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Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: November 29th, 2016, 3:00 pm
by scotland
Seeing commericals for Samsung pushing their new phone (Galaxy something or other) with a VR headset. Pitch is the young kids like it, a lot (so its 'cool'), and get older people interested who try it and like it (and can be cool by association). Despite the ad pitch going for 'cool, It all looks kinda sad to me.

They never try to show you the view from the phone, so we see it from the outside, and they try to generate curiousity, jealousy, etc. For instance, one person at a party, wearing the black goggles and going all oooh and aaaah. Doing VR at a party looks sad. I get the ad company is pitching 'you can be the cool person to introduce your even cooler friends to VR, how cool would that be, right?' but it comes across as sad. What's the next image - everyone sitting around at a party doing VR? VR really cuts you off from everything else, so its not going to be used at social events anymore than people sit around at parties doing calculus homework.

So what do you think?

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: November 29th, 2016, 8:34 pm
by Atarifever
scotland wrote:Seeing commericals for Samsung pushing their new phone (Galaxy something or other) with a VR headset. Pitch is the young kids like it, a lot (so its 'cool'), and get older people interested who try it and like it (and can be cool by association). Despite the ad pitch going for 'cool, It all looks kinda sad to me.

They never try to show you the view from the phone, so we see it from the outside, and they try to generate curiousity, jealousy, etc. For instance, one person at a party, wearing the black goggles and going all oooh and aaaah. Doing VR at a party looks sad. I get the ad company is pitching 'you can be the cool person to introduce your even cooler friends to VR, how cool would that be, right?' but it comes across as sad. What's the next image - everyone sitting around at a party doing VR? VR really cuts you off from everything else, so its not going to be used at social events anymore than people sit around at parties doing calculus homework.

So what do you think?


What I think is just exactly what you said. Exactly in those words. Great post.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: December 1st, 2016, 10:40 pm
by MrLuck87
scotland wrote:it comes across as sad. What's the next image - everyone sitting around at a party doing VR? VR really cuts you off from everything else, so its not going to be used at social events anymore than people sit around at parties doing calculus homework.

So what do you think?


This comment reminds me of comments from mid 2006 that said, "You look like an idiot playing the Wii! This won't take off!" I have tried VR at social gatherings and it's the most excited I've seen non gamers and gamers alike since 2006. It's amusing watching people freak out over the horror games and be in awe of the other experiences.

The main problem is price. As much as I love VR and really want a headset it's still too expensive. This wasn't like the Wii where $250 was reasonable and many of us felt like we'd at least be getting Nintendo games for 5 more years. We still don't know how well PS VR is going to be supported which leads me to the next problem.

The games. What's here is quite cool but there's almost nothing beyond short experience tech demos. If something like GTA got a VR patch I'd rush out and buy one today. Instead all of the games are short lived except Drive Club which isn't worth $550. There's a ton of potential for VR but potential isn't worth something that costs more than the console that runs it.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: December 2nd, 2016, 6:04 am
by scotland
MrLuck87 wrote:This comment reminds me of comments from mid 2006 that said, "You look like an idiot playing the Wii! This won't take off!" I have tried VR at social gatherings and it's the most excited I've seen non gamers and gamers alike since 2006. It's amusing watching people freak out over the horror games and be in awe of the other experiences.


I don't see the isolating experience of VR is analogous to the communal nature of motion controls at all. A group of people playing Wii is family game night, playing together, laughing at each other. A group of people in a room with VR headsets are not together in the same way at all. I fail to see how that is similar.

But if you do see it as being the similar, then see the Wii as a cautionary tale and less a success story. Nintendo abandoned motion controls with their next console,as did Microsoft despite claiming the kinect 2 was integral to the XB1. So all those naysayers in 2006 against motion controls had valid points. In the end, the naysayers were just as correct as the cheerleaders. Motion controls may have a comeback with VR, but as of now, their glory days were only a few years long.

As for price, its a good point, and another against VR. The significent costs might inhibit indie or smaller scale products, and larger AAA games will have to find ways to produce iterations for less. That could lead to a Filmation philosophy of cost cutting that may undercut the value of VR.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: December 2nd, 2016, 6:09 pm
by MrLuck87
scotland wrote:I don't see the isolating experience of VR is analogous to the communal nature of motion controls at all. A group of people playing Wii is family game night, playing together, laughing at each other. A group of people in a room with VR headsets are not together in the same way at all. I fail to see how that is similar.


Because what you see in the VR headset is also displayed on the TV for everyone else to see. It's pretty entertaining at the moment but the games don't have the replay value that Wii Sports did.

scotland wrote:Nintendo abandoned motion controls with their next console


This is blatantly not true. They gave more standard controller options but the old Wii remotes work on most games in addition to the touchpad having motion controls. Lots of friends have used motion controls in games like Mario Kart 8, Nintendo Land, and Wii Sports Club off the top of my head.


scotland wrote:Motion controls may have a comeback with VR, but as of now, their glory days were only a few years long.


Motion controls never really went away. The were huge in 2006, got another resurgence in 2010 with Kinect and Move, and they are still popular with cell phones games these days. Ever heard of Pokemon Go? Just Dance games continue to come out as well and are fairly popular.

A lot of people who were complaining about motion controls the first time around actually enjoy using them in VR.

scotland wrote:As for price, its a good point, and another against VR. The significent costs might inhibit indie or smaller scale products, and larger AAA games will have to find ways to produce iterations for less. That could lead to a Filmation philosophy of cost cutting that may undercut the value of VR.


This is true. I'm really hoping Sony can put out a really awesome game, hopefully GT Sport, and get the base unit VR price down to at least $300 by next year.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: December 25th, 2016, 11:15 am
by bengalhoel
I recently bought a PSVR and I have to say that VR is probably going to make it. Playing the Resident Evil Demo was probably the scariest moment I have ever witnessed in all my 41 years. Zen pinball in Vr is a game changer too. Playing pinball on the tv was fun but actually being behind the table and being able to see it is amazing.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: January 1st, 2017, 10:06 pm
by nesfan
I really want to like it. It looks cool but I'm positive I already know how I'll react. It will be a fun little distraction for a good 15 minutes. Then I'll get bored, want a normal controller, and never use VR again.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: September 25th, 2017, 7:02 pm
by scotland
Just reading that after Facebook bought Oculus for $3 billion dollars in 2014, they are now cutting prices on the Rift from $600 to $500, and the controllers from $200 to $100 to try to boost sales. They lost a IP lawsuit on the Rift to the tune of half a billion.

As the 2017 holiday shopping season comes up, do you think VR will be a big thing, or do we push off the age of Virtual Reality even another year.

Re: Virtual Thoughts on Virtual Reality

Posted: October 5th, 2017, 7:55 am
by GameOfThrones
scotland wrote:Just reading that after Facebook bought Oculus for $3 billion dollars in 2014, they are now cutting prices on the Rift from $600 to $500, and the controllers from $200 to $100 to try to boost sales. They lost a IP lawsuit on the Rift to the tune of half a billion.

As the 2017 holiday shopping season comes up, do you think VR will be a big thing, or do we push off the age of Virtual Reality even another year.

The problem with the oculus is that it needs a top notch pc to run it. My friend sampled it and fold me that it was okay. Low res graphics even on a powerful machine.

The ps4 one is a better bet but there is nothing that really makes me want to play it. Though rebellions Battlezone is interesting I cannot say that it makes me want to spend 500 to play it.