Virtual reality – What happend to it ?
Article by Joern Fenstad
Back in the 90's we used to hear a lot about virtual reality; but what happened to this trend that hit the 90's ?VR - Virtual realityVirtual Reality is a computer simulated environment, where the only limit is the designers imagination. In VR the user use VR gear like head mounted displays, VR Gloves and other equipment, to give the computer simulated environment a more realistic feel. Movies like The Lawnmower Man and Brainscan were inspired by virtual reality. Later movies like the Matrix trilogy were also VR inspired in a certain way. It was a action packed movie trilogy, with an amazing plot and extremely well coordinated fights such as had never been seen before in movies. The laws of physics could be bent in this simulated world.
VR seem to fascinate enthusiasts in the movies and in reality, but what happened to the virtual reality trend of the 90's ?Problems with VRAs amazing as VR was, it also had a few problems. Besides being expensive, VR gaming equipment in arcades was easily broken; and when people moved their heads, the VR goggles had a delay which made many players nauseous and uncomfortable. As the computers used to power VR equipment became faster and more sophisticated, this delay would become a thing of the past.
VR goggles have been on the market since the 90's, but are rather expensive compared to what you get. The goggles have a bad resolution for a high price, which leaves a lot to be desired.Nintendo's attempt at commercialising VR didn't go wellNintendo created a little handheld gadget called Virtual boy and released it in 1994. Virtual boy contained goggles, a hand controller and a stand. To save power, Nintendo chose a one colour display so the users could only see 3D in the colour red. The goggles didn't even track the user's head movement. Virtual boy also gave people a headache and not more than a year after its release, Nintendo dropped the production of the Virtual boy gadget.VR is still in useFor the time being, VR is used in architectural design, to train pilots, to cure phobias and more. What the future holds for VR remains to be seen.Virtual reality as a religion or way of thinkingSome people even think life is a virtual reality, like a belief or a way of thinking. For a few people VR is more than a designed world and gadgets, but most of us prefer a more spiritual way to think about the life we live.
Read the other articles on my website the original article about virtual reality or read about The history of the internet