{"id":765,"date":"2016-04-15T09:05:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T09:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/?p=765"},"modified":"2021-11-29T19:04:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T19:04:47","slug":"12-fascinating-facts-about-the-vr-headset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/12-fascinating-facts-about-the-vr-headset\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Fascinating Facts about the VR Headset"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual reality (also known as immersive multimedia or computer-simulated reality) encompasses the use of computer technology<\/a> to replicate or simulate an environment, allowing the user to interact with it, whether it is real or imagined. This requires the artificially creation of sensory experiences, such as sight, touch, hearing, and smell. Cutting-edge virtual realities are experienced through the use of specially-designed virtual reality headset (known as head mounted displays). Some advanced simulations include additional sensory information as well as tactile information.<\/p>\n

1. Games and Videos Are Going to Change<\/h2>\n
\"Games

courtesy of: www.youtube.com<\/p><\/div>\n

With developments in VR, the related gadgets and increased consumer usage and expectations, we can expect the world of gaming to undergo further changes and developments. New game features and categories as well as gadgets and developers will soon start sprouting, creating a healthy competitive environment which will present the user with more, better, faster and more real VR experiences.\u00a0Exciting times lie ahead, at least in the VR universe.<\/p>\n

2. The VR Flop of ’90s<\/h2>\n
\"The

courtesy of: uk.pinterest.com<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Contrary to popular expectation, the VR headset produced by Oculus Rift is not the first consumer VR product to be launched. While the practical applications of VR date back to the ’60s, the first set of consumer VR products was actually launched in the late ’80s. However, VR headsets and other similar devices failed to perform well on the market throughout the ’90s. The lack of consumer interest in VD products was very surprising, particularly in view of the wide public interest in VR headsets and the substantial media hype for these products. The over-the-moon pricing for VR products proved to be a devastating blow to consumer take-up.<\/p>\n

3. Pricing to Decide the Fate of 21st Century VR<\/h2>\n
\"Pricing

courtesy of: www.news7india.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Premium pricing for VR products acted as a strong deterrent from consumer purchase in the \u201880s. Although price issues remain a major factor in VR goods, manufacturers seem to have somewhat learnt their lesson from the \u201880s and have slightly lowered prices. The keyword here is definitely \u2018slightly\u2019 as present-day VR headsets like those produced by Oculus Rift, HTC and Samsung starting at the tune of $ 8,000.<\/p>\n

4. Bundling<\/h2>\n
\"Bundling\"

courtesy of: www.oculus.com<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The future for VR headsets seems to be intertwined with smartphones. Whereas consumers might have second (and third, and fourth!) thoughts about purchasing a VR gadget, they are much more confident about purchasing a smartphone. Therefore some very clever marketers have come up with the bright idea of packaging VR gadgets together with smartphones. This box-concept is aimed at encouraging consumers to take up their first VR product. These marketers then hope that word-of-mouth promotion will generate a further increase in VR gadget customer base. Lenovo are currently testing this strategy on the market by bundling the ANT VR headset with the K4 Note.<\/p>\n

5. From 80’s to the 21st Century<\/h2>\n
\"From

courtesy of: www.news.com.au<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past few decades, significant developments have taken place in both software and hardware, resulting in enhanced quality. However, the technology behind VR remains essentially the same. Improvements have been made in the portability of the headsets, which has enhanced user experience. Most notably, the area where VR companies have exceeded expectations is the VR software, which is considerably superior from what it was in the past.<\/p>\n

6. Luckey\u2019s Genius + Effort = Success<\/h2>\n
\"Luckey\u2019s

courtesy of: www.develop-online.net<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Palmer Freeman Luckey started the VR revolution as an 18-year old tinkering with old and battered smartphones in his garage. Luckey managed to pull apart used and abused phones in order to fix them to make some extra cash. Along the way he stumbled upon the solutions to the problems whichhad exasperated virtual-reality engineers, until then. Slowly but surely he worked at his intuitive VR approach, until he successfully founded Oculus VR and developed the ground-breaking VR headset known as the Oculus Rift.<\/p>\n

7. The Microsoft HoloLens Is Going to Let Scientists Walk Around Mars<\/h2>\n
\"The

courtesy of: darkmatterspace.wordpress.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Microsoft\u2019s HoloLens<\/a> (known secretly as Project Baraboo) are mixed reality head-mounted smart glasses. Software company JPL, together with Microsoft developed OnSight- a software tool which uses real rover data to create a 3-D simulation of Mars. This will enable scientists to work virtually on Mars using this wearable technology. Scientists will be able to plan and, using information from the Mars Curiosity rover, conduct science operations on the Red Planet. They will be able to virtually walk around and explore Mars, while sitting right at their desks!<\/p>\n

8. Its Bloody Terrifying<\/h2>\n
\"Its

courtesy of: twitter.com<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s easy to see why horror titles work so well on the Rift \u2013 the ultra-wide viewing angle combines with the 3D to create uncannily-realistic worlds. Even the most innocuous of demos \u2013 the Tuscan Villa (which comes with the Rift) has a weirdly spooky atmosphere \u2013 so much so, that you\u2019re constantly on-edge, as though waiting for a (very sophisticated) monster to jump out at you. Then there’s Dreadhalls, the horror dungeon-crawler which has you looking over your shoulder in the dark, desperately trying to see what\u2019s chasing you as you frantically try to unlock doors fast enough to escape the danger in the dark. Worse, still, are the Combine troops in Half-Life 2, which become much \u2013 but much – more intimidating when rendered in full 3D \u2013 a mere glance from one of these mooks would surely have Gordon Freeman reaching for his HEV’s waste materials evacuation port. Try one out yourself if you think you’re tough enough for the challenge!<\/p>\n

9. You Need a PhD to Get it Working<\/h2>\n
\"You

courtesy of: www.techinsider.io<\/p><\/div>\n

Forget all about plug and play. VR and its gadgets are much more like plug and pray. The biggest challenge for VR users is definitely the almost infinite options to choose from. Ever heard about having too much freedom? Well, this is it! Users can set up their computer to configure Rift as a special device unto itself. Otherwise, they can set it up just like a second monitor, however users will find no real guidance as to whether to extend or duplicate their desktops. More often than not, this results in a static rotated view of the desktop wallpaper. We think that some of the traps in the Saw movies were actually less frustrating than this!<\/p>\n

10. VR Can be Rather Disorienting<\/h2>\n
\"VR

courtesy of: www.schmerzklinik.de<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And by this we don\u2019t mean that it can get users psychologically confused about their reality. In this context we are using disorienting in the physical and somatic context. That\u2019s right \u2013 we\u2019re referring to motion sickness and the like, here. First-time users have reported problems related to motion sickness as well as headache. This is apparently due to their minds\u2019 believing that they are physically moving around, while they are actually in a static, seated position. Noting that consumers\u2019 physical discomfort may backfire on the product, developers are now working hard to reduce this problem as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

11. VR Dates Back to ’60s<\/h2>\n
\"VR

courtesy of: blogs.dw.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Most people think of VR as the latest technology<\/a> \u2013 the stuff that the (original) Star Trek generation dreamt of. However, in actual fact<\/a>, Virtual Reality is nothing new and has been around for ages. Just to put things into context, the world\u2019s very first flight simulator was built way back in 1920 \u2013 that\u2019s practically a century ago! While this flight simulator was not open to consumer use or purchase (as it was strictly reserved for technical use) it was the first human experience of VR nevertheless. Inspired to deliver a more personal movie-going experience to viewers, Morton Heilig started looking into developing an “Experience Theatre” that would deliver a full sensory experience. By 1962, he had successfully developed a prototype of this unique VR movie-viewing experience dubbed the Sensorama.<\/p>\n

12. Buyer Beware<\/h2>\n
\"Buyer

courtesy of: www.samsung.com<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Before getting hooked into the VR world, it might do you well to heed to a few words of caution. It\u2019s not just the VR games and gadgets which are expensive to buy, but in order to run this level of software, you need to invest in a high-powered PC \u2013 which is also a considerable expense. The experience of VR games can be so enthralling that it can be literally addictive and you can literally spend day and night going from one game to the next!<\/p>\n

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Virtual reality (also known as immersive multimedia or computer-simulated reality) encompasses the use of computer technology to replicate or simulate an environment, allowing the user to interact with it, whether it is real or imagined. This requires the artificially creation of sensory experiences, such as sight, touch, hearing, and smell. Cutting-edge virtual realities are experienced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[130,128,131,127,129,124,125,123,126],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40355,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions\/40355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}