It is rather amusing to hear the term Virtual Reality. Two opposites have come together and have shown the world a completely new field of technology. Though this phenomenon has gained a lot of attention in the past year it is not a thing of the recent past. Virtual Reality as well as Augmented Reality are terms people have been hearing and using since quite some time but for long its implementation was a question people were finding difficult to answer.
Augmented Reality tasted success in various simulations for e.g. simulation of the cockpit is one of the most common uses of augmented reality. It was mostly used to train students and semi-professionals. Another field of area where Virtual Reality was present and making its mark was the gaming industry. Gaming stations like the Xbox 360, though slowly and in bits and pieces, had successfully implemented Virtual Reality. A lot of research has gone into this field and lately this industry has seen a lot of buzz.
The problem with VR for all these years was that it was somehow not finding a place with the masses. But, a couple of years earlier, Palmer Luckey gave the entertainment industry a completely immersive experience using Virtual Reality when he created the Oculus Rift. The Virtual Reality Head Gear was a major breakthrough in the VR industry and it immediately caught attention of the big players. With this, for the first time a viewer was able to feel as if he/she has traversed to a completely new place. So what exactly is this immersive technology which gained so much prominence that Facebook bought Oculus for a whopping price of $2 Billion?
Virtual Reality in the simplest of ways can be explained as creating an immersive environment for the user with the use of computers and equipment like the head gear and gloves with sensors. With the latest advances in technology and development of equipment like the Oculus Rift and the Google cardboard, this breath-taking technology has reached the masses and has quickly become the talk of the Silicon Valley. With tech giants like Google, Facebook, Samsung etc. along with The New York Times investing heavily in the technology, Virtual Reality is been looked at as the next big thing.
The technology is knocking on the doors and is knocking hard. Just like Mark Zukerberg penetrating the social life of people world over with his social networking site Facebook, he is completely determined to take VR into households worldwide. With films being produced world-over, music videos being shot and such entertainment oriented stuff being produced in the new 360o format, this technology is growing and growing fast.
The promise and doubt which the cell-phones possessed about a decade ago is very similar to what VR possesses today and you shouldn’t be surprised if you come across people walking on the streets with the head gear on. But for now, VR is maturing and we have the chance to witness change right in front of our eyes.