Just spent 4 hours this morning listening to John Carmack talk about the future and in particular VR headsets. He has partnered with a really interesting guy who has just started a kickstarter for essentially the greatest VR headset that has ever been produced so far. Still very much a developer toy, however the possibilities are spectacular for the next few years. Its the first bit of hardware that has gotten me excited in years... and the dev kit is only 300 dollars http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game
I am VERY excited about this. Immersive VR is exactly the sort of shot in the arm that the creatively stagnant games industry needs.
This is the thing that I most want in tech. True VR immersion is something I want to experience before I croak.
That, and the very low latency are what makes this a game changer. I remember trying VR the last time it was cool and it was obvious you were looking through a tiny rectangle at a scene that lagged behind your head movements. Wearing the Rift apparently feels like you're "really there". Carmack talks about bending down to touch the floor and there being no sensory disconnect between the real thing he's touching and the virtual thing he's seeing. The possibilities are very exciting
This technology is being used for a silly purpose, but it could be a good match with Good VR Headsets. Fully 3D force feedback with multiple "virtual objects"
Palmer is keynoting the Evolve conference in London in a couple of weeks: http://www.evolveconference.com/seminar/keynote-speech-virtual-reality-the-holy-grail-of-gaming/ Which should give us more information on the state of things. I personally can't wait a single day to get one of these things on my head.
