Ive been playing around with the new Oculus Rift with Leap Motion attachment this week and am BLOWN AWAY by the sense of presence established in new VR experiences such as Weightless and Peter. Both were developed by indie developers as part of this months Leap Motion 3D Jam -- and they truly offer a glimpse of the future for entertainment and escapism. In Peter, I looked in a virtual mirror and saw someone else staring back. I reached out to touch the reflection and my hand was the same, yet different. Very surreal and unnerving. peterjavidpour.itch.io/peter In Weightless, I floated without gravity in a space shuttle and grasped at objects flying freely in the air. As I drifted around the cabin, meditative music added a cinematic soundtrack to this gravity-defying space odyssey. martinschubert.itch.io/weightless Having experienced this pioneering peek at the future, I am both fascinated and frightened by what is about to unfold on society. Still, before this truly catches on the glitches must still be sorted out (and there are indeed glitches, including Oculus VRs clunky Rift headset and being uncomfortably tethered to your computer via USB cables). However, todays release of the new Samsung Gear VR already offers baby steps in tackling these barriers. This suggest that it will get better...and soon. As an educator, I am intrigued by the immersive learning potential offered by the new wave of VR and augmented reality technologies. One of my favorite early education VR experiments is From Ashes, which places participants in a 360-degree tour of space and time from the big bang and beyond. Rather than reading about history, one might walk around and interact with realistic simulated environments that recall another era. I can only imagine how future students might turn on, tune in and drop into these other-wordly experiences. https://share.oculus/app/from-ashes Perhaps we are closer to the world envisioned in Ready Player One, after all.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 06:02:09 +0000
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