Oculus VR is the Future of Reality

You know the evolution of gaming–pong to blocky figures on Atari consoles. Cartoony graphics on Nintendo consoles to higher quality graphics on PlayStation. High definition gaming on Xboxes connected to the Internet. The lure of virtual reality fully interactive games.

Perhaps you’ve seen “Avatar” where humans get in pods with virtual reality headsets and enter new worlds. Maybe you’ve read the bestselling sci-fi book “Ready Player One, ” set in the year 2044, in a world in turmoil and depleted of resources. All human activity takes place within a huge virtual universe called the OASIS. Humans “log on” with their virtual reality headsets to virtually go to school, work, and live their real lives virtually.

Image courtesy of https://www.oculusvr.com

When I went to the QuakeCon video game conference 3 years ago, John Carmack was talking about virtual reality immersion and how it was the future of video games and entertainment.

By the way, Oculus doesn’t officially have a product yet–only prototypes and promises. But the promises are big, and…promising."

Carmack is a legend in the video game industry, responsible for basically inventing and perfecting the first person shooter videogame with titles like Castle Wolfenstein, Doom andQuake. Carmack previewed his clunky duct taped headset to a chosen few and also said ID Software was slow in their development, and it was frustrating. Then along came Rift, the virtual reality headset from a company called Oculus VR. Carmack left ID Software and joinedOculus VR.

Like so many tech legends and realities, the Oculus legend started with a smart kid in a garage. Palmer Luckey started working on his VR headset prototype in his parent’s garage at the age of 18 in 2011. Carmack brought his duct-taped headset to the E3 videogame show in 2012. The next year, Oculus blew E3 away with its early Rift headset. Oculus brought a more advanced version to CES 2014, and still another version to the Game Developers Convention in March 2014. Soon after, Facebook purchased Oculus for nearly $2 billion in cash and stock.

By the way, Oculus doesn’t officially have a product yet–only prototypes and promises. But the promises are big, and…promising. With the rekindling of interest in virtual reality, and virtual reality becoming reality, other companies are rushing to develop their own headsets. Developers are developing software for the future of Oculus Rift. Video games, apps, even movies are in development for the Oculus Rift.

Full article at http://www2.geeks.com/oculus-vr-is-the-future-of-reality/