Vegas awash with altered realities

Altered realities abounded at the Consumer Electronics Show gadget-fest on Thursday, touching everything from sex and sports to sales and space exploration.

Virtual reality (VR) headsets immersed people in fictional worlds, while augmented reality (AR) eyewear overlaid digital data on the scenes around them.

“Virtual reality takes you to another place, while augmented reality brings another place to you,” said Ari Grobman of Lumus, an Israeli company that specialises in optics technology for augmented reality.

“I don’t see them as competing forces at all; they are very complementary.”

Facebook-owned Oculus began taking pre-orders for its eagerly-anticipated Rift VR headsets at a price of $599 when the CES show floor opened on Wednesday. Rift was slated to begin shipping in March.

The Oculus booth at the CES trade-only event had a seemingly endless queue of people waiting to dive into Rift. HTC used CES to announce enhancements to a Vive VR headset it is bringing to market.

“For too long, the promise of virtual reality has been little more than a promise,” HTC chief executive Cher Wang said in a release. “Today we stand on the precipice of a new era.”

While video game players have been natural early targets for virtual reality, the technology is being put to use for education, medicine, sports, porn and more.

“Virtual reality is a big deal here,” Gartner analyst Brian Blau said at CES. “I was trying to count the number of booths that at least had a VR headset, and there were too many.” VR for QBs

Young startup STRIVR Labs mentally trains US pro football quarterbacks by virtually putting them into plays using Rift headsets. “It takes you as close to the real life experience of a player that you can get,” former quarterback Trent Dilfer said while taking part in a virtual reality panel at CES. “I think coaches that don’t implement this are really missing the boat.”

Virtual reality is also being used for fan experiences, such as providing the illusion of being at a stadium or trying to block hocky pucks fired at a net by pro players.

California-based porn company Naughty America is using virtual reality to put viewers in the heart of the action in sex scenes, a demonstration showed.

“I think everyone has been looking for that in adult entertainment and it is here,” Naughty America vice president Lauren S. told AFP. “Seeing is believing.” Naughty America has added VR videos to the online porn catalogue that can be accessed by people with monthly subscriptions to the service.