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    Categories: Opinion

CNBC Says Gaming Entering New Golden Age thanks to VR

Woke up to this article today, penned by Arjun Kharpal. The gist of it: thanks to VR and AI, and they level of interactivity and immersion they afford, we’re entering into a new golden age for gaming. I whole-heartedly agree, and, equally, agree that it we’re still a couple of years away from that becoming a reality. Otto Berkes, sourced in the article,  suggests we’ve gotten there on the audio/video side, but for real interactivity–necessary, and infinitely exciting–we must look to the future.

VR Porn: The torchbearer for VR innovation

As I’ve said multiple times, where VR porn is leading in VR now, we’ll ultimately be surpassed by gaming. And as much as I like leading, it would do the tech a disservice if we remained the torchbearer for too long. It would be ‘porn-stamped’.

I digress, but this talk of gaming’s golden ages brings me back to my youth, and the elation I felt walking into the game room. Generally speaking, this was in Manchester or Vernon, CT, near the town I grew up.

My games of choice: Donkey Kong, Hogan’s Alley, Punch Out, Q-Bert, Gyruss, Karate Champ. I overachieved in Q-Bert, and remember that games like Asteroids, Space Invaders, Defender, Robotron, were beyond my scope. I could never last more than a few minutes in any of those games.

At home, we got some manufacturer’s version of Pong, which was great, but we got it around the time that others were unwrapping gifts of Atari 2600 and Intellivision. I did live happily ever after a couple of years later, receiving a ColecoVision for Chanukah. If I recall, it came with Smurf, and I purchased Donkey Kong soon afterward with allowance money.

ColecoVision was the source of great joy–too much, reckon, should have gone outside more often–and that only began to wane after purchasing the steering wheel accessory (i.e. expansion module #2) for driving game Turbo. I remember riding my bicycle hurriedly back from Video Galaxy, its box tucked into my backpack, filled with happiness and excitement. Yet, for some reason, when I arrived home, and began using it, I found the experience uninspiring. And it wasn’t that the steering wheel did not deliver on its promise. It worked as advertised. Perhaps, this was the first indication that I would never have a real passion for driving. Who knows. But I was not engaged, and less engaged by ColecoVision more generally from that point on.  The video game joy would not return until my acquisition of a Commodore 64 a few years later.

Todd Glider: I serve as CEO of CM Productions, LLC, the company behind global brands BaDoink.com and BaDoinkVR.com, among others. Founded in 2006, BaDoink initially launched as an innovative adult entertainment site with a proprietary tech platform enabling users to view and wirelessly transfer videos to any device. In 2015, BaDoink entered the burgeoning VR sector, developing a virtual reality entertainment solution for adult consumers.BaDoinkVR.com updates with new scenes weekly, and features 360° and 180° immersive 3D videos with motion tracking, binaural audio and more. In 1998, I got my start in the IT sector as Creative Director of seminal e-Commerce company Interactive Telecom Network, Inc. I later served as CEO of European traffic program EuroRevenue. Todd holds an M.F.A. from the University of Miami.