The Commodore 64 recently turned 35, and its most devoted fans are not giving up. There are dozens of ideas and hacks out there, but the work of "Jim_64" is on a different level. As the name suggests, Commodore VR64 is a project that adapts a virtual reality headset for use with the Commodore 64, and its creator even went to the trouble of developing a compatible game.
A Brief History of Virtual Reality and the Commodore 64
History tells us that Atari created a research lab full of virtual reality experiments in 1982. That's right: 1982, the same year the Commodore 64 was released on the market. Unfortunately, the crash of '83 shattered Atari's virtual dreams, while the Commodore 64 swept everything that wasn't nailed down. Its adventure lasted almost twelve years (throwing in the towel in April 1994), but it was in mid-1995 that virtual reality tried to seduce players with solutions like the Virtual Boy. The failure of that system and the extreme cost of more advanced alternatives left virtual reality in a very deep hole, from which it took a long time to escape. By this I mean that virtual reality and the Commodore 64 never had the chance to officially cross paths. So... why not do it unofficially?
Building the Commodore VR64
That was the work of enthusiast "Jim_64" with his Commodore VR64. Basically everything started with his daughter's science project focused on virtual reality headsets. After making his own Google Cardboard and using smartphones as screens, Jim_64 came to the conclusion that he needed to make a virtual reality headset compatible with the Commodore 64. He took a simple generic ten-dollar virtual reality headset, installed an LCD screen that fits in the phone space, added a transformer, and applied disturbing amounts of glue.
The screen is divided into two sections of 19 columns by 25 rows, equivalent to a resolution of 152 by 200 pixels per eye.
Of course, no virtual reality environment is complete without compatible software, and the Commodore VR64 is no exception. To fill the gap and demonstrate the capability of his headset, Jim_64 created a game called Street Defender, which is free to download. If a Commodore 64 can align transmission shafts for three decades, the fact that it has a virtual reality headset is not so far-fetched.
