Remember Lawnmower Man, The 13th Floor and Matrix?
IMAGINE THEN- A world you could create for yourself in digital Cyber Space. Imagine a world that is only limited by your imagination. Just put on your VR helment and suite and next thing you know you are in cyber space. Imagine entire cities you could explore and buildings you could walk into. Things you could pick up, move around and even change. Imagine cyber sex on a whole new level. Imagine thousands of other things to do.

Now will this ever become a reality? Maybe in 5 to 10 years, but I want to know how you feel about this subject. Feel free to post your ideas and feelings on the matter.

Will it become so addictive that people will not want to leave it? Or want to face the normal day to day life that they live? Should there be limits placed on it to safeguard a persons normal life? Please feel free to share your thoughts on the matter!

Video game development has gotten to the point that systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360 have enough power to recognize physical input via Kinect and Move devices while keeping the visual effects moving very smoothly, which is necessary for any "VR" style interface to be viable. The question is will some game developer try to move away from a screen interface to a helmet interface? The logistics are a bit hairy because of the potential injury hazards related to VR.

If you have a free-motion environment where the player is required to have there vision of their surroundings inhibited by a helmet mounted display and must move in different directions to interact with the game then they either need to be inside of the old VR gaming rings:



or be tethered to some other apparatus. The last attempt anyone made to try and incorporate VR into a "mass marken" home system was Atari with a canceled Jaguar VR system that I actually saw at the 1995 E3 gaming convention.

Interestingly there was a development by a gentleman named Johnny Chung Lee where he took a Wii remote and using a software patch and bluetooth PC adapter you could create VR headtracking using the Wii remote as a camera and the Wii sensor bar as the head tracking unit. I actually attempted this and it is quite stunning and would make for some amazing gameplay, especially if anyone were to incorporate into a 3D HDTV and 3D game system.

As far as VR eyeware that is usable in the PC market, there are a couple companies, but the most advanced I've found is Vuzix linked here:

http://www.vuzix.com/home/

Yeah, and tapping into a human's cerebral cortex via wet wire sounds great! So does an electronic lobotomy! order abortion pill morning after pill price where to buy abortion pill

Logansneo Wrote:Video game development has gotten to the point that systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360 have enough power to recognize physical input via Kinect and Move devices while keeping the visual effects moving very smoothly, which is necessary for any "VR" style interface to be viable. The question is will some game developer try to move away from a screen interface to a helmet interface? The logistics are a bit hairy because of the potential injury hazards related to VR.

That's presuming an old-school vision of surround helmet + motion gaming as your input/output scheme. Sure, motion gaming is a trend right now, but it's also gimmicky and limited and everyone in the gaming world knows it.

The future is in the thought controlled interfaces DARPA is working on now. They already have monkeys controlling an on screen pointer with nothing more than a set of electrodes on their head. They also have thought control interfaces for prosthetic limbs that allow a near normal level of functioning. These are not simply theoretical technologies, they are in active development with working prototypes. It's only a matter of time before they hit the consumer market. I'd be a fool to try to predict when with any form of specificity, but it's almost certain it will happen.

That means gaming with full audiovisual immersion, with only a helmet as both controller and display. One can easily imagine something like a set of haptic gloves and vest that can give crude physical feedback to enhance the illusion -- a vibration or pressure in the gloves when you grip or touch objects in the game, for example, and a knock and buzz in the vest when you take damage in game. This is entirely possible with technology that exists today, it's only a matter of time before it's refined and common enough to penetrate the consumer market.

The last thing then that is necessary for true, fully immersive, Matrix-style VR is sensory feedback, primarily touch. Biofeedback in the prosthetic limbs I mentioned above is also in development, though if I'm not mistaken it uses sensory nerves in the stump so it might not be a viable base for VR. I don't know of any current research in feeding sensory information such as touch or taste or smell directly to the brain through a method like the electrode thought controls DARPA is working on, and as far as I know that kind of technology is still science fiction. But really, it doesn't seem that farfetched. And it's not at all hard to imagine that once the above technologies are perfected, the next place the research would go is artificial senses.

It's not at all a stretch to expect to see true, Gibson-style full telepresence-based cyberspace in our lifetimes. Probably sooner than later.

VR games have been around for over a decade and still haven't found a niche.

IsoLine Wrote:Only the unlucky gamers would get the electronic lobotomy....

Poor Quaid... or was it Howser?

If Kuwato (sp?) shows up here, I'm going home...

Tron Fanatic Wrote:VR games have been around for over a decade and still haven't found a niche.

Depends on how you define VR, It could easily be argued that what has been called VR is hardly that and the technology to make it viable isn't on the market yet.

Here's a couple other concepts that look promising as far as VR gaming is concerned:


First person shooter style ; )


Cool VR treadmill, known as Cyber Carpet! Slightly expensive accessory for VR gaming! Here's the video link to this one, makes me think holodecks are-a-comin'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQw1tsgrJOs&feature=player_embedded

Logansneo Wrote:Ever wonder what happened to holographic displays?

There is actually something more advanced on the way.

http://www.zeiza.com/star-wars-tech-3d-teleconferencing-may-be-closer-than-you-think/224244/
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/03/obi-wan-kenobi-scientists-seek-d-video/

CB2001 Wrote: insidetronworld Wrote:IMAGINE THEN- A world you could create for yourself in digital Cyber Space. Imagine a world that is only limited by your imagination. Just put on your VR helment and suite and next thing you know you are in cyber space. Imagine entire cities you could explore and buildings you could walk into. Things you could pick up, move around and even change. Imagine cyber sex on a whole new level. Imagine thousands of other things to do. Basically, you're describing SecondLife, with hardware involved.

I checked this Second Life out! Looks interesting, maybe a second generation system. However I was thinking of a far grander scale. A cross between the star trek halo deck and a PS3 system. Or maybe a totaly on line matrix that people can share and build apon. Anyway I'm thinking of a skies the limit kind of system that makes real life feel a little mundane. That's what I'm thinking of.