Why the Virtual-Reality Hype is About to Come Crashing Down

varkanoid · 23 May 2016 at 22:48

RayzaNC said:
It seems to me that everyone that hasn't tried VR criticises it and everyone who owns it loves it.

Point is everyone who says they love it or says they were wowed by it how many then went out and bought it ? Not many I guess.
For the people who disagree with the comments "its just like 3DTV" let me rephrase it to create a better comparison.
For the PC Gaming market, it will go the same way 3D gaming has.
On a helpful note anyone seen this cheapo game

http://store.steampowered.com/app/257790/

£4.99 and I was quite surprised to see a VR mode in the options (for the Rift IIRC)

RoyMi6 · 24 May 2016 at 07:19

Rroff said:
I think you are missing the point of my criticism.

Yeah, I think I've quoted the wrong person, but can't see what I was referring to...

To address the point you DO make though check out Hotdogs Horseshoes and Handgreandes. The level of interaction there is just so good and realistic that it makes just using a shooting range fun.

If others adopt that kind of high detailed gun / weapon mechanics it will be amazing

https://youtu.be/lnyUB5wuutM

Zeeflyboy · 24 May 2016 at 08:51

varkanoid said:
Point is everyone who says they love it or says they were wowed by it how many then went out and bought it ? Not many I guess.
For the people who disagree with the comments "its just like 3DTV" let me rephrase it to create a better comparison.
For the PC Gaming market, it will go the same way 3D gaming has.

Still disagree with your rephrasing lol.... VR headsets provide a completely new way of experiencing a game, 3D vision merely added a bit of depth to an otherwise identical experience. I have played games on 3D tv, it really didn't do anything for me... Playing in the rift is an entirely different matter. I can't actually see myself ever wanting to play flight games or driving games for example on a normal screen ever again!

As for your other point, people who have been wowed by it have also generally been wowed by the price of a HMD + suitable PC. I am absolutely certain that a lower entry price (for example the PS4 and VR headset this October) will extend VR's reach significantly.

I will be extremely surprised if VR falls by the wayside this time. My personal opinion is that it's very much here to stay. For me personally the low resolution is the only reason that I would prefer to still play some games on a monitor, once that is solved with foveated rendering and higher res screens in the next gen (or perhaps even the gen after) and the resolution becomes less of an issue I can't see I would ever want to play any games on a normal screen unless I'm just socially gaming in my living room.

Just out of interest have you tried the Rift or the Vive yet yourself?

RayzaNC · 24 May 2016 at 10:52

varkanoid said:
Point is everyone who says they love it or says they were wowed by it how many then went out and bought it ? Not many I guess.
For the people who disagree with the comments "its just like 3DTV" let me rephrase it to create a better comparison.
For the PC Gaming market, it will go the same way 3D gaming has.
On a helpful note anyone seen this cheapo game

http://store.steampowered.com/app/257790/

£4.99 and I was quite surprised to see a VR mode in the options (for the Rift IIRC)

Even the people that desperately want one can't get their's yet, it's a bit premature to say people haven't bothered getting them yet. It quite clearly won't go the way of 3d TV when you see the huge support its getting especially from Google.

Riptide doesn't have VR support.

Ash0787 · 24 May 2016 at 12:05

This is a little misguided, people are putting too much weight on the initial demos, which are not representative of the actual experience of using the device.

The demos are meant to show new people the best aspects of VR, the most exciting things you can experience packed into a short demonstration.

Its kind of like a film trailer, it shows you the action but not the parts of the film where they just stand around talking for 10 minutes. A demo also cant show you the multitude of uses that VR has.

So the actual experience of playing a game like Eve Valkyrie or Luckys Tale
is going to differ somewhat from a demo that is intended to scare you with a giant dinosaur for example.

But most importantly what is being ignored here is that you dont need a supply of high quality specifically tailored ' pre packaged ' experiences for VR to remain engaging and rewarding. Think about it like this ... if Overwatch, Total War Fantasy Warhammer, Battlefield 1 did not come out this year and there was only 1 or 2 significant new games, would people say that peoples interest in PC gaming would come crashing down ?

Did people lose interest in PCs in the 80s because there was no internet, no colour graphics, all you could do was display text and do calculations ?

GBRusty · 24 May 2016 at 12:53

RayzaNC said:
Riptide doesn't have VR support.

He did say it was in the options but if it's there that's a big ommission to leave of their Steam page as they'll have way more VR peeps heading there to check it out. I'm not buying it unless you can screenshot the option in game or I see someone playing it

GBRusty · 24 May 2016 at 12:55

RoyMi6 said:
To address the point you DO make though check out Hotdogs Horseshoes and Handgreandes. The level of interaction there is just so good and realistic that it makes just using a shooting range fun.
https://youtu.be/lnyUB5wuutM

I think his main point was that the controllers can't be used for non gaming environments. But if it was I don't see he problem, I don't expect my HOTAS to control windows either...

melmac · 24 May 2016 at 14:31

Funnily enough reading this thread is exactly like reading the 3D threads when it first started becoming a thing. Everyone was saying look at how good games look etc, with the same anecdotal evidence, oh everyone that I shown it to has loved it and think it's amazing, and so on.

When people say they think it's going to be like 3D, they aren't talking about the workings of it. People know VR is way better than 3D. But, it has the same limitations, you have to wear something on your head, there is a cost involved in getting it setup and there are people who can't use it. These are major hurdles, especially the cost and having to wear something over the eyes.

I am not taking any side in the argument, VR has a real wow factor and am hoping that it goes from strength to strength. But, if it doesn't become something more than a fringe peripheral, then it will always be expensive and games will suffer.

Rroff · 24 May 2016 at 14:40

RoyMi6 said:
Yeah, I think I've quoted the wrong person, but can't see what I was referring to...

To address the point you DO make though check out Hotdogs Horseshoes and Handgreandes. The level of interaction there is just so good and realistic that it makes just using a shooting range fun.

If others adopt that kind of high detailed gun / weapon mechanics it will be amazing

https://youtu.be/lnyUB5wuutM

Yes there are some games/experiences where it works really well interaction wise but it is a long way off having that nailed down over a full range of its potential and that is one thing that it really needs to have 100% sorted before it will see widespread adoption - it is one of my criticisms that it seems like VR developers and supporters are so caught up with where it does work well that they seem to be overlooking the broader picture.

melmac said:
Funnily enough reading this thread is exactly like reading the 3D threads when it first started becoming a thing. Everyone was saying look at how good games look etc, with the same anecdotal evidence, oh everyone that I shown it to has loved it and think it's amazing, and so on.

When people say they think it's going to be like 3D, they aren't talking about the workings of it. People know VR is way better than 3D. But, it has the same limitations, you have to wear something on your head, there is a cost involved in getting it setup and there are people who can't use it. These are major hurdles, especially the cost and having to wear something over the eyes.

I am not taking any side in the argument, VR has a real wow factor and am hoping that it goes from strength to strength. But, if it doesn't become something more than a fringe peripheral, then it will always be expensive and games will suffer.

Seeing the same thing hence what I said above - like with the older incarnations of 3D and similar technologies those that are really into it seem so caught up by where it does work that they seem almost oblivious to the stuff that needs to be addressed in the wider sphere of things before it will really take off in mainstream use.

RayzaNC · 24 May 2016 at 14:41

Am I the only one that still loves 3D? There is still a decent amount of blu rays released with some exceptional examples of 3D such as Fury Road.

Devrij · 24 May 2016 at 15:01

I had no idea VR had that much hype outside of gaming tbh. For me it's purely a gaming thing for now

Ash0787 · 24 May 2016 at 15:20

Yes and no, its mostly gamers that are familiar with it / anticipating at the moment but the uses extend beyond games

I used it to " go " here

I do feel like I've actually been there in the sense that I know the layout of where things are and I have a good sense of the scale of everything that you cant really get from a series of photographs.

Liquiduk · 24 May 2016 at 15:42

Ghosteh said:
The current level of hype will die down, it's unsustainable in the long run, but the momentum it started will continue. More content will be created, more accessible games that aren't simulation style games will be developed, price of hardware will drop, and at that point, the masses will start adopting it.

This pretty much.

MookJong · 24 May 2016 at 16:09

I totally see VR spreading like the Wii or iPad did.

It's one of those things you will show your family at Christmas and it will spread that way. The Google Daydream and Samsung VR devices are the area that will be biggest with the average consumer. The other stuff not so much, the PC gaming application might be niche for some time to be honest.

Devrij · 24 May 2016 at 22:50

Yeah I suppose gaming, specifically pc gaming, will drive performance and hardware while mass market follows behind on entry level products. That's fine by me tbh, and it makes sense to test VR in virtual worlds anyway before finding applications in the real world.

Howling · 24 May 2016 at 23:07

I got my gear today, and tbh I love the 'experience' of it - but man they need to work on comfort. Having something pressing on your face isn't great -- I'm not sure how the Rift feels on the face but the gear presses quite hard around my eyebrow area. Also, your eyes tire very quickly on it - I'm watching Star Wars VII in my "home theatre" and it looks pretty sick (some blurriness to low res but I can overlook that) but I'm finding it tiring. Just got 1hr in and had to take a break.. ;D

RogueGB · 25 May 2016 at 10:14

There was an old game in the 90s called Eye of the Beholder. It was sort of RPG. You created a party and investigated dungeons. It was FPS. Game required about 56k memory. I wonder why Oculus or other developers hasn't done a similar game. It needed few resources and would have been great with VR.

Rilot · 25 May 2016 at 10:21

RogueGB said:
There was an old game in the 90s called Eye of the Beholder. It was sort of RPG. You created a party and investigated dungeons. It was FPS. Game required about 56k memory. I wonder why Oculus or other developers has done a similar game. It needed few resources and would have been great with VR.

There is. This game was inspired by games such as Eye of the Beholder and Dungeon Master: http://www.crystalrift.com/

RogueGB · 25 May 2016 at 11:01

Do you know if Crystal Rift works with the Oculus?

h4rm0ny · 25 May 2016 at 13:00

RoyMi6 said:
Anyway, I totally see the point they're trying to make with this article. It's one Palmer Lucky himself made when commenting on a lot of the delays with the Rift headset itself and, in turn, the Touch controllers. Without content VR will fail.

However, I don't think it will. There's plenty of triple A games out there at the moment that stand on their own as 2D games and are brought to a whole new level with VR.

For someone that's made a cockpit for a flight sim VR is the next logical step.

For anyone that's got a racing wheel for their driving games, again, VR is a great addition.

I've said this elsewhere, but modifying Alien Isolation to work in VR would be THE single most amazing game you could make for the medium. I mean it would be utterly terrifying to be running and look behind you and see that thing gaining on you, but it would be amazing.