Wonderland

VR hype & heroics

I wrote up some thoughts - SO FAR - on VR over at BoingBoing.

I'm finding it fascinating to watch the VR story unfurl: it feels like the hypey-hype peaks are higher than ever, and the sceptic-meh lows too. Everything seems to be so much more extreme these days, doesn't it?

I'm in the for-VR camp, but only because I've had a go with Tiltbrush on Vive, and found myself completely paralysed in The Walk (couldn't do it. Nope.). Fully-Immersive-VR-With-Hands is an amazing experience, and I want one in the living room.

'Course, that currently puts me in the titchy fraction of a percent who a) wants this now and b) can maybe just about afford it - still pondering that one - and c) thinks it's worth spending money despite there being far more important things going on in the world. Sometimes you just want to Not Think About Those for a few minutes and selfishly doodle in 3D instead.

And that's the strongest of the skeptic positions: "It's (still) not ready yet for the mainstream". 

Google and Facebook, though. They are mainstream, and they are building this for the masses. Putting also-amazing AR aside, and glasses, bots, drones, messaging and healthcare*, I am thumbs-up that VR is a Thing that's here Now.

Lots of work to do, tho, starting with affordable rigs, cheap bluetoothy gestural devices, better headset styling, a far better understanding of the native experience(s) that best suit the platform, more  data on whether it harms eyes/kids/the furniture, etc x 20.

Fun times!

Virtual Worlds takeup

Strategy Analytics has a pay-for report (it's the day for 'em) looking at projected virtual world takeup over the next ten years.

This study, titled "Market Forecasts for Virtual World Experiences," predicts that 22 percent of global broadband users will register for one or more virtual worlds over the next 10 years. This will expand the virtual world market to one billion registrants, with roughly an eight billion dollar services opportunity.

... says GameDaily, who have presumably bought a copy. Of course, registering for and actually using are two entirely different things, but with the number of virtual worlds in development, this chart is probably not a massive surprise...

(via Kotaku)

Second Life can go hands-free...

Well, one way to bypass the awkward UI is to just go hand-waving instead...

Linden Lab is experimenting with a new way to interact with its Second Life virtual world with nothing more than a Webcam. Codenamed Segalen, the technology makes use of 3D Webcams, such as the ones from 3DVsystems, to track user's body gestures to let them navigate and edit within the environment.

Moving is based on the Segway: you lean to turn! Here's our lovely Mitch introducing the system:

Bit weird and wonderful, this. I wonder how you're supposed to chat or otherwise interact, when standing 5 feet from the keyboard? Voice chat solves the former, but the latter?

It's all still very much in development though, so answers will trickle in. Be interesting to see where this goes.