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the sensorama
the Sensorama was a very basic version made by Morton Heilig of vr that produced a film in stereoscopic vision (using to images in both eyes to make a 3d effect) it tried to produce a sense based experience using a vibrate chair, fans to represent wind, different scents, and stereoscopic speakers. -
the sword of Damocles
this was the first slight portable vr model that started the idea of being able to explore a vr environment it was made by Ivan Sutherland and was called the sword of Damocles due to the large beam needed because of how much it weighed it. it showed a simple wireframe room that the wearer could explore. -
krueger's videoplace
kruegers video place is not technically a vr headset its more of a visual experience or a form of art. the user stands in a dark room with a screen in front of them the screen displays basic flat colours the user can interact with the simple colours in abstract ways. this was invented by Myron Krueger. -
the VIVED
this is a headset made and used by NASA it was launched by Michael McGreevy. VIVED stands for virtual visual environment display and was used for controlling robots in first person by a a person to perform dangerous tasks not suitable for the human to do by hand this wouldn't be the last time NASA looks into vr. -
the view
this is the second vr headset made for the purpose of help people at NASA it was made by NASA to make building spacecrafts and other machines or enginery problems easer by allowing the engineers to build the machine before hand in vr the graphics are mostly gray and white cubes that make up different structures and the sky/ area around the player is black. (all though there are many more NASA headsets I think I will just limit it to these two) -
the virtual boy
the virtual boy was created by Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi who also invented the game boy it was a red pixel screen that displayed 3d looking pixel art games it was a publicly available vr headset but did very bad with sales and is known now for being one of Nintendo's worst products it also was stuck to a stand making the user need to have the device put on a table. -
the Forte vfx1
the forte vfx1 is a vr helmet that is powered by a pc this will be a pretty common theme in most newer headsets/ helmets the helmet was made by forte technologies it is a lesser known consumer available vr headset that is a big step up from the virtual boy with a rgb display instead of just red pixels but with this upgrade came the cost being around $1000usd compared to the $180usd cost of the virtual boy. -
google cardboard
the google cardboard is a vr headset that requires a phone to use it these are commonly known as phone vr the google cardboard was made by david coz and damien henry and is constructed with cardboard and two lens -
Samsung gear vr
this is another phone based vr headset this unlike the google cardboard is made from plastic and has a built in head strap unlike the google cardboard the Samsung gear has one controller it was made by Samsung electronics. this headset was one of the main reason for many future phone vr products that are still being made today so much so that they might as well be a completely different product. -
Play station vr/ psvr
this is the first vr headset to use a console as its operating system it uses the PlayStation 1,2,3 and 4 the psvr was made by Sony it usually is packaged with the PlayStation and is not commonly found by its self it has many pc vr games and also has many of its own exclusive title it also is a very mainstream headset and is only $300 nzd -
the htc vive
the HTC vive is one of the more well known consumer pc vr headsets out there it was made by valve the people behind the popular pc gaming software steam. they have also made there own vr game known as half life Alyx which is known as one of the best vr game to date. the headset required you to put up sensors in the room that you would play in you had to drill these into your walls. sadly the vive has been discounted most likely due to the many product imperfections as it was known for breaking. -
the oculus rift
this was the first consumer pc vr headset released only one month before valves own HTC vive the oculus rift this headset is one of the main reasons that vr is still thriving today this headset was made by palmer luckey with oculus that was bought by Facebook in 2014 the oculus rift needs to be tethered to a pc to function a lot of the vr covered before this also need to be attached to a pc to work. the rift also uses mainly steam for its games given it a massive library to choose from. -
the oculus quest/ the meta quest
this is one of the biggest moments for vr with the introduction of the first truly mobile headsets it is a pc vr experience in phone vr body it uses a phone chipset called snap dragon xr2 the headset has its own app that is used to buy games for the quest this is the only way to get games. unless you buy a cable which can connect your quest to a pc making it almost the exact same as a oculus rift. the quest is also a slightly larger price then the psvr at around $699 nzd. -
the valve index
the valve index is the newer and better version of the HTC vive it is still a pc vr headset and is pretty similar to the HTC vive if it was upgraded in pretty much every way it still uses the sensors that make it only able to play in one room. that's really all that can be said about the headset that doesn't make the headset less great though it. -
the oculus quest 2
the oculus quest 2/ quest 2 is a full improvement on a already ground breaking device it has a better chipset this time design specifically for vr some it can handle more then the original quest graphicly and is even cheaper then the first being only $530 nzd. The quest 2 still has all the original quest features like the ability to be used as pc vr and it can still be taken any where this is also the most successful vr headset to date with over 10mil being brought online alone.