Five years ago, I had a chance to try out a VR headset made by Oculus. It was mere months after Facebook acquired the company, and the Oculus Rift was still two years away from market. Still, even in its early stages, it was pretty cool! The best feature I tried was the mini “game” that let you walk around Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment. You could tell even then that Facebook was on to something with its decision to venture into VR; another mini game that simulated jumping off skyscrapers was obvious in its video game applications.
But in 2014, the Oculus VR headset had very little to offer users outside of novelty. And every time I look at the photo of me sitting on a stool with the ridiculous headset on, I feel silly. While I remain convinced that humanity is not too far off from living out the scenario of the much maligned Bruce Willis movie “Surrogates”, you are going to need to give me a lot more to do in the simulation world before I end up permanently supine, forever relegated to indolence like the human characters in “Wall-E.”
I have thought little to nothing at all about Oculus and VR technology in the intervening years since I first tried the Oculus prototype. If I needed to be attached to a PC to use it, was it really all that much better than a traditional video game? I thought not.
Facebook’s latest Oculus product, the Oculus Quest, changes the game. Priced at $400, the Quest is twice the price of its predecessor, the Oculus Go. And from all accounts, including that of Oculus founder Palmer Luckey (who was unceremoniously fired in 2017 due to his political beliefs), it is well worth the price tag. Unlike prior VR technology, the Oculus Quest does not require wired attachment to a powerful PC. In fact, it requires neither wires nor a PC at all. Simply put this thing on your head, and you enter a whole new world. Certain experiences even allow you to walk around and make full use of your surroundings.
The Oculus Quest is the virtual reality we were promised, and I cannot wait until the May 21 release. When you think about it, $400 seems a very reasonable price for what amounts to the latest gaming console, one that unlocks a variety of games (and more importantly, types of games) available nowhere else.
