Yes, that’s right. I put on a VR headset and was immediately immersed in a whole different world. How did this happen?
Well, last week one of my sightseeing stops was in Minneapolis…in fact, I was in the Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the US. Let me tell you, this place is huge! It is so big that there are 3 roller coasters inside it, not to mention several other amusement park rides. And, oh yes, over 400 stores.
I decided to stop at the Apple Store to noodle around…and right directly across from it was a large Microsoft Store. And they were offering a free demonstration of the Vive VR headset. Of course I had to try it out. So I slipped the headset over my face, put on the earphones and grabbed the two hand controllers.
After doing some initial setup, including focusing, the Microsoft people turned on the 15 minute presentation. I immediately found myself underwater, standing on the deck of a sunken ship, watching all sorts of marine life swimming around me. I could physically turn around and see this underwater world. Beautiful fish swam close to my face. Then, a giant whale paid me a close visit. That was amazing! He stayed for a couple of minutes before slowly swimming off.
The next demo was a drawing application. With the controllers, I could draw lines and circles in three dimensions, then walk into the depth of my drawing and look all around it. I should mention that a visual representative of the controllers was on the screen the whole time so I could see the correct buttons to push.
Finally, of course, came a game. Flying saucers came at me in all directions and I could fire laser canons at them using the controllers. It was all in 3 dimensions of course and seemed quite real, although I new it was a simulation. I managed to wipe out several saucers before I ran out of time.
All-in-all, it was quite exciting although it was easy to see we are only in the early days of the product. They will only get better. Will I buy one? Extremely doubtful. But it was sure fun trying it out. If you want to learn more about the Vive, be sure and read the interesting C-Net Review here.
In other news, the big annual Apple World Wide Developers conference begins on Monday with the keynote address beginning at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Look for in-depth coverage here next week. Our first story offers a preview of the event.
I will let you take over from here. -JRC
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