Get in the game. That’s not just an order barked from the sidelines any more. The folks behind Oculus Rift are hoping it’s the future of video gaming.
Rift is a head-mounted, virtual-reality device designed specifically with gaming in mind. The idea behind the goggles-and-headphones style contraption is to immerse players in a 3D world that’s as close as possible to the real one.
So, yes, Rift could be a real-world step toward the “Star Trek” Holodeck – a chamber which could simulate any environment -- so many of us have dreamed about for decades.
Rift was designed by Palmer Luckey, a 20-year-old engineer at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies.
Luckey started out as a teenager looking for cool virtual-reality tech he could use to play games. When he didn’t find it, he started trying to make it himself, scouring the Web and buying up outdated VR technology, sometimes for only a fraction of what the pieces originally cost.
When he felt he’d learned enough, he launched a Kickstarter project, hoping to raise enough money to make maybe a few hundred headsets for diehard enthusiasts.
The campaign set out to raise $250,000. It hit that goal in four hours and, by September, it had raised nearly $2.5 million.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that one of its early advocates was gaming legend John Carmack, the lead programmer of groundbreaking games like “Doom,” “Quake,” “Rage” and “Wolfenstein 3D.” Carmack, who demoed an early version of “Doom 3” at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, is now chief technology officer for Oculus.
Developer versions of the headsets have been rolling out to Kickstarter backers and others, for $300, since this spring. A consumer version, which will be compatible with PCs and Android devices, is expected sometime next year.
There are other virtual-reality headsets out there. But the people behind Oculus Rift promise their wide field of view, high-resolution display and other features will let people step inside their favorite game like never before.
Source: www.cnn.com
Rift is a head-mounted, virtual-reality device designed specifically with gaming in mind. The idea behind the goggles-and-headphones style contraption is to immerse players in a 3D world that’s as close as possible to the real one.
So, yes, Rift could be a real-world step toward the “Star Trek” Holodeck – a chamber which could simulate any environment -- so many of us have dreamed about for decades.
Rift was designed by Palmer Luckey, a 20-year-old engineer at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies.
Luckey started out as a teenager looking for cool virtual-reality tech he could use to play games. When he didn’t find it, he started trying to make it himself, scouring the Web and buying up outdated VR technology, sometimes for only a fraction of what the pieces originally cost.
When he felt he’d learned enough, he launched a Kickstarter project, hoping to raise enough money to make maybe a few hundred headsets for diehard enthusiasts.
The campaign set out to raise $250,000. It hit that goal in four hours and, by September, it had raised nearly $2.5 million.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that one of its early advocates was gaming legend John Carmack, the lead programmer of groundbreaking games like “Doom,” “Quake,” “Rage” and “Wolfenstein 3D.” Carmack, who demoed an early version of “Doom 3” at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, is now chief technology officer for Oculus.
Developer versions of the headsets have been rolling out to Kickstarter backers and others, for $300, since this spring. A consumer version, which will be compatible with PCs and Android devices, is expected sometime next year.
There are other virtual-reality headsets out there. But the people behind Oculus Rift promise their wide field of view, high-resolution display and other features will let people step inside their favorite game like never before.
Source: www.cnn.com
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