Virtual Reality

Recently, I purchased a cheap vinyl player and began listening to a few vinyls. Call me a hipster, but I honestly think it provides a better listening experience.

No, I’m not trying to argue if the medium sounds better on a CD; in fact, vinyl LPs can sound poor if you don’t take proper care of it, or if it was improperly pressed by the record company. I will stress that whenever I listen to a vinyl, I just sit in front of my speakers and listen—no distractions whatsoever.

Most people enjoy passively listening to music in places that don’t allow you to concentrate on the music—in their car, at the gym, at parties, etc. For me, concentrating on listening allows me to appreciate music at a much more active level than ever before.

So how does all of this play into gaming? Easy: every game demands your attention. Think about it—you’re actively taking part in playing a game with a controller in hand. Even if you’re playing a portable game, you’re still required to pay attention.

This active role that I enjoy about gaming is a very fulfilling experience. You immerse yourself in every sense minus smell. You get to enjoy visuals, music, story and most importantly, you take control of the game. It’s easily the most active you can be in front of a screen.

The Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus (Sony’s virtual reality hardware) could easily take gamers even further, but I don’t think VR will be a big financial success. Just like how I listen to vinyl, gaming already seems to be active enough of an experience. Of course, I can only speak for myself but a peripheral on my head would lose its novelty quickly. It’s still interesting as a concept, but who knows how virtual reality will really perform.

Things like VR have already been done in the past, but not in such a big way. This is similar to the craze over 3D movies and games we had a few years back. People now have 3D TVs and are able to play 3D games, but the novelty wore off, and I don’t know anyone that plays their games in 3D. Most people even turn 3D off on their 3DS nowadays.

3D movies are pretty neat, and the technology has caught up enough to provide a proper experience for the consumer, but in the end, do all these extra features matter? I fear VR will become something tacked-on that developers will be wasting their time on, just to include it. Sort of like multiplayer in some games.

Things like 3D and VR aren’t huge steps at improving an active experience. Rather, they provide immersion in ways that won’t stand the test of time. Give me a controller and let me enjoy the game, and don’t waste money developing tacked-on things like 3D and VR. Like vinyl, let’s just focus on what’s important: what the artist(s) truly intended.

If I were to guess which topic we'll be hearing more about at this year's E3, I think I would have to say Virtual Reality (VR). The first name that pops into mind (outside of the ridiculous Virtual Boy) is the Oculus Rift. It's really been the only bit of public knowledge on VR over the last couple of years. That is until Sony showed off their VR headset (code named Project Morpheus) at the Game Developers Conference back in March.

The Oculus Rift, being an entirely PC based technology, never really showed up at E3 before. I mean it did, but only really in passing (nothing like it getting featured in one of the press conferences). I guess one of the reasons for that is it really seems that E3 is more focused on the console-side of gaming, there really is no big advocate for PC games. The biggest press conferences held during the event are Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, who all explicitly talk about their individual platforms (Playstation, Xbox, and whatever Nintendo decides to call their "fun box", respectively).

The only real curious thought I have is if Microsoft announces something VR related of their own—whether that be in house tech they created like Sony, or some sort of joint endeavor to get the Oculus Rift working on the Xbox One. Now Oculus just got bought out by Facebook—who dropped a hefty 2 billion dollars down for the company—so who knows if they want to get into bed with Microsoft at this point in time. Considering the Oculus Rift is heavy on the PC, I don't see it as much of a stretch for it to eventually become compatible with the Xbox One.

All this new tech is pretty cool, and to be honest I cannot wait to give it a try...but! There may be some concerns with it, namely motion sickness. Now I have never had a problem like this with video games, but you do hear about some people getting sick playing first person shooters. You also hear about people using the Oculus Rift with flight simulators, doing flips and barrel rolls, and how they actually got that sort of sinking feeling in their gut as if they were on a ride at an amusement park. Some people might not be able to handle it, at least not without a heavy dose of Gravol beforehand.

What even happens when all this gets even more immersive? I'm really holding out for that smell-o-vision. When technology can link up with your mind and make you think you smell something that isn't even there...you know the tech has come a long way. Imagine how many people will play games like Outlast, though. Some people can't stand looking at gore in movies, imagine playing a game and it smells like all the rotting flesh and blood everywhere? A lot of people will have puke all over their room for sure. This begs the question: I know how they create sound effects, but will this create a whole new profession? The Scent Designer? Discussions for another day I suppose.

Now with Project Morpheus entering the fray, one of the major gaming companies is bringing VR to the fore front, and unless no one actually buys it and the tech bombs when it's released, this can only be a good thing for VR as a whole. Competition just breeds better products for the consumer.