HTC And Valve Have Cracked The VR Code
He had just walked me through one of the best demos I had ever seen. It was the HTC Vive, a sensor-studded helmet with dual hand controllers that allowed me to enter almost a dozen alternate universes as real and as exciting as the real world. When I say I was impressed, amused, and excited, trust me. This was one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time and I am thrilled that I got to be part of it.
The Vive, which is in its development stage, is essentially an immersive VR goggle set that ascertains your position using pulsing laser lights. Sensors on the mask triangulate your height and X/Y/Z coordinates based on the position of the lasers and the hand controllers look like a more stylized Wiimote but turn into futuristic ray gun like appendages (or even cartoon hands) in the game. The entire rig ran off of a stock but powerful gaming PC that pumped out the various demos including an undersea adventure complete with whale, a cooking test that looked like a Nintendo game, and a sneak preview of a new Portal game that was so immersive that you get chills when a massive GlaDOS unfurls like a malevolent umbrella.
I have used multiple VR systems, most recently the Oculus, but this was something different entirely. It was smooth, sharp, and the content was perfectly suited for the medium. Everything interacted without a stutter or stitch. A painting demo allowed you to create 3D objects in real space and made me realize that this was the perfect environment for 3D modeling. The tiny tabletop game demo – essentially a sort of tower defense game in miniature – made me forget I was in a featureless room in Barcelona. The closest thing I can compare it to was the vision in William Gibson’s Dogfight where jacked in players controlled tiny 3D fighter planes. It was the first time in years that I smiled at a demo.
Do not misunderstand me: this is cutting edge technology in the way, say the way Macintosh changed computing and the Motorola StarTAC changed telephony.
See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/04/htc-and-valve-have-cracked-the-vr-code/?ncid=tcdaily#tmhmdj:HgKN