Let's Watch the New Ready Player One Trailer & Wonder Why VR Goggles in 2045 Are Still Bulky & Ridiculous

Definitely looks like a lot of fun... but then you get to :25 and wonder: "Why is this kid who supposedly lives in 2045 using VR goggles as big and dorky as they are now? Wouldn't the technology have improved to the point where they'd be as sleek and stylish as a pair of sunglasses? Surely all the VR experts Steven Spielberg knows told him VR would quickly evolve that way in a decade or two, right?" And then you think, "Oh maybe because he's a poor kid and the poor in this future can't afford the super high-end portable VR goggles."

And then you get to 1:31 and notice that some rich bad buy is also wearing big dumb goggles. And then a second later:

Hey wait, everyone is wearing big dumb VR goggles -- with straps and everything!

And then you think about what Spielberg once said about the movie and VR:

[H]e sees the film as “a crystal ball into exactly what is going to be happening not in 30 or 40 years but in between 5 and 10 years from now, where a virtual world becomes almost like a drug of choice and where we are spending more time in a nonorganic space than we are breathing and eating and interacting in real life... This movie is going to show why it’s interesting not living in the real world but what we’re missing by not,” Spielberg said. “It’s a cautionary tale but it’s also a big rockin’ adventure movie, too."

Which leads me to think Spielberg intentionally made the VR goggles look huge and ridiculous to emphasize his trepidations with virtual reality -- how they cut people off from reality by literally blinding them to it. Because if they wore small and stylish sunglasses, some of the audience might miss that point.

Comments

[Amanda]

I'm looking forward to Spielberg's vision. I've been practicing for it in SL for over a decade.

[sirhc deSantis]

Nah, its just that after the current hype fizzled out, there were so many millions of unshifted bits of kit it all ended up in huge landfills (in original packaging haha) that no one could make the effort to cover. All these dudes have to do is head down to their local municipal tip, grab a few, whip on a bit of wireless and bang away they go.

[Chic Aeon]

Loved the book. The trailer seems to indicate that the movie will not follow the book (well the stacked trailers but not much else :D).

READ THE BOOK - LOL.

[too]

VR companies are breathlessly waiting for the RL to completely collapse so they can totally make bank on headsets.

[too]

P.S. Drugs will still be far cheaper.