Virtual Reality dominates any and all discussion in the games industry right now. Every game seems to have a VR port or expansion on the way. And for good reason - most who've tried it think VR could be the next big step for gaming, akin to the switch from 2D to 3D in the 1990s.
VR has its fair share of naysayers, of course, as does anything. There are still people who believe FIFA is better than PES, for example. Some people never learn.
But while VR is impressive from a gaming perspective, and adds a new layer of immersion, it's the technology's non gaming possibilities that excite me.
Could we be using an Oculus Rift to speak to our relatives on the other side of the world in 10 years' time? Or slipping on an HTC Vive to see the latest blockbuster in the next five years?
Let's take a look at three ways VR might take over the world.
Sport
I don't mean playing - I think I'd struggle to score a screamer from 20 yards with a fat chunk of plastic on my head!
No, I mean watching. Right now, if you want to go and watch an NFL game, you have to buy tickets, pay for a hotel, organise flights, get to the stadium, barge past the bloke who's taking up far too much room to get to your seat, then get home. And that's not to mention food, time off work, and dealing with the risk of it all kicking off.
Wouldn't it be easier to just pay a nominal fee to watch the game (or find it on DEFINITELY LEGAL streaming sites), stick on a VR headset, and experience the match and atmosphere of being in the stadium from the comfort of your own home? You wouldn't even have to leave early to beat the traffic!
Theme parks
VR could be huge for amusement parks. Combine the best of those old simulator rides where you pretend to be in a fighter jet with the scale of actual rides these parks can make, and you've got a recipe for some serious adrenaline.
It's already happened, too. Thorpe Park, a theme park near London, has just opened a VR ghost train ride. You can definitely tell this is a first attempt at an attraction like this, but the potential of the technology is huge - as is the scare factor!
Festivals
Music festivals are grim. You have to spend an entire weekend standing in mud and god knows what else, with no access to showers and only slow access to toilets, in a freezing cold tent, surrounded by every drug under the sun - and for what? So you can see some people - most of whom you don't know - make some noise on a stage.
I'd much rather just whack my PSVR on, stream Glasto to it, and enjoy being able to watch Muse "in the audience" but without the smell of faeces and surrounded only by my cat and a few mates.
You know it makes sense.
