane,building, or whatever it is you are drawing. Being able to walk around it. Literally walk around it. Don't worry about walking to far and bumping into your wall, as special sensors will warn you by showing a grid appear (not unlike Star Treks holodeck).

A couple of videos for your viewing entertainment:

I may have to dust off the clasp on my sporran at some point for some virtual tech

that's pretty amazing kit. it wont be long until we get a proper holodeck too.

keep Petty away from the Scratch-N-Sniff-O-vision though.

Wow... I'm not sure I want to live in a world where I can choose to live in others, if that makes any sense

I refuse to join any world, real or virtual, that would have me as a member.

Im lost in my own little imagination world & thats plenty enough for me, Im happy there so buggar orrrf !

I bet virtual reality would be highly addictive like a drug, some people would spend their lives in it. It would be like the Matrix. or the Mirror of Erised.

Mrs Figg wrote:I bet virtual reality would be highly addictive like a drug, some people would spend their lives in it. It would be like the Matrix. or the Mirror of Erised.

Certainly very possible, considering how many people have reportedly died from playing Online Games. I do think that improvements to VR, both with actual hardware and software used by it will open up 'activities' to disabled people. Given enough progress with the tech, it may even be possible to attend University Lectures anywhere in the world, that sort of thing.


The Future is Bright. The Future is Virtual.

The future is asses spreading even wider than the telly has flattened them.

halfwise wrote:The future is asses spreading even wider than the telly has flattened them.

Damn straight! No amount of tech is an excuse not to get up, out and do something like exploring the local woods, fields or ghettos.

Hail Mary to that !

I struggle enough to figure this reality out, why would I want another to struggle figuring out as well ?

That's my feeling about religion.

I cant wait for VR- whole new realities to get crabbit about! I cant wait to get my hands on one so I can start moaning my arse off about all the ways its wrong

Sounds far too much work.

Ugh. Here comes the next big cash cow.

I'm pretty excited for VR

RA

Where had you got to, RA? Not lost in a VR world, I hope.

Nah, I've been around. Lurking in the shadows...

When VR does become a thing, who knows though