Editing Virtual reality (section)

==== 1990–2000 ====
The 1990s saw the first widespread commercial releases of consumer headsets. In 1992, for instance, ''[[Computer Gaming World]]'' predicted "affordable VR by 1994".<ref name="engler1992">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1992&pub=2&id=100 | title=Affordable VR by 1994 | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1992 | access-date=4 July 2014 | author=Engler, Craig E. | page=80}}</ref>

In 1991, [[Sega]] announced the [[Sega VR]] headset for the [[Mega Drive]] home console. It used LCD screens in the visor, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors that allowed the system to [[tracking system|track]] and react to the movements of the user's head.<ref name="Horowitz">{{cite web|last=Horowitz|first=Ken|title=Sega VR: Great Idea or Wishful Thinking?|url=http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=5&title=Sega%20VR:%20Great%20Idea%20or%20Wishful%20Thinking?|publisher=Sega-16|date=December 28, 2004|access-date=21 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114191355/http://sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=5&title=Sega%20VR%3A%20Great%20Idea%20or%20Wishful%20Thinking%3F|archive-date=2010-01-14|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the same year, [[Virtuality (gaming)|Virtuality]] launched and went on to become the first mass-produced, networked, multiplayer VR entertainment system that was released in many countries, including a dedicated VR [[Amusement arcade|arcade]] at [[Embarcadero Center]]. Costing up to $73,000 per multi-pod Virtuality system, they featured headsets and exoskeleton gloves that gave one of the first "immersive" VR experiences.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QiKnHxX7CY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/-QiKnHxX7CY| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Virtuality|website=YouTube|date=17 April 2008 |access-date=21 September 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:CAVE at INL's CAES 001.jpg|thumb|A [[Cave automatic virtual environment|CAVE]] system at [[Idaho National Laboratory|IDL]]'s Center for Advanced Energy Studies in 2010]]

That same year, [[Carolina Cruz-Neira]], [[Daniel J. Sandin]], and [[Thomas A. DeFanti]] from the [[Electronic Visualization Laboratory]] created the first cubic immersive room, the [[Cave automatic virtual environment]] (CAVE). Developed as Cruz-Neira's PhD thesis, it involved a multi-projected environment, similar to the [[holodeck]], allowing people to see their own bodies in relation to others in the room.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Goad|first1=Angela|title=Carolina Cruz-Neira {{!}} Introductions Necessary|url=https://introductionsnecessary.com/podcast/carolina-cruz-neira/|website=Introductions Necessary|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="Arkansas Online Niera">{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=David|title=Engineer envisions sci-fi as reality|url=http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/nov/24/engineer-envisions-sci-fi-as-reality-20/?print|access-date=28 March 2017|work=Arkansas Online|date=November 24, 2014}}</ref> Antonio Medina, an MIT graduate and NASA scientist, designed a virtual reality system to "drive" Mars rovers from Earth in apparent real time despite the substantial delay of Mars-Earth-Mars signals.<ref>{{cite journal |editor= Gonzales, D.|title=Automation and Robotics for the Space Exploration Initiative: Results from Project Outreach|journal=NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N|url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/notes/2009/N3284.pdf|volume=92 |issue=17897 |page=35 |year=1991|bibcode=1991STIN...9225258G|last1=Gonzales|first1=D.|last2=Criswell|first2=D.|last3=Heer|first3=E}}</ref>

[[File:Virtual-Fixtures-USAF-AR.jpg|thumb|[[Virtual fixture|Virtual Fixtures]] immersive [[augmented reality|AR]] system developed in 1992. Picture features Dr. Louis Rosenberg interacting freely in 3D with overlaid virtual objects called 'fixtures'.]]

In 1992, [[Nicole Stenger]] created ''Angels'', the first real-time interactive immersive movie where the interaction was facilitated with a [[dataglove]] and high-resolution goggles. That same year, Louis Rosenberg created the [[virtual fixture]]s system at the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]]'s [[Armstrong Laboratory|Armstrong Labs]] using a full upper-body [[exoskeleton]], enabling a physically realistic mixed reality in 3D. The system enabled the overlay of physically real 3D virtual objects registered with a user's direct view of the real world, producing the first true augmented reality experience enabling sight, sound, and touch.<ref name="Rosenberg 1992">Rosenberg, Louis (1992). "The Use of Virtual Fixtures As Perceptual Overlays to Enhance Operator Performance in Remote Environments.". ''Technical Report AL-TR-0089, USAF Armstrong Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB OH, 1992''.</ref><ref>Rosenberg, L.B. (1993). "Virtual Fixtures: Perceptual Overlays for Telerobotic Manipulation". ''In Proc. of the IEEE Annual Int. Symposium on Virtual Reality (1993)'': pp. 76–82.</ref>

By July 1994, Sega had released the [[VR-1]] motion simulator ride attraction in [[Joypolis]] indoor theme parks,<ref>{{cite magazine|date=July 1994|title=News & Information|magazine=[[Gemaga|Beep! Mega Drive]]|issue=1994–08|page=[https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:BeepMD_JP_1994-08.pdf&page=31]}}</ref> as well as the ''Dennou Senki Net Merc'' [[arcade game]]. Both used an advanced head-mounted display dubbed the "Mega Visor Display" developed in conjunction with Virtuality;<ref name="VR Focus">{{cite web|publisher=VR Focus|title=The Virtual Arena – Blast From The Past: The VR-1|author=Kevin Williams|work=VRFocus |url=https://www.vrfocus.com/2020/07/the-virtual-arena-blast-from-the-past-the-vr-1/}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|date=August 1993|title=Sega Teams Up With W. Industries For Its VR Game|magazine=Game Machine|issue=455|page=[https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19930815p.pdf]}}</ref> it was able to track head movement in a 360-degree stereoscopic 3D environment, and in its ''Net Merc'' incarnation was powered by the [[Sega Model 1]] [[arcade system board]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/nextgen-issue-006/Next_Generation_Issue_006_June_1995#page/n23/mode/2up|title=NEXT Generation|issue=6|date=June 1995|via=archive.org|access-date=20 October 2015}}</ref> [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] released [[QuickTime VR]], which, despite using the term "VR", was unable to represent virtual reality, and instead displayed 360-degree [[interactive panorama]]s.

[[Nintendo]]'s [[Virtual Boy]] console was released in 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theverge.com:80/products/virtual-boy/1672 |title=Nintendo Virtual Boy on theverge.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401035942/http://www.theverge.com:80/products/virtual-boy/1672|archive-date=2014-04-01}}</ref> A group in Seattle created public demonstrations of a [[Cave automatic virtual environment|"CAVE-like"]] 270 degree immersive projection room called the Virtual Environment Theater, produced by entrepreneurs Chet Dagit and Bob Jacobson.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-22-fi-34851-story.html |title= Virtual Reality Applications Expand : Imaging: Technology is finding important places in medicine, engineering and many other realms |newspaper= Los Angeles Times|date= 1995-02-22|last1= Dye|first1= Lee}}</ref> Forte released the [[VFX1 Headgear|VFX1]], a PC-powered virtual reality headset that same year.

In 1999, entrepreneur [[Philip Rosedale]] formed [[Linden Lab]] with an initial focus on the development of VR hardware. In its earliest form, the company struggled to produce a commercial version of "The Rig", which was realized in prototype form as a clunky steel contraption with several computer monitors that users could wear on their shoulders. The concept was later adapted into the personal computer-based, 3D virtual world program ''[[Second Life]]''.<ref>Au, Wagner James. ''The Making of Second Life'', pg. 19. New York: Collins. {{ISBN|978-0-06-135320-8}}.</ref>