NVIDIA Releases Video Game To Showcase Greatness Of VR

Even with the interest generated around Oculus Rift And HTC Vive, there are still many in the video game industry who are not convinced that VR is worth their time. In an effort to convince more players to give VR a chance, GPU-maker NVIDIA released a game on Steam that showcases the full capabilities of the technology.

Called the “VR Funhouse,” the game is free to download on Steam for VR headsets, Engadget reports. The title is set in a carnival environment where players can interact with many of the objects in the game, experiencing game-changing physics effects and reality-bending graphical capabilities.

Unfortunately for the majority of players, the simulation requires a monster of a PC in addition to an HTC Vive in order to play. In fact, unless the player has the latest GPU NVIDIA has to offer right now, which happens to be the “GeForce GTX 1080,” playing the demo is not going to be that much fun.

With regards to why the tech company decided to dabble in creating a VR game in the first place, PC Mag explains that it has a lot to do with showing instead of explaining how great VR games are. The majority of gamers simply have no interest in listening to techies telling them what VR technology can do. They prefer to see instead, as pointed out by a member of Nvidia's VR alliances and ecosystem development team, Victoria Rege.

"First, we wanted it to be fun. To be enjoyed by people of all ages, whether or not they've tried VR, whether or not they're an early adopter," Rege wrote via blog post. "Second, it was created to show how immersive VR can be when physics simulation is fully integrated into an experience."

The demo is also a culmination of 10 years’ worth of work by NVIDIA on an SDK that can accurately simulate a 3D environment.