The Future is Virtual

Image courtesy of The Guardian

Now that the eighth generation of video game consoles is underway, a lot of gamers, journalists, and analysts are looking towards the future. What is it that will set these shiny new (and extremely powerful) gaming systems apart from previous generations? According to an article from The Independent, the answer is simple – virtual reality. VR is something that has been promised and attempted many times, most of which resulted in terrible failure. However, it finally seems as if technology has caught up with ambition, and true virtual reality is coming in the form of the Oculus Rift, a head-mounted display that makes players feel as if they are truly inside a game.

The Oculus Rift works by using two lenses to create a horizontal and vertical stereoscopic 3D display, which provides a substantial depth of field, as well as a gyro sensor to track the movements of the player’s head (meaning moving your head in real life translates to moving your head in the game). Oculus Rift has been available to early adopters (it was helped funded via Kickstarter campaign) and developers for a while now, and those who have had hands-on time with it described the experience as a “revelation” and that “the possibilities are endless”. In March of 2014, Facebook purchased OculusVR (the company that created and developed the Oculus Rift) for $2 billion. Sony has just recently announced its own virtual reality headset, currently dubbed Project Morpheus, for its PlayStation brand of home gaming systems. In such a short time, it seems as if the entire gaming world has become enthralled with the concept of virtual reality, and with good reason; VR could provide the spark that catapults gaming into a new stratosphere.

There are a couple of trepidations that come along with this advent of VR technology. Are consumers willing to pay a premium amount for such a revolutionary piece of technology (Oculus Rift is rumored to be priced around $300)? Will the immersive experience of VR cause gamers to become motion sick or develop vision problems? Will virtual reality become just another passing fad in the gaming world, like motion controls or peripheral-based gaming? All of these questions are yet to be answered, but it is in my opinion that virtual reality will become a major force in the gaming world if it does two things:

1. Deliver on the promise to provide a new an immersive way to play and experience games
2. Game developers utilize the technology in the correct way

My gut tells me that VR will not be some passing fad. In the past, motion controlled games sold gamers on the “ability to truly get into the game” by waving a remote or flailing endlessly at their TV screen. Neither of those really delivered on that promise, and rarely did anything to move gaming forward or make it more immersive. Virtual reality will only succeed if the game experiences measure up to the technology. If that happens, the result would be a major breakthrough not only for video games, but also for all of entertainment media.