AuraVisor – the future of VR?

We all know that most of the big hitters are throwing their hat in to the Virtual Reality (VR) ring right now. Arguably it was Oculus Rift that got people’s imaginations running but it’s HTC’s Vive that really has had me excited. Now it’s AuraVisor which could be squaring up to steal the virtual reality crown from the competition by offering totally wireless immersion.

The AuraVisor VR headset is currently a crowd-funded project – but that’s just about par for the course these days isn’t it?

What really sets the AuraVisor apart from the rest of the race is that it will land already with plenty of VR content to take advantage of. That and it comes from Yorkshire and, as someone raised in Barnsley, that’s got to count for summat.

The AuraVisor doesn’t tether you to a single platform like a PC, games console or smartphone.

It frees you to experience content however you choose. You can use this with your PS4, hook it up to a Mac to use as a monitor, connect it to your Xbox to expand your experiences or use the intuitive user interface to download games, add movies or video clips from the app store.

The 5-inch screen delivers full 1080p HD video and a massive 100° field of vision means that the AuraVisor provides a truly immersive gaming experience but, more than that, it’s a completely standalone entertainment system.

The built in Bluetooth provides simple connectivity to a wide range of controllers, sticks, yokes and headsets and the on-board Wi-Fi and a simple smart scrolling graphical user interface means you can simply turn on, download and immerse yourself in whatever activity you like.

James Talbot, Director, AuraVisor, commented:

The AuraVisor has the potential to do to virtual reality what the Model T Ford did to transport, the Atari 2600 did to home gaming and the camcorder did to home movies. It has its own operating system and battery on board and you can use the AuraVisor completely wirelessly allowing you to completely immerse yourself in the experiences on offer. You are free to rotate 360° or more without tangling or tripping over wires.”

While the unit itself is wireless and can load content from a microSD, the HDMI port allows it to be used with consoles or Blu-ray players making it double as a TV… well, with it being able to create virtual 3D on normal 2D content, let’s say it’s probably closer to having your own IMAX.

The headset actually features a computer system running Android for direct content playback – or, as the makers put it:

The first virtual reality head mounted computer (HMC) that doesn’t need a computer or smartphone to operate.”

This also means it’ll be future-proof for updates and works with Netflix, YouTube and other streaming services. A very neat move there.

It also supports Android gaming but there’s also support for Unity, Unreal Engine and Cryengine gaming engine so bigger and better games are more than possible.

The full price of £300 is not scary and it looks like it will land in to the mainstream before Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus, and possibly even before the Vive.

What makes the AuraVisor even more compelling is that it has a launch price of from £135 for the full Head Mounted Computer and Bluetooth game controller.