Video games have not stopped evolving in recent years and we see it now with such firm advances with virtual reality
Video games have not stopped evolving in recent years and we see it now with such firm advances with virtual reality and augmented reality. Large technology companies have been promoting and disseminating their new developments in the videogame industry.
Surely many of you will remember the episode named Playtest of Black Mirror, which could be defined as a comedy of technological horror inspired by video games. In the chapter we can appreciate how augmented reality and virtual reality have advanced so much that it is frightening. We have always said that Black Mirror denotes a fictional future that is just around the corner, and we can see that with short film that we will show next.
A game called Strange Beasts introduces viewers to an augmented reality game, which allows the user to generate their own virtual pet to watch it grow and live with it. However, the strange thing about the game and what really attracts attention is the fact that pupils are used to observe the virtual beasts. Victor, the project manager, explains that contact lenses project images for the user, allowing them to create their own creatures to play with.
In the first instance, the game seems fun, but in the end there is a completely terrifying turn of the screw, because it shows a very lonely life when immersed in a fictional world. Halfway down the road, Victor introduces his daughter by highlighting how her imaginary creatures can coexist with hers without anyone else seeing them.
Although in the world of the beasts, it seems that the father and the daughter are living together, it is evident that both are very alone and immersed in a completely imaginary world.
Curiously, however benign this technology may be, it reflects that augmented reality is a scary point for the human race and society, because it only speaks of the need we have for attention and accompaniment.
While the game of strange beasts is not real, we should not take it lightly, since we could be close to a very shocking future. No doubt a short film that serves to reflect and question the reality in which we find ourselves. The technological advance will be inevitable, but it will depend on us the way in which we manage it and adapt ourselves.