When Facebook acquired the virtual reality hardware developer Oculus VR in March for $2 billion, CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed the firm's technology as "a new communication platform."
Even though it's not year clear how Facebook will marry social media with a 3D gaming experience, its high-profile purchase catapulted Oculus's virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift, into the limelight.
More and more developers are enabling their games with Oculus Rift support, or creating games specifically for the device. Its potential applications reach far beyond the realms of pure entertainment -- even into medicine.
Rebecca Bowring has more.
Rebecca Bowring has more.
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After the work day is done, virtual reality enthusiasts meet in a San Francisco office space to play…
They're trying out the latest immersive 3D experiences for the Oculus Rift.
Many games are still in their "alpha" phase because the headset is so new, only available as a development kit, not yet for consumers.
Adam Bruce is a partner at the event's host, The VR Lab.
He says Facebook's acquisition of Oculus will secure virtual reality's place in the mainstream.
SOUNDBITE #1- Adam Bruce, Partner, The VR Lab
When they were purchased by Facebook was probably when the developer community really stood up and took note. A lot of investment started coming into the sector, a lot of new Kickstarter projects have embraced Oculus as a way of having deep immersion. Perhaps the bigger windfall reaction was when Google entered the market with Cardboard VR.
Cardboard VR is an inexpensive, do-it-yourself virtual reality kit.
San Francisco-based DODOCase has also brought out a viewer.
Placing special lenses over a smartphone, and loading an app that displays 3D images, creates a virtual reality experience on-the-go.
Craig Dalton is CEO and Co-founder of DODOCase.
SOUNDBITE #2- Craig Dalton, CEO and Co-founder, DODOCase
It really is bringing virtual reality to the masses, it's a very accessible price point, it's going to be a way for people to have that first taste of virtual reality before they look at purchasing more elaborate systems.
One of the areas virtual reality could profoundly impact is healthcare.
James Blaha and Manish Gupta have created a VR video game to help treat lazy eye, where the brain favors one eye, leading to a loss of vision and depth perception.
Diplopia is an asteroid-busting space game. It shows a different image and brightness to each eye. Only the weak one can see rings while the strong one sees the spaceship -- so a player must work both eyes in tandem to succeed.
Here's James Blaha.
SOUNDBITE #3- James Blaha, CEO and Co-founder, Diplopia
With the Oculus Rift, we can control every aspect of the image that's being sent to each eye, we can make it full 3D, immersive 3D, so with the head tracking you can look all over the place.
Diplopia is receiving interest from potential subjects for an academic trial.
Blaha was himself born with lazy eye.
SOUNDBITE #4- James Blaha, CEO and Co-founder, Diplopia
After about 20 hours of gameplay spread out over 5 weeks, I went from having no 3D vision at all to having almost normal 3D vision.
Of course the Oculus Rift isn't the only headset on the scene. Sony is working on its own, Project Morpheus.
Virtual reality may not have fully caught on, but it promises a future that's out of this world.
Rebecca Bowring, San Francisco.