Playing as Niko Bellic, which means driving around New York City, I mean Liberty City, killing people as you search for the man who screwed you back in the Balkans, isn’t enough. Thanks to students at the Vienna University of Technology, you can actually be the character.
Using a sort of 360-degree treadmill that’s combined with an Oculus Rift and a Wiimote, they’ve created something called the Virtualizer, allowing anyone to experience the closest thing we’ve seen yet to true virtual reality in gaming.
You can adjust it to your body height and use it while driving a car or a tank, sitting in a helicopter or other vehicles. You can also use it to rest a while when you are exhausted of escaping from the cops.
Obviously, this can be used, with the right kind of programming, in other games, and possibly opens a window into the great next step in home gaming once this thing becomes a bit more affordable and mass-made, allowing anyone to actually be their favorite character instead of just playing one.
For more on virtual reality, check out the news from September on Sony introducing a VR headset to the PS4 console, and this incredible Vertigo Simulator.
