^{The GraveRift - new FutureView (VR) headset}

Universe TYW381: Benlo Park, Oct 2, 2023 - FutureView has launched a new virtual reality (VR) headset: The GraveRift. Touted as the most immersive VR experience yet, the GraveRift enables users to experience the full life cycle within moments, from the exuberant joy of birth to the stark and inexorable embrace of death. Yes, you read it right—the definitive VR experience includes your very own virtual demise.

“We believe in giving our users an unparalleled reality experience,” said the company CEO, Dr. Mortis Velle, during the product's launch. “We live, we laugh, we love, and inevitably, we all face the end. Why should VR shy away from a universal truth?”

The GraveRift doesn’t stop at just presenting a hyper-realistic life journey. Post virtual demise, users get to navigate an eerily authentic afterlife where they have the freedom to choose between a serene heaven, a fiery hell, or a mildly inconvenient purgatory. The device painstakingly simulates each environment’s conditions, including temperature fluctuations and localized smells—achieving an uncanny level of sensory immersion.

As expected, this launch has stirred the pot, with people falling into one of two camps: those applauding the unabashed realism and those deeming it a grotesque trivialization of life and death.

Psychologist Dr. Vivian Vida voiced her concerns: “It’s disconcerting to see death, a profoundly impactful event, reduced to mere entertainment or experiential tourism.”

Yet, a surprising number of pre-orders have shown that there’s a significant market of people curious to experience their own mock demise and afterlife.

In an unofficial statement, one of the developers shared: “We didn’t stop at just realistic visuals. The emotion engine embedded in GraveRift lets you experience deep sorrow, joy, and even existential dread. It’s perfect for 2023, a year where everyone’s asking, ‘What's the point anyway?’”

GraveRift is set to ship in the late fall, promising an eerie, soul-searching winter for all its users.

The company's tagline puts it chillingly simple: "GraveRift: Where Your Reality Ends, and Ours Begins."

Is this a step too far in tech innovation, or just the right amount of dark jest we needed in these trying times? We let you decide, dear reader.