Sasha Pineda
MCS 214
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
May 15, 2016
The Future of Gaming
The world of gaming has always tried to make advancements for the players or just to one-up the competition. Along the way, the gaming companies have decided that the world is ready to reintroduce virtual reality. Virtual reality was first coined in 1957 with the invention of the Senseorama by Morton Heilig. Heilig was a cinematographer and inventor who used his expertise in the field that would be the future of cinema. The Senseorama created a simulation with 3D images along with smells and sounds; this created the illusion of reality. In 1961 Philco Corp develops project headsight which is a helmet that incorporates a video screen with a head tracking system. Project headsight was used mainly for military training operations. 1965 Ultimate Display was made by Ivan Sutherland; the Virtual Reality helmet was made with two CRT screens which enabled the user to experience 3D images. 1966 Thomas A. Furness III creates the very first simulator for the air force using the Ultimate Display. In 1968, Ivan Sutherland created the not only the first Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Head Mounted Display called The Sword of Damocles, but he was also assisted by his student Bob Sproull.
In 1972 the company General Electric built the first computerized flight simulators using the technology of the Sword of Damocles and improving on it. This simulator provided 180-degree FOV by using three screens surrounding the person training in the cockpit. 1975 Myron Krueger was the first person outside of the military and cinema to use Virtual Reality. Myron was an artist at the Milwaukee art center his exhibit was called Videoplace and used darkened rooms with a large video screen to simulate the illusion of reality. 1977 the Aspen Movie Map was created at MIT; this was a hypermedia system that enabled users to take a virtual through Aspen City in Colorado. 1980 the company StereoGraphics produced the stereo vision glasses. 1985 Jaron Lanier and Thomas G. Zimmerman founded the VPL Research company. This company is known to be the first to sell Virtual Reality goggles and gloves; Lanier was the one who polarized the term virtual reality. 1982 the movie Tron was the first film to depict Virtual Reality. In 1987 Dimension international company makes software that has the capability to make 3D worlds in personal computers. 1989 Scott Foster made the Crystal River Engineering Inc. this company specialized in real-time binaural, 3D audio processing. In that same year, Atari was the first video game company that launched a video game arcade machine with 3D technology to the public.
1990 Jonathan Waldern demonstrated and introduced Virtuality, which was a virtual reality gaming machine at the computer graphics 90s exhibition. 1991 Antonio Medina creates a Virtual Reality system to drive the Mars robot from Earth, which is known as the Computer Simulated Teleoperation. Saga announces the SEGA Virtual Reality headset, which can be used with arcade games and the Mega Drive console. This lead to arcade places bringing in machines that had Virtual Reality so people could play the 3D games and the games remade for 3D like Pac-Man. Virtuality launched that very same year and shocked the industry with how immersive the game was. It also was the first to mass-produce a Virtual Reality entertainment system that can support multiplayer and network. This was the biggest achievement for virtual reality. 1995 Virtual IO I-Glasses, the affordable home Virtual Reality headsets was introduced. VFX-1 Headgear Virtual Reality System from Forte Technologies was introduced. Nintendo produced the Virtual Boy console which shows monochrome video games. 1997 Georgia Tech researchers use Virtual Reality to create wars zone scenarios as therapy for PTSD in veterans. 1999 the film The Matrix comes out and features a computer-generated the world, where its citizens of the future are imprisoned at birth. In 2010, Google introduced a stereoscopic 3D mode version of Street View. In 2012, the Oculus gets a Kickstarter and is financed, then developed the Oculus kit which was meant to get the Oculus Rift to developers who could integrate the Virtual Reality device into their games. 2014 The big event in virtual reality history happen when Facebook acquired Oculus Virtual Reality, a virtual reality headset company, for $2 billion.
Ever since the matrix the 3D computer graphics are integrated and perfected over the years, in films, that now we can’t tell the difference between what’s fake and what’s real. Virtual Reality is used more and more in other fields film, and gaming is just a percentage of what Virtual Reality is being used for. In the healthcare industry, Virtual Reality is used to help diagnosis and treatment. Companies are making Virtual Reality simulation software like Surgical Theater and Conquer Mobile. This software uses actual images from cat scans or ultrasounds to construct 3D models of a patient’s anatomy. The models help both the new and experienced surgeons to determine the safest and most efficient way to locate tumors. Virtual Reality can also be implemented to help patients in their rehabilitation. Stroke and brain injury victims in Europe use immersive Virtual Reality therapy made by MindMazeto to help regain motor and cognitive function much faster, then people who don’t use Virtual Reality.
NASA is using Virtual Reality to train their astronauts through Virtual Reality. Museums are using Virtual Reality to transport people to cities like Paris, New York, Athens, etc. Automotive Manufactures use Virtual Reality to make virtual prototypes. Virtual Reality is used for criminal justice majors to evaluate crime scenes and to have court cases. Virtual Reality is utilized in the classrooms to help children learn and to help teens learn how to drive. Virtual Reality is being used for meditation and mental health, Shopping, and the military. Businesses use Virtual Reality for conference calls, for interviewing candidates, can be utilized for training, reduced business travels, and give customers a better experience.
Virtual Reality uses 3D computer graphics to make the experience seem real it emerges the player into a reality that isn’t their own. There are a lot of movies and shows that use this kind of emersion. The Matrix is one, Existenz, Total Recall, Gamer, Tron, The Lawnmower Man, Strange days, The Thirteenth Floor, Ghost in the Shell, etc. We are so far ahead in Virtual Reality that there are movies like The Martian, The Hunger Games, The Lion King, Wild, School of Rock, and Star Wars 7 remastered just for the Oculus Rift to give the movie goer a more believable reality. There are shows like Heroes: Reborn character Miko Otomo, who’s power, is that she can jump into a video game and become a player within the game. Their anime’s like sword art online that drag the player into the world of games once the player puts on a pair of headphones. In Digimon, the digit tamers enter a virtual world to go on adventures. The robot was a show in the 90s about a boy who jumps in and out of a virtual world. There are even games themselves that the story line requires characters to go into a Virtual world, like Persona 4 where the main characters can bounce in and out of the T.V world to try to save people who are thrown into the T.V world.
Since Virtual Reality was first introduced in 1967, the world has gone crazy developing for the experience. Virtual Reality went from just for movies to the military, then it jumped to games, to it disappearing and coming back strong in 2012. In movies and shows Virtual Reality always felt like a thing of the future, every science fiction movie, show or book had to have some aspect of Virtual Reality. When did Virtual Reality go from science fiction to Reality? The advancements in technology have given rise to some of the best techs for the present. Virtual Reality is doing so much for the real world and doing a lot more for the video game world. I believe that Virtual Reality is going to be in every home and the hands of every person. Virtual Reality will make it easier for us to work from home, soon our television will be Virtual Reality pads, books and notebooks will no longer have a paper they too will be Virtual Reality pads. Libraries would be full of just Virtual Reality kind of books.
Work Cited
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“Timeline of Virtual Reality History & Important VR Chronological Events.” Http://allvirtualreality.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2016.
“Advantages of Virtual Reality in Medicine – Virtual Reality.” Virtual Reality Society. N.p., 27 Dec. 2015. Web. 16 May 2016.
Revesencio, Jonha. “How Can Businesses Benefit From Virtual Reality?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.
“Benefits of Virtual Reality in the Classroom – Virtual Reality.” Virtual Reality Society. N.p., 28 Dec. 2015. Web. 16 May 2016.
“Beyond Gaming: 10 Other Fascinating Uses for Virtual-Reality Tech.” LiveScience. TechMedia Network, n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.
“7 Movies You Can Experience in Virtual Reality.” Observer. N.p., 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 16 May 2016
“Miko Otomo.” – Heroes Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.
