Editor’s Note – The most common references about Virtual Reality (VR) have to do with heavy duty game playing. But VR has many other consumer applications as well (it’s been used for pilot and medical training for years). If you’re not familiar with Virtual Reality, we suggest you take a look at a couple of articles so you get an idea as to what all the buzz is about. Here are two to get you started:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/virtual-reality.htm
http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/what-is-virtual-reality.html
and here’s a short video from Mashable that that helps explain VR.
We had our first exposure to VR back in the early 1990’s when we were introduced to VR industry pioneer Jaron Lanier and spent some time at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountainview, California, where scientists were trying out VR to see if doctors could use it to remotely operate in space. Faster computers, sharper graphics, and lower cost components have pushed VR towards the mainstream after years of disfavor. And then there’s Oculus Rift. Contributing Editor Tim Bajarin takes a look at whether it’s going to be more than a virtual hit for the 50+ crowd.
When anyone talks about Virtual Reality (VR) these days, they normally bring up Facebook’s Oculus Rift, Playstation VR and HTC’s Vive at the high end and Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s cardboard VR viewer at the low end this new VR experience.
I have had a chance to test all of these products and the VR experience each gives is fascinating. Most of the best products out are at the high end, pricey, and not yet what I would consider a product for mainstream consumers. On the other hand, Samsung’s Gear VR goggles at $99.00 that work with a Samsung 6 series smartphones is a product that can give many consumers a taste of VR and what the future of true immersive computing is all about. More importantly, with the right apps they can participate in VR now. Although its optics are poor and it does not provide head tracking, these low cost goggles still provide a glimpse of VR and how it could impact a person’s world in many ways. While Google’s cardboard goggles are interesting, the experience it delivers is mediocre at best.
There is a lot of skepticism around VR. Many believe this is 3D all over again. Perhaps, but I think this has more legs than 3D TVs and in fact, represents the way we will eventually bring immersive computing to a very broad audience. Unfortunately, today, Facebook’s Oculus needs a PC to run but it also needs one that has a $300 graphics card, while the goggles themselves cost $600. Playstation VR runs through a Playstation with a highly advanced graphics card. In fact, most of the higher end VR solutions are tied to a PC or game system and need to be powered by a GPU (graphics processing unit).
But because this market has so much potential to bring immersive computing to the masses, there will be more low end, mid priced, and high end VR products in the market within the next two years so that almost anyone who wants to enjoy VR content can participate.
Consumer oriented, as opposed to games oriented, VR is coming to market sooner rather than later. And it’s being driven by the travel, real estate, auto, retail, and advertising industries which are embracing VR and making it an important part of their marketing and communications platforms. For example, the cruise industry will soon be taking 360 degree photos and videos of all of the rooms on a ship so potential passengers using a VR headset can walk around a cabin or explore the whole ship before deciding whether to book. When it comes to real estate, imagine how hunting for a home or apartment will change when you can put on your VR headset and do a totally immersive walk through in which you get a true sense of perspective, and not the distorted angles often produced by lens trickery in today’s 2D shows that are stitched together. The auto industry will capture a 360 degree image or create a 360 video of a car someone wants to purchase so they can look at it just as if they were outside the vehicle, or sitting in any of the seats.
Creative advertisers will soon adopt virtual reality and shoot videos and images with 360 degree cameras and create more immersive ads that are informational and entertaining by placing the viewer inside the environment as a participant, not just a bystander.
Last summer I got a call from the makers of Patron Tequila who wanted to come by and see me. I had hoped they were bringing me samples, but instead they showed me a VR ad for their product. It started by using VR to take a person to the agave fields in Mexico and walk with the workers as they cut down the plants. Then to their distillery to see how they make their tequila and then a short section of the three different tequilas they make and how each is crafted with individual flavor profiles. The concept behind this is experiential advertising. If the creative minds in ad agencies embrace VR, the world of advertising could be turned on its head.
We expect the education market to embrace VR as well. According to an article in TechCrunch, “Google is expanding its Expeditions program, the company’s effort to bring virtual reality-based field trips to the classroom, with the launch of a dedicated Android application for schools and educators who want to take their students on virtual adventures by way of mobile devices.”
As for retail, a company called Retale.com is creating a VR platform for retailers. One example is their ability to provide furniture stores the ability to deliver a virtual experience in which one could walk into a furniture showroom and see a couch or chair they want and look at it as if they are there in person. This app even provides a virtual salesperson who could help viewing and purchasing. The folks at Retale.com are initially doing this for the Oculus Rift but will add other VR headsets and platforms over time.
Aside from these more commercial applications, there are five areas where I think consumers will gravitate quickly once they see the value of using a VR headset. I believe armchair travel will become particularly entrancing for many folks who would love to travel, especially during their retirement years. World travel can, of course, be expensive and virtual reality will allow anyone to virtually visit places they may never get to or help them to decide where they’d like spend their hard earned money to visit.
Sports will also be of great interest. Fox recently provided a VR video of a professional fight for use with Samsung’s Gear VR goggles. Viewers were able to see the fight as if they were sitting ringside. The idea of letting a person feel as if they are part of the action is very compelling. I have seen quite a few sports VR apps and games that put a user into the game itself. VR will revolutionize the sports viewing experience and will be something folks of all ages will embrace. I expect the sports world to begin embracing VR in a big way over the next few years and will create a lot of content for these headsets.
Another area that will be hot will be viewing movies in VR. To some extent this has the feel of 3D, but there are two fascinating types of movie viewing that virtual reality brings to the table. In its simplest form, a VR set makes it look like you are in a huge theater viewing the firm from one of its cushy seats. But in the second case, where the movie or video is shot using a 360 degree camera, VR allows viewers to see the movie from any direction. I suggest you sit in a swivel chair to get the best experience here, but 360 degree movies and travelogues are game changers when it comes to video viewing. I have been viewing all of my Netflix content on Samsung’s Gear VR and it lets me view this content on what looks like a 100 foot screen.
Games will be big too. I recently spent time at Sony’s Playstation HQ in Northern Calif testing out Sony’s Playstation VR. This is still in prototype phase but should be available for Playstation 4 users by this fall. The experience was just plain awesome. I am not a big gamer, but I have to admit that after seeing this I will be buying a new Playstation 4 and their VR headset when it comes out. I played a game under development that was a robber like shoot-em-up game and I really became part of game. Using special joystick wands, I held the gun and shot it and using the VR googles I could control the direction of what I saw and shot. I ducked when I needed to duck, laid on the floor to get out of the way of shots coming towards me, and then in the getaway car scene I sat shotgun and held off our attackers. Once you play a game in VR, all other games are boring.
And then there’s the reason that Facebook bought Oculus Rift in the first place – to incorporate VR into social networking. You could be sitting next to friends in a virtual restaurant, share stories, laughs, smiles, and everything but dessert. This will change the face of social networking. Imagine a grandparent spending VR time with the grandkids using these googles and making it seem like they are right next to them during the VR session. We understand that while Oculus’ first apps are gaming, we should see them add social networking to their app library perhaps as early as this holiday season.
There is one other area I hesitate to mention but, in covering VR, it has to be said. VR is the new starlet of the porn industry and companies like DaBoink are now only doing VR Porn movies while other porn video makers are experimenting with it now. It too will be a big driver for VR.
Virtual reality is still in its infancy and the idea that it would primarily be for gamers and high end techies at first is probably correct. And there are big issues surrounding the creation of VR content that need to be solved before this takes off in a big way. But as more and more lower cost VR headsets hit the market and many industries embrace these VR goggles and create content for them, I believe that virtual reality will drive into the consumer market much faster than anyone expects and will deliver a much more immersive computing experience that could change they way people interact with content.
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