Who created the first virtual reality headset?
2782#24
A virtual reality headset compatible with the console, tentatively titled the Jaguar VR, was unveiled by Atari at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The development of the peripheral was a response to Nintendo's virtual reality console, the Virtual Boy, which had been announced the previous year. The headset was developed in cooperation with Virtuality, who had previously created many virtual reality arcade systems, and was already developing a similar headset for practical purposes, named Project Elysium, for IBM. The peripheral was targeted for a commercial release before Christmas 1995. However, the deal with Virtuality was abandoned in October 1995. After Atari's merger with JTS in 1996, all prototypes of the headset were allegedly destroyed. However, two working units, one low-resolution prototype with red and grey-colored graphics and one high-resolution prototype with blue and grey-colored graphics, have since been recovered, and are regularly showcased at retrogaming-themed conventions and festivals. Only one game was developed for the Jaguar VR prototype: a 3D-rendered version of the 1980 arcade game "Missile Command", entitled "Missile Command 3D", though a demo of Virtuality's "Zone Hunter" was also created for Jaguar VR demonstrations.
Atari Jaguar
32612#36
VR is most commonly used in entertainment applications such as gaming and 3D cinema. Consumer virtual reality headsets were first released by video game companies in the early-mid 1990s. Beginning in the 2010s, next-generation commercial tethered headsets were released by Oculus (Rift), HTC (Vive) and Sony (PlayStation VR), setting off a new wave of application development. 3D cinema has been used for sporting events, pornography, fine art, music videos and short films. Since 2015, roller coasters and theme parks have incorporated virtual reality to match visual effects with haptic feedback .
Virtual reality
23770249#41
The creation of the first virtual reality headset can be credited to Cinematographer Morton Heilig. He created a device known as the Sensorama in 1962. The Sensorama was a videogame like device that was so heavy that it needed to be held up by a suspension device.
Wearable technology
32612#22
The 1990s saw the first widespread commercial releases of consumer headsets. In 1991, Sega announced the Sega VR headset for arcade games and the Mega Drive console. It used LCD screens in the visor, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors that allowed the system to track and react to the movements of the user's head. In the same year, Virtuality launched and went on to become the first mass-produced, networked, multiplayer VR entertainment system. It was released in many countries, including a dedicated VR arcade at Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. Costing up to $73,000 per multi-pod Virtuality system, they featured headsets and exoskeleton gloves that gave one of the first "immersive" VR experiences. "Computer Gaming World" predicted "Affordable VR by 1994".
Virtual reality
32612#11
Around the same time, Douglas Engelbart used computer screens both as input and output devices. In 1968, Ivan Sutherland, with the help of many students including Bob Sproull, created what was widely considered to be the first head-mounted display (HMD) system for use in immersive simulation applications. It was primitive both in terms of user interface and realism, and the HMD to be worn by the user was so heavy that it had to be suspended from the ceiling. The graphics comprising the virtual environment were simple wire-frame model rooms. The formidable appearance of the device inspired its name, The Sword of Damocles.
Virtual reality
57462939#7
Plans for a virtual reality headset for the Jaguar were set before the system was officially launched to market, with Atari Corporation originally approaching to Virtuality Group in but they did not settled an agreement with the latter for unknown reasons, but on October Atari Corp. announced their partnership with Virtuality to create a headset for the Jaguar that would have been released on stores by Christmas 1995 and was originally set to be retailed at US$200. The development of the headset for the system was started before Nintendo officially unveiled their own virtual reality console, the Virtual Boy, a month later. The unit itself was revealed at WCES 1995, with both "GameFan" and "GamePro" magazines showcasing a mock up design of the headset in their January and February 1995 issues respectively.
Missile Command 3D
52410269#2
Still, the technical setup of the 2014 experiments was not feasible yet for a permanent installation. Most of all, mounting a computer on a coaster train would not have worked due to the continuous heavy vibrations; also the usual cable connection of a classical virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift would have meant a serious safety hazard. Wagner and his team could eventually overcome these problems by deploying so called mobile virtual reality headsets like the Samsung Gear VR, where the entire image generation happens directly inside of the actual headset. The very first virtual reality roller coaster installations have been opened to the public in late 2015, starting at Europa-Park, Germany, followed by Canada's Wonderland and Universal Studios Japan, all of them developed by the startup company VR Coaster, which originated from Wagners Research Group.
Virtual reality roller coaster
32612#24
Nintendo's Virtual Boy console was released in 1995. Also in 1995, a group in Seattle created public demonstrations of a "CAVE-like" 270 degree immersive projection room called the Virtual Environment Theater, produced by entrepreneurs Chet Dagit and Bob Jacobson. Forte released the VFX1, a PC-powered virtual reality headset in 1995.
Virtual reality
1259296#19
The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display created by Palmer Luckey that the company Oculus VR is developing for virtual reality simulations and video games. The HTC Vive is a virtual reality head-mounted display. The headset is produced by a collaboration between Valve and HTC, with its defining feature being precision room-scale tracking, and high-precision motion controllers. The PlayStation VR is the only virtual reality headset for gaming consoles, for the PlayStation 4.
Head-mounted display
45153910#5
In October 2016 during a hardware event, Microsoft announced that multiple OEMs would release virtual reality headsets for the Windows Holographic platform, based on Microsoft reference designs enabling room-scale virtual reality without external sensors or components. In January 2017, prototypes were presented at Consumer Electronics Show for release later in the year, and Microsoft later announced that it planned to release development kits for such headsets during the Game Developers Conference. These devices would be supported by the Windows 10 "Creators Update". At the Game Developers Conference in 2017, Microsoft stated that it intended to support Windows Mixed Reality headsets on Xbox One in 2018, specifically noting the capabilities of the then-upcoming Xbox One X hardware revision, but the company later stated that it was initially focusing on PC platforms first, and that it wanted to focus on wireless VR solutions for consoles.
Windows Mixed Reality
30328745#3
In 2015 he introduced the concept for the world's first virtual reality album and has developed multi sensory experiences for songs such as Snow, OTE, Stained and Eluded since.
He has performed using a virtual reality headset for the first time at the London Institute of Contemporary Art, in collaboration with TheWaveVR.
Ashkan Kooshanejad