If you’re old enough to remember the early 90s when the term “Virtual Reality” entered the public consciousness then you’ll recall that our perception of the future was that powerful, affordable VR technology was right around the corner. Instead, technology moved toward enhancing graphical fidelity, adding more triangles to our polygons, increasing frame rates and eventually settled on charging us for horse armor and map packs, prohibitive DRM and requiring a constant internet connection to play single player mode.
Headset displays have existed on the fringes of video game culture for quite some time but they have always been too expensive or simply not technologically sufficient to garner more than a passing nod of interest.
Enter the Oculus Rift, a surprising leap forward on the technological front which eschews the “distant screen display” or previous VR goggle headsets and instead provides a 110 degrees of visibility with built in low latency head tracking.
What this means is that when you load up your favorite game you will be able to visualize it in a fully 3D environment, the displayed environment will encompass your entire field of view and when you turn your head from left to right the view port will transition in real time emulating your movement.
Supporters of the Oculus Rift reads like a “Whose Who” list of revered developers like John Carmack…Gabe Newell…Cliff Bleszinski
Besides the impressive technical specifications what makes this new development really impressive is the amount of industry support that the Oculus Rift has garnered.
Game companies and their most talented representatives seem to be flocking to this new technology. Many companies are implementing native support for the news VR headset with unprecedented fervor. Supporters of the Oculus Rift reads like a “Whose Who” list of revered developers like John Carmack of Doom/Quake fame, Gabe Newell Founder of Valve Software, Cliff Bleszinski the Design Director at Epic Games, and many more.
A fully immersive experience with full head tracking capabilities backed by industry professionals may turn out to be the most significant advancement in video games since the invention of the analog stick.
Below is a preview of the Oculus Rift:
Here is a list of games that have either planned or already implemented the Oculus Rift Developer Kit:
| 0x10c Doom 3: BFG Edition Doom 4 Dream FRACT OSC The Gallery Hawken Kairo Miner Wars 2081 Minecraft Montague’s Mount Montas |
Outerra Tech Demo Positron Project Cars Rawbots Receiver Routine Star Citizen Strike Suit Zero Sinful Robot Team Fortress 2 Wishful Lie ZED Absolution |
You can find out more about Oculus Rift on their website or Kickstarter page (donations closed)
Ryan DeBraal
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