So to continue the retro / nostalgia theme that started with the release of MemoRift, we bring you news of somewhat more hardcore retro and emulation option for those wanting to try and bring their enjoyment of retro PC games and software into the virtual realm on their Oculus Rift VR Headset.
DOSCulus is a port of the popular DOSBox PC and DOS emulator (‘Disk Operating System’, Microsoft’s first operating system prior to Windows) . Many older PC games that were written for older IBM Compatible OSes that pre-date Windows require emulation for them to work. DOSBox wraps the game, providing hardware emulation for old sound cards and graphics cards enabling you to spin up, for example, Wolfenstein 3D from your shiny new Windows 8 operating system.
DOSCulus essentially keeps DOSBox’s functionality intact but implements a floating, virtual screen that reacts to head tracking – as if you had a virtual monitor. DOSCulus also allows zooming of the view to accommodate the resolution limitation of Oculus’ first Developer Kit (DK1). Otherwise, it’s business as usual for loading and playing your favourite games.
I’m not sure how attractive this proposition is, but I guess playing games on a huge virtual monitor might be cool. Either way, if you give it a try, let us know your experiences and thoughts on it.
You can grab DOSCulus and keep up with it’s development at the Oculus Developer Forums here.
