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When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

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Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#221

Post by dalke »

binarymax wrote: post #7

Technology is not the problem. Flashback to 1995. I'm a 17 year old PFY invited to beta test a VR headset from a local company. My Uncle was an investor and I was technically savvy and the target market. I had a copy of Descent that supported VR, and while it was a bit of a hassle to get setup, I got it working. The experience was incredible. After the first use I said to myself "this is the future". I had permission…

I did a bit of VR around 1995. I added CAVE support for the molecular visualization program VMD and had a key to UIUC's CAVE to test it out.

The CAVE approach projects images onto wall-sized screens (eg, via back-projection), and can be 1-wall up to 5- or 6- walls, if the floor/ceiling is categorized as a "wall".

This is massively expensive compared to the VR that's widespread/affordable these days.

But it's also far more social, where multiple people can be present, though at least in the 1990s the head-tracker only followed one person. And they could easily see each other.

Handwaving, with the right synchronization on the glasses and high frame rates, I could imagine multiple head-trackers. Back then our frame rate was limited by the decay rate of the green phosphor in the projector. These days I suppose a wall of large displays, edge-to-edge, with very high frame rates interleaved for multiple users, might work. Again, I haven't followed what's going on in VR, but it might be a technology which addresses at least some of what you correctly point out.

Carolina Cruz-Neira, the developer of the CAVE (and at the time with the email address "cavewoman"), has some lectures on the social VR and her research, on YouTube. Don't remember which ones specifically talk about it, and couldn't find one in a quick look.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#223

Post by zmmmmm »

simonswords82 wrote: post #200
zmmmmm wrote: post #195

I'm sold on VR because it has completely revolutionised my fitness regime. It turns what is otherwise a boring, painful chore into immersive, interactive and fun experience that leaves me sweating and heart pounding and running late because I wanted to do just one more round ... If my headset broke today, I would order a new one same day.

What headset do you have and what do you play to work out?

It's a v1 Quest.

I have a combo routine that involves Synthriders then Beat Saber and finally pistol whip. These all exercise different aspects - Synthriders builds muscle mass in arms, Beat Saber is more cardio, and pistol whip has me crouching / squatting to do my legs.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#224

Post by Cactus2018 »

deeeeplearning wrote: post #212
jjeaff wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm all for that ad subsidized tech. I'll take advantage of it just as soon as uBlock Origin VR is released.

Imagine cheering for a dystopian future.

HYPER-REALITY by Keiichi Matsuda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#225

Post by blensor »

Kiro wrote: post #217
blensor wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are developing an open source VR fitness game and after almost a year of exercising im VR I can tell you that in my case the sweat inside of your headset is not a problem but you should use the right VR cover. The stock ones of the Quest are very hard to keep clean. The sweat on the rest of your body is a completely different issue. After about 40 minutes of VRWorkout I usually look like coming fresh out of the sh…

This looks awesome. I'm playing FitXR for upper-body and Pistol Whip for lower-body but I really want a tailored experience. Any idea when it will be released natively on Quest?

We are mainly using SideQuest and Steam, we don't expect Oculus to approve this in the official store so the time is better spent on the development side.

BUT, Oculus will officialy allow third party games in some form starting early in 2021. So if you are not a SideQuest user you will still be able to use it hopefully soon. Although I'd really recommend SideQuest it adds a lot of value to your headset.

Another alternative would be to use our experimental WebXR version, but that is really only for a quick peek, it's not on par with the native version, not even close.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#226

Post by rpdillon »

spideymans wrote: post #185
Kiro wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this argument at all. As someone using VR on a daily basis ever since Quest 1 the whole point is to block out the outside world and immerse yourself in the VR world. Even days I don't feel like playing (I have a schedule for VR fitness) I instantly feel at home and get excited the moment I step inside. What behavior is it not compatible with?

>What behavior is it not compatible with? Perhaps there isn't a desire from mainstream consumers to entirely block out the outside world in the first place.

I'm not so sure. Movie theaters (especially a setup like IMAX 3D) are trying hard to achieve what VR does more cheaply and conveniently.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#227

Post by helmholtz »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #141
gonehome wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The headsets are pretty cool - I’ve played with all of them except for the Valve Index. Though there’s something unpleasant about them that keeps me from going back when the novelty wears off. I think it might be because I don’t want to be standing and moving around when playing a game and if you’re not doing that, the motion is kind of unpleasant. I’m not sure this is something it can really overcome. I think an AR…

> I think there are probably some narrow applications where it’s clearly better than not having it, but I’m skeptical of VR as a platform. Fitness. It is much easier to grind in a VR game for an hour than it is to grind on a treadmill for the same amount of time. I have a Quest, the games suck, but the fitness experience is paradigm changing. Beat Saber was and still is the Quest's killer app, but there are lot of si…

Do you suffer from disability or live under oppressive weather conditions? Because why not just go outside? I searched for Beat Saber and found that it's basically Fruit Ninja on VR.

No disrespect to you, but I can't help but feel sad about the future that that video game points to. Your last sentence, especially, is for me really lamentable, in the literal sense of that word.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#229

Post by rocky1138 »

I know I'm late to the conversation, but one of the biggest unreported problems with VR adoption is that it's impossible to show anyone what it is like to actually experience it. You can't share a video or a photo with a friend and have them understand. They have to do it to understand it.

Re: When will virtual reality take off? The $100 bet

#230

Post by aksss »

dougmwne wrote: post #89

I very much think that folks on HN are jaded by the long wait and the unfulfilled promises of VR. I recently picked up a Quest 2 as my first VR headset and I am blown away and convinced it is the future. The thing is, I also recognize that while it is already an incredible achievement, it's still probably 5-20 years from hitting its iPhone moment. By then, my initial excitement will have gone away and I'll have tired…

Predicting the future of technology isn't too hard, it's predicting the timing accurately that people tend to fail at. I don't have a lot of experience with all the headset variations, mostly Oculus and PS, but it's clear to me that we're still in a hype stage and the hardware has a long, long way to go. I'm guessing 10-20 years before it starts approaching what we're after.
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