No more unfinished developer kits. No more hacked together controllers. No more stomach-churning movement schemes. Soon you will walk around unbounded spaces in virtual reality teleporting from place to place. You’ll pet your dust-worm dog, construct a new Minecraft world with your hands and instantly share a room with people who are actually far away. The wait is nearly over for consumer VR.
Virtual reality reaction videos have done a lot in recent years to popularize the idea that the medium could finally be ready for use at home. Who doesn’t love watching someone get scared of a roller coaster that’s only in their mind? Other videos capture prototype hardware demonstrating cool ideas, like Leap Motion’s augmented reality workspace.
As we approach the launch of consumer VR, however, a new kind of video is hitting the Web that should get developers, enthusiasts and soon-to-be consumers very excited. These new videos show what developers are doing with essentially the same hardware consumers should have in their hands in a few short months. That is, if HTC can stay focused through massive layoffs. The Vive is a playground for software developers and if you find yourself smiling in awe or giggling with laughter through any of these four videos below, just take a moment to realize VR has finally arrived.
ViveCraft
The blocks of Minecraft’s world-building are certainly simple but they are the virtual equivalent of Lego. They are so malleable Microsoft spent $2 billion to acquire the company making one of the most popular games in the world. Vive developr Facepunch Studios built this demo showing what creating, and destroying, a Minecraft world with your hands might feel like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-6uEB0DgFE
Blink Movement
Canadian Vive developers Cloudhead Games recently showed their innovative “Blink” movement system that promises a nausea-free way of jumping from place to place inside VR with the freedom to walk around your space freely without breaking that magical feeling of presence.
Simple Social
The developers of social VR platform Convrge got their hands on a Vive developer kit recently and their short video shows how even an expressionless model of a human head can create the unmistakable signature of life when attached to human movement.
Dog Tracking
Developers at Stress Level Zero attached a wireless SteamVR controller to a dog and turned the controller into a model of a prickly looking creature inside virtual reality. Result: a cute demonstration of what it would feel like to have your pet join you in VR.
