This time last year virtual reality (VR) was heating up.

Manufacturers and technology companies alike were clamoring to dethrone ‘Oculus Rift‘ from it’s long rein as an industry leading VR device and the competition was about to make some serious moves into the public marketplace.

Little did we know at Inphantry, the race would heat up to the point where even Qualcomm would be releasing a VR device…but here we are.

As an agency full of gamers, we’re deeply intrigued at the possibility of VR in a number of ways. And to take a step back, for the most part, VR can be summed up in three different categories.

Gaming 

Entertainment

Simulation / Training

Some people may agree or disagree with the above categories and that’s fine, but here’s the deal. The leading VR devices will succeed because they’ve narrowed themselves into one of these categories.

Take for instance, the Samsung Gear VR. It’s purely an entertainment device. You can use to experience what a rollercoaster is like, or what it’s like to go BASE jump in Norway. Or snowboard with the Mountain Dew VR team. 

All of these are optional and downloadable content, available to be streamed anytime, anywhere using a Samsung Galaxy phone and $99 headset.

*Read here for the top VR devices in today’s marketplace*

Other devices, such as the Playstation VR and HTC Vive are focused on gaming. With PSVR, you connect it to your Playstation and experience what it’s like to use a motion controller, or the two glow sticks to play through a game in front of a television, while wearing a headset. The difference with an HTC Vive, is you need a computer, instead of a Playstation (along with two motion control towers) to experience a plethora of games.

Some other VR devices, such as Oculus, Snapdragon or any of the other 8 devices out there, are gunning for the simulation / training potential of virtual reality.

And each one of them is a viable market. 

That being said, virtual reality has a SERIOUS limitation…the wires. 

Until now….

The other day we came across MSI VR One. The world’s first laptop, VR-enabled backpack. Yes, you heard that right. A VR backpack. 

Now you can traverse the great outdoors while fully immersed in VR. MSI’s VR One Backpack PC is officially ready for pre-order and they hope to have shipments headed out at the end of the month. And of course the MSI VR One isn’t cheap…for about the same price as a VR ready desktop computer powered by the same Intel Core i7 processor with 16 GB of RAM, 256 SSD Hard Drive and NVIDIA GTX 1060 graphics card, you can get one of these babies for a lofty starting price of $2,000.

Customers who are willing to pay more can get a GTX 1070 and 512GB SSD by paying $2,300. However, there’s no shipping date available for this model just yet. MSI is yet to confirm this crucial piece of information. Pre-orders for the MSI VR One Backpack PC can now be made through Newegg.

And you’re all probably wondering about the battery life….well. VR is an power-eater and there’s no difference here with the MSI VR One. It lasts about an hour and a half and is compatible with two sets of batteries, so if one runs out, you’ve always got the other to swap over while it’s still running. And yes….the MSI VR One is compatible with most powerful virtual reality headsets like the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift.

Will you be ordering one? 

Tweet us @inphantry and let us know.

P.S. Check out a walkthrough demo of the MSI VR One here.

Or check out the bulk of our non-VR work in our portfolio pages here

Interested in doing a VR project for your company?

Contact our New Business Manager, Cam King here: cam@inphantry.com

Read more about msi and Virtual Reality (VR).