Friday 27 May 2016

VR tech prediction

Exciting though the emerging technology is: what we have today is the existing infrastructure. Tomorrows technology will eventually establish itself only for those who can afford to purchase it. This will take several years, at least a decade before todays cutting-edge VR hand-held controllers are as common as a joypad controller as a gaming peripheral. That is if they can be made very cheaply, 3D printed at home, etc. For most people who cannot afford to integrate todays cutting-edge (and who know it will be outmoded and replaced within the next two or three years of development arc) - and that is most people - we have to make do with the existing stuff we already have. Most people cannot even access SecondLife VR because they do not have powerful enough computers. VR is still the elite game, even without a headset when you are interfacing through a flatscreen monitor, mouse and keyboard. The future will be sitting down with bulky glasses on your face and using simplified keyboard-mouse configurations, rather than standing up, walking around and bumping into things in your not-so-padded-cell environment. Bruise those shins, spill that cola, dump the headset in the bin. Waving arms around is energy-consuming and unsafe, and unnecessary. You are already used to a keyboard controller. In future you will have skater-style gloves with a few palm- and ring-studs projecting and interfacing with the digital data observed from within the goggles. It will be this way because affordable = everywhere, because less materials to produce = keeps costs down. These bulky headsets will be laughed at a decade from now, when the cutting-edge users will be investing in contact-lenses for the augmented VR experience. And that's my prediction.





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