Whether you’re into video games, movies, education or even health you have probably seen some sort of integration of virtual reality. In video games we have Project Morpheus and Microsoft’s HoloLens and it seems that Oculus Rift is making it’s way into every other form of media out there. Long gone are the days of the huge helmet you had to wear to experience heavily pixelated images, there’s no need to use imagination because all of the images you see come across at a clear high resolution. It’s all these innovations that drew me to something that I wished I had known about last year, the Virtual Reality Expo in Los Angeles, CA..
Better known as VRLA, this expo is a place to bring the established as well as the up and coming together to show off what they have. Companies come from all over the world to present their product and help the press as well as the general audience understand that the limits of what can be done are now gone. Before you had to stick to one place, while wearing a helmet and have limited controls with very few directional and action buttons. In the current day, the helmets have gone to from full size neck compressors to a more lighter set of snow goggles. The controls have also become more user friendly without being overly complicated. If you’re an Xbox or Playstation owner then you’ll feel completely comfortable, because there are games and experiences that only use them. If you want something new and immersive there are proprietary controls that companies have created that go with their experiences. If you’re not a fan of change don’t be afraid, some of these controls can be used with just one hand which opens up a whole new group of people who usually wouldn’t be able to use them. Like I said, borders are being torn down everywhere.
When I found out that I had been given the chance to go down and cover this expo, I got my two friends and decided to go down there are and see what everything was all about. None of us had been there before, so we were all excited. There was a picture booth outside the doors of the expo, which is where I got the cover photo, and so we took a few pictures and went inside. The whole room was dark and there were laser lights across the ceiling and upper walls making random designs and then some of the companies who sponsored the event. The minute you walked in there was wall to wall booths and set ups with chairs to sit in and even a harness to lay down in. Everyone had either a controller in their hand or were waving their hands around to control whatever they were seeing. As we did a once over, all we saw were people smiling, people laughing and expressions of pure amusement as they were talking to the people in charge of the demos going on. I don’t want to go into too many things, because we have write ups and video interviews going up later in the day here as well as our Youtube page.
I don’t mind spoiling the end of our day, but we all left happy and very tired. We did so much walking and talking that not only was our appetite enormous we also were lacking some of our voices. All in all, a great experience that I look forward to attending again and I hope you enjoy all the videos we put up.