Last Updated on September 22, 2016

In this post I’d like to discuss what the future of VR gaming on the PC platform might look like in the future. What kinds of controllers, headsets or scanners will we see?

Right now the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift are the big boys in town. They are the two headsets that everyone is talking about and is aware of but what about other headsets?

Could we be seeing a bunch of VR brands coming out in the near future for PC to compete?

 

 

Room Scale Is Already A Thing

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The above picture is of a different VR gaming aspect but I want to elaborate on that later on in the post.

Room scale VR is already happening with the HTC Vive and in my opinion it’s the only way that VR should really be experienced. I’ve never used the Oculus Rift but even if it does feel more comfortable and lighter… I wouldn’t want my VR gaming sessions to involve me sitting in a chair looking around.

I just couldn’t imagine not having a room scale experience! It feels like the true version of VR and how the future of VR games and applications will be handled.

There is something about walking up to something and interacting with it, you get a sense that you’re actually there in that world. I’m sure that looking around inside of the Oculus Rift is pretty cool and that you can also get a sense of actually being in that world but it can’t be nearly as immersive as a room scale experience.

I remember reading somewhere online that the Oculus Rift is also able to do room scale – it’s just that it doesn’t have anything preventing you from running into real world objects.

That’s actually a really big issue because even if you get a feel for the room and you’re really familiar with it you’re still bound to run into something. A wall, a couch or even the PC if you’re not extremely careful.

That’s something that I really love about the Vive. A grid pops up whenever the controllers or the headset get close to the edges of a pre-tracked area to let you know that you need to take a step back or forward to prevent running into anything.

Technology is finally to the point where we can build a foundation like the Vive or the Oculus Rift to really ramp things up when it comes to tracking controllers and immersing a player into a game world.

Let’s talk about some of the things that are already happening behind the scenes. There are companies that are working on controllers to mimic what it feels like to have something heavy in your hands, companies that are developing technologies that can track your finger movement and companies that are working on 360 degree treadmills…

 

The Future of VR Is Being Created Right Now

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There are many different companies that are working on a lot of different aspects of what VR technology could really bring to the table when it comes to gaming.

Check out the video below, it goes over 5 different technologies that are being made to better the overall VR gaming experience. Could you imagine being able to fully walk or run in a game like Skyrim…?

How awesome would it be to be able to kick enemies with our feet? Or to be able to feel how heavy or how much torque that a virtual object has…

It blows my mind how in-depth VR gaming could go. I could absolutely see a whole eSports atmosphere where people have a headset on, a 360 degree treadmill and weighted controllers in some type of a sporting game. Or a fighting, “Mortal Kombat” type of game with all fingers being tracked… there really are endless possibilities when it comes to virtual reality.

There are also other headsets that are being developed as well. From Razer’s OSVR for developers to the Microsoft Hololens to FOVE and to Google Cardboard… we already have a good number of brands that have made VR headsets and that number is only increasing.

OSVR stands for open-source virtual reality and it is intended for developers using game engines to design games for VR. It’s supposed to make the whole experience easier without any technical limitations.

Hololens is going to be an augmented reality headset from Microsoft. I wanted to bring it up in this post because I feel like it’s going to deal a lot with Windows 10 and it’ll for sure have some sort of a gaming platform. Will it be popular or not..? I guess time will tell.

FOVE is a headset that has a focus on interacting with eye movement. This means that the system is going to exactly what you’re looking at – opening many more doors for innovation.

Google Cardboard has been out for a while and it’s the lowest priced VR headset on the market. It uses a smart phone as the screen and you can find demos, games and cinematic experiences on the Play Store.

I feel like there will be many more headsets to come over the years and that this is all only the very beginning for what is going to come.

One more VR gaming aspect that I need to touch on is virtual reality arcades… that’s what the first picture in the post is from!

There is a VR arcade called Void being developed and it offers VR experiences in a pre set room. So the walls that you see in the headset are going to be perfectly lined up with walls in the real world. This will open doors to new versions of laser tag, horror experiences and many other types of games.

I will definitely be trying out a virtual arcade because having the real world lined up with the virtual world sounds like it’d be the absolute most immersive experience you could get in VR!

 

What Do YOU Look Forward To?

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When it comes to VR gaming in general, what do you most look forward to?

I’m looking forward to experiencing a high quality VR arcade and I also look forward to 360 degree treadmills for exisiting gaming headsets like the Vive.

Hear my words, I will be one of the first in line for a technology that allows me to run around all day in my favorite game worlds.

Have you tried out a VR headset yet?

What extra technologies are you most excited about?

Let me know in the comments below! 😀