It does look as though the Oculus Rift is the de facto virtual reality headset for developers to work with at the moment, but are there any decent alternatives in the market? Perhaps so, as the Vrvana Totem headset would allow you to explore a virtual world with one major advantage – you will not lose awareness of the world around you. How does this seemingly magical virtual reality headset work? Well, the Vrvana Totem headset itself will feature a pair of forward-facing cameras which can be passed through to the display.
Virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift have the potentail to offer truly immersive experiences. But being strapped in to a headset means losing awareness about the world around you, which is especially tricky if you need to, say, reach for you keyboard. This is one of the problems the Vrvana Totem headset aims to solve. The headset features two forward-facing cameras that can be passed through to the display, meaning you can see the world around you as needed. The Totem is the product of a small team lead by Bertand Nepvue, who told Mashable he has been developing a virtual reality headset for the last nine years. He said he was inspired by the Xbox 360 hardware, which he believed was strong enough to support a plug-and-play virtual reality system. The Totem development kit, which is currently being Kickstarted fulfills those dreams of nine years ago. Nepvue said if there are compatible games available, the Totem will be able to plug into most current and next-gen game consoles. (It won’t work with any existing game though, as games need to be created or modified to be experienced correctly in virtual reality.)
