When Virtual Reality Was Always Virtual
The $200 Headset Sega Killed for Being “Too Real
In 1993 Sega cancelled its $200 VR headset and blamed the product for being “too realistic.” The truth, per the Stanford Research Institute: it made kids sick. Decades later, the one game it was too scared to ship finally runs — on somebody else’s headset.
The $49,000 Goggles: How VPL Pawned the Future to a French Arms Dealer
VPL Research sold $49,000 goggles, coined the term “virtual reality,” and still went broke — after pledging its entire patent portfolio to a French arms company and missing the payment. The gear was real. The receipts went to someone else.
They Sold the Future for $9,400 in 1990. It Weighed Five Pounds
In 1990, NHK’s Today’s Japan strapped a nation into the future: Jaron Lanier, VPL’s EyePhone, and a $9,400 headset that weighed five pounds. The pitch hasn’t changed since — only the housing color and who gets to own your face.
Fuji Real 3D W1 – top or flop?
The Fuji W1 already hit shelves in japan last year, but it took a while untill you could see it everywhere else. Now i got my very own one and tested it a bit. OK it is not really directly related to Virtual Reality and also not really an artifact i used...
A VR Who’s Who From 1994 – uniVRsum
1994 marks the peak of what many view as the first "Big Bubble" in VR popularity. There were literally hundreds of (mostly) entrepreneurial startups taking a wild fling and what seemed to be a game-changing technology. You could strike sparks anywhere! By 1997 most...
Oculus DK2 Lens – Characteristics
The Oculus DK2 is a remarkable VR headset, producing a remarkably wide field of view with very inexpensive single element optics. VRtifacts was curious about the characteristics of the Oculus DK2 lens: what size, what material, and what focal length? The lenses...
The State Of Consumer VR
Two milkshakes make the whole issue of virtual reality motion sickness moot. There's not much more commentary to add here...
Recent Job Posting: Seeking – Principal Teledildonics Integration Engineer
According to several women writers, a hot hi-tech hiring wave will be seeking: Teledildonics Integration Engineers and API Programmers (FAPs.) While porn has been trying to edge into Virtual Reality Sex, and VR keeps trying to penetrate the porn market, maybe the...
Bookshelf: Sex, Drugs and Tessellation
Hot off the press is Ben Delaney's authoritative new book, Sex, Drugs, and Tessellation which collects 6 years of wisdom from Ben's CyberEdge Journal, the go-to virtual reality publication from 1991 through 1996. Ben has always been both a proponent of,...
Why Sell Out? Oculus -> Facebook
A lot of people are fuming over today's announcement that Facebook would be buying Palmer Luckey's Oculus. Palmer and company produced two mainstream marketed development kit head mounted displays which became darlings of the grassroots VR/Gamer community. Starting...
W-Industries Unscripted
W-Industries (Virtuality) always seemed to have a PR person riding herd on any video material that was released about the company or products. Everything the public saw was tightly scripted and edited. But... here's a 1992 video from...
Virtual Reality (1991) – “Many Believe It Will Revolutionize The Way We Live”
ABC Primetime covers the VR scene in Sept. 1991. Although this news report conflates computer animation footage with Virtual Reality, it also features interviews with Jon Waldern, Fred Brooks, Howard Rheingold, Mike McGreevey, and C L Dodgson (virtually,...