Admiral Will and Captain Jennifer show bwog their power pose

We at Bwog are pretty sure the future is now. We want to be prepared for the apocalypse, so we need to keep up on the latest technology! Fortunately, Romane Thomas and Jennifer Nugent have done just that by checking out the Oculus Rift presentation.

Captain Kirk. Han Solo. Now, Captain Jennifer Brown and Admiral William Vanti (“I prefer Will,” but whatever). Jennifer and Will were the most recent fearless leaders who forayed into fictional space battle. In this case, they were the emerging science technology coordinator and digital science librarian (respectively) that bravely led us in an intense battle against the 3D space ships in their Oculus Rift virtual reality demonstration.

We had the chance to experience the technology for ourselves at an event held yesterday in the Science and Engineering library. The excitement was palpable and the talking floor had never seen such noise levels! We were the first to try out the new goggles and the experience was more “planetarium in my face” than “bad trip but I didn’t hate it.”

As serious science geeks and random passersby lined up to experience a new level of gaming, we got the inside scoop from Will, Jennifer, and the students sitting in on the trial as to the major hits and misses (shooting pun intended) of the new technology. Will started by describing how the goggles worked. He explained that “the camera films your body language and movement and adapts what you see on the screen.”

Captain Will leads us into battle against the martians

Jennifer added that although the technology is actually two years old, “the new virtual goggles that have just been released are supposed to be pretty cool.” In general, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves when trying on the technology, so much so that everyone “looks like they’re really high”, stated one participant.

In our best efforts to channel our inner Buzzfeed bloggers, we tried trading quips with Will and Jennifer as well as firing random questions at game-players to test their multitasking abilities.

Here were some of our favorite moments:

“My accuracy level was only 37% but I’m still alive, so you’re welcome Earth.”
“And mine was 41% but we both died once so yeah”
“How well did you do? This is a competition you know.”
“Ah man, we should have brought prizes” Jennifer on the failings of the set-up.

Don’t talk to me I’m busy saving the planet

“In a better library we would be live streaming what you are seeing” Will, telling the truth about Columbia’s subpar systems.
“It’s a lot blurrier than i thought.” Stated one participant “Yea, you didn’t have your glasses on”.
“Honestly, I don’t buy into it until I die, then it gets super real.”

After questions we asked:
“I don’t know! I’m trying to save the universe!!”
“I’m not from here” when asked about the first president of the USA.
“This is too stressful” when asked the answer to “2+3”?

Intergalactic Attitudes via Bwog Staff