The Oculus Rift is great, but it’s still not quite in the realm of Holodeck-style virtual reality, because you’re locked down to a computer and a controller while playing it. Australian development house Zero Latency is changing that with a room set up with motion tracking cameras, a controller/gun combo, and lots of zombies.
They’ve gotten around the need to be tethered to a computer with their “Inversion” system that puts the computer on the gamer’s back in a backpack and replaces a standard controller with motion tracking and a gun. You can tell just from watching the players in the video what a leap forward that freedom of movement is for the immersion of virtual reality.
So, of course, the logical first step was to pit people against a horde of zombies, because there’s no better way to prove to someone that you can fully immerse them in a virtual world than by scaring the pants off of them. I’m assuming the sequel will be a robot apocalypse or something with spiders.
Unfortunately, the fact that the game requires an entire room set up with motion capture cameras means that you probably won’t be playing it at home any time soon—even more so than most Oculus Rift software. However, for an undisclosed (so likely enormous) price, you can book the game for an event, and they’ll bring it to you:
Want to really take your conference, activation or function to the next level? Then why not hire the latest in VR technology from Zero Latency and experience the cutting edge of entertainment with the Inversion VR system; the most advanced VR experience on the market today. Our pop-up system can be installed almost anywhere in only a few hours.
We handle everything, with professional staff onsite to make sure everyone gets the most out of their experience. Simply strap in, grab a gun and go. Full freedom of movement offers unprecedented immersion by allowing you to duck, weave and walk around, while naturalistic controls allow anyone to play and win.
Using state of the art motion capture technology, we provide the most immersive gaming experience you can get. Our system is fully wireless; with over an hour of non-stop gameplay and no weird treadmills or game console controllers.
Since you probably can’t afford that unless you convince your boss that shooting zombies is important for company morale (I’ll let you know how that goes for me), you can also give it a try at PauseFest—if you can be in Melbourne, Australia February 13th – 16th, that is. Maybe you could take a few sick days for “virtual zombie plague.”
(via Gizmodo, image Zero Latency via YouTube)
- Kinect, on the other hand, is being used to monitor the Korean border
- You can also defuse a bomb with the help of your friends with the Oculus Rift
- Your gaming skills may soon be necessary to land yourself a job
