BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT
VR isn’t just for gaming, of course. Indeed, Oculus creator Palmer Luckey parted ways
with videogames to found a new company specializing in defense technology, putting
that VR know-how to work on drones, sensors, and software for the US military. Virtual
reality has been examined by numerous militaries worldwide for training purposes,
particularly for fighter pilots, where it enables them to experience combat situations
without any exposure to real danger.
Virtual reality has also been used for medical purposes. Trainee surgeons can
practice complex operations in VR, or rewatch 360-degree videos of more experienced
surgeons at work. VR headsets have even been used for experimental therapy
purposes, such as a program that simulates the effects of dementia on a person’s vision
and hearing. Applications such as this can allow family members to see things from the
perspective of a relative suffering from a mental health condition.
Another, slightly more esoteric, use of VR tech has been in the fields of archeology
and paleontology. Archeologists can map out dig sites using drones and cameras to
produce digital copies of the locations, enabling students and scholars all around the
world to tap into them and explore areas in virtual reality. As you might have guessed,
the next logical step is to recreate those sites as they would have looked in their
prime, creating a portal to the past for academics and enthusiasts alike to experience
historical locations as they should be.
The uses don’t stop there. Some businesses have adopted VR for virtual meeting
rooms to connect employees in different offices, while architects have used it to
demonstrate what their finished building will look like. Perhaps the future of VR isn’t in
gaming and entertainment at all, but in the world of work instead....A US Navy
medic uses a
VR parachute
training
simulator.FPS. Driving and flight sims can be
fantastic, dropping the player into the
cockpit of an F1 car or an awesome
spaceship, providing static immediate
surroundings while the environment
moves around the player. Meanwhile, the
extra layer of immersion generated by VR
has led to some fantastically scary horror
games—Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a
particularly jump-scare-fraught delight.THE END OF VR?
VR isn’t beyond saving. But it feels like we
may be approaching a critical juncture; the
make-or-break point for this generation
of VR, where the format will either evolve
and continue or collapse, presumably
doomed to return in another decade or so
when the technology has evolved.
It’s hard to see how a single game could
fix the problems with VR at this point,
though. VR might need a killer app, but
it may not be enough. Industry veterans
are still divided on whether VR is really
the direction in which gaming is headed,
and even tech titans such as Facebook and
Google have proven unwilling to sink huge
amounts of money into VR projects. Valve,
meanwhile, has committed to another
bout with it recently-released Index VR.
Oculus is showing no sign of
stopping either, with the Oculus Quest
supposedly being the final product in
its first generation. It’s hard to see right
now how the second generation will be
quantifiably different, though, beyond
minor improvements to the displays and
processing power of the new headsets.
If VR is left alone to chug along without
real support, it will die. Overpriced
hardware and a dearth of proper games
have already hamstrung the platform’s
worth to serious gamers, and super-
cheap alternatives could actually have
hurt the marketing narrative of VR by
convincing many consumers that it’s a
one-off gimmick, fun for half an hour
before you put the cardboard headset
down, and go back to using your phone
like a normal human being.
Honestly, we’d really love to see VR
turn around. The potential is there, and
modern headsets provide a far more
convincing experience than pre-2010
attempts. But unless developers prove
willing to band together and properly
push the value of the hardware with new,
bigger, more involved games, we don’t see
it happening. Perhaps the success of VR
is inevitable; like cloud-streamed gaming
or motion controls, it’s one of those USPs
that comes back around every few years
to have another attempt at success.
Whether we’ll see it now, or have to wait
until the 2030s, is anyone’s guess.The Oculus Go was one
of the first mainstream
attempts at an all-in-one
wireless VR headset.©^
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maximumpc.com JAN 2020 MAXIMUM PC 51