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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

#191

Post by cybwraith »

skizm wrote: post #174
kipchak wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The haptic feedback on some VR controllers (think Iphone 7 home button or switch joycons) is surprisingly good at imitating resistance or passing through something. Games with dedicated peripherals (racing wheels, flight/mech sticks) work really well too.

Haptic feedback might have been the wrong phrase. I meant that there is a lack of literally anything physical to interact with despite your eyes constantly telling you otherwise. You can’t rest your arm on a table, put your hand on a wall, lock swords with an enemy, etc. You have to constantly remind yourself that what you see isn’t real so that you can stop your hand from swinging wildly in real life while your in g…

This would actually be pretty solvable in a well-done VR arcade, but I agree that in-home true haptics are a big barrier for certain game genres and interaction types. Any direct-contact/resistance based interaction is going to feel weird and need some form of workaround that can hurt immersion. However anything with indirect interaction is generally very good (shooting arrows/guns, throwing/catching objects, etc)

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

#192

Post by cybwraith »

bartread wrote: post #33

I have the PSVR and in many ways it's great. For example, it's tough to beat Wipeout VR as a future racing experience. The fact that you can look around/through the corners the way you do in the real world when you're driving a vehicle really changes the way the game plays and makes it much more immersive. OTOH some games do seem to cause quite severe motion sickness (I forget the name of the one I'm particularly thi…

The PSVR is basically the worst "high end" VR headset out there, and is on the underpowered PS4 hardware, with poor controller tracking and lots of motion blur and downsampling to make the games even run.

You really ought to try an Oculus Quest or Rift S/Vive Pro. PSVR has 1080 vertical pixels, Quest has 1600 vertical pixels, much better lenses, and much better controllers. Not to mention the games run much more smoothly

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

#193

Post by d--b »

FIELD OF VISION.

Why can’t VR people understand that humans are used to ultra wide vision angle? Peeping into a VR headset removes all peripheral vision, meaning you have to rotate your head all over to see things. It’s like playing quake with your neck.

Make a 180 angle headset and maybe people will feel transported to another place. Right now it’s more like looking into a doll’s house.

No wonder immersive rooms are better

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

#195

Post by briliantbrandon »

RookyNumbas wrote: post #162
utf985 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously, we're still at very early stages with this tech. It's silly to compare it with smartphones and PCs, since it's a very different class of product. There are some barriers for entry but, as I said they will eventually get ironed out. The price of a full set with a fidelity grade matching the current high end sets shouldn't exceed the price of a games console in a few years. There has definitely been a huge i…

Your first paragraph has been the goto defense for VR for a decade now. I used it myself five years ago. But it's gotten old now. Tech is supposed to solve these problems faster than this. The Valve index sold out because it is the only way to play one of the most anticipated games of all time.

Are you referring to Half-Life Alyx? It's going to support quite a large range of VR headsets, not just the Index.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/11/half-life-alyx-will-f...

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

#196

Post by gpm »

thrower123 wrote: post #132
degenerate wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So they say, anyway. It's best to take any Valve announcements about actual games with a grain of salt. Some YouTube streamers that I watch did a big run of VR games over the past year or so, and without exception they were gimmicky experiences that would have been better with a more conventional setup. Of course needing the equivalent of a GTX 1080 is a big barrier too. My prediction is that when and if this new Hal…

Valve has started taking money for the game and given a concrete release date. I think you can count on it actually being released with little if any schedule slippage.

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

#197

Post by utf985 »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #156
utf985 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously, we're still at very early stages with this tech. It's silly to compare it with smartphones and PCs, since it's a very different class of product. There are some barriers for entry but, as I said they will eventually get ironed out. The price of a full set with a fidelity grade matching the current high end sets shouldn't exceed the price of a games console in a few years. There has definitely been a huge i…

> There are some barriers for entry but, as I said they will eventually get ironed out. That's what they said about 90s VR too. I mean, I guess "eventually" can technically still mean 30-40 years from now.

More like 10 years at most.

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

#198

Post by whywhywhywhy »

nottorp wrote: post #49
Kiro wrote: post #13

I'm a firm believer that Oculus Quest is the new beginning of VR. I used to be a real skeptic but now I've turned. I think it's futile to analyse the market pre-Quest and I'm excited of what's to come.

It sends everything you do to Facebook right? Occulus products are the one thing I'll never consider buying.

So do WhatsApp and Instagram and it hasn't hurt them.

Not that I agree with it, but the general public doesn't care.

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

#199

Post by wayoutthere »

d--b wrote: post #193

FIELD OF VISION. Why can’t VR people understand that humans are used to ultra wide vision angle? Peeping into a VR headset removes all peripheral vision, meaning you have to rotate your head all over to see things. It’s like playing quake with your neck. Make a 180 angle headset and maybe people will feel transported to another place. Right now it’s more like looking into a doll’s house. No wonder immersive rooms are…

The Valve Index is actually pretty good at this. It's not quite 180, but somewhere around 130 which is good enough to give you decent peripheral vision. I feel like the next generation of VR will be a lot closer.

Also, the main thing holding back VR right now is the amount of graphics horsepower required to run complex games at high resolutions and refresh rates of 90-120fps. I don't think there are any cards on the market that can run the Index at native resolution in most games (the software will scale the resolution to your hardware).

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

#200

Post by mhh__ »

tentboy wrote: post #150

Sim racing, or for those unaware of it: basically racing games with realistic physics and usually a competitive online racing field, is incredible in VR. The sense of speed and immersion with a good wheel and pedal setup in VR is unmatched by a monitor based setup. I tried it at a VR arcade and kept adding time to my session to keep playing. I have a fairly nice and expensive sim racing setup at home right now, but m…

VR simracing can be hit and miss i.e. rf2 looks amazing but is rough around the edges (Hungaroring in the wet in a GT3 car is amazing in VR) but assetto Corsa looks awful.

Don't bother with anything worse than an Index these days, the Vive is amazing in beat Sabre but awful if you want to read the dials.

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