Oculus Rift…

Google Cardboard...

After years of watching futuristic characters live their lives through virtual reality, VR is finally becoming an actual reality in our lives. However, when you think of the future of film, it seems like the obvious step in the industry: a conceptual technology that has existed in our popular culture for so long that the real thing now feels as inevitable as the hover board.

Scheduled for release on 28 March 2016, the Oculus Rift is one of the first consumer-targeted VR headsets created. With a resolution of 1080 x 1200 per eye, and 90 Hz refresh rate, this device has a wide field of view, integrated headphone (for 3D audio effect), and rotational and positional tracking.


Targeting a more cost-weary market, Google Cardboard is a virtual reality and augmented reality platform developed by Google for use with a head mount for a mobile phone. Made from a fold-out cardboard viewer, the device is intended to encourage interest and development in the technology. The device, developed by David Coz and Damien Henry, allows users to build their own viewer from specifications published by Google, using low-cost materials. It was introduced at the Google l/O 2014 developers conference and by January 2016, over 5 million viewers had been shipped and over 1 000 compatible applications had been published.


VR is blowing up right now, and the advancement has been incredible. In a short amount of time, content creators have made mind-blowing advances with this new technology, incorporating it into narratives, movies, gaming and advertising alike. It seems impossible, but the technology is aimed at the middle-class, making it not-so-impossible for the general community to get their hands on it.

The hype of this new medium is already being celebrated in South Africa with the recent VR exhibition at Goethe in Johannesburg and the formation of the first virtual reality community in Cape Town. But with gaming rigs and products already available, it is safe to say that the US and Europe is ahead of us in the technology used in VR. In fact, the opportunities that VR is offering is not being exploited to its full potential.

VR is the only medium that guarantees the user’s complete focus on the content. There is no looking away, no checking email or text messages and no updating social-media statuses. VR is the most immersive way to tell a story, because what happens inside that headset makes you feel something in your head, heart and gut.

With all this potential, it is easy to see why VR is taking over the world as we know it. Not only in gaming and advertising, but with most interactive promotions and opportunities. Can you imagine test-driving a car in the mall, without moving the car? Re-modelling the house while still viewing the property? Trying on those catwalk jeans, while sitting in the comfort of your own home?

Open your eyes to a new world with Decimal Agency, as we step into a reality that has thus far only been part of our imagination.