Source: Oculus VR / creative commons

A technology that was long considered dead or at least not possible to produce for massive distribution has recently started a new online hype.

New affordable virtual reality (VR) headsets seem to bring us closer to what we would imagine an experience in VR would be like. Known only to gamers and LA bound tech nerds Oculus was founded in 2012. They acquired enough capital to develop a rather inexpensive version of their virtual reality headset (Oculus Rift). 

Using the popular crowdfunding side Kickstarter (more on crowdfunding) they could deliver developer sets to founders of their campaign. Last week this company was the latest buy of no other than Facebook.

Facebook that recently bought the popular chat app WhatsApp now paid 2.2 billion dollars for Oculus. Founder Zuckerberg seems to believe this tool might not only be interesting to gamers but opens up a whole new world to connect with each other and build social networks. 

Even though Oculus is not even close to delivering an experience that makes meeting in actual virtual reality possible today it seems to have taken a big step towards it.

So what makes this headset so unique? It delivers a visual experience that goes beyond the experience on any other device. Because there are no limits to where you can look it creates the illusion of actually being in the room or the landscape you are looking at watch how it works and how people react here.

A Sci-fi dream that almost no one hoped for to become reality anymore seems to be at our fingertips now. It is more than what for example my dentist offers: wearing a headset and watching a movie on a tiny screen while she is operating (true!).

This technology is not only interesting to make the gaming experience more real but it could be used for many scenarios outside the actual gaming world. For example you could walk through your new house  before it is build or check out your hotel room and destination before your trip. It would also possible to integrate these VR headsets in elearning and in classrooms maybe in a few years.

Even if this is only a temporary hype Oculus now has enough money to develop their headset even further.

Some part of the gaming community however was not amused by yet another Facebook acquisition that in their opinion kills any of the independent developer spirit.

Would you be interested in visiting VR? What would you like to use it for or experience with it?

Sources:

1. http://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Endlich-mittendrin-1843019.html
2. http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/gaming-accessories/oculus-rift-1123963/review
3. http://time.com/37842/facebook-oculus-rift/
4. http://www.gruenderszene.de/allgemein/facebook-oculus-virtual-reality
5. http://time.com/39577/facebook-oculus-vr-inside-story/