Virtual Reality Bummer

Oculus Rift

If rumors are to be believed then Virtual Reality is closer to reality than you all might think. And brigading this hullabaloo is techstarter, crowd-sourced Oculus Rift, which is now a part of Facebook Inc. Produced primarily for gaming needs, OR is an incredibly wide-view, high resolution display, and ultra-low latency head tracking device that provides a truly immersive experience that allows you to step inside your favorite game and explore new worlds. Truly Immersive? Yes, withforty infrared LEDs on the headset to track your head movements and integrate them into the game, this is by far the best video-gaming experience you’ll experience.

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Sony’s Project Morpheus

When Sony expressed their interest in Virtual Reality, it brought a big smile to the gaming lot out there. Project Morpheus that, looks strikingly similar to Oculur Rift, however, does have stark differences. The first being design, Project Morpheus looks more futuristic and the elastic band makes it easier to wear and control. Despite the similar problems of motion tracking faced by OR, Project Morpheus faired better, according to sources.

Google Glass

Wondering what is this widely ridiculed tech gadget is doing in this list? Well, on paper, Google Glass has got nothing to do with Virtual Reality, as it bloats only on the augmented reality bandwagon. Plus, the nagging issue of getting people to wear it and loaf around, without probing into someone’s privacy is still a hot debate. But, guess what? Glass was just a stepping stone for the tech behemoth to explore the various possibilities in the virtual arena. We’ve learned the highly anticipated glass that was supposed to go on the floor for general public has been pushed to a later tweaked release. Perhaps, this time googlers will get their positioning and concept right. Till then, we can just wait in anticipation.

Microsoft Kinect

Traditionally, Kinect wasn’t the knight in shining armour, that Microsoft had anticipated it to be. But on second thoughts, Kinect is far more easier and approachable as a device, to drag yourself in the Virtual world. With a little bit of tweaking around in your room and kinect device (some have used upto 4 kinects) to get inside a 3D virtual world. How is this possible? Place all the kinects at the four corners and you can easily pipe yourself into a super-glitchy, yet totally passable rendition of virtual reality.

Canon MReal

Please note here that MReal stands for Mixed Reality, implying that a mix of hacks and some tweaks should have you up swinging in the virtual world. Just like Oculus and Project Morpheus, MReal too is a head mounted display of sensors to immerse you in a world filled with elements of real-life and computer generated graphics. The crux lies in headgear which mounts two video cameras in front of each eye to capture images from the real world. Behind the cameras are two small monitors where the captured images and computer generated images are mashed up to reproduce virtual images. There is a big lack, and possibly why the product is still in development phase, the images rendered from the small computers are totally dependent on the imagination of the designer. Thus, as of now, it still is far from reality, yet close enough to give you virtual wings.

CastAR

This one falls in the league of the boisterous Google Glass. And relies on a technology, as referred by the developers, projected reality. It’s mechanism is a bit too old-fashioned though, it mounts two mini-projectors on top of the head of the glasses, and fits a small pod that tracks and processes the projection. As of now, we aren’t mighty impressed by the design, that gives a very granddaddy fashioned cues, but what really stands out for this gadget is the ability to reproduce hologramic kind of 3D images that fairs far better in comparison to images reproduced in augmented reality.

From the July 2014 issue of FHM India.