New Oculus Rift, GoPro Hack Turns Users Into Third-Person Video Game Characters

The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset won’t be released for another year, but early adopters have already discovered how to use the device to see themselves in the third person.

A team of developers affiliated with the multimedia organization mepi posted a YouTube video showing how they were able to attach the VR headset to two GoPro cameras filming from above the user’s head. The pole-mounted cameras, which originate from the wearer’s backpack, are utilized with a small handheld controller. The apparatus, which was quickly earning attention on YouTube, makes it possible for the user to see himself as a third-person video game character, as in popular game series like “Tomb Raider” and “Grand Theft Auto.”

“This wearable can enhance human visual performance applications, where extended vision benefits the user,” mepi CEO Bartoz Barlowski told 3DPrint.com, likening the Oculus Rift hack to a kind of high-tech periscope. “Like in computer games, gamers prefer to use this extended view to navigate. We think it’s a unique approach for VR, and not many people are currently researching this opportunity.”