VIRTUAL REALITY IN 2021
Over the course of the past seven decades, the term “virtual reality” has been thrown around quite a bit within the tech world. However, during that time, it has actually become a rather divisive and subjective form of entertainment. Tedious and awkward are just two ways it has been described. The term itself most certainly encompasses far more now than when the modern take on the technology first debuted in 2016. Heck, today you can get VR headsets for your phone that cost just 20 bucks, while on the flipside you could easily spend over $12,000 getting all the right gear for the ultimate virtual-reality rig.
What VR has been missing since its conception, however, is simplicity and efficiency, and that is seemingly finally starting to change, with better-supported tech and easier-to-use setups.
The bottom line is that there have been many attempts at VR, which have just not taken off and hit the mainstream market in the same way as gaming PCs and consoles have. They aren’t as accessible and affordable, and with many setups, you need a powerful PC to run them properly. Space is a massive factor, too, as you need a comfortable area to use it, and this can be a problem for many.
This month, we’re taking a look at VR as a whole – where it has come from, some of the latest advances, and the trajectory that this sector of technology is heading in. Will VR headsets finally replace the trusty old monitor? Or is there room for both in the future world we’re building?
VR Development
The notion of virtual reality has been used in the tech sector over the last seven decades, but the rate of progress has been slow. Its aim is admirable and enticing: To take you into a fully realized alternate dimension, where you can take a step away from your day-to-day life and become fully immersed in whatever game or media you’d like. When you think about virtual reality, you immediately think of a VR headset/goggles; this concept has been around for years and has stuck true to its original designs in a way.
One of the goals for the technology is that the user should feel as though they are in a different world. This concept could be seen back in. His design was a machine where the user sat inside a box and watched a movie. This heightened all the user’s senses because they were entirely enclosed. By 1962, he had a working prototype that was able to show wide-angle stereoscopic 3D video. Other features included stereo sound, wind, vibrations, and even aromas. The prototype launched with five short films to preview, one of which was a motorcycle ride through New York City. This idea of being able to virtually travel and experience different lifestyles is still partly what fuels the use of virtual reality to this day. Thankfully, wasn’t around in the ’60s; we can’t begin to imagine what aroma they would have used for that.
