October 07, 2024
I just recently had the opportunity to try my friend's Samsung Gear. It's virtual reality but instead uses your phone as a screen. Before this event, virtual reality was something I had hoped would be prevalent in 20 years' time. I was willing to wait. After this event, I could not wait 20 years to get my hands on virtual reality.
Let's start with how basic the Samsung Gear VR is. It's roughly just a case with some lens, around $100 to purchase. Even this experience was amazing. In one of the demos, I got to watch Jack The Ripper pummel an assassin into the ground. I felt as if I made any slight noise, Jack would turn on me. You could feel his presence, and Oculus talks about this sensation. Trust me, they aren't exaggerating. My (and my friends') reactions could be compared to people's first reactions to communicating over the internet. Keep in mind, that this is cheap VR. The new Oculus Rift is $600 and recommends using a GTX 970. That's a high-end graphics card, for those who don't know. I can only imagine the experience the Rift is going to deliver.
I consider myself an avid gamer. I proudly sport as many frames-per-second that I can achieve, as I cherish each moment. For many people, video games are about experiencing a story. In this aspect, virtual reality is going to revolutionize how we as humans experience entertainment, video games included. As I touched on, you can feel the presence. You are a part of the environment. This will be integral to video game development. I wish I could go further into the cinematography field that VR will bring, but honestly, I can't get into movies. There were some theater services that the Samsung Gear offered where it felt like you were sitting in a movie theater, but they weren't spectacular.
Virtual reality at this moment is not perfect, far from it. A few things I noticed after a half-hour of use was the weight. The system is rather bulky, and sometimes it'll slip around. This may just be my experience, I'm a small guy nor did I adjust the strap extensively. Another thing to think about are the resources. With the Samsung Gear, the poor phone needed a break (these are the newest phones) every once and a while. I can only guess that a GTX 970 will power through it, but who knows. The direction I see VR going is as follows: There will be a large amount of exposure to the public. Many people will become very excited about virtual reality (we are somewhere in here). Then the exposure will drop to a minimum when people realize the low functionality and drawbacks. After this, VR will even out to an effective level where functionality is maximized and progress continues at a steady rate. When you decide to join the VR community will be up to you.
I see the future of video game VR as truly experiencing the moment. Living and breathing with and inside the world that the producers have fabricated for you. This will be transcendental to many and eventually will become the norm.
