It was yet another geeky weekend in the country, this time in Abu Dhabi for the IGN Convention held at du Forum. From the venue itself, it’s evident that the event is not as large scale as a Comic Con, but thankfully it is just as nerdy.
Featuring international celebrities like Jack Gleeson (King Joffrey from Game of Thrones, yes), as well as local celebrities Mohammed Saeed Harib (creator of FREEJ) and Rashed Alharmoodi (Creator of Mansour Cartoon) amongst plenty of other names, the event spread across two days this last weekend on the 16th and 17th of October 2015.
What was again a pleasant surprise following on from Comic Con is how the people came in hordes to participate in the Cosplay – this time mostly featuring characters from games; and what a display it was. As it should be expected, considering the grand prize was whopping USD 10K in cash!
We were invited for the big demo of the new HTC Vive, a virtual reality headset which it has developed in conjunction with Valve and Steam VR. It took a while, but we finally got our turn. Here’s the thing: this is a game changer, literally.
The Vive is the most immersive experience we’ve ever had on VR, and the possibilities of where this technology can be used are endless. Of course, the most obvious one is gaming, but simulators and demos also spring to mind.
Due to the number of people registered to take the demo, everyone got a slightly abridged version which was about 10 minutes long, but an amazing 10 minutes nonetheless. The Vive features the VR glasses and a pair of controllers which can act as hands, weapons, paintbrushes or whatever the featured content is about. Once the gear is set, the demo begins underwater. You’re thrown on an abandoned sunken ship and are able to interact with the fish around. It’s cute. And then you see a stingray. It’s nice. And then you see the giant blue whale, and all of a sudden it dawns upon you how virtual reality can push boundaries! The whale was the first moment of complete awe at what you’re experiencing. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to film what goes on inside the glasses, but we found this video online which shows shows what the experience looks like, albeit in 2D
The HTC Vive demo had some other experiences as well, which are samples of different environments where the device can be put to use, and they all need to be seen to be understood and believed.
The device is still a prototype, with wires hanging off of it, but a great development into what the future of VR could be. We’re impressed!
