Oculus Founder Creates VR Headset That Actually Kills You if You Die in a Game
Published Nov. 8 2022, 12:10 p.m. ET
Unfortunately, we live in a society where billionaire entrepreneurs use their platforms to steer the planet toward a dystopian future. Now, we could honestly be talking about anyone — from Jeff Bezos to Elon Musk, several tech moguls believe they will make the world a better place. However, today we'll be discussing Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR.
For those unaware, the 30-year-old Cali native recently unveiled the company's newest project, which seemingly takes inspiration from Black Mirror and Don't Worry Darling. As it turns out, Palmer Luckey has designed a custom VR headset that kills you if you die in a video game. Like, you literally die in real life ... and that is absolutely terrifying.
Keep reading for all the known details.
The founder of Oculus has created a VR headset that actually kills you.
On Nov. 6, 2022, the young entrepreneur addressed the new product in a blog post and described how he constructed the "if you die in the game, you die in real life" headset. Palmer detailed how he created the deadly headset in honor of the Japanese novel series Sword Art Online — OK, prepare yourselves because we're about to divulge something freaky.
In that series, Nov. 6, 2022, is the day that a scientist trapped thousands of people inside a deadly VR game that could "only be escaped through completion." Palmer added that no one could not remove their headsets, and "if a player died in-game, the 'NerveGear' headset would bombard their brain with microwave radiation, killing them in real life."
In his blog post, Palmer admits, "The idea of tying your real life to your virtual avatar has always fascinated me — you instantly raise the stakes to the maximum level and force people to fundamentally rethink how they interact with the virtual world and the players inside it." Sure, it's interesting, but this is why we can't have nice things.
He added that when creating the deadly headset, he used "three of the explosive charge modules I usually use for a different project, tying them to a narrow-band photosensor that can detect when the screen flashes red at a specific frequency, making game-over integration on the part of the developer very easy."
"When an appropriate game-over screen is displayed, the charges fire, instantly destroying the brain of the user," Palmer concluded. Wow, this is just what we need in real life (NOT).
The deadly Oculus headset is spawning hilarious memes.
When in doubt, share memes to lighten the situation! In response to a recent tweet from Culture Crave, thousands of Twitter users have found Palmer's deadly headset full of meme-able material, and of course, we had to share our favorites.
Do you remember the Guy (Elijah Wood) from Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and how the Level 5 security system destroyed all of his 99 lives and killed him? If so, you know better than to purchase this deadly VR headset.
Let's face it — we truly wouldn't stand a chance against Darth Vader.
Well, we might as well say our goodbyes before playing Elden Ring on the deadly VR headset because there is absolutely no way we could defeat Margit the Fell Omen. Luckily, we'll never have to experience this frightening life-or-death situation because we will never spend our money on this alarming device.