Conan O’Brian visited the YouTube Space in New York and tried out a variety of virtual reality programs in the HTC Vive for a sketch on his show last night, and the results are just as good as you’d hope they would be.
Give the entire video above a watch and then let’s continue.
What’s so great about this video is that there was no trickery involved in its production. It was shot “live,” using a green screen and a technique called mixed reality, which allowed the producers to show both the virtual world and O’Brian’s reaction to it. We went into a bit of detail about how this can be achieved earlier this year, when this method of showing off virtual reality was still in its infancy.
One of the hardest problems of virtual reality has always been finding a way to show off how it feels to be inside these games and experiences unless you’re wearing the headset yourself. Videos like the one above only partially solve that problem — only O’Brien knows what it felt like to be inside those worlds while shooting the bit — but we’re at the point where at least some of the emotion and humor of virtual reality is communicated to the viewer.
O’Brien went through quick demos of Tilt Brush, Job Simulator and The Thrill of the Fight - VR Boxing as the video progressed.
O’Brien was able to perform inside of virtual reality, reacting live to what he was experiencing, and it was broadcast to a huge mainstream audience. The technology, and the methods to share it, have come a very long way in a very short time.
