Virtual Reality

[Viper]

Hey guys, so after taking a few courses and becoming fixated on a few kickstarter projects (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/152 ... o-the-game) I am now obsessed with Virutal Reality.

So while looking at some acutal uses of the headset mentioned above I found this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjtQwk7zg24&feature=plcp


I just think this is absolutely awesome and really shows what technology, gaming, and just computer interaction itself will be like in the coming years.

Thoughts?

[Ark]

That looks really cool, I can't imagine all the possible games you can do with that.

[Jackolantern]

I still don't know what to think about VR. The idea and at least the foundation of the technology has been around for over 20 years now, with tons of predictions of it coming to homes and being the next big thing, but the only time anyone got close to having a widely-accessible VR system was with Sega VR, the virtual reality Sega Genesis system add-on, goggles and motion controller combo. It was of course scrapped before release, and the system enhancement and motion controller were re-worked into the Sega 32X and the Sega Activator, respectively. That was nearly 20 years ago, and that was really VR's best shot to date into really getting into homes. I don't count the Virtual Boy, since that was a stationary tripod goggle set, did not adjust perspective with head movement (head movement wasn't even possible), and did not use any motion or imersive control scheme and instead went with a classic controller. The blood red coloring also firmly shows that they were not trying to emulate reality, thus no "virtual reality", and the Virtual Boy instead boasted its 3D effect

Of course I do think it would be awesome. The mind boggles if you think about bringing together tons of technology of today, such as the motion controls of the Xbox Kinect, the Retina Display of Apple products to use in the goggle's eye pieces for HD, modern voice recognition, modern GPU-enhanced 3D graphics, high-speed networking over broadband, etc. However, for some reason people just seem resistant to it. The start-up costs are high to get the gear to actually have a hope of a real "virtual reality", and I think that is a major road block. But like all things, the cost will go down, and maybe one day it could be a real contender.

[Viper]

Well i think the key is actually reading brain waves. No one wants to put goggles on and move around their room when its possible for them hit things. At least thats what I would be worried about....

I think the occulus is awesome, but I doubt any system can become really popular until it evolves to that level.

[Jackolantern]

Not sure if I want any game system interacting with my brain waves in any way

[hallsofvallhalla]

I am ordering mine today! Got to have one! Love the idea.

[Cayle]

Virtual Reality was "the next big thing" for so long, that it became sort of the Duke Nukem of technologies. This was mostly because of the wierd headsets and gloves; which have no other uses. The gloves are no longer needed in the age of kinnect, but the funky, single person headset, which gives sensory deprivation, still is.

On the other hand, I do think that it's 180° opposite number, augmented reality, is on the cusp. After all it can be used to put obscene sculptures in inappropriate places.

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/11/25/m ... s-to-find/

[hallsofvallhalla]

wow yeah that is quite awesome and no special hardware needed as everyone has a phone!

[Kronos]

Oh wow, I was actually looking in VR last month and watching that new Sword Art Online anime. In that they only use helmets hooked up to computers, they just lied down somewhere comfy and started up the system. During this they were in some form of paralysis where the helmet intercepted their thoughts. I immediately saw many problems with this setup, but it made me want to look more into the possibilities of VR.

Seeing that the tech was already there I broke out some info-graphics on lucid dreaming, self-hypnosis, body hacks and sleep paralysis then started doing some research on them. I had some theories that a VR helmet could hypnotize you, once asleep could put you into sleep paralysis and then put you in a self aware state, possibly with control of your eyes. Then you would use an advanced EEG machines in the helmet to read your thoughts, I found a quite advanced mind reading machine while browsing TED talks that could figure out which limbs you were moving to quite a detail. I dropped the idea after a while because I knew that I did not have the time, funding or training to study it any further. Also, obviously body hacking can be pretty dangerous.

[Viper]

Oh wow, I was actually looking in VR last month and watching that new Sword Art Online anime. In that they only use helmets hooked up to computers, they just lied down somewhere comfy and started up the system. During this they were in some form of paralysis where the helmet intercepted their thoughts. I immediately saw many problems with this setup, but it made me want to look more into the possibilities of VR.

Seeing that the tech was already there I broke out some info-graphics on lucid dreaming, self-hypnosis, body hacks and sleep paralysis then started doing some research on them. I had some theories that a VR helmet could hypnotize you, once asleep could put you into sleep paralysis and then put you in a self aware state, possibly with control of your eyes. Then you would use an advanced EEG machines in the helmet to read your thoughts, I found a quite advanced mind reading machine while browsing TED talks that could figure out which limbs you were moving to quite a detail. I dropped the idea after a while because I knew that I did not have the time, funding or training to study it any further. Also, obviously body hacking can be pretty dangerous.

This is almost exactly what happened to me. One of my roommates is big on Anime and showed me this show too. Its pretty fantastic.

As far as augmented reality goes, I am interested in it as well. But it's the immersion that you get from true VR that excites me. If I want to play a game or enter a virtual world, I want to be as close to being exclusively in it that I can.