VR Is Everywhere!

Virtual Reality (VR) is popping up in surprisingly useful places. It’s gone way beyond gaming, although games such as Fallout 4 and Elite: Dangerous still get plenty of attention. For instance, Wisconsin Oven lets potential customers walk through their facility on a VR tour. Forget catalogs when you can actually see how the ovens are made. Surgeons can practice procedures before getting near the operating room. This allows them to work out most problems before touching their patient. We all support this, right? Therapists treat us through exposure therapy using VR. Afraid of spiders? No problem, just slip on a VR headset and you’ll see a teeny spider in the distance. Gradually, as your fear decreases due to repeated exposure to more and bigger spiders, you’ll be able to keep a tarantula around the house. Well, you get the idea, anyway. VR’s potential is limited only by our imaginations. But, during this explosive exploration, we hope designers work on the nuts and bolts of making the VR world seamless to our eyes. If the timing is just a teensy bit off, many users will feel a rush of VR-related motion sickness. Unlike the VR world, the nausea is IRL (In Real Life). The good news is, Reliefband® on the wrist controls the nausea, retching, and vomiting of VR-related motion sickness. Slip it on, turn it on, and Live Life in Full Motion. Enjoy Virtual Reality, no matter the reason you find yourself there.

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5 VR Games You’ll Want

It’s still early days for many VR offerings. Developers aren’t sure if the money is there for a time- and talent-intensive effort, but we say, bring it! VR is fun, and if VR-related nausea creeps in, well, that’s what Reliefband® is for. Slip it on your wrist and play on. So, what’s looking good in the game world? These are a few that caught our attention: Minecraft VR is here. Instead of staring at the screen with your roommate or little sister doing annoying things in your peripheral vision, you’re in the middle of the Minecraft world. Caves beckon, mobs advance, it’s all glorious. Hover Junkers is a wild free-for-all in wastelands that you’ll love. Lots of movement in playing this game, and ships that are steampunk beauties. Loads of fun! Sportsbar VR lets you play pool, darts, chess, air hockey – lots of pub games. And you can compete against AI or your friends anywhere in the world. It’s the perfect way to chill out and you don’t have to leave your house. Dear Esther slows it down a bit. It’s not a game where you do battle with guns blazing. It’s a visually stunning ghost story with you on a Scottish island and a lurking mystery to solve. Or not. Assetto Corsa is a racing game that is popular primarily because it is easily modified and customized. Reliefband wearable device provides fast control of nausea, retching, and vomiting associated with the motion sickness associated with VR.

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5 VR Necessities

Virtual Reality (VR) is a fascinating place because it can be any place you want. Sounds simple, but once experienced, you want more. The VR world is exploding with growth. And peripherals, or accessories, are growing right along with it. The Unlimited Hand looks like a cuff you put on your arm. Not fancy or scary, but when you’re in VR, it makes you feel the VR world. Imagine how advanced this will be in a couple of years. Gloveone continues the Unlimited Hand concept but, as you’d guess, with gloves instead of a cuff. And, you wear gloves on both hands, so you’re truly immersed in the VR world. You can preorder this Kickstarter project by Neurodigital. Reliefband® fits snug on your wrist. It’s a fast, effective way to control the nausea, retching, and vomiting associated with VR-related motion sickness. Push a button, set your power level, and play! A simple yet appreciated accessory is VR Cover. Slip it on your headset and protect your expensive equipment from the sweat generated by having something clamped to your face. The Roto VR Chair allows you to interact with the VR environment while remaining safely seated. With responsive head tracking and foot pedals, plus loads of other features, the chair elevates your VR experience. Enjoy VR! Share your favorite peripherals/accessories in the comments. We love hearing about new tech.

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VR – Not Just For Games

Virtual Reality (VR) is tops with gamers, but it’s also used in ways unimagined just a few short years ago. VR simulations in the military enhance the training one goes through to become a medic or a pilot, a tank driver or even a combatant. Businesses use VR simulations to improve skillsets such as machine operation, sales, or understanding and use of a product. Teachers find the world of Virtual Reality to be a boon to the translation of concepts, and it’s just a fun way to learn. Who doesn’t want to interact with whales during fifth period? But, VR-related nausea can put the kibosh on the excitement and benefit of experiencing the world through Virtual Reality. Reliefband® offers a quick, natural way to treat the symptoms of nausea, retching, and vomiting sometimes associated with motion sickness from playing or training in the virtual world. So go, have fun in VR—jump out of airplanes, swim with turtles, or float in space. Do it all and bonus, no puking!

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Why VR Gaming Makes Us Sick

Virtual reality sounds like a fantastic idea, doesn’t it? We can climb pyramids, battle orcs, and have a duel in space — all in an afternoon. But for many of us, the most telling reality is the nausea we feel shortly after we engage in virtual reality. This nausea, and the vomiting that sometimes follows, are caused by the same circumstances that cause motion sickness: the difference in what we see and what we feel. That conflict creates the nausea and vomiting. With motion sickness, three things are out of sync — our eyes tell us we’re not moving (flying in a plane, riding in the back seat of a car while reading a book), but our body (muscles and joints) and our inner ear tell us that we are moving. With virtual reality, our eyes tell us we’re moving, but our body tells us we’re not moving, at least, not moving exactly as we seem to be doing in the world of virtual reality. The inner ear is the third partner in virtual reality sickness. In there is the vestibular apparatus, which provides sensory information to the brain about “motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation.” Put these three things together — what our eyes see, what our body feels, and what our inner ear detects — and if they’re all working as they should, we can do loop-de-loops ‘til the cows come home and not get sick. It’s when they get confusing information that things go awry. Developers are working on potential solutions to the problem. Until that anticipated day, we need to prevent virtual reality sickness. The best way we know to do that is to follow the science and wear a Reliefband. Happy gaming!

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VR Sickness Stinks!

Virtual reality (VR) is teetering on the edge of becoming the next big thing. Will we make it a part of our daily lives, as we have smartphones and tablets? Well, it’s hard to say. But gamers and others who currently use it tend to love it—except for one thing . . . VR sickness! Motion sickness and VR sickness are triggered by the same mechanisms. What you see in the world of virtual reality doesn’t match up with what your body feels in the real world, just as what you see when you’re reading in a car doesn’t match up with the movement of the car that your body feels. Although you’re not really rocketing through the air on a rollercoaster in VR, that’s what your mind perceives, yet your body isn’t experiencing the same movement. When there’s a disconnect between what you see and what you feel, nausea generally follows. If you love VR but suffer from VR sickness, try Reliefband to stop the nausea. And please, let us know how it goes!  

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