Virtual reality, an emerging technology in which participantsinteract with artificial environments, comes in many forms, some ofwhich could be sampled by aspiring entrepreneurs at the recent COMDEXcomputer exposition in Las Vegas.
Purists would probably argue that simulation games, such asMicrosoft's $65 Flight Simulator 5.0, are not virtual reality,despite the much improved scenery and aircraft depictions in the newversion.
But what if you added real motion? That's what Applied EmergingTechnologies International of Irvine, Calif. (phone: 1-800-365-9497or 714-551-0372), is offering with Fly-It, a personal motionsimulator.
At $1,999, the mechanical cockpit with 13 degrees of up-and-downpitch and side-to-side roll, isn't cheap. But simply paying to insureand tie down a real Cessna or Piper at an urban airport for a yearcan cost at least that much. Flying it costs lots more.
The simulator is controlled with a stick and it comes completewith a throttle and a seat belt. You have to supply the monitor andkeyboard for the tray at the front of the device. A cable connectsthe simulator to your computer, running your software.
Maybe you'd like to start your own arcade business with a networkof six of the company's enclosed, fiberglass-bodied F-16 models,complete with 23-inch projection screens and a slew of switches anddials instead of keyboards. Each $29,000 model includes a Pentium-based computer on which to run off-the-shelf fighter simulationsoftware.
A different kind of virtual reality business is being marketed byVirtual Images Inc. of Columbus, Ohio (phone: 614-459-1232).
REALITY+ uses a full-coverage helmet in which a 5.5-inch colorliquid crystal display effectively fills the participant's field ofvision. A hand-held controller, like a joystick without a base, has abutton to let you move front and back and a trigger for shooting youropponent.
Two people play against each other, roaming around a simplisticurban environment of buildings, streets and cars. They can shoot ateach other and at enemy robots. A padded waist-high, octagonalenclosure allows you to turn and twist as necessary to maneuveraround the cityscape without danger of falling.
You see where you look - up, down or side to side - with the 240-by-240-pixel screen being updated at a near full-motion video rate of20 frames a second. The image is fuzzy, however, compared with thaton nearby monitors seen by those awaiting a turn to play.
Virtual Images has found that the best business use of these$55,000-per-player units is to rent a pair out for a day to a companyfor promotional use. It is easy to modify the software to display therenting company's logo on the side of the largest building in thescenario. Rental runs $2,000 to $3,500 per day.
The ultimate promotional use of virtual reality at COMDEX wasstaged by Softbank Inc. of Monterey, Calif., a start-up firm gettingready to launch DOS and Windows software sales on CD-ROM disks. Theidea was to let some rival software makers fight each other.
It hired Air Combat U.S.A., a Fullerton, Calif., company that hasperfected a fantasy aerial combat game. The planes and the G-forcesmay be real, but the experience is virtual reality, sinceparticipants aren't really fighter pilots nor are they truly incommand of their aircraft. A real fighter pilot is sitting therebeside you, maintaining control through suggestions, commands andhands on stick of the dual-control aircraft when necessary.
Air Combat (phone: 1-800-522-7590) charges $695 for theexperience, which typically involves about an hour of actual flight,preceded by an hour of instruction and preparation and followed by ashort debriefing.
The planes are Marchetti SF 260s, Italian sport 'aerobatic' planesused by NATO for air combat training, and the pilot-instructors arereal fighter pilots. Mark 'Sheik' Hession, who commanded my plane,for instance, left after the flight to join his California AirNational Guard F-16 fighter wing for active duty training.
Just before the flight, you strap on a real parachute, required byFederal Aviation Administration rules for aerobatic flying. After aformation takeoff with your opponent aircraft and flight to an areaisolated from other air traffic, you fly the plane, practicing themaneuvers that were chalked out earlier.
Then the fight is on. It doesn't usually take long for oneaircraft to gain an advantage and tuck in behind the other, where,despite the wildest evasions, the pilot is able to lock on with theAir Combat's patented laser weapons system and score a simulated hit.You know when you've been hit because your plane emits a trail ofsmoke and you get whiffs of it in the cockpit.
Depending on your stamina, you may get in six fights before thecommanders say it's over. Prior piloting experience may give you moreconfidence than a neophyte, but it doesn't guarantee victory.
My 870 hours flying Pipers and Cessnas weren't good for more thana 2-2 tie with a woman whose titanium stomach more than compensatedfor her lack of flying experience.
Unlike the other virtual reality experiences described here, whenyou finish an Air Combat session you can relive it over and over withthe three-camera, in-plane video system that records the duration ofeach flight.
Richard O'Reilly is director of computer analysis for the LosAngeles Times.
