This thread is inspired by another: view original post
The video above is NOT virtual reality gaming, but augmented reality gaming. There is a difference.
Anyways, virtual reality gaming. It's coming...sooner or later. We all want it.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGFuedKS9Mg]Things like the Oculus Rift in collaboration with the Virtuix Omni and Kinect are making HUGE leaps forward towards what I would like to call [i]real[/i] virtual gaming.[/url]
By "real virtual reality gaming" I mean something like [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4J8mVUhd80]Sword Art Online[/url] (don't worry, I found an English version just for you guys). This is the kind of product that I'm [i]really[/i] waiting for, and I'll definitely be getting one if such a thing were to come out.
So with great strides towards [i]real[/i] virtual reality gaming from Oculus Rift/Omni/Kinect and from the video I embedded, how long do you guys think it will take for us to invent [i]real[/i] virtual reality gaming?
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I won't get excited for virtual reality until someone invents a device where I don't need to move in the real world in order to move in the virtual world. The current way VR is done is so restrictive in terms of what the player can do that I won't bother to get excited. I mean, sure, the Omni is cool, but it's not really practical as far as movement in the game world goes. Sure, it allows you to walk, run, even jump, but it doesn't allow you to move like you would in real life. Of course there are other solutions such as omnidirectional treadmills. Costs aside, they are still impractical and dangerous. Obviously, you can't have one in your living room. Even if you could, if you were on one an Oculus Rift on your head, movement would be awkward and you'd be very likely to fall over. Because the reality is that you rely so much on your vision, that if there is even a tiny discrepancy between the real world and the game world (e.g. distance from the ground or latency) you can't move properly because what you see doesn't correspond to what really happens. Finally, even if we had some magical virtual reality where the platform at which you move would be perfectly in sync with the game, let's face it, it wouldn't be so cool as you might think. You would get exhausted for running, you would still get severely hurt trying to do cool tricks in the game. When I imagine real virtual reality, I imagine a device that takes signals from my brain and translates those to actions in the game world and what I see is projected straight to my visual cortex. In essence, you would be sleeping while playing the game, allowing you to do anything. That's the only way gaming will ever evolve from using mouse and keyboard or controller as far as hardcore gaming is concerned (casual gaming has already fully adopted motion based controls). When do I think it will happen? Not for a while. If there is one thing in nature we have very little understanding about, it's our brain. Of course there are great examples of technology that allows brain signals to be translated to actions on a computer, but nothing to the extent that it could be applied to games. Until then, I'll be very happy with my mouse, keyboard, and gamepad.