Until recently, virtual reality had been something of a fantasy for storytellers and technologists. As long ago as 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum described something like virtual reality in a short story called Pygmalion’s Spectacles.
“But listen — a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?”
Technologists might still be working on smell and taste, but Albert Ludwig’s “magic spectacles” eerily foreshadow the current prominence for headsets and 360-degree games, videos and virtual worlds.
Since Ludwig’s magic spectacles found their way into print, there have been decades of experimentation around virtual reality, from the first head-mounted VR system in the late 1960s to the first commercial products in the 1980s — not to mention Hollywood’s interpretation in the1992 film The Lawnmower Man, which shaped mainstream perceptions of virtual reality, or VR, for some time afterwards.
The current age of virtual reality began in 2010, when American teenager Palmer Luckey created the first prototype of a VR headset that would evolve into the Oculus Rift. Two years later, he launched a $250,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to commercialise it — and $2.4m of pledges later, the tech industry’s interest in VR was reborn. Two years after that, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg liked the Rift so much he bought the company for $2bn.
Several competitors have emerged since then, from the HTC Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR to smartphone-powered headsets such as Samsung’s Gear VR and Google Cardboard. Meanwhile, hundreds of developers are making VR games and apps, film-makers are exploring the potential for documentaries and animation, and Facebook and YouTube have jumped on the bandwagon with 360-degree videos.
But if you’re new to virtual reality, where should you start? In the absence of a passing professor with magic specs, here’s everything you need to know about hardware, apps and games.
The Basics
The most important piece of a virtual reality kit is the headset, a device like a thick pair of goggles that goes over your eyes. The more expensive, higher quality headsets need to be connected to a computer to run apps and games, while some cheaper ones use a cellphone clipped to the front of the headset.
All headsets need to be used alongside a good quality pair of headphones, and there are other optional accessories from hand controllers to treadmills that are all designed to enhance your simulated experience of being in another world. Hand controllers translate your real-world gestures into whatever game or application you’re using, although standard gaming joypads can also be used.
VR devices have their own app stores, similar to smartphone app stores, where you can browse and download games and apps. Some of these stores are accessed using the device itself, while others — the VR section of the Steam digital games store, for example — can be browsed on your computer.
High-End Headsets: Oculus Rift
Four years after its first crowdfunding campaign, the first commercial version of Oculus Rift launched in early 2016, sold initially from the Oculus VR website and gradually made its way to retailers around the world.
Until now, you needed a powerful PC to use the Oculus Rift. The minimum specs for an Oculus Ready PC are on the official website, with Dell, HP, Alienware and Asus all offering VR-ready machines. Oculus VR has also launched bundles of Rift with a PC, such as the $2,050 Alienware bundle.
That said, Oculus has just announced that thanks to some technology it has dubbed “asynchronous spacewarp”, the Rift will now work with PCs costing as little as $500.
Oculus is expanding its hardware offering, and in December Oculus will launch a dedicated Oculus Touch controller, which translates your hand gestures into the virtual environment. At $199, it’s not cheap.
Price: $599 (£549) includes the headset with built-in headphones and mic, movement sensor, remote and Xbox One controller.
You’ll also need: a powerful PC — check the recommended specs.
Best for: early adopters, and anyone keen for a first-hand view of how Facebook will make virtual reality more social.
Verdict: Oculus Rift kickstarted the newest generation of VR and has an inventive community of developers making games and apps for it — even if a few have ditched it in protest over its founder’s political activities. Facebook’s financial backing should ensure the Rift is in it for the long haul, too.
10 Oculus Rift apps and games to try:
* Chronos: wonderful-looking role-playing game with plenty of depth
* Minecraft VR: the blocky building game suits VR well
* Elite: Dangerous: epic space game gets even more epic with a headset
* Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: clever multiplayer game — the headset wearer defuses a bomb while friends try to help
* EVE: Valkyrie: this space dogfighter was made for VR, and it shows
* The Climb: part game and part experience, this sees you climbing mountains around the world
* Jaunt VR: a range of great made-for-VR videos, from documentaries to music
* Henry: Oculus VR’s attempt at a Pixar-quality animated short film
* Apollo 11 VR Experience: a clever historical app that sends you on the moon-landing mission
* Within: a mix of bespoke fiction and nonfiction videos made for viewing in VR
HTC Vive
The HTC Vive is a partnership between Taiwanese tech firm HTC and the games company Valve. Valve added a dedicated VR category to its existing Steam digital games store, while HTC has just launched its Viveport site for non-gaming apps.
Vive is a direct rival to Oculus Rift, though several games and apps are available for both devices. Like the Rift, it requires a PC to run its software, and HTC helps buyers get the right kit by maintaining a list of Vive Ready computers, including partners Alienware, HP and MSI.
The Vive has some unique features, including a front-facing camera which, in certain apps, can bring the real world into your virtual environments. You also get two hand-worn gestural controllers in the box, unlike the Rift, which partly explains the higher price.
The Vive also comes with a base station that tracks your movements, so within fairly tight limits you can walk around inside your VR space. This means a longer setup process, comparable to setting up a high-end home-audio system properly rather than just bunging your stereo on a shelf — but as more apps and games use the option, it could prove to be the Vive’s killer feature.
Price: $799 (£759) includes the headset, two wireless hand-controllers, two base stations and a link box to connect it to your computer.
You’ll also need: a powerful PC — check the recommended specs.
Best for: anyone who wants the absolute top-spec (for now) home VR system, with a mix of gaming and non-gaming.
Verdict: HTC Vive is the most expensive system on the market, and also the one that takes most effort to set up. Yet once you’ve done that, the ability to walk around within your virtual space, as well as turn your head, is impressive. The involvement of Valve, with its Steam store, means there’s a big community of developers too.
10 HTC Vive apps and games to try:
* Job Simulator: a big word-of-mouth hit; its 2050 setting simulates jobs taken over by robots
* Elite: Dangerous: epic space game gets even more epic with a headset
* Cosmic Trip: gripping “first-person real-time strategy” game about colonising alien planets
* The Brookhaven Experiment: survival-based horror game with plenty of monsters — and scares
* Fantastic Contraption: originally a 2D machine-building puzzler, this works beautifully in 3D and VR
* Tilt Brush: Google’s app is one of the early creative joys in VR: paint in the 3D space around you in a blur of neon
* Jaunt VR: a great range of made-for-VR videos, from documentaries to music
* Apollo 11 VR: clever historical app that puts you in the moon landing mission
* theBlu: if you enjoyed the BBC’s Blue Planet, this is a must for its glorious VR ocean life
* AltspaceVR: interesting attempt at social VR, updating the second life virtual world idea for current headsets
Sony PlayStation VR
The third big gun in the VR race is Sony’s PlayStation VR headset, which launched in October 2016 as an accessory for the PlayStation 4 games console. Both the PlayStation 4 and new PlayStation 4 Pro are compatible with the headsets, but the pro will run VR games at higher screen resolutions and frame rates.
PlayStation VR will use the PS4’s standard console controller, the DualShock 4, but you’ll need the $60 PlayStation Camera accessory too.
Sony is keen for PlayStation VR to be more than a solitary experience: a feature called VR Social Screen shows what you’re seeing in the headset on your TV screen, so friends can join in or watch.
Being part of the PlayStation world inevitably means that games are an even bigger focus for PlayStation VR than for Oculus Rift and Vive. Sony has more than 100 games confirmed already, with 50 of them due to arrive by the end of 2016.
Price: $399 (£350) for the headset, processor unit, earphones and cables.
You’ll also need: PlayStation Camera, which costs $45 (£39). Although you can use standard PS4 joypads for games, some will support the PlayStation Move motion controllers, which cost $99 (£70) for a twin-pack.
Best for: gamers — or PlayStation 4 gamers at least, since there’s (unsurprisingly) no cross-console compatibility with Xbox One or Nintendo’s consoles.
Verdict: as the first console-connected VR…
