Virtual reality
Related: interactive fiction - reality - fiction - video game - play
Sonic the hedgehog, Sega
Screenshot from Myst (1993)
Myst is a graphic adventure computer game a work of interactive fiction.
Definition
Virtual reality (abbreviated VR) describes an environment that is simulated by a computer. Most virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a computer screen or through special stereoscopic goggles, but some simulations include additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers.The term virtual reality was possibly coined by Jaron Lanier in 1989. Lanier is one of the pioneers of the field, founding the company VPL Research (from Virtual Programming Languages) which built some of the first systems in the 1980s. The related term artificial reality has been in use since the 1970s and cyberspace dates to 1984. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality [May 2004]
Books
- Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction - Larry McCaffery [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Editor McCaffery here collects over 50 essays, short stories, novel excerpts, literary criticism, poetry, artworks, and a comic strip that illustrate the influences on and of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction and its distinctive sensibility. Most of the space goes to the two godfathers of cyberpunk, William Gibson (whose Neuromancer , Berkley, 1984, won the science fiction triple crown--Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards) and Bruce Sterling ( Schismatrix , LJ 6/15/85), but most other major cyberpunk writers are represented. McCaffery does not limit cyberpunk to science fiction but puts it in the context of postmodern literature and 1980s popular culture. The only flaw is that Sterling's preface to Mirrorshades ( LJ 12/86), often considered a cyberpunk manifesto and constantly referred to in the essays, is not presented until the end of the nonfiction section. An important work; highly recommended for all sf, literature, and pop culture collections. -- Keith R.A. DeCandido, "Library Journal" Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.