Mind games: VR headsets from the big players will reach the market in 2016 Photo: Getty Virtual reality becomes a reality W...
Mind games: VR headsets from the big players will reach the market in 2016 Photo: Getty
Virtual reality becomes a reality
With big players from Google to Microsoft upping their game, 2016 could be the
year virtual reality finally takes off
In the first six months of 2016, most of the high-profile headsets that
have been in development for the past few years are expected to make it
to market.
Oculus Rift is the one you’re most likely to have heard of:
the plucky upstart that began as a project on crowdfunding site
Kickstarter before Facebook bought it for $2bn last March.
Meanwhile, gaming giant Sony has developed PlayStation VR as an
immersive method of gaming and a Taiwanese smartphone company has built
Vive, a headset that will run games downloaded from gaming platform
Valve.
While Sony and HTC are yet to release prices for
their headsets, Oculus is expected to cost about $1,500 (£1,000). At
the more accessible end of the scale, Samsung and Google have created
the Gear VR and Cardboard respectively, which run off smartphones.
Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, which overlays holograms into the
wearer’s real-world environment – known as augmented reality – is also
due for release this year.
The applications for VR are
also endless, from gaming and watching films to educational simulated
experiences such as historic battle re-enactment and viewing footage of
exotic locations.
Technology has caught up with our
vision of the future, making it possible for us to travel further, learn
more and even develop empathy we didn’t know was possible thanks to
slipping on a headset and finding ourselves in someone else’s shoes. And
2016 is the year that will finally make it a reality, virtual or
otherwise.
year virtual reality finally takes off
Imagine exploring the furthest
corners of outer space, the depths of the deepest ocean and the peaks of
the highest mountain – all in the same day and from the comfort of your
living room. This is exactly what virtual reality (VR) has been
promising for the past 60 years, but 2016 could be the year it finally
takes off.
corners of outer space, the depths of the deepest ocean and the peaks of
the highest mountain – all in the same day and from the comfort of your
living room. This is exactly what virtual reality (VR) has been
promising for the past 60 years, but 2016 could be the year it finally
takes off.
So why has it
taken so long, given that 1968 saw the development of what is considered
the first VR headset, created by American computer scientist Ivan
Sutherland – although the goggles and head-mounted displays that
transport the wearer to another world appeared in science fiction novels
20 years previously?
taken so long, given that 1968 saw the development of what is considered
the first VR headset, created by American computer scientist Ivan
Sutherland – although the goggles and head-mounted displays that
transport the wearer to another world appeared in science fiction novels
20 years previously?
Many
companies have tried to create VR headsets for consumers. But the
difficulty of reducing the nausea induced by the body’s innate balance
contradicting what the eye is telling it it sees – known as latency –
along with high component costs meant virtual reality never really made
it to the shelves.
companies have tried to create VR headsets for consumers. But the
difficulty of reducing the nausea induced by the body’s innate balance
contradicting what the eye is telling it it sees – known as latency –
along with high component costs meant virtual reality never really made
it to the shelves.
In the first six months of 2016, most of the high-profile headsets that
have been in development for the past few years are expected to make it
to market.
Oculus Rift is the one you’re most likely to have heard of:
the plucky upstart that began as a project on crowdfunding site
Kickstarter before Facebook bought it for $2bn last March.
Meanwhile, gaming giant Sony has developed PlayStation VR as an
immersive method of gaming and a Taiwanese smartphone company has built
Vive, a headset that will run games downloaded from gaming platform
Valve.
While Sony and HTC are yet to release prices for
their headsets, Oculus is expected to cost about $1,500 (£1,000). At
the more accessible end of the scale, Samsung and Google have created
the Gear VR and Cardboard respectively, which run off smartphones.
Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, which overlays holograms into the
wearer’s real-world environment – known as augmented reality – is also
due for release this year.
The applications for VR are
also endless, from gaming and watching films to educational simulated
experiences such as historic battle re-enactment and viewing footage of
exotic locations.
Technology has caught up with our
vision of the future, making it possible for us to travel further, learn
more and even develop empathy we didn’t know was possible thanks to
slipping on a headset and finding ourselves in someone else’s shoes. And
2016 is the year that will finally make it a reality, virtual or
otherwise.
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