Where Is Virtual Reality?

January 14, 2010
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Have you ever used Virtual Reality?  Whether the big cumbersome headsets in the early 90’s or the sleeker more refined technology of today, chances are you’ve encountered virtual reality in your travels.  It was touted as the “next big thing” in computers and was expected to be in every home but it never eventuated.  Today I’m going to discuss what virtual reality means for gamers and game developers.

Introduction

I first used virtual reality in 1995 while visiting SegaWorld in London.  They had a ride you sat in, donned a virtual reality headset and furiously pressed buttons to win or lose a battle (along with 20 or so other people).  I was so excited to finally get to use virtual reality that I took a wrong turn getting on the ride and fell off into the hydraulics.  I’m not sure if it was the amazing 3D, head tracking or loss of blood from my injuries but I had an awakening experience.  I knew that in the future, we’d all be playing games using virtual reality, and the world would be a better place.  Unfortunately, this never happened, but is it too late?

Should it be the “Next Big Thing”?

VR has a number of key features that make it the obvious path for game development in the future:

  • Full 3D Immersion – rather than looking at the game world sitting on a monitor that’s sitting in your room you are actually in the world.  Even 2D games take up your entire peripheral vision making them immersive.
  • True 3D (for free) – Having two images allows a true stereoscopic display of the 3D world
  • Head tracking – Most VR headsets have built in head tracking which adds to the immersion.  Now you can look at the pre-pubescent kid in counter strike before he headshots you.
  • Look cool – Why wear nerdy 3D glasses when you can look like this:

It’s best suited to the following games:

  • Flight Sims
  • First-Person Shooters
  • Racing Games
  • Sport Games

VR also opens up the possibility of relaxation and full emersion games that aren’t possible with regular monitors.  This might sound a little hippie like, but I can see some great opportunities in games for children in hospitals and rehabilitation from injuries.

In my eyes, these benefits make it the ideal candidate for game development in the future.  The current bout of depression leading from the immersion experienced in the “Avatar” movie is proof that even 3D movies are enough to have a greater impact on people (and that some people are fairly weak).

3D movies bring up an interesting stepping stone towards VR.  Monitors are now available with high enough refresh rates that 3D glasses can be used to present a 3D image on the screen at 50Hz.  This might be an easier sell now that 3D movies are becoming more mainstream.  I find it interesting that some people are happy to accept 3D movies as the “next big thing” while dismissing virtual reality as a thing of the past, despite the fact it has much greater qualities.

So why hasn’t Virtual Reality taken off?

There are a few main reasons why Virtual Reality is still not in the mainstream of gaming:

  • Price – With the average headset coming in at $1,500USD, this is a lot for an 800×600 display by anyone’s standards.  While it is comparable to some larger end monitors it’s still too high for the average gamer.  If the price of headsets can come down below $750USD and resolutions can be at least 1024×768 I expect a much larger uptake.  That’s certainly the sweet spot for price and resolution for me.
  • Vertigo/Eye Strain – Some people have issues focussing on the screens in the virtual reality headset and others suffer from eye strain.  Most people should get used to this over time however it might simply mean some people never adopt the technology
  • Lack of interest – People just got bored with the idea.  For so long we kept hearing about how VR was going to change the world and it never did.  A great example of this is the fact that searches for “Virtual Reality” are down 80% since 2004!

Any other crazy thoughts?

What would a blog post from me be without a reference to Microsoft?  The ultimate way for virtual reality to take off is for Microsoft to develop the headsets.  They make awesome peripherals, have the money to back it and have the console to go along with it.  Having both Xbox and PC support virtual reality would be better for gamers, game developers and give Microsoft more of an edge over the competition.

What do you think?

Have you used Virtual Reality before?  Did you like it?  How much would you be willing to pay and what resolution do you think should be the minimum supported?  Many people I’ve spoken to about Virtual Reality think it’s dead, what do you think?

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  • Sneech

    I wanna wear the VR helmet and go around harvesting little sisters.

  • playa94

    here is a novell idea how about u go outside n play with real relity

    sif

  • bleevo

    look at me ive been to london.

  • bleevo

    now that I have read the entire article!

    Virtual Reality is about immersion of the senses, all we have really been working on is sight and sound.

    What of touch, interaction and feeling the force of your actions (g forces).

    The more you add in the mix the realer vr becomes.

    watch this space its the future.

  • Mark L

    I’ve only ever read and watched clips about Virtual Reality technology, especially back when it was starting out and while that concept seems to have taken a back seat, I think that it’s making a comeback in a different form.

    On Beyond Tomorrow, back when it ran, they showed off a concept of Augmented Reality. Using a portable getup with a translucent headset, you walked around an old town and using GPS and motion sensing technology to track your position and direction of facing, the headset actually superimposed the older version of the town onto your vision of the current form.

    This isn’t the only example of augmented reality as games for the iPhone and DSi use similar technology to take the world around you and place game elements into it using the phone/handheld’s screen to allow you to see the game world as part of your own. It’s not that hard to take that a step further and create a headset that does the same thing on a more immersive scale.

    I don’t think that VR is truly dead, just that it’s been put on the backburner for a while until we improve the elements that comprise it and make it affordable to the average consumer.

  • http://avijit-paul.blogspot.com Avijit Paul

    I had been trying to do VR for a while and I can tell you why it does not take off. The amount of work you have to put in to see something simple is a LOT for daily use. I am now more and more into Augmented Reality not because it is easier to do, but because you dont need amazing amount of equipments.

    Hopefully glasses will get cheaper and better. You should check out new Vuzix iwrap. It is much much much better than what I had before.

  • http://arphoenix.us Gadget

    Check out the TRIMERSION VR Game system.
    Some are still available for a pretty low price

  • http://semibeta.com/03/30/virtual-reality-futuristic-tools-for-virtual-worlds/ Virtual Reality: Futuristic Tools for Virtual Worlds « SemiBeta

    [...] (Images via virtualreality, doolwind) [...]

  • Sam Templin

    I’ve been waiting for a decent virtual reality headset since the early 90′s. Tried the Vuzix VR920 with it’s $400 price tag… Once cool thing it got right was conserving the battery power by not using my main monitor – everything else was just absolute garbage. The 600×400 resolution is a complete joke – 100% inexcusable. The head tracking was more a gimmick than anything you could ever hope to use in a 1st person shooter, or real time strategy game. While watching movies it got SUPER hot and the screen turns black from the heat in around 30 minutes. Drivers for 3D in video games only worked half the time, and it was hard to adjust the depth of the 3D effect yourself.

    Everyone else seems to absolutely love the VR though… personally I want to fire bomb the company that created it.

    It was developed over 3-4 years ago… There must be something better out by now!!!

    Something portable with a resolution of 1,000×800 at least.

    Has anyone seen anything? (That doesn’t require an external monitor of 120Hz) This isn’t rocket science – we do have the technology to make it work. I would gladly pay $800 for a headset that delivered.

  • Lenny

    I believe VR will come back in a big way and will be the next “big thing” as a lot of trends in gaming are pointing in that direction. The Wii, with its motion position sensitive controllers, the PS3 with its sixaxis controller, all designed to put the person in the game, but… without the visual stimulation of VR, you only get motion and sound. Add 3d VR to the mix and now your talking!! Just a matter of time I say, now that there is hardware readily available that has the horsepower to reproduce 3d environments that are fluid and not choppy. And as far as being used for rehabilitation, I don’t think its ‘hippyish’ at all, imagine a some poor kid who has cancer and is bed ridden and the only change of scenery is watching seasons change outside their window…many uses!

  • http://www.doolwind.com Doolwind

    Lenny-
    It’s good to hear someone else who agrees. I am hearing more and more people who are against VR without having experienced it or just because they think it’s old technology.

  • ryan

    I would pay good money for one. I have over 2,000 in my PS3 now. Buy the time you get all the attachments . Just got the PS3 move hooked up. So yeah I would pay the hi price for the VR. I played the VR game at the FortWayne mall years ago. Thought it was pretty sweet. Would like to play the VR again.

  • Joey

    I think i would pay for one. Even if i have never experienced it, I am really exited about VR and I think it would do well on the gaming market if microsoft or another companie would spend time and money in further development of VR.

    PS: If I spelled some words wrong then I am sorry for my bad English.

  • http://www.amusitronix.com/ Amusitronix 3D Virtual Reality

    Trust me, I’m surprised as well that Microsoft has not picked up on virtual reality yet. To be honest, I think they must have considered it already if not already bagan strategizing on how to use it to their advantage.

  • Mark

    Microsoft not pick up on VR? Have you not heard of Kinect? Full 3D sensing device to plug into your xbox, track body movement facial recognition (or tracking if you were) VR is here but implemented for the masses, not just the guy hooked up to a bunch of equipment.

  • Chris

    Someone created a Wii head tracking system already.. the wiimote is perfect for this type of vr tracking, and could be used for hand tracking as well. Imagine a wiimote on both hands, built into gloves. Now we need high enough resolution headsets, which soon I believe will be at lower cost.

    I think cost is what is holding Nintendo back, both cost of development and cost for their consumers. Remember, though, Nintendo did experiment with 3D headsets already.. remember the Virtual Boy? Their foot is in the door. Now, they are coming out with 3D gameboy. A further step closer. I know they don’t want to go the glasses/3dtv route, as most of the Nintendo users dont have or cant afford 3d tv’s. But soon, I almost would bet money that we will be seeing cool, white VR headsets that will plug into the WII.. or maybe the WII2!

    http://revoeyes.blogspot.com/2007/12/wii-virtual-reality-is-real-amazing.html

  • graham p

    .. interesting reading all of these, and most of it is true.. vr for the home (as many people have said) has mostly been held back by both the cost and the resolution of those available. The writing was on the wall when big companies like olympus and sony pulled out of headsets market a while back (even though the res was still only 800×600 they were of decent quality and were produced in the sorts of numbers to keep the price down). Now there are only a few players in the market, with not many sales of what they do have, so no incentive to ‘up their game’ with better resolutions. headset prices jump from £1000, to £12000, and then £25000 each as you go up with resolutions, but remember .. the headset is only part of the cost of vr. a headset is just a screen strapped to your face if it isnt tracked ..and there is your next cost, and poor tracking (slow or inaccurate updates) was always one of the problems with people seriously adopting vr in the old days. There are no real cheap-and-cheerful options for tracking either, a wii handset glued to a headset wouldnt be accurate enough to prevent motion sickness (which admittedly some people are more susceptible to than others) but would only really work reasonably well while the user was looking at the screen .. inertial tracking (3dof) is also useless for proper vr, as it suffers from wander (relative to a reference point, ie the world you are in) and therefore cannot be used in conjunction with secondary trackers (hands etc), so you are left with magnetic or optical trackers, where the range, number of sensors and the accuracy you want obviously affects the cost. In summary, pc’s and graphics cards are now cheap and superfast and can produce unbelievably good resolutions and environments in realtime. Its only the delivery options that are holding it back, and as implied by what most people have said above .. if that hardware was in the home, software would be written to support it.. and we’d all have one at home :o )

    ps.. .i speak from experience .. i was there at the beginning of commercial vr .. working for W.Industries (which became virtuality plc and Inc) so i know how hard it was to produce something enjoyable using the old hardware.

    When virtuality went into administration (chapter11) a few of us started maelstrom.com, that was 14 years ago, only two of the founders are left .. and this is what we just installed for the UK Ministry of Defence at RAF Brize Norton; 8 players, immersive vr (headsets), heads and both hands tracked, in a shared virtual environment .. so VR is alive and well, but i’m afraid it still isnt in the home yet
    :o (

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn_GU7r7EL4

    http:/www.maelstrom.com

  • Jackson

    Thanks Graham for your insight and showing where virtual reality is today. I’m a Film/Television student graduating soon, and although I like creating an illusive experience for people with film, I know things can be done with virtual reality that will blow people out of the water. I love the idea of augmented reality. I believe it can be done. There’s a business and creative opportunities. I’m interested in getting involved in it’s development, if not the hardware, the worlds they will be able to create.

  • Scott

    Ive checked a couple of videos out on YouTube of augmented reality demos and I think there is a massive potential for growth if you were to combine that and the gaming arena. Imagine!! Being “IN” the game, would have been wild when I was playing Doom/Quake back in the day to have something like that.

  • Shrout

    I experienced A rather timed VR in Florida’s Paradise Island and really enjoyed it. This was some years ago. I still belive VR has big potential for our future and could be used to educate as well as be enjoyed as an entertaiment. A focus on Education is what we need to get this project to the next stage of developement and experience.

  • paul

    How about a headset that is mind readable. This would be a real step into the future. We have the technology to develop this even if it cost a few $1,000. If theres a headset that can do this and pass beta testing in 10 years when they make the greatest modle our kids will never get off for dinner. You wouldn’t even need a controller which could prevent carpal tunnel. If this technology advances it could be able to bring gamers into the game instead of staring at a screen thats 2 inches away from there eyes. It will be much better on the eye and could previde twice as much entertainment especially with 1st person shooter games. If major entertainment companies worked on this they could change the world of entertainment.