While we’re many years, and a life-changing cataclysm, away from the fully immersive virtual reality world of Ready Player One, there is no doubt about it that Virtual Reality Gaming is only beginning to scratch the surface of its potential.
2018 has seen some great titles making the move from standard console or pc game to fully fledged VR experience! A fan favourite has to be Skyrim – Who has not dreamed of stepping into a Dohvakiin’s smelly boots and Fus-Ro-Dah’ing the life out of an ancient dragon?
Gamers have wanted to get their proverbial hands dirty from the early days of picking up an “actual” gun in the arcade shooter and blasting zombies to pieces in House of the Dead!
Virtual Reality IRL
If you have a few more trips around the sun under your belt your memory probably stretches back to when you picked up the L-shaped bit of plastic that passed for a gun on your early Atari console and blasted those evil bouncing squares. Well maybe they weren’t evil but they moved, and we had a gun so they had to die, you know, game-logic.
It’s not only gamers who are benefiting from the advancements in increased bandwidth, high definition screens (on just about any device) and the desire of storytellers to jump into this hot tech sector.
Book nerds have been losing their minds over the recent announcement of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive launching as a VR experience. You get to jump into the action as the protagonist learns he is the first human to absorb this magical stormlight. What a great way to live as the hero in a world you know and love!
Online Gambling Meets VR
New age gamblers are equally pumped for the chance to get plugged-in and play Virtual Reality blackjack or roulette at live dealer casinos. Virtual Reality has really helped live casino table games step up their game. For players, it is the biggest innovation in casino games for a long time. This makes it pretty special.
According to Casino.co , “Live casino play is efficient, easy and a total blast. It combines the best of both worlds: the social, competitive aspect of gambling with other players and a live dealer, and the convenience of online play.”
Robots and VR Experiences
On the feel-good side of things, 14-year-old, Jack McLinden, a fan of the Premier League football team Everton, was able to attend a game by proxy. He attended the warmup, watched the game and even attended the post-match press conference virtually through the use of a robot called AV1. For now, the experience is a passive ‘watch and listen’ one – much like Sheldon’s Mobile Virtual Presence Device (MVPD) in Big Bang Theory.
Give the AV1 the ability to move that Sheldon built into his MVPD, add a few controllable appendages (tentacle or other, dealer’s choice) and it isn’t difficult to see a world where using a VR interface allows it to become a fully interactive VR-controlled life-bot.
Without a doubt, VR entertainment deserves a spot on your bucket list! Whether you’re feeling altruistic, can’t wait to pull a dragon from the sky, need to be the hero of your favourite book or want to run your virtual hands through a massive pile of chips after , virtual reality is a must-have for any technophile!