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If you consider yourself to be a big fan of technology, then you have probably played around with one of the virtual reality headsets on the market. These VR headsets are used for entertainment purposes and they have become a niche part of the video game sphere. There is a lot of potential for VR technology and you might have also heard the term augmented reality being used. How do these two things differ and what are they all about?

Understanding Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is something that gives you an augmented view of the real world around you. An excellent example of this is the popular Pokemon Go game that people play on their smartphones. The game augments reality by placing the popular Pokemon creatures in the real world for you to capture. Of course, they aren’t really there, but the appearance of reality being augmented makes the game whimsical and fun. 

There are many different augmented reality video games out there and the prevalence of experiences like this will likely increase as time goes on. The augmented reality experience could become more sophisticated over time as well. It remains to be seen whether augmented reality has uses outside of the entertainment sphere. 

Understanding Virtual Reality

Virtual reality puts people inside of a computer-generated simulation where they can feel as if they are really in a different place. There are a large number of different virtual reality headsets on the market now. Most of them are focused on allowing users to play video games in virtual reality, but there are also virtual reality movies and other experiences like that. The virtual reality experience can be very immersive and developers have only just scratched the surface of what can be done in a virtual reality game. 

What About Mixed Reality?

You might even be aware of mixed reality experiences. Mixed reality involves the combination of augmented reality along with augmented virtual reality. This allows for interaction between computer-created objects and the real world. It has the potential to be very immersive and mixed reality is something that is just now being fully explored. 

In Closing

These technologies are still fairly new and not everyone has experienced using them. It remains to be seen whether virtual reality will catch on as an entertainment phenomenon. Either way, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences aren’t likely going away soon. Which style you will prefer is simply up to your personal preference.