Get unreal. Oculus Rift & Magic Leap bring virtual & augmented reality to a device near you.

By Gonzalo López Martí    – Creative director, etc  /  LMMIAMI.COM

• Virtual reality.
• It’s coming.
• Second life was a flop, true.
• Was it ahead of its time?
• Who knows.
• The new & improved iteration of virtual reality is coming soon & it’s coming hard.
• Mark Zuckerberg paid top dollar to Palmer Luckey –a post pubescent geek obsessed with video games- for his prototype of virtual reality goggles Oculus Rift, a device created and manufactured to immerse the user in a realm of quasi realistic sensory and cognitive fiction (pre-order yours today, it’s supposed to be launched for retailing across the country by the end of this month).
• Could Oculus Rift bomb like Google Glass?
• Sure could.
• There’s a lot of heavyweight skin in the game so I wouldn’t rush to short it if you know what I mean.
• It’d be in nobody’s best interest for Oculus Rift to crash.
• Especially now that the pesky white noise of a of bubble bursting at its seams are hovering over the Bay Area,
• Meantime, on the opposite coast there are more playas in the game: namely Magic Leap, a secretive company based in Florida with a proprietary technology that will supposedly blow the feeble minds of gamers –and porn addicts- across the world.
• Magic Leap’s founder and strongman is one Rony Abovitz.
• Abovitz has allegedly raised north of half a billion from Google and other investors to bring his so-called “augmented reality” gizmo to reality (pun intended).
• LOL.
• Abovitz has a proven track record in hi tech.
• Before Magic Leap, he founded and sold Mako Surgical, the manufacturer of a robotic contraption used by orthopaedic surgeons to replace hips and knees.
• Another conspicuous case of #braindrain
• Brilliant minds who could apply their knowledge to science or education yet choose to join the greedy ranks of Wall Street & Silicon Valley in search of the next best way to clog the arteries of the web with selfies and cat videos.
• Granted, a highly educated dude like yours truly who chose a career in advertising over, say, literature might not have the moral authority to bitch about brain drain.
• Whatevev, we’ll discuss this some other time.
• Now back to “reality”.
• Funny thing is, gadgets such as Oculus Rift or Magic Leap which will soon be marketed with the word “reality” in them (either in its virtual or augmented flavors) are anything but.
• Forgive me for stating the obvious but “virtual reality” & “augmented reality” are blatant oximorons.
• Y’know, like “pretty ugly” or  “passive aggressive”.
• Fair enough.
• How will virtual & augmented reality affect the marketing & advertising racket?
• Stay tuned.