Until recently, virtual reality, as a pop culture icon, was like that uncle that would pop back temporarily into our lives, give us a few laughs and tell us about his adventures – some of them so ridiculous that we’d still laugh politely, but would under no circumstance believe any of them – and then simply walk out and be back during a future family gathering, no telling which one. Well, your favorite uncle is back, and he’s planning on staying this time. Read on about how the future of virtual reality is here.
- The first time the term was used was in 1938, speaking about the illusory nature of objects in theatre
- The first use of the term with the same meaning as today was in a sci-fi novel from 1982, “The Judas Mandala”
- Virtual reality has multiple uses outside of gaming, included but not limited to physical and psychological therapy, as well as training med students and jet pilots
- There are currently over 5 virtual reality sets due to come out in the very near future
With the technology starting to take an increasingly bigger role in our lives, financial researcher Ben Schachter from the Macquarie Group had a pretty good analogy to make regarding the current existence of the futuristic piece of technology.
The financial expert states that people are wrong to consider the current state of the virtual reality technology as a baseball game’s first inning, since that would imply that the true development has actually begun. Well, as he says, we’re not there yet. There’s so much more room for development that we’re not currently in the first inning, we just arrived at the stadium’s parking lot. He then goes on to compare the current VR marketers with the various people arriving at the stadium.
According to him, Samsung has just arrived with a six-pack of Bud Light, Facebook is bringing its own microbrew, and Sony is bringing mass-market palatable ale.
The logic goes as follows: Even though Samsung’s VR Gear was first and received many good reviews, people are expecting Oculus to be a lot better. However, Oculus’ high price will limit it, at least at first, to hardcore gamers. Meanwhile, Sony’s gear is going be a bit for ‘snobs’, as it will be available for less than the Oculus, however you need a PS4 in order to use it.
Regardless of what company puts out the best device, one fact is clear – the future we were all looking forward to as kids, is here. We might not see mind-blowing achievements in the field in the next two years, however the next 10 are sure to give us more than we could possibly imagine.
Image source: Flickr
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