In reports from various major news outlets that have been published this week we are beginning to get the very first details about an “all-in-one” Virtual Reality (VR) headset that Google is working on. This year is shaping up to be a monumentus one for VR in general with the release of both the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR headsets on the horizon it makes sense for Google to throw their hat into the ring.
The main differentiating factor between Google’s design and all the other VR headsets coming to the market is that every other headset is an ancillary piece of technology, and whether it is a smartphone, a PS4, or a high powered computer none of them are self-contained, standalone products which are what Google’s headset aims to be.
One of the chips Movidius makes.
Details coming from an inside source say that this new VR headset will feature a screen, “high-powered processors,” and multiple outward-facing cameras. Chips from the startup company Movidius will likely be incorporated into the headset.
There is little else currently known about Google’s unnamed VR Headset. Speaking at an event this week, Google’s chief of VR, Clay Bavor, stated that Google’s goal with VR is to make it “available for everyone”. He also hinted that an announcement would be coming at some point later in 2016 telling the press “We’ll have some more to share later in the year”.
Are you hoping that this will become something akin to the VR headsets used in Ready Player One and similar stories? Are you fearful that this is just bringing us one step closer to an inevitable, unavoidable dystopian future? Have you never heard of Virtual Reality before? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Trent Katzenberger is a writer, youtuber, gamer, nerd, and just all around a strange sort of guy. He loves trying new stuff and creating odd things.
