The Oculus Rift has been seen in action once again and this time the Virtual Reality gadget has demonstrated its stunning realism by taking users on a tour of the U.S.S Voyager from the spin-off Star Trek show.
The Oculus Rift was recently purchased by Facebook for an £1.2-billion and is a wearable VR device set to launch publicly in late 2014/early 2015. It offers immersive 3D rendered environments for game-play and exploration from a first-person perspective – and from what we’ve seen so far the visuals are truly mindblowing.
Through the head-mounted motion-tracking Rift, Trekkies can take a walk down the corridors of the Intrepid-class starship and visit the bridge and key locations as seen on screen in Star Trek Voyager. This was the vessel piloted by Captain Janeway and crew during their notoriously ill-fated maiden voyage which left them stranded in the un-explored and treacherous Delta Quadrant for seven seasons. If you feel particularly reckless the Rift even allows you to fire off a photon torpedo or two willy-nilly, out of sight of the stern commanding officer!
The Voyager demo is built on the Unreal Engine 4 which was released in March and will be used to develop graphics for top-end gaming titles for console and the Oculus Rift. And it’s not just a delight for us geeks – the Rift has many practical and useful applications as well.
Recently its creators Oculus VR offered a developmental version of the Rift to a terminally ill cancer patient that allowed the housebound old lady a rare chance to take a virtual walk outside to see some of the things she loves most including waterfalls and butterflies.