The Game Developers' Conference has taken over San Francisco, and we're seeing some crazy stuff come out of the woodwork. The near-legendary VirtuSphere, one of the most ridiculously cool video game peripherals of all time, has returned from a four-year slumber to once again seize the hearts of gamers:
We don't just go to GDC in search of hot scoops. We're also constantly scanning our periphery for the next big movement in video game technology. This year, it came in the form of the VirtuSphere – a device we've heard about since 2006 but haven't seen in person until today. No, it's not a magical orb which infuses its user with moral excellence; it's a virtual reality peripheral controlled by its enveloped user's strut.
The technology was demoed on the show floor at GDC with a rudimentary first-person shooter. The player wears a visor (which changes the camera's view as the player looks around in real time) and holds a light gun peripheral. They can walk around the rolling sphere, which moves the player's in-game avatar around the level. Sounds too awesome to be true, doesn't it? Hey, we'd never lie to you.
Here's Joystiq's video demo of the VirtuSphere:
