The Oculus Rift – the virtual reality headset funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign and supported by the likes of Markus “Notch” Persson – may have been delayed, but some fans have the project have already started creating custom drivers for the device. “CyberReality” has taken to the Oculus Rift forum on MTBS3D.com to introduce one such driver, called Vireio Perception, which will provide 3D Oculus Rift support for big titles like Half-Life 2, Skyrim, and Mirror's Edge (shown above).
The “coming soon” http://www.vireio.com/ for the project gives the following description:
Vireio Perception will allow you to play your favorite games in stunning stereoscopic 3D custom tailored for head-mounted displays like the Oculus Rift. Take advantage of full 3 degrees of freedom head-tracking on supported titles and experience virtual reality like you never have before.
Vireio Perception was due to launch with the Oculus Rift at the end of last year, but was delayed alongside the release of the headset. Instead, the creator says we can expect to see the code appear on GitHub within the next couple of weeks; while it was originally meant to be a commercial project, the driver will now be available as free open-source software.
My imagination is running wild here. I've already spent dozens of hours in Skyrim, but the ability to play the game in a 3D virtual reality environment would no doubt write off hundreds more.
Is this the future?