It’s no secret that virtual reality (VR) is going to be the next big tech thing.
So far, it’s mostly been gamers and geeks who’ve been slavering for a real, immersive virtual reality experience… basically so we can step into a video game environment and blow stuff up, shoot aliens or slaughter orcs with a sword like we’re really there. I get a squishy feeling inside just thinking about it.
But VR became bound for the mainstream when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg paid a ba-zillion dollars in March for Oculus Rift, a head-mounted display that’s the current talk of the tech world. A consumer version of Oculus Rift should be out sometime next year (or at least before 2016, according to developers), and for those that can’t wait, Sony’s Project Morpheus VR headset for the Playstation 4 is due out sometime before the end of the year, supposedly.
So, unfortunately we’re going to have to wait a little longer before we can feel like we’re really on an alien planet, blowing away its (obviously evil) inhabitants willy-nilly, or wandering the fantasy world of Azeroth parrying and thrusting our swords through hordes of evil minions with glee. Oop, here comes that squishy feeling again.
We’re also going to have to raid our piggy banks for those VR experiences, because both Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus will likely set you back at least a few hundred dollars. VR isn’t cheap, y’know.
Well, except when it is.
You can actually get a pretty cool VR experience right now, complete with head-motion-tracking, thanks to something called Google Cardboard. And it’s either dirt-cheap or free, depending on if you want to build one yourself.
Google Cardboard is, as the name implies, actually made of cardboard. It’s basically a little fold out mount for smartphones that, combined with a couple lenses and a downloadable app, creates virtual environments for you to explore.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem all that impressive, until you slot a smatphone into it and can literally move your head around inside a virtual world. It’s actually pretty amazing. I got that squishy feeling just being able to glance around a cartoon environment while watching the antics of an animated mouse.
You can order the thing online for $20-$30, or download the specs for free and build one yourself using a pizza box, a rubber band, a magnet, fasteners and lenses.
So far, Google Cardboard is only usable if you have an Android phone (which, as an iPhone user, made me cry a little), however a similar product is being crowdfunded and developed for the iPad. Although, admittedly the idea and image of strapping an iPad to your face seems utterly ridiculous. You may as well lash a 40-inch TV to your head and just call it a day.
Rumour has it that there are indeed some iPhone apps that will run with Google Cardboard now, so Apple fans may still be able to get in on the cheap virtual action, too. But with things like Google Cardboard available to the masses, and Oculus and Morpheus releases just around the corner, VR is definitely leaving the realms of sci-fi and finally becoming a real mainstream reality. Let the squishy feelings begin.
