This is the year that virtual reality is supposed to change our living rooms. When the likes of PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift take us to bold new dimension of entertainment, transporting us from our dreary IKEA-furnished flats to space stations and fantasy worlds.
Anyone who's plugged into a PSVR headset will be immediately familiar with its eye-popping sense of immersion, of really being somewhere else, of providing an experience that can't be eloquently summarised beyond "You've got to try this".
But as VR headsets start spreading themselves around the homes of the nation, you know that trouble is brewing. That some people (idiots) are going to have seriously tragic, hilarious accidents with this new tech. Here are all the VR-related injuries, mishaps and deaths we fear we'll be hearing in the near future (some of which have already happened).
Ronnie O'Sullivan breaks nose in VR accident
Five-time world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has broken his nose after a fall that occurred while playing virtual reality pool.
"Jesus - f*ckin' hell," was all O'Sullivan could manage, hitting the deck after he leant onto a pool table that wasn't really there. "That's scary."
It's unknown if he will have to pull out of the season's remaining snooker events.
"We had told him it was just a virtual game," said an HTC Vive spokesperson, who had been demonstrating the game to O'Sullivan. "We're hoping to spin this incident as an indication of just how 'real' the game is. No news is bad news, right? Right?"
Extreme sports enthusiast knocked unconscious climbing VR wall
A technology store has temporarily closed its doors while police carry out an investigation into how a man knocked himself unconscious with a VR demo.
"I just heard a crash and looked up from my desk," said a store worker. "This guy was just picking himself up from the floor. He said he didn't know where he was, or how he'd got into the store. I think he must have knocked himself unconscious and woken up thinking he had really been in the game. He was quite distressed."
Man kills cat while playing Resident Evil 7
A man has accidentally battered his cat to death when it jumped onto his lap midway through a game of Resident Evil 7.
"I was walking around this f*cking creepy mansion, right, and the cat decided it was a sensible idea to come asking for some food," explained the mortified gamer.
"I just didn't think - I had my PSVR headset on and totally freaked out. I thought it was a zombie. I thought I was going to die."
Wife divorces husband after finding him in bed with VR sex aid
A 34-year-old woman from Slough has filed for divorce after finding her husband, 36, in bed with a virtual reality sex aid.
The aggrieved wife said she grew suspicious on arriving home to hear noises coming from their bedroom.
"I feared I was going to find him in bed with his ex or something," she told local press. "If anything I think I would have preferred it if I had found him in bed with a real woman. He was wearing nothing but a VR headset, with this... torso balanced on his hips."
The husband has filed for additional damages, stating that his wife "went into a rage" and smashed the 'VirtuaDoll' against a wall.
"It cost me £500," he told reporters. "I had to get it imported. I don't understand - she's allowed to use her vibrator, but I'm not allowed to use this? It makes no sense."
Father attempts to sue PlayStation for damages to his broken television
A father of three has filed a law suit against PlayStation, claiming the company is responsible for the damages sustained to his 52-inch plasma screen television.
The £2,500 television was broken beyond repair when his 12-year-old child repeatedly struck the screen with a PlayStation move controller.
"He was playing a sword fighting game, and just kept swinging," said the aggrieved father. "Of course I think PlayStation is responsible - they shouldn't make games so realistic and then push the blame onto the players when things go wrong. No, I don't find it funny. You wouldn't laugh if it was your TV would you?"
PlayStation is yet to respond to the law suit.
Shopper files 'social embarassment' damages against VR demo stand
A 23-year-old man from Kiev is attempting to file a law suit against a shopping centre VR demo after a video of him experiencing extreme vertigo while playing the game went viral.
"He just totally lost his mind," said a friend who posted the video. "At first he was enjoying himself, and then he went mental. He said he'd never felt so scared in his life. He's not very good with heights."
Man found strangled by PSVR cable
The body of a 19-year-old man has been found strangled by a cable from his virtual reality headset.
It's thought that the gamer became entangled in the cable of his PSVR unit while attempting to fight of a hoard of advancing zombies.
"The game sees wave after wave of the undead approach a single spot where the gamer is standing," said a PlayStation spokesperson. "Players rotate on the spot, attempting to shoot down each of the waves before they get too close. It's like Space Invaders, but more invasive. It would appear that he kept twisting in the same direction, unaware that it had become wrapped around his neck."
The developer of the video game has suggested that it will introduce a bonus round for the game, which will feature the deceased gamer as a 'final boss'.
"It's what he would have wanted."
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