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Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#101

Post by chrischen »

mdorazio wrote: post #81

Really surprised that neither the article nor the comments here mention the #1 barrier to entry. Your average person doesn’t want to strap a big, heavy, sweaty contraption on their face that blocks their vision entirely. Analysts and enthusiasts seem to miss this point constantly.

People will do things that they aren't used to if the benefits outweigh the costs.

And of the list of things preventing people from doing VR right now, I doubt strapping the headset on is anywhere near the top (things like cost, PC, space, etc are).

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#102

Post by augusto-moura »

scottlocklin wrote: post #95

"Why we've never fallen in love with 3-d glasses" -fixed the title. Science fiction predictions of the future are almost universally comically bad. People should know this by now; we completely lack positronic brains, warp drives, moon bases and tricorders. VR is a science fiction prediction of the future, just like positronic brains. The fact that people won't pay lots of money for a cheesy 3-d glasses experience as…

Well, at least a moon base is on the way. Just not like how we thinked of. More like a ISS on moon ground than a grand hotel

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#103

Post by utf985 »

"We've never fallen in love"? Really?

This is he first time for me where an emergent new technology in the gaming world feels like a proper thing with actual potential, and not a just a novelty gimmick like motion controls, 3D and previous attempts at "VR" were. I had the chance to try the new Oculus Rift S and the HTC Vive over the holidays with some Beat Saber and Superhot and it was a really amazing experience. I have honestly never felt such awe for a game since my childhood days where I'd witness a brand new graphics engine like Source for the first time.

There is definitely a bright future for VR as the technology will only get better, cheaper and more accessible with time.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#104

Post by ekianjo »

utf985 wrote: post #103

"We've never fallen in love"? Really? This is he first time for me where an emergent new technology in the gaming world feels like a proper thing with actual potential, and not a just a novelty gimmick like motion controls, 3D and previous attempts at "VR" were. I had the chance to try the new Oculus Rift S and the HTC Vive over the holidays with some Beat Saber and Superhot and it was a really amazing experience. I…

> "We've never fallen in love"? Really?

Yes, really, You are the exception. By now there is quite a few people who have tried VR in some place or another and the market has clearly shown sales are not skyrocketing at all. It's a very slow growth, we are talking about a few millions headsets per year, which is just pocket money market wise compared to smartphones or even PCs at large. Also, most of the software is utter crap (with a few exceptions like Beat Saber, Tetris Effect) and not convincing enough for anyone who cares about their spending.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#105

Post by martin_a »

reportgunner wrote: post #27
jplayer01 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being downvoted for an uncontroversial opinion is also boring and quite shitty, and becoming quite typical of this site. Wish the site would finally get rid of the fucking downvote system. If people disagree, they should actually comment and talk about it, instead of blindly downvoting whatever opinion they happen to disagree with.

Why don't you simply go to all the sites that are better than this one ?

Unsubstantional comment. Enjoy my downvote.

(See, there could actually be something wrong/worth of critics with this downvote system but discussions about that are always downvoted.)

edit: This comment will also most likely be seen as unsubstantial as most of the HN user base is not capable of understanding and reacting to satiric comments.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#106

Post by gwbas1c »

I find that playing a game in VR is like listing to music in 5.1: It requires a lot of physical space and setup, which then limits the audience to a dedicated niche.

The limitation, in this case, is being affluent enough to have a large empty indoor space to dedicate to VR so you don't bump into things as you walk around; and the desire to calibrate the thing correctly. It's like setting up a really good sound system to listen to music in 5.1; really fun if you like that kind of thing, but "meh" to most people who are happy with a smart speaker.

In my case, when I played a friend's VR setup, he had to have his entire living room completely empty and the system calibrated correctly. Even though his living room was rather large for a Boston-area apartment, it just wasn't large enough, and I kept bumping into a specific wall where his system was miscalibrated.

Such a system will never work in a typical tiny Tokyo, NYC, or Hong Kong apartment; but I could see it selling being a good niche in suburban areas where it's common to have large basements.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#107

Post by imtringued »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #90
bykhun wrote: post #80

Really, what a bad time to publish such article. Oculus Quest hit records with its' sales for Christmas, and out of stock for two months ahead.

Sold 1.6 million in 2019. Compare that with the switch, that sold 12 million in 2019.

A first gen product has more than 10% of the sales of a eight gen product? That's absolutely amazing. I expected it to be a failure because it has limited performance.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#108

Post by ekianjo »

bykhun wrote: post #80

Really, what a bad time to publish such article. Oculus Quest hit records with its' sales for Christmas, and out of stock for two months ahead.

> Oculus Quest hit records with its' sales for Christmas

I hope it's a lot more than 400 000 units (see https://qz.com/1739575/strong-oculus-quest-sales-boost-faceb...) because that's not a large number at all compared to all other gadgets sold at the same time.

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#109

Post by [deleted] »

majewsky wrote: post #63
aurbano wrote: post #16

I used to be a casual PC gamer, with a fairly good spec build. Then one day I played some VR games at a friend’s house on PSVR, which blew my mind - not only how much fun I had, but how much fun our non gamer friends had! After that my wife and me got a second hand Vive for 350, and it’s been amazing. I never play regular games any more, and even she (who never played any games) now enjoys it a lot and plays with me…

The most accurate description that I've heard is that we're at the point where GUIs were in the 80s. The tech was just good enough for it and there were already several products on the market, but designers were still exploring the space and had not agreed on common metaphors yet. Which is exciting to witness, but shows that we're still squarely in the "early-adopter" phase of the curve. (As for myself, I tried a fri…

[deleted]

Re: Why we've never fallen in love with virtual reality

#110

Post by ekianjo »

degenerate wrote: post #84
bykhun wrote: post #80

Really, what a bad time to publish such article. Oculus Quest hit records with its' sales for Christmas, and out of stock for two months ahead.

Also, Valve will release Half-Life: Alyx [1] in March 2020. It's the first game in the much-loved HL series released since Portal 2 in 2011. I don't own a VR headset and I don't intend to any time soon - it's too expensive and nothing looks enjoyable enough to justify the cost. But once enough big-name games like Alyx get released, gamers previously on the fence (like me) will start to purchase VR headsets, and VR wi…

> and VR will eventually become the new gaming platform that publishers wants to release on.

I predict the opposite. It will sell a few headsets maybe (a peak), but that alone will not change the course of the technology at all in 2020. Plus, Half Life's popularity in 2020 has nothing to do with its popularity 20 years ago.

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