{"id":392,"date":"2010-01-14T09:51:35","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T23:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/?p=392"},"modified":"2010-01-14T09:51:35","modified_gmt":"2010-01-13T23:51:35","slug":"where-is-virtual-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/where-is-virtual-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Is Virtual Reality?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/images\/blog\/virtual_reality.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Virtual Reality\" src=\"http:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/images\/blog\/virtual_reality.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"168\" height=\"126\" \/><\/a>Have you ever used Virtual Reality?\u00a0 Whether the big cumbersome headsets in the early 90\u2019s or the sleeker more refined technology of today, chances are you\u2019ve encountered virtual reality in your travels.\u00a0 It was touted as the \u201cnext big thing\u201d in computers and was expected to be in every home but it never eventuated.\u00a0 Today I\u2019m going to discuss what virtual reality means for gamers and game developers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I first used virtual reality in 1995 while visiting SegaWorld in London. \u00a0They 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).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if it was the amazing 3D, head tracking or loss of blood from my injuries but I had an awakening experience.\u00a0 I knew that in the future, we\u2019d all be playing games using virtual reality, and the world would be a better place.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this never happened, but is it too late?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Should it be the \u201cNext Big Thing\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>VR has a number of key features that make it the obvious path for game development in the future:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Full 3D Immersion<\/strong> \u2013 rather      than looking at the game world sitting on a monitor that\u2019s sitting in your      room you are actually in the world.\u00a0      Even 2D games take up your entire peripheral vision making them      immersive.<\/li>\n<li><strong>True 3D (for free)<\/strong> \u2013      Having two images allows a true stereoscopic display of the 3D world<\/li>\n<li><strong>Head tracking<\/strong> \u2013 Most VR      headsets have built in head tracking which adds to the immersion.\u00a0 Now you can look at the pre-pubescent      kid in counter strike before he headshots you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look cool<\/strong> \u2013 Why wear nerdy      3D glasses when you can look like this:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/images\/blog\/virtual_reality_helmet.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Virtual Reality Helmet\" src=\"http:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/images\/blog\/virtual_reality_helmet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"281\" height=\"201\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s best suited to the following games:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Flight Sims<\/li>\n<li>First-Person Shooters<\/li>\n<li>Racing Games<\/li>\n<li>Sport Games<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>VR also opens up the possibility of relaxation and full emersion games that aren\u2019t possible with regular monitors.\u00a0 This might sound a little hippie like, but I can see some great opportunities in games for children in hospitals and rehabilitation from injuries.<\/p>\n<p>In my eyes, these benefits make it the ideal candidate for game development in the future.\u00a0 The current bout of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2010\/SHOWBIZ\/Movies\/01\/11\/avatar.movie.blues\/\">depression<\/a> leading from the immersion experienced in the \u201cAvatar\u201d movie is proof that even 3D movies are enough to have a greater impact on people (and that some people are fairly weak).<\/p>\n<p>3D movies bring up an interesting stepping stone towards VR.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This might be an easier sell now that 3D movies are becoming more mainstream.\u00a0 I find it interesting that some people are happy to accept 3D movies as the \u201cnext big thing\u201d while dismissing virtual reality as a thing of the past, despite the fact it has much greater qualities.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>So why hasn\u2019t Virtual Reality taken off?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are a few main reasons why Virtual Reality is still not in the mainstream of gaming:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Price<\/strong> \u2013 With the <a href=\"https:\/\/e-store.emagin.com\/miva\/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&amp;Store_Code=E&amp;Product_Code=Z3V&amp;Category_Code=\">average      headset<\/a> coming in at $1,500USD, this is a lot for an 800&#215;600      display by anyone\u2019s standards.\u00a0      While it is comparable to some larger end monitors it\u2019s still too      high for the average gamer.\u00a0 If the      price of headsets can come down below $750USD and resolutions can be at      least 1024&#215;768 I expect a much larger uptake.\u00a0 That\u2019s certainly the sweet spot for      price and resolution for me.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vertigo\/Eye Strain<\/strong> \u2013 Some people      have issues focussing on the screens in the virtual reality headset and      others suffer from eye strain. \u00a0Most      people should get used to this over time however it might simply mean some      people never adopt the technology<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lack of interest<\/strong> \u2013 People just      got bored with the idea.\u00a0 For so      long we kept hearing about how VR was going to change the world and it      never did. \u00a0A great example of this is the fact that searches for \u201cVirtual Reality\u201d are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/insights\/search\/#q=virtual%20reality&amp;cmpt=q\">down 80%<\/a> since 2004!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Any other crazy thoughts?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What would a blog post from me be without a reference to Microsoft?\u00a0 The ultimate way for virtual reality to take off is for Microsoft to develop the headsets.\u00a0 They make awesome peripherals, have the money to back it and have the console to go along with it.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Have you used Virtual Reality before?\u00a0 Did you like it?\u00a0 How much would you be willing to pay and what resolution do you think should be the minimum supported?\u00a0 Many people I\u2019ve spoken to about Virtual Reality think it\u2019s dead, what do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever used Virtual Reality?\u00a0 Whether the big cumbersome headsets in the early 90\u2019s or the sleeker more refined technology of today, chances are you\u2019ve encountered virtual reality in your travels.\u00a0 It was touted as the \u201cnext big thing\u201d in computers and was expected to be in every home but it never eventuated.\u00a0 Today <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/where-is-virtual-reality\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[112,48,80,81],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-game-development","tag-microsoft","tag-virtual-reality","tag-vr"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgEc5-6k","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doolwind.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}