Anybody who is paying attention to the gaming world knows that the future is in virtual reality. It is the logical progression of entertainment. First, movies were created, and they allowed people to watch something fantastic and escape the outside world for a few hours, albeit with very little immersion. Then, video games were created and people had a type of movie that they were in control of, and this provided even more hours of entertainment and a slightly more immersive experience than a movie. Now, virtual reality allows users to experience the sights and sounds of an event in a 3 dimensional environment that they are able to manipulate, and this provides most the extreme immersion of any commercially available entertainment. Virtual reality is achieved, at the most basic level, essentially a headset with two screens that mimic the eyes of the in game character, combined with head tracking technology that changes these screen as the user looks around, giving the impression that one is looking around another world.
VR gaming has traveled leaps in bounds in only the past few
years. It’s been less than a decade that most of the existing platforms have
been in development, and for a while it was considered a dead medium. In the
80s and 90s, many companies tried experimenting with virtual reality. The
closest thing to a commercial success was the Nintendo Virtualboy, which was on
the shelves for a year before it was discontinued due to low sales and lack of
consumer interest. Here is an example of one of the 19 games that came out on
the Virtualboy:
As you can see, the graphics were, to put it politely,
subpar. Of course any system with terrible graphics isn’t going to make someone
feel like they are in another reality, it’s just going to give them a headache.
However, computers have gotten significantly more powerful,
and games that exist today are beyond the wildest dreams of the developers that
worked on the failed VR platforms of decades past. Now, headsets that are light
in weight and relatively inexpensive (some antique VR headsets cost up to
$100,000) can deliver an experience that blows their unsuccessful predecessors
out of the water. A $12 head-mount can turn any smartphone into a VR headset. With
the vastly improved hardware and software, combined with the overwhelming
growth in popularity that video games have had, it is no surprise that viable
VR headsets have had explosive growth.
The “Big 3” of modern
virtual reality headsets are: the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, and the
Playstation VR.
The Oculus Rift is the headset that many would deem
responsible for the current VR craze. It was created by college student Palmer
Luckey, a journalism student with a passion for virtual reality. He acquired
many vintage headsets, and soon began crafting his own. His work got the
attention of John Carmack, a big name in the gaming community as he was
responsible for such classic games as Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein. After
Carmack debuted one of Luckey’s headsets
at E3, Luckey dropped out of school and formed the startup OculusVR, and
started a Kickstarter campaign. The kickstarter reached $1 million in 3 days.
The fires had been lit and in 2014, Facebook acquired the company for $2
Billion. As of right now, there are hundreds of games for the Rift, and Oculus
has partnered with Samsung for a mobile VR platform called Gear VR.
The HTC Vive is a collaboration between Valve software
(responsible for Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike etc.) and
smartphone manufacturer HTC. Before the partnership, both companies were in the
process of developing their own virtual reality headsets, trying to capitalize
on the trend started by the massive popularity of the Oculus Rift. Valve, over
the course of its development, developed accurate motion tracking that allowed
for a room scale virtual reality experience, but were unable to create a screen
that would allow for the necessary refresh rate to prevent motion sickness in
users. HTC originally looked into VR as a pairing with some of their phones. As
a phone manufacturer, HTC had enough experience with small, high-definition
screens to make the screens necessary for an immersive VR experience. Valve had
already developed sophisticated tracking technology, so the pairing with HTC
was a match made in heaven, and the HTC Vive was born.
The Playstation VR was the next logical iteration in the
peripheral accessories that Sony’s systems had been famous for. The Playstation
2 introduced the “EyeToy”, a device that could be connected to the system and
displayed the video feed of the player onscreen, then overlaid objects that the
player’s image could then manipulate. In the next generation of gaming, the
motion control of the Nintendo Wii was a smash hit. Microsoft began developing its
Kinect body tracking system that allowed players to play games without using a
controller, merely moving their bodies. Sony’s answer to these motion sensing
methods was the Playstation Move, which used technology from the EyeToy to
track lights on the tops of controllers which resulted in near perfect motion
tracking. Using these two technologies, developers at Sony began prototyping a
virtual reality headset that used the Playstation Move’s light tracking
technology to get an accurate position of the Player’s head angle and position
and adjust their view accordingly. The result was the PSVR that is on the
market now.
The beauty of this VR tech triumvirate is that each company
must continually innovate to compete. There are now hundreds of games for each
platform, and often games for one platform will be ported to others by
developers. Already there exists a device called the virtuix omni, an
omnidirectional treadmill that allows the user to manipulate their in game
character’s movements by walking in the direction they want to go.
There are
even whispers of haptic gloves for an even more immersive experience. Whatever
the case, I believe that the VR revolution it just beginning. If VR’s
development was equated to that of cell phones, I’d say that right now it is in
a stage equivalent to the flip phone. I, for one, cannot wait to see what the
VR equivalent of the iPhone X is, and I hope that once we’re all plugged into
the matrix, we at least get out and smell the roses every once in a while (or
even remember to plant them).
Sources:
Kumparak, Greg. “A Brief History Of Oculus.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 26 Mar. 2014, https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/a-brief-history-of-oculus/.
Leone, Matt. “The Making of PlayStation VR.” Polygon, Vox Media, 9 Mar. 2016, https://www.polygon.com/2016/3/9/11174194/the-making-of-playstation-vr.
Seibert, William. “Virtual Reality Then: A Look Back at the Nintendo Virtual Boy.” TechSpot, TechSpot, 21 Dec. 2017, https://www.techspot.com/article/1085-nintendo-virtual-boy/.
Souppouris, Aaron. “How HTC and Valve Built the Vive.” Engadget, Oath Tech Network, 14 July 2016, https://www.engadget.com/2016/03/18/htc-vive-an-oral-history/.
I find Virtual Reality very interesting. It allows people to immerse themselves into a brand new world that can be completely different from their own. One question I have is where this will go beyond video games. Movies such as Spy Kids 3 Game Over, and Ready Player One focus on the video game side of Virtual Reality, but the Matrix focuses on a completely new world that is created and most people think it is real life. Do you see any problems with a completely immersive experience that makes people want to forget the real world and can you think of some ways that we might avoid such scenarios to try to keep people from completely leaving the real world?
ReplyDeleteOf course there are problems with people leaving reality for a virtual world. I think it is a legitimate concern that as this technology becomes better and cheaper, people will leave the world entirely and exist in a virtual one. However, the technology is not yet immersive enough to really suck people away. But, as it improves and we get neural controls and haptic feedback, there may have to be limiters placed on devices that prevent access for more than 8 hours in a 24 hour period or something like that. That way, people would be forced to exit to eat and sleep.
DeleteHi Adam, I really enjoyed your presentation in class. Do you know any platform that:
ReplyDelete1. has the tracker on the legs and body to capture full body movement? I know the technology exists but not sure if it has been commercialized.
2. has provided more feedbacks to the player more than just some vibration. I'm thinking stimulating pain to some extents but it's probably too extreme and might involve some regulation issues.
Anyway, totally enjoyed it man, good job!
1. There is a platform called vrcade that has an entire room wired with cameras that allows for full body movement tracking. Several arcades have implemented this, however it is extremely expensive to implement and requires the proper space. I believe the nearest place that has one of these setups is Octane raceway up in Scottsdale. I've heard it's very cool, but have yet to try it out. Also, if microsoft and sony could squash their beef and get together to combine the PSVR and the Kinect, controllers wouldn't be needed at all.
Delete2. What you are describing is called "haptic feedback". Vibration is a primitive form of it, but a sufficiently advanced suit may be able to generate a current in a particular part of the body to stimulate nerves to feel a particular sensation such as pain or force. We're miles away from that, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
Adam,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your presentation in class, and your blog post. I think that you hit on some really great points, and your flip phone analogy is great. Something interesting that I've been seeing in the news lately regarding VR is the potential for VR schools like the software ALICE or A Leap in Creative Education. My question for you is this, do you think that Virtual Reality will one day do away with the need for physical public schools? With the news being focused on education being underfunded, do you think that this may be a valid path going forward to cut some of the costs for education?
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your presentation in class. I think individuals often get wrapped up in the nuts and bolts of technology, and forget its advancement in social settings as well. My question relates to Matthew's above: do you think virtual reality will become a part of our every day lives? It is important to different aspects of the business world and of social settings; however, I'd be intrigued to see if it advances to become a part of doctors offices, grocery stores, etc. It was once thought that technology like this would never exist but we have watched the world advance quicker in the past 3 decades than it ever has before. That being said, what do you think the next step this type of virtual reality will take into another industry?
This kind of stuff makes you think. There's a book called Origin by Dan Brown that basically examines the next evolutionary phase we're going to go through. He claims man and technology will become one; very comparable to VR/AR. (Sorry - ruined the plot, but worth the read!) Overall, really cool presentation. Thanks for sharing!!