神奇小子再造虚拟现实

    虚拟现实为何始终不愠不火？如果你问帕尔默•勒克，他会告诉你，这是因为技术并没有做好准备。当时所用的显示器不够清晰，响应时间太过迟钝，而头盔又太过笨重，使用起来并不舒服。最糟糕的是，这些设备可能要花费数万美元。他说：“就算有一家伟大的公司能够做好以上所有的事情，还是无法生产出高品质的、经济实惠的虚拟现实头盔。”

    如今，到底发生了哪些变化？智能手机与平板电脑发挥了关键的作用，比如显示器和无处不在的动作跟踪技术，更不用说大幅提高的软件与处理能力了。于是，Oculus Rift横空出世。虚拟现实头盔Oculus Rift配有7寸屏幕，让视频游戏行业的许多人垂涎三尺，因为它可以带来更丰富的游戏体验。游戏开发公司iD软件（iD software）联合创始人、《毁灭战士》（Doom）和《德军司令部3D》（Wolfenstein 3D）等游戏的主程序设计师约翰•卡马克称Rift是“史上最出色的虚拟现实示范产品。”《战争机器》（Gears of War）制作人克里夫•布莱沙辛斯基也在最近的一次大会上表达了自己对这款设备的钟爱之情。《我的世界》（MineCraft）的设计师马库斯“诺奇”佩尔森也是这款设备的粉丝之一。

    Oculus是勒克经过三年不断试验的成果。勒克在加州的长滩长大，在家中接受教育，自称是一位虚拟现实发烧友。受到视频游戏控制台改造高手本•赫肯顿作品的激励，勒克自己试验了虚拟现实，并通过自己收集的45台不同设备，组装了早期的原型机。此外，他还曾以工程师的身份，前往南加州大学（University of Southern California）的创意技术学院（Institute for Creative Technologies）游学，在混合现实实验室里帮助研究虚拟现实系统。他回忆说：“我始终没有找到自己想要的那种品质。所以我决定自己动手做一台。”

    勒克的作品引起了卡马克的注意。卡马克在一个3-D爱好者论坛里得知了勒克的作品，于是联系勒克对这块头盔进行测试。最后，卡马克在E3电子娱乐展（Electronic Entertainment Expo）上用原型机演示了《毁灭战士3》，设备宽阔的视角令观众们惊叹不已。（大多数虚拟现实头盔可提供40度的视角，而Rift则可以提供110度的视角，能够提供更加身临其境的游戏体验）。

    E3大会结束后不久，勒克便与云端流媒体公司Gaikai的前首席产品官、CEO布兰登•艾里布联合成立了Oculus VR公司，进一步开发硬件与软件。去年，这家位于加州尔湾市的初创公司从大众筹资平台Kickstarter网站融资超过240万美元——远远超过了勒克当初250,000美元的预期。

    艾里布表示，目前公司的重点是将硬件与软件工具提供给开发者，以便于开发者特别针对头盔开发新游戏，同时修改现有游戏，以便增强游戏体验。他信心满满地表示：“等到用户版上市，将会有大量针对该头盔开发的游戏。”游戏制造商维尔福公司（Valve）出品的免费射击游戏《军团要塞2》（Team Fortress 2）的升级版，是正式支持Rift 3-D体验的首款游戏。（《毁灭战士3》则被延期。）目前，用户版价格尚未确定。

    超过10,000名开发人员已经收到了开发套装，但公司对于消费者型号的可用性与官方定价始终三缄其口。先说最重要的：勒克希望通过采用更清晰、分辨率更高的显示器解决早期的反馈，并且可能包括“位置跟踪”功能，如此一来，玩家们在游戏中所看到的场景将更准确地反应其身体的动作。等到大多数玩家都能用上勒克的虚拟现实头盔时，我们可以肯定的说，游戏将不再是一个虚幻的世界，而会变得更加真实。(财富中文网)

    Ask Palmer Luckey why virtual reality never took off, and he'll tell you that the technology wasn't ready. The displays used then weren't sharp enough, the response time too sluggish, and headsets too bulky to use comfortably. Worst of all, those devices could cost tens of thousands of dollars. "Even if a company was great and did everything right, there wasn't a chance they were going to do a high-quality, affordable VR headset," he says.

    What's changed? Smartphones and tablets have made some crucial parts, like the display or motion-tracking technology, ubiquitous -- not to mention software and processing power have increased dramatically. Enter the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset with a 7-inch screen that has many in the video game industry salivating over the promise of richer gaming experiences.John Carmack, co-founder of the game studio iD software and lead programmer of games likeDoom and Wolfenstein 3D, has called Rift "the best VR demo probably the world has ever seen."Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski expressed his love for the device at a recent conference. And Minecraft mastermind Markus "Notch" Persson is also a fan.

    The Oculus is the result of three years of experimentation on the part of Luckey, a home-schooled, self-described virtual reality enthusiast who grew up in Long Beach, Calif. Inspired by the work of videogame console tinkerer Ben Heckendorn, Luckey experimented with virtual reality on his own, building early prototype devices assembled from his collection of 45 or so different devices. He also did a tour as an engineer at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies in the Mixed Reality lab where he helped research virtual reality systems. "There was nothing that was really the kind of quality I was looking for," he remembers. "So I decided I was going to work on one on my own."

    Luckey's work caught the eye of Carmack, who learned about it on a forum for 3-D enthusiasts and contacted the 20-year-old for a headset to test drive. Carmack would eventually use the prototype to demo a version of Doom 3 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 game conference, giving the device an audience who marveled at the device's wide viewing angles. (While most virtual reality headsets offer a 40-degree perspective, Rift serves up a 110-degree view for a more immersive experience.)

    Luckey co-founded Oculus VR with CEO Brendan Iribe, ex-chief product officer of the cloud-streaming company Gaikai, not long after E3 to develop the hardware and software further. Last year, the Irvine, Calif.-based startup raised over $2.4 million on Kickstarter -- far over the original $250,000 Luckey had hoped for.

    According to Iribe, the focus is now on shipping the hardware and software tools to developers necessary for them to create new games specifically for the headset and modify existing games to play well. "By the time the consumer version shifts, there should be a large number of games being made for it," he says confidently. An updated version of Team Fortress 2, a free-to-play shooter from game creator Valve, is the first game to officially support the 3-D experience offered by Rift. (Doom 3, meanwhile, has been delayed.) A price for the consumer version hasn't been determined yet.

    Over 10,000 developers have already begun receiving development kits, but the company remains mum on the availability and official pricing of the consumer model. First things first: Luckey wants to address early feedback by using a sharper, high-resolution display and possibly including a feature called positional tracking, so what players see in a game more accurately reflects their bodies' movements. In which case, when most players do get their hands on Luckey's VR headset, gaming may feel less simulated and, dare we say it, more real.