Oculus Rift now lets you recreate the Death Star trench run
When you find yourself faced with a head tracking face mask that offers to transport the most important of your senses to anywhere you want, is your first thought the cockpit of a X-Wing? Good news, you’re not alone.
The cool thing about watching as Oculus Rift developers try new things right now is that there seem to be no limit to their creativity. The addition of head tracking to any visual interface immediately makes everything seem more real Being able to turn your head around in a virtual world and see more of that virtual world is an incredibly powerful concept, and right now developers are just scratching the surface for using this to their advantage.
Oculus Rift adds a complex and exciting layer to any game, because the developer has to account for where you might be looking at any given time and act accordingly. Arguably one of the most interesting ways to demonstrate this is in the cockpit of a flying vehicle, where there’s always something going on all around you. This particular demonstration shows of the Rift’s capabilities add some extra geek cred as you fly down the infamous Death Star trench, taking out any of the turrets you come across.
Far detached from the terrible mistakes of trying to be a Jedi in your living room with the help of a Kinect sensor is this exciting virtual trip through the single most iconic Star Wars moment ever. The user turns their head and shows your R2 unit ready to help in any way possible, with the occasional glance around to remind the pilot that there’s a ton of activity going on all around. As they pilot the trench, gently dodging massive pillars and various electronics sticking out of the metallic hull, you occasionally are peppered by the turrets stationed all over the trench in front of you. Fortunately, your trusty gamepad is in your hands to help take them out.
It’s still to early to tell how successful Rift is going to be or how many games will be optimized for the experience, but it feels like ever day we see something even cooler than the day before to excite us further.
