Back in the 90’s, traditional arcades were huffing their final breaths here in the States and it was around this same time the original choppy incarnations of virtual reality simulators hit the scene. These were massive pod looking devices that you would literally crawl into and outfit yourself in helmets and sensor gloves. It was a technology that also inspired a particularly awesome X-Files episode written by cyberpunk icons, William Gibson and Tom Maddox. As novel as the tech was, it wasn’t the most user friendly and it definitely wasn’t the high fidelity digital world that books like Neuromancer told us were possible. Eventually, the virtual reality boom dried up, and the machines disappeared along with the American arcades that housed them.
For nearly 20 years VR remained one of those nostalgia topics that people revisited when talking about their youth, at least until 2012 when Oculus Rift became the buzz of gaming. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Facebook made the controversial announcement that they had agreed to purchase Oculus VR.
Flash forward to this year and Oculus VR has confirmed that they are working on two dozen games that will be exclusive to their device as well as making investments in other non-exclusives titles. Oculus VR CEO, Brendan Iribe explained, “It doesn’t come as a surprise, but it bears repeating: games are still the primary focus for Oculus. This is a company built by and made up of game developers, from top to bottom. Games drive the tech and design of both game and non-game applications. Oculus realizes that before it can really get non-game applications firing on all cylinders, it’s best to continue to perfect game-focused practices.”
By being willing to put money into the market, the company is helping to increase the chances of VR becoming a legitimate reality. With SteamVR set to make an appearance on the scene as well, the future is shaping up for this new-old technology.
