虚拟现实争霸战蓄势待发

    Facebook的这笔收购交易也为Virtuix这样的创业公司带来了好兆头。后者在Kickstarter上获得了超过3000人的支持，已经募得了110多万美元（它的目标本来只是募集15万美元）。这家公司在本届大会上展示了自己全方位虚拟现实的“自然动作界面”。这台设备与Oculus Rift合用能让玩家在虚拟现实游戏中身临其境地行走、移动四肢，举枪瞄准。

    这项技术无需借助虚拟现实也能用，能让身体充当导航工具去探索游戏。尽管多向跑步机没能打动马克•库班或其他《鲨鱼池》（Shark Tank）的投资者，它照样有不少忠实拥趸。Virtuix公司创始人兼首席执行官杨•谷格卢克称，连锁健身房正在使用这项技术，因为它是一种有助于人们与虚拟世界互动、消耗卡路里的全新方式。

    随着技术的发展，欧内斯特•克莱因的科幻小说《玩家一号》（Ready Player One）中描绘的虚拟现实舱正逐步成为现实。本届大会上展示的游戏种类繁多，有CCP Games公司的太空大战类游戏《北欧女神》（Valkyrie）和Frontier公司的《精英：危险》（Elite:Dangerous），Vertigo Games公司的水下模拟游戏《潜水世界》（World of Diving），还有索尼公司展台上Square Enix公司的第一人称探险游戏《贼》（Thief）的特别虚拟现实演示版。不过这个转变不会一夜之间实现，就算未来五年里也难以完成。

    勒基说：“我并不认为未来十年中屏幕的概念会彻底消失，但我确实认为它的地位将大幅削弱。目前虚拟现实技术和大屏幕相比还有分辨率的限制。不过，一旦虚拟现实技术的分辨率发展到和屏幕相当，甚至和人眼相近，就不再需要什么真实屏幕了。因为那时虚拟现实设备所需要的原材料要少得多，便于运输，还能模拟出上百块多种屏幕。如果这一天最终来到的话，那我看不出现在占据主流的屏幕还会有现在这样的立足之地。”

    扎克伯格及其Facebook团队显然对虚拟现实的未来深信不疑，现在只需要等这个领域的主要参与者在今后数年中逐步推广这项技术即可。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    The Facebook deal also bodes well for startup Virtuix, which was backed by more than 3,000 Kickstarter members and raised over $1.1 million (its goal was $150,000). The company had its Omni virtual reality "natural motion interface" on display at GDC. The device works with Oculus Rift, allowing players to physically walk, move their body, and aim their gun within VR games.

    The technology also works without VR, allowing the body to act as a navigation tool to explore games. While this omni-directional treadmill did not impress Mark Cuban or the other investors onShark Tank, it has a loyal following. Jan Goetgeluk, CEO and founder of Virtuix, said gyms and fitness chains are using this technology, since it's a new way for people to interact with virtual worlds and burn calories.

    Technology is slowly moving toward the science-fiction VR pods described in Ernest Cline'sReady Player One novel. The games on display at GDC varied from space dogfighting experiences like CCP Games' Valkyrie and Frontier's Elite: Dangerous to Vertigo Games' World of Diving underwater simulation to special VR demos at Sony's booth of Square Enix's first-person adventure game Thief. But this transition, if it does happen, won't occur overnight, or even over the next five years.

    "I don't think the concept of a screen will go away within a decade, but I do think it will be greatly reduced," said Luckey. "Right now VR has limitations with resolution compared to a big screen, but once the resolution of VR goes up to where it's either equivalent to that of a screen or to where even the human eye is, there's no benefit to having a real screen when you have something that is taking much less raw materials, is easy to transport, and can simulate a hundred multiple screens all around you. I can't see mainstream screens having nearly the foothold that they have today, if that comes to pass."

    Zuckerberg and his Facebook team certainly believe in a VR future, now it's just a matter of watching the major players roll out this technology over the coming years.