Virtual reality
I'll write some virtual reality this month. I'm convinced that I better be prepared when Oculus will roll out their consumer version of the rift. The demand for VR apps will boom.
For weeks I have had this thought that I should do something in VR that cannot be achieved on a monitor screen. I thought it could be done by pivoting on depth perception. A quick small demo pointed out that's likely not true. You're better off by providing experiences and illusions of other worlds.
Audio seems to have huge impact on the experiences in the VR. I almost feel that it is mandatory to have positional audio in VR demo. Otherwise it doesn't just feel complete.
Interaction with illusions of the VR isn't obvious. You cannot truly touch anything of it, so simulating real world interactions expose you to troublesome poses for extended duration. Computer mouse and GUI concepts don't work as well because everything happens within a volume. It will take a while before user interaction adapts to the VR.
In virtual reality we will meet. Perhaps I will cheat you in a chess. Who knows?