I’ve used a lot of VR headsets, but the tagline of Nautilus VR’s new Kickstarter project scares the hell out of me: “Virtual Reality Underwater”. Call me crazy, but that sounds dangerous. And yes, also a little awesome.
The idea has its merits: one of the biggest problems with VR is creating the tactile sensations to match the VR headset’s visual simulation. If your VR experience is about swimming (or maybe floating in space), having that experience whilst actually swimming would probably feel amazing. Still, walking around in VR blinded to reality is disorienting enough… do you really want to do that in water?
At least strong swimmers (and folks braver than I) won’t have to deal with wires: the Nautilus VR is a smartphone-based headset with a waterproof enclosure, anti-fog lenses and a built-in snorkel. It’s probably a blast to actually use, but just make sure you have a lifeguard on duty — drowning is still one of the top causes of accidental death in the US. [Kickstarter]