Back in the early 1990s, the future was VR.
Virtual Reality was touted as the next wave in entertainment technology, and VR buzzwords were everywhere. Nintendo infamously released the not-at-all-successful Virtual Boy, and some arcades installed some expensive-to-play VR headsets. What’s more, VR was everywhere in the culture, spawning several VR-based TV shows (VR5, VR Troopers, and Harsh Realm all spring to mind), and it appeared in movies (The Lawnmower Man, Ghost in the Machine, Hackers, The Matrix, eXistenZ, etc. etc.). Despite its ubiquity, no technology company was able to convincing produce an inexpensive, consumer-grade VR system, and the fickle consumers just began to get over it after a while. For many years, the tech remained somewhat dormant while the public became obsessed with smartphone technology instead.
Check Out: 32% of Consumers Want Virtual Reality
According to CNET, however, a venture capital firm called Rotherberg Ventures will be giving $10 million to various tech companies developing VR technology.
This influx of capital assures that the previously unwieldy technology (which involves headphones and eye-covering mini-screens) will likely experience a boom, or at least a new resurgence of interest from tech companies and from consumers. Google, Sony, Samsung, and HTC have expressed interest, as has Oculus VR, the current VR tech leader, and with heavy hitters like these in the game, we might get what we always dreamed about, way back in 1991.
Top Image: Saban
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
