When I was a kid I imagined that the games of the future would include virtual reality and while gaming technology has come along way, theres still plenty of room for innovation.
While many great game titles have been released over the years, gaming technology has remained pretty much the same. Consoles will continually upgrade their graphics capabilities, tweak their shape, size, and the way we control our games, but I want to be able to jump into my games and truly become a part of that world in every way possible. The idea kind of reminds me of the movie The Matrix, eventually you should be able to be that connected to an experience.
Fortunately, there are many smart people who are interested in making virtual reality happen, including some at Sony Entertainment and Valve. Chet Faliszek of Valve has mentioned that they are actively working on a virtual reality project and Microsoft has filed VR based patents. So, it would seem that companies are taking virtual reality seriously, and it’s about time.
What makes this so interesting is that VR technology really is still in it’s infancy, nothing has been perfected and no one is sure who is going to have that breakthrough moment and create something amazing. Most people involved with VR are fiddling around with all kinds of ideas as they mash up screens,mirrors, circuit boards, cables and software to create a truly unique experience.
With VR you also have to consider how that type of gameplay differs from sitting at your computer or on the couch playing with a normal, hand held controller. Virtual reality will require you to move around much like Kinect for Xbox 360. Chances are you won’t always want to burn 500 calories chasing and killing zombies but I guess it would be nice to at least have that option. Now what would really be amazing is if you could control your character just by thinking.
Many of the technologies needed to make all of this happen already exist, it’s just a mater of of making them all work together. As for now, we can all remain hopeful as we watch and wait to see who comes out with the best VR solution.
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