Back in the day, they used to have a program on TV called "Virtually Impossible." It was a computer generated game where the contestant would wear a VR helmet and gloves to control whatever they did, and it looked to be the next big thing in gaming. So big that Nintendo begun to invest in the Virtualboy. See here (http://consoledatabase.retrofaction.com/consoleinfo/nintendovirtualboy/)

The market eventually died out and no one really showed interest, but with films like the Matrix that are based on the idea of a virtual world, does anyone think that the idea might possibly take off again now that technology is there to provide a better realism?

In a way it has it has not come to the players yet virtual reality is in kind of used today through the use of motion capture suits to make all of the super fluid animaions that we see today in games and movies. Also with the release of the eye toy there is talk of a wide scale use motion capture technology in the games we play. So there is a chance that something similiar to virtual reality could be a big part of gaming in the near future.

There's definately a market for games that require more than just your hands to play - just look at the popularity of DDR and EyeToy. Like Hogan said, there's a burgeoning industry there - one that's cheaper to maintain than an actual virtual reality.

One of the problems with VR is just that - it can't make you stronger, or faster, because it's virtual reality. I'm sure they could come up with some tricks, but just like playing DDR, you'd get tired - leading to shorter gaming sessions. There's no way you could pull an RPG all nighter if you had to spend all night actually fighting the enemies.

Still, motion capture interests me - i'd love a game like Jedi Knight where you could control the Lightsaber via a Lightsaber controller - complete with light-up blade :D.

Whoa ExS I honestly had never though of that....if there was a VR system that came out with a Jedi (lightsaber only) based game that would probably be the sole reason I bought it. In other news, does anyone know if those arcade systems that they had in the First Kid movie (with Sinbad) are real cause if so they looked alright except for a lack of realiism. And now heading to traffic, I saw what you all are saying about EyeToy and this is what I have to say. In a year or less (What I think) there will be about 25% of games coming out that will have a menu of some sort that will be used with linkage to the EyeToy and in about 2 years or less (well, I guess these are the same thing so forget the time periods) there will be menu control and accessability very similair to what you see in the movie Minority Report.

I think motion sensing a l� Eye Toy is the way it's going. One of the Sony reps indeed said they are looking to build in a camera to the PS3. So that'll be interesting. You still don't have the full 3d surround though. That would be cool. You need a wireless headset for that really. No use trying to turn around and finding yourself being strangled by a wire >_>

Virtual Reality stuff like Virtual Boy- where you put the mask over your head and such- is completely unappealing to me. I tried some stuff like that at a Dave&Busters, and it was so disorienting that I wound up getting tangled in all the cords around the machine.

Stuff like what Lee suggested sound like a lot of fun though. There's a game where you use a Samurai sword in the arcades that I absolutely love- it's so much fun.

I'm a bit too shy to make use of something like the eyetoy, but it is cool to see the stuff that they're doing with it. ^^