When we were told we would get to try out all of the headsets during our first class, I got really excited. Here was a technology that I had only read about and I was about to experience it first hand.

My group started at the Occulus DK1. I was rather pleased with this actually, as it meant I could see the progress from DK 1 to 2 and so forth. Having played other virtual reality games in the past (though nothing on remotely the same level as what I saw during lab) I was interested in seeing how advanced the technology had become. The first time I put the DK1 on my head and looked around, I was amazed. Just the fact that it tracks your head movements and matches it to what you are seeing both takes some time to get used to, and is pretty mind blowing. Yes the graphics on the DK1 are not great by any stretch, but you could immediately tell the potential this medium has. Walking around inside the Enterprise was amazing, though the graphics definitely took me away from the experience and made it hard to get sucked into it.

The Occulus DK2 was the second headset my group got to try. Immediately upon putting on the headpiece knew it was going to be special. I had seen other people do the river rowing and Iceland simulations and while they both looked special, I chose the space simulation. I was not disappointed. The graphics were smooth and the darkness of space blended in with my field of view making the experience very immersive, I looked down and saw the details on the control panel of the ship I was in and got sucked in even more. I could have played that for hours. Going into space has always been a dream of mine and flying around in the ship was an amazing experience. The DK2 has far superior graphics than the DK1 and that definitely helped it be much more immersive.

Next up for my group was Google Cardboard. It was a little underwhelming after experiencing the DK2 in all its glory. Yet I can see Google Cardboard having some interesting applications in the future, though I don’t think it will ever be suited for long-term use like an Occulus or the Samsung Gear. Google Cardboard requires a phone to be used as the screen and since the device is made out of cardboard, the looks of the device are less impressive than any of its competitors. Visually the cardboard performed like a high-end phone (as that’s what it was.) I particularly enjoyed the google map/earth function in which you fly up into space, choose where you want to go and then fly back down to explore the city you chose. That being said I think the controls on the Google Cardboard are not as intuitive as they are on the Gear or Occulus. The gears controls are easily decipherable to anyone who spends times around electronics, and the Occulus uses the same inputs as many video games, but the Cardboards sliding metal ring took some time to get used to.

Finally my group got to experience the Samsung Gear, which to me is almost a hybrid of the DK2 and google cardboard. I tried to simulations, the first being the Cirque Du Soleil scene. The colors and graphics on the Gear are gorgeous just like the DK2, but I my field of vision was more limited, it was almost like I was looking through a circular porthole, whereas with the DK2 I felt like I was actually seeing stars. It may have simply been the way the stars and darkness of space blended in with the border of the DK2 but on the gear it was very noticeable and took me out of the experience a little. I also tried the Ocean simulation, which was possibly my favorite one of the evening. Sitting in Newhouse 2 but being able to feel like I was an episode of The Blue Planet or some other nature documentary was amazing. I have always liked Nature documentaries and what I saw in the Samsung Gear has got me very excited of the kinds of documentaries that may be released in this format for these devices. Looking around while a swarm of sting-ray swim past is not something I will forget easily. Funnily enough, the field of view being more limited on the gear helped the experience as the porthole like appearance of my viewing field, gave me the impression that I was in a submarine, which added to the immersion of the documentary of the Ocean’s creatures.

I am very excited to try and create an experience that captures both visually and emotionally. I did not think the headsets would work as well as they did, but they surpassed my every expectation. When I look back at the first virtual reality game I ever played and compare it to the technology we have now, I don’t think my younger self would believe it.

An experience I would really like to try would be a space simulation in which I could fly to planets in the solar system. The closest thing to this that I could find on the store is called Discovering Space. Space is something that has fascinated me, and I think VR technology is an excellent medium to experience space travel in.