The many efforts of revolutionary game development have taken forms that go beyond just the controller and screen. Many people still remember Nintendo’s power glove and all the earlier versions of virtual reality that tried to implement more of the player’s actual movements into the games. Even as technology evolved, this desire has not waned and has been perfected in some respects, especially with VR.
Facebook’s Meta Quest series and HTC’s Vive have made great strides in taking the players and transporting them to an interactive experience within their own homes. Many of these experiences are high-intensity games and demos, while others are more serene and casual. Although this technology is impressive, it still hasn’t broken into the mainstream appeal of gaming.
There are a few good reasons for this, with one of them being the current pricing. Most headsets are in the $300-$500 range, which is already a lot to ask for. These prices are reasonable for the gear, but there is still a lack of content that justifies buying VR over consoles or a PC. There is also the issue of fatigue that can be experienced when playing for long periods, making it hard to play for more than two hours at a time.
These issues and more are hurdles for the future of VR, but these obstacles can be overcome. Many movies and shows have depicted the ideal virtual reality that we all crave to see, and I genuinely think that technology will get to that point. At the moment, the headsets are still not there yet to become the common man’s entertainment system, but there will be a day when an innovation brings us closer to that outcome.
