Oculus Rift Will Not Cause Motion Sickness

Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe talked in the Gaming Insiders Summit, for “The Future of The Rift.” Among other things, Iribe made the bold promise that Oculus Rift will not cause motion sickness while playing the new generation of virtual reality games.

In the plainest terms, motion sickness is caused by a disparity between movement as it is being visually perceived and as sensed by the body, particularly the vestibular system. The mixed messages the body is receiving can put it in a state of confusion, and it can lead to nausea, vomiting, even fatigue.

Oculus VR was very mindful of motion sickness, as an effect closely associated to virtual reality in general, and has actually blogged about their attempts to address it. Iribe related his personal experiences of being prone to getting motion sickness 2 minutes into using the Oculus Rift early on. Now, he can play for as long as 45 minutes, without worrying that it would ever come up.

Iribe also indicated future plans for the Rift: they intend to support 4K on the device, and barring gatekeeping, provide compatibility with consoles, smartphones and tablets. Iribe was actually not shy about naming consoles, referring to the Rift’s capability to project 2D on a field of view as wide as IMAX as playing PS4 or Xbox One on an IMAX screen.

If Iribe’s experience can be replicated in the home, it’s not just a step forward for the Oculus team, but for technology in general, with possible applications outside their little HMD. Of course, this also makes the Oculus Rift that much more viable a consumer technology, and possibly, a future household fixture.

BUT, that is a big if. Motion sickness from virtual reality and similar tech (you can get it from Kinect and Wii, actually) has not had enough years of research behind it for us to fully understand it. Of course, Oculus VR did a lot of research themselves, and their work has literally been groundbreaking. Keep tabs on when a broader range of consumers get the initial batch of consumer Oculus Rifts so we can know for sure how far they have gone.

Source: AllThingsD