[Funky electronic music eases us in]
Things come in waves.
Do you remember when 3D hit the cinemas in
the 80s, with those blue and red cardboard
glasses?
Only for it to die out and be re-invigorated
in the noughties, with much better technology?
The same thing of course happened for Virtual
Reality.
In the early 90s, it was pipped to be all
the rage.
To offer us total immersion in our favourite
digital worlds, only for it to die off and
come back with assurgence only this decade,
with devices like the Oculus Rift and Samsung
Gear.
In reality, neither of these trends actually
died off, they were there, in the background,
out of the mainstream eye, being improved,
refined and used by those who hung onto and
favoured this futuristic view of entertainment.
But for me, whenever someone mutters the word
VR, my instant thought ins't to these new
wonderful devices, which have almost cracked
the formula, it's to these massively bulky
90s headsets, that few of us got to experience
in the day, but so many of us wanted to.
This is the world of Virtuality, the company
whose headsets are synonymous with 90s Virtual
reality, and we're going to explore it.
Now this video will have 2 interwoven parts,
the first is looking at the history of Virtuality
and the culture in which it existed.
The 2nd is how these early days of Virtuality
have been preserved to this day.
For this reason, you will see and hear footage
I recently recorded at the Retro Computer
Museum in Leicester, woven into the narrative.
Key yourself in and hold on tight.
[Essence of music]
[Building to something MORE]
For centuries, people have been searching
for ways to escape their lives and experience
another.
Every story we become engrossed in has this
at it's core, every image we stare into.
It's only natural then that since, the inception
of media, this has been taken to a new level
of immersion, with pioneers seeking new ways
to disconnect us from reality and plug us
into a virtual reality.
In terms of visual media we can trace it's
roots way back to the 19th century when Sir
Charles Wheatstone used two photographs taken
from slightly different points, to create
the stereoscope.
Of course this was a static image, and although
monumental at the time, was limited in how
connected it could make you feel to the depicted
scene.
The first real concept of Virtual Reality
- as we know it today - would actually be
virtual in itself.
It was portrayed in a science fiction novel
written by Stanley Weinbaum, in which a pair
of spectacles gives the reader the ability
to enter a movie and become one of the characters.
In 1956, Cinematographer Morton Heilig dreamt
up the Sensorama, in an attept to evolve cinema
to the next level.
Really this was the first VR machine, combing
video, audio, vibrations and even smell to
create a realistic experience.
Only a few years later he created the first
head mounted display, known as the Telesphere
Mask.
Using small TV tubes, it combined film and
sound in a package that looks alarmingly close
to what we still use today.
It might come as a shock that, as early as
1968, computer scientist Ivan Sutherland would
take this a step further with the incredibly
named, Sword of Damocles.
Now here was a device that displayed wireframe
computer graphics, was able to track head
movements and even allowed augmented reality
with it's translucent displays.
Here then was really, the first Virtual Reality
system as we'd know it today.
Jump forward to the end of the 1970s and we
find NASA playing around with crash helmets
with Eric Howlett developing the Large Expanse,
Extra Perspective optical system.
This system created a stereoscopic image,
with a large field of view, allowing the user
to feel a true sense of depth and immersion.
Under the eye of Scott Fisher, this was redesigned
for the NASA Ames Research Centre as the VIEW
headset
Around the same time, we also have other key players such
as Jaron Lanier, the man who really coined
the term "Virtual Reality", and Thomas Zimmerman
who founded VPL Research, responsible for
developing the first commercial Virtual Reality
goggles and gloves.
The problem was, these devices were way too
expensive for typical consumers, with the
technology limited to University and professional
uses.
Of course, wannabe devices like Nintendo's
Power Glove would appear on the scene, but
these were marketing devices.
Playing into the hands of hype, surrounding
the emerging world of Virtual Reality.
We know from experience that, in practice,
these products are about as far from becoming
unified with the machine as you can get.
With VR starting to be cited as the future
of entertainment and the public rapidly wanting
a slice of the action, something more accessible
was needed.
More affordable.
Atari had founded a research lab in to VR
earlier in the decade, but the video game
crash of 1983 spelt the end of this endeavour.
Now at the other end of this seminal decade,
and with the big names seemingly too caught
up in their standard gaming devices, it was
a gentleman named Dr. Jonathan Waldern who
would pick up the batton to try and deliver
a new perspective into our lives.
[Electrical buzzing]
[Nice music]
It was at University in the early 80s when
Jon Waldern first heard about Virtual Reality.
"I'd always been interested in computers,
in fact I built my very first computers at
the age of 17, from the very first microchips.
But it's really when I read an article about
how computers could be in the future and the
need to interact with computers in 3D space,
that's what started me in Virtual Reality.. how are we going to do that?"
Whilst still at university and with the support
of IBM's labs in Hursley, Hampsire, Jon initially
had to raise funds from family and friends
to begin work on developing the technology.
Jon's first prototype machine called "The
Roaming Caterpillar" was actually demonstrated
on the BBC's Tomorrow's World in 1986...
"and by looking through that window.
You're able to see into the world of the computer,
and by looking into the helmet, you're able
to see it in 3D"
...featuring a wireframe world displayed on
a CRT, but with an active shutter driven headset
to present this world to the user in 3D.
You could even navigate this world by moving
around the entire unit, which contained microphone
listening for audible clicks emitted from
3 fixed speakers, to triangulate it's position.
It might seem a little crude today, but to
the viewing public in 1986, this was cutting
edge technology, and thanks to Jon and the
Human Computer Interface Research Unit at
Loughborough University, it was reality.
However, in these early days investors were
still to scared and indeed, lacking in knowledge
to pour cash into Jon's vision.
"It was a concept to us that was perfectly
clear, but to others we went to for financing,
it was crazy.
They just couldn't understand the technology"
By October 1987 Jon had teamed up with software
engineer, Al Humrich, ex-Rolls Royce employee
Richard Holmes and ex-Marconi employee Terry
Rowley, to form W Industries and literally
work from their garages to create a viable
commercial product.
Using an Amiga 2000 as it's base, various
prototypes were created, including a system
tethered by the top and known as the "giraffe".
This unit featured mechanical 2D head tracking.
By 1989, W Industries had a prototype that
was good enough to win the British Technology
Group award for "best emerging technology".
It was from this point that Virtualty could
actually become a reality...
"Probably for the most interesting for the
man in the street, would be the games environment,
where you can simulate games.
With our system you can see all the way around,
360 degrees"
... The competition netted the team a prize
of £20,000 and opened the eyes of several
investments firms, including a large - but
unknown - leisure company ***APAX Venture
Capital****, which although scooping 75% of
their equity for three quarters of a million
pounds, allowed Jon and his team to push forward
with a brand new decade just waiting for the
future to be unleashed upon.
[HIPPETY HOPPETY]
With the radically uplifting and exciting
90s upon us, things weren't so inspiring for
the VR startup.
The controlling share of W Industries was
sold to The Wembley Company, shortly after
their original backer went into liquidation.
Thankfully none of these dealings got in the
way of the Virtuality team, who had been engaged
in vigorous development, testing and health
and safety checks up until this point....
"I needed an artificial horizon"
-"That's right, we're trying to figure it
out, but it's difficult to output"
-"Of course, what we're not using is the ears
for instructions at all"
"We're actually changing, there's a new board
going in"
"That's getting all the faults eliminated
from it"
.... and shortly after, in November 1990,
the first Stand-Up unit was launched at the
Computer Graphics 90 exhibition at London's
Alexandra Palace; the same place Sir Clive
Sinclair had launched his ill-fated C5 electric
car 5 years prior.
Seemingly, this when was the venue to launch products,
perhaps ahead of their time.
These first units bore the model number 1000SU
(the SU meaning Stand Up), and paired with
launch title Dactyl Nightmare, the public
was riveted.
Now, unlike the machines that we would see
in arcades, these early models were simply
a kind of bench, built into a shell holding
all the internal components.
A plastic head protruded from the top for
placement of the visette when not in use,
and an industrial style plastic matt sat nearby
for the player to stand on.
This thing wouldn't look out of place in the
Crystal Maze.
Of course, an obvious problem with this original
kit, is the player isn't restricted in their
location.
They can wander as far as they want, before
the attached head cords rudely yank them backwards.
The first two VR systems were sold to British
Telecom Research Labs to experiment with networked
telepresence applications.
It wouldn't be until March 1991, when the
1000CS (standing for Cyber Space) and 1000SD
(Sit Down) units were launched at a grand
Wembley Conference Centre ceremony...
"Today, ladies and gentlemen, Virtuality IS
a reality for the leisure industry"
... The first ever production virtual reality
systems in the world, these were the machines
that would soon filter through to arcades
and leisure centres across the world and the
public were queuing up to have a go.
*rock music baby*
*EXPLOSION*
*ROCKKKK*
Behind the scenes, the team hadn't actually
networked this many units up together for
multiplay, and although nervous and literally
writing code on the spot to keep things together,
the unveiling went perfectly, with crowds
being able to battle it out against each other
until they were thrown off into the bitter
existence of reality... it was a revelation.
"I've got the gun in my hand, I hate to do
this to you, but..
I missed"
-"It lobs down, we made gravity twice what
it should be"
"You're gone Jon, you're history"
...and he really was now history.
This was revolutionary moment in video game
history and with machines quickly popping
up in arcades players were quick to sing their
praises.
"You're in another world simply, yep"
"Oh it was brilliant, very good, graphics
are excellent"
"Brilliant.
Yeah, it was, you just feel like you're in
another world"
"It's funny to shoot down the others! haha"
Even if some looked like they were fighting
back severe motion sickness, the Virtuality
brand was off to a phenomenal start.
"It's completely interactive.
You're actually in the middle of it"
[Musics come and musics go]
Inside the unit lies a computer donned the
"Expality".
This consisted of an Amiga 3000 motherboard,
coupled with 4MB of Fast RAM and fitted with
all manner of expansion cards required to
drive the VR experience; 2 key cards were
dual TMS 32 Bit graphics cards which provided
enough grunt to push out the 65k colour, 20
frames per second world into each of the 276x372
resolution Matsushita LCD screens, allowing
30k polygons per second.
"There's mirrors in the headset, so this was always reversed"
"I've got a list of five games you can choose from to load from this machine"
The input to these screens is simply RGB,
with the actual displays mounted in the sides
of the visette and reflected with mirrors.
The graininess of the resolution is reduced
by a custom convolver which smoothes out the
pixels.
Much like modern hardware, the headset use
lenses to both focus and expand the viewing
area onto your retina.
We've even got quadraphoic sound and a built
in microphone, so that in multi-player environments
you can talk to your opponents or team members. This is cutting edge stuff.
All in all, this equates to a headset weighing
about a kilogram.
It's no spring chicken..... and that doesn't
even include the hardware belt you have to
buckle onto yourself.
"That's fine"
-"I think that's it for you"
"Are you in a different reality, the different
realm?
SO realistic"
-"Oh, yep, I've been transposed into another
realm"
So with the user firmed secured within the
ring - or pod as it's known -, the Virtuality
visette would be secured into position, and
your eyes would be treated to a 65+ degree
field of view world of the surreal.
Now 20 frames per second sounds terrible today,
but back then, this was an impressive feat.
of engineering, especially running on relatively
humble hardware, and honestly, having tried
it during the 90s and again recently, it's
pretty convincing...
-"Am I on the platform?"
"Get, go to the pterodactyl, and get him to
carry you away, look get him"
Motion tracking is provided by an Polhemus
'Fast Track' electromagnetic field created
by this ring, with data fed back and forth
to the headset to keep everything in sync,
and its actually pretty flawless.
Dactyl Nightmare might be strange, but with
2 players, it's also a LOT of fun.
Still bothers me that they didn't name it
TERROR Dactyl though...
"Yes, oh NO I missed it.
I've just fallen off the edge of space"
-"HAHAHAHAHAHA"
-"Euggh, what are you doing?"
"I'm going for a wander"
-"Oh there you are I'm going to get you"
***I'm going to break continuity here, because
there's actually a version of this for the
Oculus Rift, named Polygon Nightmare, and
it gives you the choice to alternate between
the original Field of View and the Rift's
110 degree display.
Now, the Oculus is obviosuly a lot smoother,
but it's fascinating how playable the Virtuality
equipment actually is compared to modern day
equipment.
If you use the original mode on the Rift there's
really not much difference, well apart from
the horrendous strain on your neck from the
considerably weighty Visette***
Even the lower LCD screen resolution isn't
that perceivable.
The pixels aren't THAT apparent, especially
when you're dealing with large blocky polygons.
Jon Waldern would even note that the compelling
feature wasn't the somehwat crude polyon graphics,
but 50ms responsive motion tracking and how
immersive it made you feel...
"The visual display is crude.
There's these crude cartoon like characters.
That's not the issue.
The issue is that in Virtual Reality there's
no limit to what we can do, we can be anywhere, any time and any place, and that's the
issue, it's total escapism"
[Electronica in your earera]
The handheld 'Space Joystick' is also tracked
impressively well, and some software even
made use of a touch glove, allowing you to
interact finger by finger with the digital
world...
"This glove is also connected to the virtual
world, and in the same way that my head is
tracked, so is my hand.
On each finger is two pressure pads, and there's
also 2 on the palm of my hand, 12 in all.
Now these are controlled by an air pump linked
to the computer processor.
When I close my hand around a virtual object,
the pressure pads inflate very slightly, creating
the sense of touch"
Yes, that's right, these gloves had haptic
feedback, allowing you to feel and even crush
objects in the virtual world.
I bet you didn't expect that.
All this is really quite impressive for a
company, who in 1991, still only had some
20 employees, and were crafting both hardware
and software in house.
It was thanks to a deal with external developers
Spectrum Holobyte that a raft of other so
called "Vritual Experiences" became available,
allowing the player to choose their choice
of world before entering...
"On target for 3 seconds.
You'll obtain missile lock and a missile will
be fired automatically"
..Now, let me tell you from experience, it's
not that straight forward capturing footage
from these machines, but after several hours
we managed to grab footage from all 9 games
for these original machines, here are the
ones that you won't see elsewhere in this
video;
Grid Warriors is a robotic shoot 'em up for
the stand up machine.
Grid Busters is also a robotic shoot 'em up,
but it's in an arena.
A bit like Super Smash TV
Battlesphere is a space shoot 'em up, and
it's good, if a little disorientating.
Exorex was originally penned to be called
Walker, but it's a Mech Warrior game, which
were incredibly popular at the time.
Flying Aces is Bi-plane style shooter, and
the game I played in the 90s
Total Destruction is essentially Destruction
Derby
and VTOL is a fighter pilot game.
You can get a modern version of Steam I believe.
They're all pretty playable games, although
the best are probably Dactyl Nightmare and
Legend Quest which we'll get to shortly.
At around £40,000 or $60,000 for a fully
installed system with touch glove, these machines
certainly weren't cheap for venues to install,
but offered a tantalising draw for arcades,
who were losing more and more customers by
the day, with people now starting to enjoy
arcade like experiences at home on their new
16 bit consoles and home computers.
In addition these units often required staff
on hand to help customers into the equipment,
to attach the helmets and engage the "Ergo
Lock System", to strap on the bulky hardware
belts....
"Yep... it's saying INSERT CREDIT"
.....and ultimately keep it clean from use
to use.
A slightly cheaper option was the 1000SD machine,
costing about £20,000 or $35,000 USD....
"This is, like that"
-"WOAHHH!
Look at that!"
"Now they marketed it for various reasons,
one you could have a steering wheel on there
to play racing games, but also so lads didn't
have that done to them when they're playing
a game and can't see it coming"
...Now thankfully I never got kicked in the
balls, but this was the machine which I encountered
in the 90s, and it was certainly easier to
literally jump in and get going.
Just like the 1000CS units, the SD offered
full head tracking, but with the experience
of perhaps driving a racing car, tank, or
even an aeroplane.
In most venues, £1 or $1 would get you a
few minutes play, although many places opted
for $5 or £5 for a specific time period,
and so thanks to people caught up in the ensuing
VR cultural frenzy, the initial outlay was
quickly recouped.
I mean, you only had to switch on the TV to
find program after program dedicated to this
new, immersive world.
Some of them were better than others..
"Better than life, here it is"
-"Brilliant!"
"Let's play!"
-"Key me in Holly"
....but regardless, it was all so incredibly
exciting and riveting.
I was absolutely glued to these programs and
the hype surrounding them...
"As you can see there's a button at the base.
You wouldn't like to reconsider would you?"
-"No"
"Ohhhh, alright, as you must"
....Virtuality couldn't escape the hype, even
if it wanted to, and really, it had indeed itself, exacerbated it.
"This is where the future is...
Virtual Reality"
"This is where I look my most attractive.
If you want to take one of these home, it'll
cost you 40,000 pounds!"
"YESSSS!"
...Of course, this was also the days of the
very early internet, and it felt like computers
and technology were starting to take us to
new and fascinating realms....
"Now that we've come in for a landing.
When Internaughts are online, what's their
favourite activity?"
-"Now I bet that's a rhetorical question,
and you're just gonna have to tell us, right?"
"That's what I'm here for!" (thank christ
it's not the acting)
....It didn't stop in magazines either with
Virtuality themselves issuing warnings not
to do anything potentially hazardous after
using their VR, due to your mind possibly
believing you're still in their surreal dimension.
I mean, how cool does that sound.
This was the 90s version of the mind altering
substance wave of the 1960s.
[Slightly psychotic music]
It wouldn't take long for entire businesses
to build themselves around the VR units, with
multiplayer gaming centres, seen both in TV...
AND real life.
Check this out, this is called LEGEND QUEST,
and it was the first multi-player game from
Virtual Reality Design & Leisure in collaboration
with W Industries...
"Hello, I've come about a vacancy for a wizard"
-"Oh yes, I believe we're looking for a wizard
right now.
I'll just key you in"
[Suitably 90s music]
... Up to four players can enter this fantasy
realm, crawling through dungeons, whilst avoiding
and deep, dark perils.
It was a huge success on launch, and many
other similar installations popped up around
the globe, either at theme parks or stand
alone setups....
"Looks like my first team mate arriving.
This virtual world is a fantasy adventure
and we each role play a different character"
"That's me in the middle and there's a suspicious
pile of bones there"
"I need some help"
-"I'll help, Elf's are GREAT swordsmen!"
... including this entire society featured
on Bad Influence....
"I'm in the headquarters of the National Geographic
League.
It's from this location that some of the very
first explorers in history, set out to explore
cyber space"
"I've been trans-located to the desert planet
Solaris 7.
Now I'm in a 30 foot tall battle mech"
W Industries had made £1 million pounds by
the end of 1991, but between 1991 and 1994
the company would continue to see compelling
global sales...
*We're all over the world.
We've got systems in 33 different counties.
We've got year on year growth of over 100%
and the basic problem we have in the company
is keeping up with demand"
...Expansion not only occurred within the
consumer gaming marketplace, but also the
private commercial sector, with various brands
commissioning "custom experiences" and machines,
including rehabilitation units devised for
children to use after hand surgery in Italy,
and the creation of a hang-glider simulator
for an after shave company.
Simple bespoke experiences were created using
C or Amiga assembler, costing some £10k on
top of the hardware costs.
*smashing inter-air sound*
This is the Hero Glider experience, and it's
actually pretty good.
You can't control the glider, but it does
give you that Hero feeling, y'know the one
in that testosterone filled advert, where
one guy's wearing chain mail and another is
slapping after shave into his face so hard,
I'm surprised he doesn't fracture his cheek
bones.
There was also the Hero Challenge which was
essentially a room searching game, but here's
the thing, here was an aftershave company
using VR to market their brand.
W Industries had made Virtuality cool, they'd
made it accessible and impressively, they'd
made it sexy.
These early years saw W Industries and Virtuality
shoot to a net worth of over £90 million,
becoming by far the top player in arcade virtual
reality.
When they started out the UK made up only
5% of the industry sales, some 15% for America
and Japan taking up the largest slice of 30%,
however with the company being Leicester based,
these numbers had undoubtedly balanced out.
This of course, was helped by, and most probably
the instigator of further cultural references
around VR, including the Lawnmower Man and
a continued slew of TV programs...
"Thesssp!
Build me a Borg please"
"Borg, borg, borg, borg"
-"Borg forming now"
"Borg, borg, borg, borg, borg, borg"
[Gamesmaster music]
[Sounds of kid struggling with VR helmet]
*thunder*
"Hello Gamesmaster"
-"Welcome to my Consoletation area....."
"But there is another type of VR that doesn't
involve a bulky headset"
"This is a desktop VR system"
...Of course, this fast changing era, was
coupled with rapidly changing technology and
expectations.
Two points were continually touted by the
press and put to Virtuality in routine questioning.
The first was the likelihood of home VR devices
entering the market, and second was whether
the hardware would be improved to make use
of advanced 3D graphics and higher frame rates.
1994 seemed to be the year that, at least
one of these would come to fruition.
*VIRTUALITY 2000 advert sounds*
This is Dactyl Nightmare 2: The Race for the
eggs, running on the upgraded Virtuality 2000
systems.
Just look at those textures!
To power such ferocious graphical delights,
the Amiga 3000 was abandoned for a system
cheaper, more versatile and ultimately more
powerful; A IBM PC Compatible, sporting 8MB
of RAM, an Intel 486DX33 Processor and custom
Expality Pix 1000 graphics card (featuring
Motorola 88110 processors), coupled with 16MB
of Video RAM.
Interestingly, there were more powerful options
available for the machine, but cost and existing
development seemed to be a factor in choosing
a relatively underpowered system for the time.
The headset had also been shrunk and refined,
now weighing a measly 650g and incorporating
features not found on even modern hardware,
including motorised interoccular adjustment
and focus correction for each eye, meaning
glasses wearers need not suffer.
Interestingly however, the field of view had
actually shrunk a little to 60 degrees horizontal
and 47 degrees vertical.
In line with this the resolution was also
slightly lower at 255x378 per eye.
However, this was still a much upgraded piece
of kit, with the smaller footprint echoing
down to the respective stand up and sit down
units.
All in all, making these a tantalising purchase
for those who still lusted after the VR experience,
but perhaps didn't have the space or money
for the older units...
"By delivering next generation low cost sub-systems
and modules.
The Virtuality group enabled Universal Studios
to lead the way with user experience"
...You might think that these refinements
would lead to higher cost, but technology
was becoming cheaper, and thanks to previous
economies of scale, some £10,000 or approximately
$20,000 dollars could secure you a unit.
[Sustaining sounds of the 90s]
A 3000 unit was also released, based on a
more powerful Pentium setup, and including
gun, allowing you to shoot through Quickshot
Carnival, or hammer through Zero Hour, which
essentially looks like Virtua Cop.
To go with the new systems, a slew of new
games were made available, including the incredible
Zone Hunter, Ghost Train "Get close, are you
ready for the white-knuckle ride of your life??",
Buggy Ball (way before Rocket League) and
the singular Pacman VR.
These games all looked better, and played
better too, however graphics weren't evolving
at the same speed as home hardware and people
were moving away from arcades.
Home technology was becoming increasingly
powerful.
Sony's Playstation wasn't far from launch
and VR, although luring and still exciting,
had by now lost some of that original spark.
Just like the early days of 3D cinema, people
were choosing to go back to their easy, conventional
roots, where perhaps the gameplay was as good
as the graphics...
"These two here.
Jerry is dedicated to providing high quality
stereo sound and Tom to moving graphics that
can create images like this"
-"Good luck!"
"This game is called Cybermorph!"
...Maybe if Virtuality could break into the
home market, then that excitement could be
flared up, once again.
"Here's Benjamin Hall on the Jaguar system
to play Cybermorph.
Let's see how those intricate graphics and
beastly gameplay that only come from 64 bits
of MEGA POWER feel....
Ben?"
Now at this point, that kid would normally
puke over the camera (the filthy wretch).
I've saved us from that horror, but it is
perhaps a timely omen to the fate of the home
VR market.
[Funk time]
The Atari Jaguar rolled out in 1993, offering
superlative 64 bit graphics and enough power
to blow our tiny minds (or so we were told).
It's only fitting then, that a VR headset
would soon follow to make use of this phenomenal
hardware, and it would be Virtuality Group
as they were now known, who would take the
reigns of developing this piece of potentially
game changing (pun so very intentional) kit.
Sega had already announced and failed to deliver
their Mega Drive VR kit, mainly due to excessive
motion sickness issues, and it looked like
the time was ripe to do it again...
"It's everywhere you turn.
The game completely surrounds you.
You move and the game moves all around you.
Incredible!"
....Handily, the Virtuality Group, had not
only been working with Sega to develop their
arcade VR hardware, but also with IBM to create
project Elysium and a PC based VR system.
Elysium was essentially an IBM PC, with integrated
VR hardware intended for architectural and
construction applications.
Included was a sleek white Visette, based
on the 2000 series, and a V-Flexor handheld
control device, which I'm told, is exceptionally
intuitive to use, although I personally haven't
had a chance...
[Soothing 90s music, perhaps Enya like]
"A new powerful tool for virtual model interaction
is the V-Flexor.
Proportional pressure inputs allow you to
create virtual hands or other input devices.
Usable in both hands, the sleeveless strap
allows all the operation with all the flexibility
you require"
...Tasked by Atari to create a Jaguar headset,
Virtuality Group began work on creating a
device that would work alongside the Jaguar's
somewhat complex internal setup.
Announced at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics
show, the original prototype was a relatively
low resolution red and grey headset which
relied on infra-red tracking to orientate
the player.
This tracking caused several issues however,
especially when the infrared line of sight
was lost, leading to motion sickness and unplayability.
The Leicester Retro Museum has, what is alleged
to be the very first prototype, although without
the tracking hardware, it's impossible to
see how bad this actually was...
"What was this.
This was a prototype or production?"
-"It was originally a prototype, but what
I'm told by Richard Holmes, is eight of these
were taken over to Japan for a demo.. the demo
was brought forward and Atari were told, they're
not ready"
...These initial units weren't up to task,
and by Virtuality's own admission, weren't
ready.
Virtuality were tasked to made a higher resolution
version, which actually fulfilled most of
it's requirements, and can be seen working
to this day.
However, soon after Atari Corp would pack
up their bags and the project would be dumped,
meaning a lot of wasted cash for Virtuality,
at a time when it really wasn't needed.
[The funk goes on]
Project Elysium, along with a few corporate
deals would keep Virtuality afloat until 1997,
when it filed for bankruptcy on February 11th,
putting to an end, this exciting and seminal
chapter in gaming and VR history.
"The goal of Virtual Reality is simple.
It's total submersion.
Complete detachment from reality"
[Curiously tentative electronica]
[nice]
The remaining Virtuality kit, along with their
rights was sold off to CyberMind, a German
firm who ran Internet Cafes, who as you can
expect, also died out, leaving the stock to
be sold to Arcadiian Virtual Reality LLC in
2004, and then onto Virtuosity Systems, who
currently hold the exclusive rights to the
SU2000 and SU3000 simulators, which are still
listed as products on their website, although
they acknowledge they are unable to manufacture
the systems due to the "moulds being lost"
and the technology being outdated.
Although they still have two machines used
for rental purposes.
Dr. Waldern himself, had actually stepped
down as CEO and moved to the company's research
division in Silicon Valley the year prior,
and so continued his extensive work in the
field, founding Retinal Displays in 1997 and
thankfully continuing to be knee deep in the
subject to this day after founding DigiLens
Incorporated.
Focusing on VR in Aerospace, Transportation
and Consumer devices.
He also partnered to produce the Philips Scuba
Visor and Takara Dynovisor which were based
around the Jaguar VR headset.
You can even plug it into a Jaguar - albeit
without the motion tracking - and at least
get an idea of Missile Command 3D - the only
VR game developed for the console.
At least it didn't totally go to waste.
A quick visit to virtuality.com will find
you among Jon's earlier work and subsequent
headsets, with the brand and IP still very
much owned by his trusty hands.
[Noughties rhythmic beats]
It's just a shame that some of Virtuality's
ideas like live action characters in a 3D
world didn't have a chance to be fully explored...
"This is a presentation on how we're able
for the first ime to create real computer
3D graphics with live video.
The video can come from an mpeg source, or
a live video source, or a pre-recorded source
on video tape.
This for the first time, allows you to put
live action characters - like me - in this
world"
... or even the online virtual dinosaur experience,
which let's face it, looks about as epic as
you can get....
[sweet, sweet, dial up noises]
[Jurassic Park style music]
"Wow!!
Mum!"
...Don't tell me that's not a real dinosaur.
Come on, for a dial-up dinosaur, it's pretty
good.
What Jon and Virtuality Group were trying
to create was really, ahead of it's time,
but amazingly, these ahead of their time products
actually worked, and what's more, were pretty
darn incredible.
"Firstly they have goals and motivations.
For example this could be to irritate or hinder
the participant.
Perhaps it can be where the VR actors help
is inversely proportional to the goal of the
participant.
Alternatively the goals and motivations of
the V-actor may not be apparent to the participant"
As for VR, well just like 3D, we know it came
back, and thanks to the ubiquity of smart
phones and how easy it's becoming to enter
new Virtual Worlds, combined with much more
mature technology, I think this time, it might
actually be here to stay.
But what about the original VR kit, who's
taking care of that and ensuring it's preserved
for posterity at the very least.
Well, you've seen some throughout this video
and that's ultimately why I'm at the Leicester
Retro Computer Museum, where I've been speaking
to Simon Maston, one of the last trustees
of this miraculous kit....
"Welcome to the Retro Computer Museum at Leicester"
"Please have much fun here"
*chuckles*
[Funky disco town]
*snare*
*snare*
*snare*
Yes, this is the Retro Computer Museum in
Leicester and there's a lot to see, but I'm
really here to talk to Simon Marston, the
man who can, with Virtuality.
"I got my first machine early 2013"
-"Just from an old arcade?"
"No, I found it on eBay"
-"Oh really?"
"Yes, it was starting bid £100.
Ten day bid, no one had bid on it.
I emailed and said, I really really want that
machine, how much for buy it now?
He said £250 plus delivery.
I said, OK, sorted"
-"Woahahhhahh"
"It was very dirty when I got it and it worked,
but the 2nd time I turned it on it failed,
and so I had to replace the screens in the
headset, and from doing that, I learnt a LOT
about the machines"
"This red one and green one, they were in
Candada.
We got them for free but had to pay for shipping.
So we got these over from Canada, but they
both worked when we got them over which was
outstanding"
-"That's amazing"
"That one and my second machine at home were
in Daventry, someone was doing a garage clearance.
Someone asked if I wanted the computer, basically
that computer, and I said YES!"
"But I knew they were built in Leicester anyway,
so I can... stalk, as it were, the people
who used to work at the company, hunting them
down and asking them to come and visit me,
as you can see from that board, the many people
I've met, with all given me a bit of information,
and the amount of times I've had to fix these
machines.
The amount of people from the original team
I've had to ask for different things, I now
have all that written down somewhere and a
lot in here as well, and generally I do my
best to keep these things going, but I still
need occasional help"
Simon has a lot of these machines, and has
used many parts to create and maintain the
working selection you see here, although with
a full garage of components, he might struggle
to get more.
"My wife says I'm not allowed any more"
-"HAHAHAHAHA"
It's really worth taking a trip to the Leicester
Retro Computer Museum to see Simon and the
team, and get hands on with this hulking machines.
After all, sending you guys there is the least
I can do, as without them, this video would
not be possible.
So massive thanks to Simon for all his help,
massive thanks to the Retro Computer Museum
and if you want to see more about the games,
then keep an eye on Octav1us' channel, as
she'll be doing a dedicated video about them.
In the mean time, thanks for watching and
have a great evening.
"Just a few years ago, people were pretty
impressed by a new type of electronic game.
This involved hitting an electronic ball from
side to side... and side to side.
Then from outer space came a new type of invader,
and for a while things started to perk up
a bit, but that was back in the 70s, and things
haven't changed a great deal since."
"Well we still use flat two dimensional screens
desperately trying to kid ourselves we're
somewhere else, that is, unless we've tried
VIRTUALITY"
[Riff out]
