When I think of virtual reality it brings to mind pictures of people wearing oversized black and yellow helmets awkwardly maneuvering within my community arcade while being viewed by a queue of curious bystanders. As we watched we believed that we had been standing on the brink of something big something really big… and very cool.
Virtual worlds, hey that is my yard!
The traditional picture of virtual reality has all but vanished from the public view nowadays. However, we’ve moved forward in leaps and bounds in associated areas. Last time I heard the figure for World Of Warcraft readers it had been shut six or seven million. Virtual worlds and virtual markets are flourishing.
Visual immersion
We’ve got our virtual worlds but what about that immersive visual experience that those oversized helmets assured us? Well, there’s actually plenty of hardware available out there in the moment which ranges from the cheap to the not so inexpensive. On a basic level, you could opt for something similar to what edimensional.com offer, a pair of 3D glasses for about $100. For those who have a few more quid, there’s videovision from worldviz.com”the ultimate solution for flexible and affordable augmented reality applications” personally I do not have $13,000 to spare though.
Whoever smelt it dealt it
Any sort of mass producible supply of odor to be used in virtual reality software remains something which is miles off. Some research that’s now being conducted in this area is exploring how scents act as triggers in post-traumatic stress disorder. The scents are often created through the use of a dissolvable tablet. Dynamically creating the multiple scents that you may need in a totally immersive game is still quite a ways away.
The Future
If it is a complete sensory experience you’re after there’s a common consensus that we must begin becoming involved with tapping into the mind itself. Whether this is achieved through some physical connection like what was used in the film “The Matrix” or a noninvasive means remains to be determined. Sony recently patented an idea for transmitting data directly into the brain to give a direct sensory experience. It seems pretty cool but also damn frightening… Do not point that thing at me!
It’ll be interesting to see the developments in VR during the next few decades. 1 thing is for sure Virtual Reality will probably be back in the forefront at some point soon and this time it could just deliver.