The Oculus Rift could make your childhood dreams become a (virtual) reality, as a developer has combined the VR headset with a Wii Balance Board in order to recreate the experience of riding Marty McFly’s hoverboard from Back to the Future II.
Developer Kieran Lord said of the project: “The way I’m imagining the hoverboard physics is slightly different to the BTTF maglev skateboard. It’s more a snowboard with a ‘virtual slope’ of the front/back angle of the board.”
He continued: “If that works and feels good the player could just get up a ton of speed and then stomp their back foot to get the same effect as going over a jump ramp.”
The demonstration of the project, which can be viewed below, properly starts at around the 1:30 mark, when the Back to the Future theme music comes in. Ah, nostalgia.
Lord has also stated that he hopes his project doesn’t infringe any copyrights. “I’m hoping that they don’t just lawyer up”, he said, adding: “I’m really not opposed to talking to Universal if that’s needed to make this happen.”
