Technology is improving rapidly;in particular gaming tech, more things are becoming possible today in comparison to 10 years ago even if we tried our best to make it happen. Today, some of the most creative and impossible seeming inventions are coming to the forefront of the tech industry in the form of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. But what are they exactly? Let’s find out.
Back in the 1990s, virtual reality (VR) was on the lips of everyone as multiple companies tried and failed to make it happen. It was in every movie and TV show with a thirst for the future. The most notable device back then was the Nintendo Virtual Boy; though it failed, and was discontinued a year after going on sale. Since then, Nintendo has not attempted to improve on the technology, which could set the company behind its competition as virtual reality is slowly creeping back into our lives.
When it comes to augmented reality (AR), we’re looking at something that has found more success in the consumer market when compared with virtual reality. We’ve seen several applications with AR, along with video game and hardware devices such as the Google Glass.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality is the blending of virtual reality and real life, as developers can create images within applications that blend in with contents in the real world. Users are able to interact with virtual contents in the real world, and are able to distinguish between the two.
The main draw is you are able to distinguish augmented reality from real life.
What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality is all about the creation of a virtual world that users can interact with. This virtual world should be designed in such a way that users would find it difficult to tell the difference from what is real and what is not. Furthermore, VR is usually achieved by the wearing of a VR helmet or goggles similar to the Oculus Rift.
The Main draw is virtual reality is not comparable to real life, equipment is needed to virtualize.
Difference and similarities
Both virtual reality and augmented reality are similar in the goal of immersing the user, though both systems to this in different ways. With AR, users continue to be in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects around them. With VR, the user is isolated from the real world while immersed in a world that is completely fabricated. As it stands, VR might work better for video games and social networking in a virtual environment, such as Second Life.
Which technology will succeed?
As it stands, augmented reality is ahead of virtual reality, as there are several products already on the market. We are witnessing the rise of AR hardware devices from Google in the form of Glass, and also plan from Microsoft to launch something similar with its $150 million purchase for wearable computing assets.
On the matter of VR, the technology is just stepping up to the plate. It’s still far away from being this great thing for social encounters in a virtual world, but with the rise of the Oculus Rift, it is getting there.
We believe both AR and VR will succeed; however, AR might have more commercial success though, because it does not completely take people out of the real world. We are able to distinguish what is real and what is not, therefore we feel a lot safer in comparison to VR.
Mint Tek is building a platform and a network of PCB manufacturing and hardware prototype assembly partners to make this process simple, cost-effective and easy for busy hardware developers.
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