At GDC 2013, Oculus VR Inc. gave a series of presentations on virtual reality. The company has now posted Palmer Luckey’s talk, ‘Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming’ online for your viewing pleasure.
Palmer Luckey’s Oculus Rift GDC 2013 Presentation, ‘Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming’
“For years, developers have strived to make immersive virtual worlds, and gamers have spent countless billions on the systems that play them best. Software, hardware, and input devices have all leapt forward, but the connection between the player and the virtual world has remained limited. We’ve dreamed of stepping inside of our games, but the best we’ve been able to do is puppet characters through a tiny window! Technological progress in a variety of fields has finally brought immersive virtual reality within reach of gamers. We’ll discuss VR’s false starts, what’s different this time, and why virtual reality is poised to revolutionize the way we play games,” reads the official description of the presentation.
Luckey talks fast. I think it’s a combination of both nervousness and excitement. His enthusiasm for the topic pours out. He’s an impressively humble guy; his presentation claims that virtual reality is the “the holy grail of gaming,” not the Rift itself. He readily admits that where we’re still a long way from a perfect VR experience.
Luckey uses an interesting analogy that positions books and movies as mature media, while he says that video games are still young.
The crux of this analogy is that books and movies are done making advances that “fundamentally change the experience”. Advancements in these areas, he says, are changing how you read books, or how you watch movies, but the experience is still largely the same as it has been for some time.
Video games, on the other hand, are still a young medium and the leap to virtual reality will fundamentally change the experience of playing games, according to Luckey. It’s now possible to immerse people in ways that couldn’t be done before.
Palmer Luckey’s Oculus Rift GDC 2013 Presentation Q&A
After Luckey’s virtual reality presentation, he devoted about 25 minutes to Q&A and you can see that video as well:
