This VR headset can kill you in REAL LIFE if you lose (PHOTO)

Nov 10 2022, 5:22 pm

There’s a new VR headset, and it’s raising the stakes to a whole new level.

Palmer Luckey, the American entrepreneur and founder of Oculus VR, has announced that he’s designing a headset that can kill gamers in real life.

The headset is called NerveGear, and it’s designed after a killer helmet in the game Sword Art Online. Except this headset has the capability to kill users IRL.

“The idea of tying your real life to your virtual avatar has always fascinated me,” says Luckey. “You instantly raise the stakes to the maximum level and force people to fundamentally rethink how they interact with the virtual world and the players inside it.”

VR

NerveGear/palmerluckey.com

So how does it work?

The online version of NerveGear works by emitting lethal levels of microwaves to a user’s brain — something impossible to recreate in real life.

“I am a pretty smart guy, but I couldnā€™t come up with any way to make anything like this work, not without attaching the headset to gigantic pieces of equipment,” explains Luckey.

To navigate this, he says he used explosive charge modules designed to detect when the gamer has lost.

“When an appropriate game-over screen is displayed, the charges fire, instantly destroying the brain of the user,” he says.

But while he’s figured out how the headset can kill the gamer, there are still several issues. Luckey says he’s working on an anti-tamper mechanism so that, just like the online version of the NerveGear, it’ll be impossible to remove or destroy the headset.

He admits he hasn’t “worked up the balls” to use the headset because it’s still far from perfect and has a likelihood of killing the user at the wrong time.

For those looking to own a deadly piece of technology, it’s going to be a long wait.

“At this point, it is just a piece of office art, a thought-provoking reminder of unexplored avenues in game design,” says Luckey. “It is also, as far as I know, the first non-fiction example of a VR device that can actually kill the user. It wonā€™t be the last.”

GET MORE VANCOUVER NEWS
Want to stay in the loop with more Daily Hive content and News in your area? Check out all of our Newsletters here.
Buzz Connected Media Inc. #400 ā€“ 1008 Homer Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 2X1 [email protected] View Rules
Irish Mae SilvestreIrish Mae Silvestre

+ News
+ Tech
+ Gaming
ADVERTISEMENT