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Q. What's the information on the virtual reality headset?

A. Atari Corp. and the Virtuality Group had signed a contract whereupon Virtuality would develop virtual reality hwardware and software for the Jaguar. In return, Virtuality would get the rights to port Jaguar VR games to their Virtuality arcade consoles.

Though announced, the Jaguar VR was never produced. Unofficial reports conflict on whether the unit was cancelled, suspended, and/or reworked. Reasons given for the inaction ranged from Atari's needs to reassess their investments and focus on core business, to the high suggested retail price of the Jaguar VR headset, to Virtuality's problems in trying to create a mass-market headset that could track head movement fast enough to avoid motion sickness after a few minutes of play.

As originally reported, the Jaguar VR package consisted of two components:

(1) A lightweight headset (weighs less than one pound). It can be adjusted for fit and works with or without glasses. Game graphics are provided by a single 7", TFT active-matrix color LCD screen, with a resolution of 260 by 400 pixels and up to 65,000 colors. Dual temple speakers provide sound, and a built-in microphone allows player communication in future networked games. A custom optical system projects a binocular image to both eyes; it is aligned at infinity, so focus adjustment is not needed. Two degrees of freedom (left/right and up/down) are available. Field of view is 52 degrees horizontal by 40 degrees vertical.

(2) A tabletop-mounted tracking station. The station senses the position of the controller and the headset with "V-Trak" infra-red tracking. The tracking speed is 250 Hz, with a lag time of 4 milliseconds, four times faster than Virtuality's arcade hardware. The tracker has a range of approximately 100 degrees; multiple trackers can be daisy-chained together to provide a complete 360-degree tracking range, but most Jaguar VR games will not require a full 360 degrees.

The Jaguar VR equipment was designed to be played while sitting down, so as to avoid injuries. if a player moves out of the tracking station's range, a safety cutoff would have been triggered to suspend the game.

Jaguar VR games would have been written for use with the regular controller, as well as a two-button "virtual gun" hand-held joystick. The licensing agreement between Atari and Virtuality permitted authorized Jaguar third-party software developers to write their own VR titles.

One product did come out of the Atari/Virtuality agrement. MISSILE COMMAND 3D for the Jaguar provided virtual-reality type play, without the need for special equipment or controllers. The game was later transported to Virtuality's arcade systems.