Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift!

Technology, Computers to be more specific have come a long way since their creation in the mid 1900's. Today we have the opportunity to experience life in a much much different way than people a few years ago, because technology has made a breakthrough in the way of virtual reality with the Oculus Rift. Pictured below is an Oculus Rift Headset.

The Oculus Rift is a head mounted display with a motion sensor in it. It tracks the way you tilt and move your head to replicate the effect on a screen. It's primary use is for video games, while it has many other practical applications as well, such as virtual house tours where you can walk through your house before it's even built, movies where you can have an up close view of the action, and treating mental disorders. This makes the Oculus Rift one of the most important pieces of technology today.

I have gotten the chance to experience an Oculus Rift, and I would like to take a minute to explain that the experience is incredible! It is unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. I put it on and instantly it was as though I was transported to a new and exciting world. I played Half-Life 2, and I steered clear of all the action, because I wanted to take in all the scenery. I looked at cardboard boxes, soda cans, and various other things. It all looked as though I could reach my hand out and pick up these virtual objects.

One of the major drawbacks to this headset is that it will make you sick if you play it for too long. It causes a sensory disconnect. A sensory disconnect happens when your brain is tricked into believing one sense, usually sight, while all the other senses are giving signals conflicting to the sense the brain believes. This severely disorients the brain as it believes what it is seeing is real. As a result, it causes severe motion sickness after using it for about 15 minutes. I felt very sick after using it, because I wanted to experience it for a long time.

All in all, I think the Oculus Rift is a revolutionary piece of technology that is capable of taking you to new worlds! The current version has a few kinks to work out, because it hasn't even been released to the public yet and they're still perfecting it. However it delivered an extremely powerful experience to me, and at a semi-steep price of about $300, it makes virtual reality affordable!