If you're not familiar with the Oculus Rift, let me provide some background. It's a virtual-reality headset that is expected to be released as a consumer device sometime in the near or far future, we're not sure which. Whenever it happens, though, it will be a big deal, because it considered the first time that legitimate, actually immersive virtual reality will be available to consumers. It received its initial funding of $2.4 million through a Kickstarter campaign back in 2012, and was recently purchased by Facebook for $2 BILLION, much to the chagrin of everyone, myself included, because we are now uncertain as to its future. What does Facebook want with it? They say they'll leave it alone, but many are unconvinced.
It has so much promise that it lured legendary programmer John Carmack away from id, the company he founded and where he developed groundbreaking, landmark games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake, to work on the emerging technology.
Although I haven't had the chance to test it myself, everything I have read about it is beyond impressive. Every single description of it from people who have tried it has been that it is a revolution in immersiveness. It is a set of screens that fit over each eye in an enclosed visor, which presents a stereoscopic 180-degree image to immerse you in the environment, and has fully implemented head tracking; that means if you turn your head to the right, the view shifts to the right.
But it has application beyond games. Very serious, useful, and wonderful application beyond games. Consider this story about Roberta Firstenberg. Roberta was fighting a losing battle with cancer, and was lamenting to her granddaughter, a game developer, that she missed the simple things like going outside.
This seems to be a common reaction to the Oculus Rift |
Although virtual games do not excitement, I can definitely see Oculus Rift being a big seller due to the multifunctional purpose. I would even like to purchase one of these things if it’s not outrageously expensive. I’m curious to how much one of these headsets is going to cost. As most things, when it first releases, it’s probably going to be expensive. I’m amazed how the grandmother felt like she was really a part of the virtual world. Oculus did a kind thing of sending her the headset so her grandmother could travel outside again and see nature again.
ReplyDeleteI want one! I want one tomorrow! This thing is amazing. It would be so cool to come home after a long day, put on my mask, and go scuba diving, walk around the Eifel Tower, or go hiking in the mountains; the possibilities are limitless.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note, I have seen something like this implemented on Showtime once. On the Showtime series “Shameless,” one of the characters Sheila suffers from agoraphobia. According to mayoclinic.org, agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you avoid situations that you’re afraid might cause you to panic. In Sheila’s case, she was not able to leave her house. She could look out windows and open the doors, but she could not leave. Her therapist came over with a device similar to this, that ran a program to simulate walking around outside of her home. Even with the device she was still terrified and had to take it off quite a bit, but eventually she recovered.
I think that this is amazing technology! I hope that it is released to the public in the very near future, as I would love to own or even try it. I think that it can serve a ton of purposes, and should. If there is a product out there that can ultimately help others, and enrich their lives they should make it readily available to help them. I am also a huge fan of gaming, and how amazing would gaming become with this technology?
ReplyDeleteSure this is great technology. I wounder if it would compensate for people with different vision in each eye, or if the did not have depth perception?
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