The Incredible Evolution Of Virtual Reality

as gamers were constantly dealing with brand-new gimmicks that are supposed to change the industry the Nintendo Power glove the Xbox Kinect cheap 3d effects toys to life games like Skylanders and through it all we've seen countless attempts of virtual reality gaming the world of VR sounds too good to be true but companies have finally broken through and delivered some pretty great games now let us travel back in time to explore the world of VR how a common toy helped the process and see how our grandparents were using VR decades before we were even born then movies like lawnmower man and ready player one pop culture has been infused with ideas of VR but what has actually become a reality well to find out we have to travel all the way back to the 1960s with the sensorama considered to be one of the first virtual reality machines the giant booth didn't actually feature any gaming but was a visual VR experience the user would sit in a seat place their head into a giant screen and then select one of five short movies the most popular was a motorcycle ride in New York City which featured motion movements wind blowing and smells of bus exhaust and fresh mozzarella pizza you know how many VR headsets would sell today if they could disperse the smells of a freshly baked to New York City slice despite all the technological advances the sensorama couldn't get enough funding to really take off and quietly disappeared for many kids the first VR experience they had actually came through a popular toy the viewmaster the reels featured a 3d like viewing experience in a headset design which would become the norm for so many virtual reality viewers the world of virtual reality pretty much took a backseat as a focus on traditional video games grew in the 70s and 80s home based gaming grew arcades became extremely popular and gaming companies were looking for ways to provide players with new and exciting ways to play Sega was the first company to take a big leap into VR with their announcement of the Sega VR in 1991 the success of the Sega Master Drive in Genesis helped boost the company's portfolio and led to more development opportunities unfortunately the Sega VR never got a mainstream release showcased a year after year ii never got the VR system off the ground running into technological problems and not delivering on the experience they promised the only way to use the sega VR was through select machines found at sega world or sec apart exclusive theme park arcades located throughout the United Kingdom while Sega failed to deliver a major release Nintendo forged ahead with what may be one of their biggest bombs the Nintendo Virtual Boy the tabletop system pretty much featured everything wrong with VR technology at the time released in 1995 the console didn't allow any movements it featured only red graphics and was paired with a cheap and clunky controller the games weren't anything special either packaged with Mario Tennis the 3d effects were impressive for the time but the red colors would quickly cause eye strain and limit the amount of time the player could play poor performance led to poor sales and Nintendo quickly dropped development to the Virtual Boy in order to return their focus to the Nintendo 64 after the two major gaming companies of the 90s tried and failed to create VR systems it would be a while before players had some legitimate options the closest thing to modern-day virtual reality was the VFX one headgear the tech featured an easy to wear head piece built in headphones tracked head movements and had a small handheld controller the only problem he had to pay 600 bucks to own the equipment and the game selection severely lacked without any major company support so while the gaming industry left VR headsets to novelty locations like amusement parks other companies found ways to advance VR tech without the gaming element Sony was thriving with the PlayStation and in a whole other department of their company they developed the home cinema headsets made exclusively for watching television and movies the headsets gave the illusion that viewers were watching a 750 foot screen through their glasses connected to DVD players the media experience allowed for greater views of action based films like The Matrix or epic films like Titanic through the 90s and early 2000s Sony released various forms of the VR tech including the glass Tron and 3d compatible headsets years later the tech finally collect with Sony's gaming division and the development of the PlayStation VR was born but before Sony's big release the world of VR was gaining a lot of steam no longer did murrs want just a novelty thanks to a Kickstarter project for the oculus rift the VR sensation was born the headset raised over two and a half million dollars through a Kickstarter campaign and the advance technology quickly reached the consumer market released in 2016 the oculus rift VR finally showcased how the novelty caught up with advanced technology HD graphics real-time head tracking and interactive features allowed gamers to enter into immersive worlds and games the oculus touch accessories included motion control devices to help players draw punch kick and grab objects in their virtual worlds novelty games like hot dogs horseshoes and hand-grenades quickly became bestsellers and still remains popular today Vader immortal gives players lightsaber battles they only ever dreamed of and job simulator features a collection of fun minigames set in a virtual world despite all the tries in the past no one has seen technology so advanced and no one may have been more impressed than Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg Facebook purchased the oculus company for two billion dollars and the tech was now off and running and then the VR trend was born thanks to a boom in competition companies left and right began announcing new VR technology one of the biggest game changers in the world of VR was the use of phone screens as opposed to standalone LCD screens in 2015 Samsung teamed up with oculus to release the gear VR compatible with the whole line of Samsung phones VR technology was now more accessible for consumers Sony also abandoned their personal cinema headsets to focus on gaming with the PSP are released in 2016 the system was an add-on with the ps4 and became an instant hit sony integrated the VR with current playstation technology to really improve the experience the playstation camera was used to track player movements the move controllers were used as motion control devices the social share screen allowed other people to watch your VR experience truly adding a multiplayer element to the technology owning the headset gives gamers access to plenty of free games and experiences to show the tech off the spider-man far from home virtual reality experience as a free download which allows players to swing through New York City in their favorite Spider Man costume some of the best games for the psvr are the simplest once take beat saber for example players wield a lightsaber in each hand and must slash at boxes to the beat of popular songs the VR headset even works for non VR games and to the cinematic mode to watch movies stream YouTube videos and play regular PlayStation games much like their Glastron the visual illusion makes it feel like you're watching a movie theater screen of course with every big advancement in VR tech comes third-party developers looking to make quick profits to combat the high-end sales of headsets like the rift and HTC vive Google released the cardboard VR app the headset was literally made out of cardboard and acted as a novelty introduction to the world of VR app developers released adventure apps horror survival games and interactive games where no controller was needed even the viewmaster entered true VR territory by teaming up with Google cardboard to release the viewmaster virtual reality viewer in 2015 apps allow players to explore full worlds and bring viewmaster classics to life Nintendo also got back into the virtual reality game with the lab OVR kit also made of cardboard the whole switch console could slide into the headset and give players VR game options there are standalone VR games and several VR game add-ons for titles like Zelda breath of the wild the lab oak it isn't as advanced as Sony's kit giving Sony a huge lead in VR tech for home consoles and as VR advances so does the mixture with augmented reality Microsoft may not have a VR headset for the Xbox but they are taking steps forward and could have some hardware available for the Xbox series X within the next couple of years Microsoft's proof of concept has come with the windows mixed reality a VR experience which pulls the Windows operating system out of the monitor and into the real world the windows mixed reality includes headsets like the HP reverb series and easy access to the growing library of VR games Microsoft has also attempted to create a VR social space with alt space VR meet up with people hold concerts and experience VR in a whole new way clearly alt space is in its early days but the app has so much potential to showcase what the future holds for VR technology like their current console war Sony will aim to stay one step ahead of Microsoft rumors persist on AVR for K upgrade for the release of the PS 5 giving Sony a huge step into the future of VR but while Sony takes the lead some of the best use of VR gaming tech may not be at home at all the rise of arcades has begun again thanks to the wireless VR headsets but these are not like arcades in the past with machines lined up side-by-side the arcades are essentially large empty rooms with props and features designed to replicate the digital world players play in just think of your favorite laser tag or paintball field but with everything replaced with the VR technology players strap on headsets and enter virtual worlds like jungles or outerspace teams work together to go on missions and virtual avatars allow you to easily see other players the best part of the technology for the consumer is the cost by pay 600 bucks for VR gear and even more for extras and accessories while you become limited to the space of your living room the VR arcades make the best use out of the technology save money and actually bring us one step closer to the lively worlds of ready player one amusement parks have innovative VR tech as well rollercoasters at parks like Legoland and Six Flags have implemented VR and augmented reality for all new roller coaster experiences as guests go through drops they fly through the air alongside Superman and enhance the riding experience Dave & Buster's has found massive success with the motion ride arcade known as Jurassic world VR expedition players explore and shoot dinosaurs while riding on a motion vehicle and like many other things Disney might have adapted the technology best with their avatar ride at the Animal Kingdom park in walt disney world the flight of passage ride includes VR headsets interactive bike seats and features similar to the 1960s sensorama riders feel the wind movements and even smell the oceans of Pandora wall on the ride the flight of passage represents the future of VR and ways Disney could implement the technology in the future imagine wearing a VR headset and going on the Haunted Mansion where you see flying ghosts along with the traditional animatronics the future is endless for the implementation of VR at amusement parks and gaming overall VR technology will only in the future giving us lighter headsets and improving the ability to actually feel the virtual worlds we enter check out our other gamer video going into deep detail on the future of VR skin applications after so much evolution there's so much more to come and look forward to in the years ahead what's your favorite piece of VR technology the seamless use of the ps4 makes the psvr one of our favorites while the lab OVR falls into Wii U territory what other features do you want to see with VR tech would you rather use them at home or at big arcades let us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe to the gamer for more great videos

Channel: TheGamer

Views: 1,035,201

Rating: 4.8731933 out of 5

Keywords: Nintendo Handhelds, Virtual Reality, VR headsets, Oculus, PSVR, Nintendo VR, virtual reality arcades, Google Cardboard, VR gaming, Nintendo Switch VR, cell phone VR, best VR headsets, Sensorama, the gamer, video games, gaming

Id: yXP307L-fdM

Length: 11min 45sec (705 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020