We now have both the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest. Smartphone-based VR projects begin shutting down. Many advanced headsets are on the horizon. Computer hardware capable of running these headsets is virtually mainstream. Mixed Reality systems and sophisticated technologies are now part of standalone VR headsets. The Oculus Quest receives a promise of tethering capability. Varifocal technology, extremely wide fields of view, hand scanning and eye tracking are but a few of the key developments. The cost of VR headsets has dropped dramatically. Two examples of standalone VR, that need no computer or phone to work. Standalone systems such as the Go are very affordable. Mobile VR is declining rapidly.

Virtual Reality is suddenly a very hot topic. This advanced headset uses varifocal lenses and an extremely wide field of view, at 140 degrees. You can see the results of this boom by visiting our HMD database. This is also the year that Sony announced that they are working on a VR add-on for the popular PS4 console. The PS4 is much less powerful than VR-capable computers of the day, so everyone is pretty curious to see how they’ll pull it off. Oculus shows off a new HMD prototype known as the “half dome”. This is the year everyone unleashes VR products that are ready for primetime. The Rift and the HTC (pipihosa.com) Vive lead the way, but the floodgates have truly opened.

Sometimes billed as “the grandfather of VR” his work in Human Interface Technology” continues to inform VR technology to this day. It was a large and scary looking contraption that was too heavy for any user to comfortably wear and was suspended from the ceiling (hence its name). In 1968 Ivan Sutherland and his student Bob Sproull created the first VR / AR head mounted display (Sword of Damocles) that was connected to a computer and not a camera.

After all, the point of virtual reality is to trick someone’s brain into believing something is real, even when it isn’t. While that story may be considered more of an urban legend in modern times, it underscores the problem of defining virtual reality neatly. It is entirely possible for film and television imagery to influence our sense of reality, at least to a point. The people in attendance, having never seen film before, had a reaction to the footage as if it were really a train, than just a picture of one. For example, there’s the famous example of an early cinematic screening. It showed a train heading straight at the camera.