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
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