Future VR Technology

In what will be the first of many lengthy articles about  Destiny 2 , I’m ready to share my initial thoughts about the full release. I managed to snag early access yesterday morning, and forgoing work and sleep, I probably have 15 hours or so in already. That’s been enough to beat the central campaign and explore a number of the game’s other facets, and it’s time to share some early impressions, though obviously as we learned from  Destiny 1 , this is a series that requires a  lot  of time put in to get the “full” experience. Destiny 2  makes a hell of a first impression, and it’s very difficult to see the game as anything other than a massive improvement from vanilla launch, and also a step up from where we last left the game post- Rise of Iron  after three years. It’s been streamlined well, many of its weakness have been bolstered into strengths, and it remains just as fun as  Destiny 1  ever was to play, thanks to some post-beta dam...

Forget reality: In virtual reality, you can be whomever and wherever you want. VR makes the unreal real, using computer software and hardware that responds to our body’s movements to immerse us in a convincing alternate existence. There’s plenty of space to roam. VR places can be huge. In  Second Life , an early pioneer of virtual worlds, you can attend university, own a blimp, have blue fur — whatever. It includes more than 600 square miles of otherworld existence. The worlds of  Minecraft , another digital sandbox, could cover Earth eight times over. The possibilities are endless. VR movies offer new vehicles for narrative structure. VR classrooms may reach students who don’t thrive behind a desk. Soon, we may have virtual meetings, conferences, classes and parties. According to tech entrepreneur Philip Rosedale, who founded  Second Life , “We have an insatiable appetite for communicating with each other. VR is the next medium in that regard.” Right now, the ...

Virtual Reality is ... well, real. The last year has seen the launch of every major VR platform, from high-quality tethered systems like HTC’s Vive and Facebook’s Oculus Rift, through to cheap-and-cheerful smartphone-based platforms like Google’s Daydream and Samsung’s Gear VR. The early adopters have bought in, the launch games have been launched, and now that the initial flurry of excitement has died down, the more pressing questions are left: how will the platforms evolve? What will you actually be able to do with them? And is VR just a stepping stone anyway, to the even more science-fiction future of augmented reality tech? At its inception, VR is unquestionably a gaming technology first and foremost. The most expensive and technologically advanced systems have an almost total focus on serving the hardcore gamer market. Even the simpler systems, which lack the pixel-pushing power necessary to satisfy modern players, still end up with a preponderance of games and g...