Sounds very similar to the "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat"[1] film shown at the dawn of cinema. Some of the audience supposedly jumped from their seats in terror as the life-size train seemingly came straight at them from the movie screen.<p>I wonder if this kind of thing happens for any mediums you aren't familiar with from childhood.<p>1: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Arriv%C3%A9e_d'un_train_en_gare_de_La_Ciotat#Contemporary_reaction" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Arriv%C3%A9e_d'un_train_en_ga...</a>
The military has a history of using video games as training tools for soldiers. Modded SNES units were used for rifle training and various other games have been used for tactics.<p>The author's description of his reactions suggests that the Oculus Rift could potentially be utilized to train soldiers for stressful situations.