I was very excited to get into the innovation lab ever since I signed up for this class and it did not disappoint. Though I have experienced virtual reality a little bit, I definitely hadn't had an experience like the one on the newer Oculus with the hand controls.

The touch sensitive controls, making it possible to see my hands in the virtual world was a great addition that I had never seen. The fact that it was possible to walk around a little, pick up and put things down, and even use things like instruments and weapons in VR blew my mind and made it hard to take the headset off. I was so caught up in the world that when I was ready to come back to real life, I tried to put the hand controls onto the virtual desk. Though I didn't try the Vive yet, it seemed like the classmates I saw had the most visceral reactions to the Oculus, because of the fully interactive interface (moving, hand controls, interacting with robot).

I did some other experiences in the Oculus, some of which were great and some of which fell a little flat. The Apollo mission simulation was entertaining and well made, beginning with watching Kennedy on TV in a old-fashioned living room, then taking an elevator with the astronauts and ultimately launching into space. The other one I tried was sky diving, which I didn't find as cool; the reasons being that it had a hard time loading, and also because mid sky dive, they would switch cameras which caused me to be a little disoriented. Screen resolution also wasn't great which contributed as well. Shooting 4K on the 360 cameras probably is a ton of storage but I think it plays a critical factor in how it feels when you put on the headset.

I had a little trouble controlling the AR Microsoft glasses, which I am sure is common, but also had a hard time understanding what the commercial potential of the glasses is. In my opinion, it seems like the picking up and moving virtual objects in the room seemed a little rough around the edges, though the concept is interesting. Maybe I just need more practice with them, but the bulk of the glasses, the lack of great resolution, and by not being fully immersed in another world led me to question the long term commercial viability of the glasses.

Overall it was a great reintroduction into VR and I look forward to learning more about how to create content and what goes into the simulations we got to experience.