• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 26, 2016

Do you need more screens to replace your boring reality amusement-park life -- even traveling at near-100 miles per hour, 100 feet or so above the ground.

For some time now, Six Flags amusement parks have been giving riders Virtual Reality glasses to wear while being tossed around in a roller coaster cars. TV commercials have been selling this idea of late.

Why? You can imagine being a fighter pilot in a video game, perhaps chasing (or running from) dragons, or zipping around through the air around city skyscrapers.

For many futurists, VR content and use is set to explode. But where and how?  We can project -- as with 3D TV -- much initial content will be part of a decision to “throw stuff on the wall and see if it sticks.”

But what comes next? Maybe skiing (snow or water) with a VR headset showing James Bond-type villains chasing you? Racing with Formula 1 drivers while driving your Google self-driving car? And then just wait you’ll be hit for some advertising messaging/branded content. You’ll wonder why you're racing against all Hondas on a race course.

Deloitte Global estimates headset manufacturers will ship 2.5 million devices by the end of this year -- and that revenue from both hardware and software will total $1 billion. 

Big media companies such as Discovery Communications, HBO and others have made VR investments. Maybe with VR you’ll wander in a forest in a Discovery Communications bit of content, or end up in in a scene from HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

Even this might seem somewhat entry-level compared to what fanatics of VR have dreamt about.  In that regard, think about what an augmented real-life rollercoaster ride will add to the meaning of your up-and-down entertainment life.