I think we just got to a point where consumer VR is affordable!

I just discovered this device, the Novint Falcon, which is not yet for sale. It’s like a Sensable Phantom, (although it must only be 3DOF, ie handling only translation, not rotation) but cheap =)

“Designed to retail for under $100 in mass market quantities, the Falcon performs comparably
to commercial devices that cost thousands of dollars, letting users feel weight, texture, shape,
dimension, dynamics, 3D motion and force effects, unlike any consumer force feedback product on the market today.”

If this thing works as told, we can have a good VR hardware setup for 350$ !!

Take :
– a head tracker from NaturalPoint : 150$. I have one, it works really great!!
– a pair of wireless stereo glasses from Edimensional : $99.95. I also have one, it works great too!!
– and the Novint Falcon (100$).

And we’re good for an immersive experience closely matching what’s available to professionals!!
Of course it would be better with a eye-mounted display, a HMD. These are still not that affordable, but as stated in this article,
“Steve Glaser, vice president at Icuiti, believes that advances in VR software will drive down hardware costs eventually.
“I think that a high-resolution HMD for consumers is doable within the next five years,” he said, “but probably not within the next couple of years.”

And last, but not least, we need applications and games, that require these devices for a full experience, to get people to get equiped..