I recently had the opportunity to attend VRLA, a conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center focusing on virtual reality technology. I had attended a much smaller demo event created by the Producer's Guild of America last November, but this was the first full-scale industry conference.
VRLA focused primarily on accessible technology - viewers and experiences that can be accessed by the general public at minimal investment. Samsung GEAR VR, a product that works with the Galaxy Note smartphone, was available to demo - I swam with sharks - but more common across the floor was Google cardboard - a simple no-to-low cost VR viewer that works with a number of difference smartphones including iPhone and Android products. Google was giving away these viewers free, and variations were available at a number of other booths. By downloading free or low cost apps from Apple's App Store, or the equivalent, it's now easy for anyone to experience immersive VR, and likely build interest for the higher-resolution, dedicated (and much higher cost) hardware just over the horizon.
Most VR software is in its infancy - more short demos than fully implemented programs. Once you've experienced this world, however, you will be stunned by the potential. I've shared my experience with dozens of people over the last week, from eleven years old to seventy-two. No one came away unimpressed. Apps vary in resolution and interactivity, but this is clearly only the beginning.
Here are just a few of the apps that have most impressed me as I've explored the VR landscape over the past week. Most experiences won't last longer than a few minutes. Make sure to put on your headphones!
DinoTrek VR
Always my first choice when introducing VR, this program offers a journey through a landscape of fully animated dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes - flying, fighting and caring for their young. Make sure to look over your shoulder - a T-Rex might be right behind you. More scenes will be added later.
InMind VR
You'll shrink down and journey through the human brain to conquer depression by destroying red neurons. How do you fire your weapon? Just stare! A great example of the potential educational games in the VR arena.
Sisters
The beginnings of a VR ghost story. You're sitting on a sofa in a creepy old parlor. A doll lies on a shelf behind you. The television shows static. Things start happening. Though just one scene so far, this is a great indication of just how scary VR horror will be...
Expanse VR
In this promo for an upcoming series on the SyFy channel, you're floating in space by a gigantic ship as it rockets past Saturn. Inspiring!
Vrse
An App offering numerous downloadable VR experiences. Make sure to try Walking New York, a VR documentary about the making of a recent cover of the New York Times Magazine. Another must-look is Evolution of Verse, a CGI work of art that also manages to be emotionally immersive.
I'll explore more titles in the future - but these definitely include the "wow" factor! Let me know what you find!
Search "Google Cardboard" on Amazon to purchase a low-cost (starting at $10) viewer and learn about which phones are compatible.
Ever since Siri, the voice recognition/voice synthesis AI device
on the iPhone 4s came out, I've been thinking about Milo.
Here's Apple's own demo of Siri - word is that it lives up to expectations.
Milo [see my most recent post, here], you may recall, was a game concept that Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios
introduced for the Xbox 360's Kinect project. It would have allowed the user to interact with the main
character in the game, and so impact his actions as the plot unfolded. The demo seemed extraordinary - but
unfortunately, the gamed seemed so much vaporware.
But, what a concept!
Siri, which so far is only available on the new iPhone, is a
voice recognition and response system that gain knowledge and sophistication
now only from the user - but the entire universe of users. It has, so far, proven to correctly
respond to voice inquiries and respond in a natural nearly-human cadence.
When the Milo project was revealed, just two years ago, it's
capabilities as described were similar in concept - and would have created a
spectacular flagship game for Xbox Kinect add-on, which aims to allow gaming to
interact more naturally with the user - through body movement and, it was said,
voice synthesis.
It never happened.
Details of the game concept for Milo were sketchy. It involved an English boy transplanted
with him parents to America, where, it seems, he has trouble fitting in. He also has a faithful dog, Kate, that
accompanies him on the (dark?) adventures.
Poor Milo was derided, of course. The fact that the main character was a little boy led to
endless insinuations by doubtful gamers that he would be a plaything for all
sorts of bizarre individuals.
Now that Siri has proved the concept, imagine if that little boy
was Damien Thorn, the little boy from "The Omen," or Freddy Krueger
from the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies - or the terrifying
Hannibal Lector from "Silence of the Lambs." What if you were to interact directly
with these characters as you worked your way through the game. Such interaction, I think, could bring a
new level of terror separate and apart from any motion picture or gaming
experience. Interacting with
Hannibal Lector is one thing - talking directly to him as Jodie Foster's
character is another.
With the sophistication and crowd-developed knowledge base of
Siri, it's now conceivable to
create fully immersive virtual reality environments. What just recently was pure science fiction is clearly
within reach. "Virtual
Reality," in fact, has been stuck in a sort of stasis for a while as
interactive technology has caught up public expectations.
I used to darken the lights with a friend's son and play the
early computer game, "Alone in the Dark," which involved wondering
through a vast mansion and avoiding all sorts of perils. It was frightening -
but imagine actually responding to that ghostly voice, or having to verbally answer a
question correctly at the peril of "death."
Imagine being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse - or a civil
war battlefield - or immersing yourself with the fictional culture of the alien
world of Avatar. Even better - imagine meeting and interacting directly with
your favorite hero (we'll leave the ethical challenges of re-creating and
interpreting a historical person or event for another discussion).
It's astounding that Microsoft and Lionhead killed the Milo project, particularly when critical pieces of the necessary tech are now real and tangible.
I haven't yet seen any indication that the tech behind
"Siri" is being developed for game systems - but Apple being what it is,
one wonders if there's a visionary somewhere within the company working to redefine gaming as we know it. They've done it with so much other tech, so who knows...
