A demo of the Oculus Rift device from Oculus VR. has convinced Will Greenwald of PC Magazine.that it can make first-person games immersive to an unforeseen extent.

“Oculus VR is getting ready to ship developer kits, but the Oculus Rift is a long way from hitting stores. While the technology is there, the combination of stereoscopic vision and head-tracking means games need to be built for the Oculus Rift with the device in mind, and that means experimentation and perfecting the interface.

“Things that work in standard first-person games don’t work when you have an immersive 3D picture with head tracking, and motion sickness is a problem that must be tiptoed around. Still, it’s an impressive display even at this early stage. If enough game developers get onboard, we could see a new resurgence of virtual reality as a ‘future’ technology thanks to the Oculus Rift.”

KurzweilAI covered an early version of the Oculus Rift last July, with more details here. — Ed.