E3 2012: Has id Software's John Carmack cracked virtual reality gaming?

[stalepie]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/351941/has-id-softwares-john-carmack-cracked-virtual-reality-gaming/

He mentions the Sony HMZ-T1 as being a good improvement over what's come before, and talks about his work in prototyping headtracking displays. Going by the enthusiasm of the article, there seems to be substantial improvements.


"Perhaps the weirdest part of our hands-on was when we had to remove the headset and return to the bland reality of the interview room. It was a surreal, sharply sobering moment. Even after such short period of time within the game, we found ourselves entirely absorbed; a gaming experience with a level of immersion genuinely unlike anything else we have ever encountered."

[WCP]

I've seen a couple of video interviews about this, one was on Giant Bomb, and the other was some other website I can't remember. Anyways, one of the interesting things about it, is that John was saying there will be a kit available that people can get in the $500 to $600 range, that will allow people at home to experience the exact same thing. If you watch the interviews, he basically says that there are still quite a bit of shortcomings with the technology, but that all the shortcomings will be surmountable in the next couple of years. Sounds kinda interesting, but again, I have to wonder how a device like this will have long-term health impacts to your eyesight, etc, etc. At a certain point, this is going to happen, but before I would start using such a device on a regular basis, I'd have to see some studies on long term usage and adverse health side effects. I'm not sure if humans are meant to have such realistic experiences like this, especially for anybody with high blood pressure, or anything like that. Things could start looking and seeming so real, that people could actually end up having heart attacks while playing games! I know that sounds crazy, but humans have a "fight or flight" reaction that automatically kicks in. These kinds of devices could trick the human brain into thinking that you're really in a life or death situation and for people with health issues, it could be a bit dangerous. Ultimately, it might only be dangerous for people with existing heart conditions and such, but we'll have to wait and see.