Virtual Reality

As technology develops, so does the world of video gaming. One of the bigger developments recently is in virtual reality, specifically the Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift are a pair of goggles that places the wearer inside the game. The user puts on the Oculus Rift much like one would put on giant glasses; the difference being that the Rift does not allow the wearer to see anything outside of it: it presents the environment from the game. 

The Oculus Rift is arguably the most advanced piece of virtual reality hardware that is currently leading the race to fully immersive gaming. The view inside the Rift consists of two screens, one per eye, that work together to create the illusion that what you are seeing on the screens is what is really around you. The Oculus Rift already works with multiple video games, and each day more and more videos are being uploaded showcasing it.  

Developers haven't stopped with the Oculus Rift however, several more pieces of hardware have already been designed and prototyped to further enhance the virtual reality experience. Some of these include a platform called the Omni, which is much like a treadmill.  

It allows a user wearing an Oculus Rift to walk and jump on the spot, whilst those movements are fed into the game they are playing, causing their in-game character to do the same. There is similar hardware that is much more like the Nintendo Wii, which uses sensors in two handheld remotes to track player movement and feed it into the game.  

There is another piece of hardware that almost completes the virtual reality illusion. This is the ARAIG, an armour/sensor-clad t-shirt that receives information straight from game environments and converts that information into physical vibration and muscle stimulation. For example: say you are playing a game on your PlayStation or Xbox, and in the game your character is being rained on. The ARAIG armor decodes the information about the physical sensations affecting your character, and instead of a mere controller vibration, the armours accurately vibrates to replicate the physical sensations. To top it off, the suit has inbuilt surround sound speakers, so in addition to the Omni and Oculus Rift, a near perfect virtual reality is created, allowing you to see, move in, hear and even feel the virtual environment around you as if you were truly there.  

All this fantastic hardware was made with the home user in mind, so all these pieces together are set to cost just about as much as a decent gaming PC. This is the near future of video gaming. 

As always don’t hesitate to contact your local computer store for help with any IT issues.