Where has the VR buzz gone?
Discussion
Tried the samsung vr headset at alton towers on the galactica ride. ( rebranded air ) its really brought new life into that old coaster tthat was aalways a bit zzz in the past
Fantastic. Not £80+ of my money fantastic.. but fantastic all the same
Fantastic. Not £80+ of my money fantastic.. but fantastic all the same
Edited by SystemParanoia on Sunday 25th September 22:09
anonymous said:
[redacted]
This. It's at the early adopter stage at present. Once there is a break-through title (or I can have the sensation of being balls deep into Hitomi Tanaka) then it will break-out into the mainstream.I still remember buying a Bookeen eBook Reader in late 2010 and paying nearly £200 the privilege. The Kindle came out shortly afterwards, and only recently have titles that I actually want to read, have become available in ePUB et al format. However, the slow development was less to do with the technology, and more to do with antiquated copyright laws.
FWIW, I remember going out to the Trocadero in Piccadilly Circus in the late 80s, and my school friend used the [VR] technology in the arcade.
putonghua73 said:
This. It's at the early adopter stage at present. Once there is a break-through title (or I can have the sensation of being balls deep into Hitomi Tanaka) then it will break-out into the mainstream.
Given that the porn industry is often cited as the reason VHS beat Betamax I can see this being valid path for the uptake of VR 
RizzoTheRat said:
putonghua73 said:
This. It's at the early adopter stage at present. Once there is a break-through title (or I can have the sensation of being balls deep into Hitomi Tanaka) then it will break-out into the mainstream.
Given that the porn industry is often cited as the reason VHS beat Betamax I can see this being valid path for the uptake of VR 
I think the buzz has died down a bit because there isn't much new to report. I'm interested to see how the PSVR turns out. I had a go on an early developer rig and I felt a bit odd for a while afterwards - I never tend to get motion sickness and I was told that it's something they were struggling with - a few months ago admittedly.
The Vive is the best I've tried by far down to the room scale VR. That too brings it's own problems though. Even in the pretty large studio I was given the demo in I managed to bump into a wall just playing the demos. Not sure how that's going to go in a home environment and the worry I had was of someone falling out an open window!
However as resolution doesn't seem so important right now - it's the immersion and tracking that blows people away - I wouldn't be surprised if something like Google cardboard came out of nowhere and took the mass market. Use your stupidly high res phone screen plugged securely into a headset made of proper solid materials with good built in headphones. I know Samsung have the gear VR but not a big enough userbase to take it fully mainstream. I could see Apple launching something an accessory for the iPhone and stealing the market with their existing ecosystem.
The Vive is the best I've tried by far down to the room scale VR. That too brings it's own problems though. Even in the pretty large studio I was given the demo in I managed to bump into a wall just playing the demos. Not sure how that's going to go in a home environment and the worry I had was of someone falling out an open window!
However as resolution doesn't seem so important right now - it's the immersion and tracking that blows people away - I wouldn't be surprised if something like Google cardboard came out of nowhere and took the mass market. Use your stupidly high res phone screen plugged securely into a headset made of proper solid materials with good built in headphones. I know Samsung have the gear VR but not a big enough userbase to take it fully mainstream. I could see Apple launching something an accessory for the iPhone and stealing the market with their existing ecosystem.
simonrockman said:
BT is tinkering with VR for sport: http://www.btplc.com/News/index.htm#/pressreleases...
The irony is that this is the same BT which is saying that 10Mb/s is plenty for broadband.
Now if there was a 360 view streamed live from inside an F1 car..
Simon
You can see what it's like on this 360 youtube video - best watched through a VR headset but if you have a recent phone give it a shot and you should still be able to look around and get a feel for the tracking which is pretty cool itself. I recently picked up a 360 video camera and it works pretty well and is tiny. I think the bandwidth to stream back from the cars, encode and stream to users is the weak point right now. And tbh it's a bit of a novelty. I think it'll be a bit like the 'player cams' we were promised would be a big thing. A nice idea but a novelty in practice.The irony is that this is the same BT which is saying that 10Mb/s is plenty for broadband.
Now if there was a 360 view streamed live from inside an F1 car..
Simon
Edited by rpguk on Monday 26th September 17:06
So decided I might dip my toe in and give this VR lark a try by ordering a PSVR only they are out of stock everywhere and some of the websites seem to suggest you also need to buy the playstation camera with is another £70. Is this right?
VR's isn't really here if you can't readily buy the bloody things from a shop. All seems a bit of a faff tbh.
VR's isn't really here if you can't readily buy the bloody things from a shop. All seems a bit of a faff tbh.
Guvernator said:
So decided I might dip my toe in and give this VR lark a try by ordering a PSVR only they are out of stock everywhere and some of the websites seem to suggest you also need to buy the playstation camera with is another £70. Is this right?
VR's isn't really here if you can't readily buy the bloody things from a shop. All seems a bit of a faff tbh.
The PSVR sold out most places within the first day of going on pre-order sale (Amazon.com and .co.uk sold out in under 10minutes apparently)VR's isn't really here if you can't readily buy the bloody things from a shop. All seems a bit of a faff tbh.
You do need the camera yes, it's how the PS4 'sees' the location of the VR (all those pretty lights are there for a reason). It's not £70, they are £39.99 retail, and that's for the new 'V2' camera. In fact the V1 version is everywhere second hand for less than that.
Yep I know it's not released yet. Tried to pre-order one but they are out of stock everywhere and the PS4 camera is £45 plus the move controllers are another £70. Was tempted as a cheaper\easier way to ease into VR but when you add it up it's not actually that cheap (or easy).
Think I'll go back to playing the waiting game.
Think I'll go back to playing the waiting game.
Guvernator said:
Yep I know it's not released yet. Tried to pre-order one but they are out of stock everywhere and the PS4 camera is £45 plus the move controllers are another £70. Was tempted as a cheaper\easier way to ease into VR but when you add it up it's not actually that cheap (or easy).
Think I'll go back to playing the waiting game.
The camera is £39.99, not sure where you are shopping but the prices are way off.Think I'll go back to playing the waiting game.
The move controllers are optional as Sony have insisted that all games developed for PSVR be played as default with the standard dual shock controller with Playstation Move support as an 'optional way to play'
When VR does hit I am sure there will be bundles that include the camera in the box and others that include the camera and move controllers. Sony have not confirmed anything specific but have mentioned bundles packages a few times.
Guvernator said:
Was tempted as a cheaper\easier way to ease into VR but when you add it up it's not actually that cheap (or easy).
Well the cheap option is Google Cardboard https://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtoba-Cardboard-V2-Comp...
RizzoTheRat said:
Guvernator said:
Was tempted as a cheaper\easier way to ease into VR but when you add it up it's not actually that cheap (or easy).
Well the cheap option is Google Cardboard https://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtoba-Cardboard-V2-Comp...
VR is a great toy, but I don't believe it's the future.
The problem that shoots the whole thing down is the total separation from reality. You could never use it in public (such as on the train to work) and it is anti-social to use in the same room as someone else. Even with two headsets and watching something together, you lose the small interactions and responses from the person you are with. You cannot demo a game to a friend, or watch them try it. Whoever is using the headset is in their own little world.
Add on to this that nobody seems to have really worked out what it is for*. There are some great short videos out there, but the limitations on camera movement are very restrictive compared to traditional movie making. The games are good, but again movement is a problem. Plus who wants to be spinning around on an office chair just to watch or play something?
My money is on augmented reality being what will hit the big time. When we can overlay a huge screen or written information on top of the world around us - that's huge. Microsoft Hololens is still pretty much a tech-demo but imagine it a few generations on.
The other option is that we go for a full on star-trek holodeck equivalent and stop trying to exist in the real world. That's a lot further off though.
*except porn. It's great for porn.
The problem that shoots the whole thing down is the total separation from reality. You could never use it in public (such as on the train to work) and it is anti-social to use in the same room as someone else. Even with two headsets and watching something together, you lose the small interactions and responses from the person you are with. You cannot demo a game to a friend, or watch them try it. Whoever is using the headset is in their own little world.
Add on to this that nobody seems to have really worked out what it is for*. There are some great short videos out there, but the limitations on camera movement are very restrictive compared to traditional movie making. The games are good, but again movement is a problem. Plus who wants to be spinning around on an office chair just to watch or play something?
My money is on augmented reality being what will hit the big time. When we can overlay a huge screen or written information on top of the world around us - that's huge. Microsoft Hololens is still pretty much a tech-demo but imagine it a few generations on.
The other option is that we go for a full on star-trek holodeck equivalent and stop trying to exist in the real world. That's a lot further off though.
*except porn. It's great for porn.
Have you tried it?
I agree it is a solitary thing, but that was the view of gaming in general a few years ago. Now it's considered social.
You can see what someone else is doing in game, the vive and the psvr both support reprojection. So you seen the users view on screen at the same time. PSVR also has games where the vr player is a monster and other players using controller and the screen are playing against them.
The physical movement is part of the game, it's totally immersive when done right. You are in the car or plane. You are in the room and look around, check under a desk, open and close draws. I've been on the floor and to get up have tried to lean on something that is not there.
I agree it's not for mainstream movie watching but it's good as a short experience. I can see it working as an entertainment system on a flight, you can give everyone a massive cinema screen. That would of course also work in augmented reality.
I don't think it will become mainstream in its current state but I think it's more than a gimmick.
I agree it is a solitary thing, but that was the view of gaming in general a few years ago. Now it's considered social.
You can see what someone else is doing in game, the vive and the psvr both support reprojection. So you seen the users view on screen at the same time. PSVR also has games where the vr player is a monster and other players using controller and the screen are playing against them.
The physical movement is part of the game, it's totally immersive when done right. You are in the car or plane. You are in the room and look around, check under a desk, open and close draws. I've been on the floor and to get up have tried to lean on something that is not there.
I agree it's not for mainstream movie watching but it's good as a short experience. I can see it working as an entertainment system on a flight, you can give everyone a massive cinema screen. That would of course also work in augmented reality.
I don't think it will become mainstream in its current state but I think it's more than a gimmick.
You can pick up the PS Move controllers cheaply on ebay, I managed to get them for £15 and a new camera for £35. I have read criticism of the Move controllers being inaccurate so I can forsee a more up to date solution being released at some point.
The PS VR will be focused on seated games which suits me just fine so I think the Move controlled games will be gimmicky, I'm not interested in walking around waving my arms about, I just want some immersion in driving games, flight sims etc.. I think it will be a big success.
The PS VR will be focused on seated games which suits me just fine so I think the Move controlled games will be gimmicky, I'm not interested in walking around waving my arms about, I just want some immersion in driving games, flight sims etc.. I think it will be a big success.
Gaming/vr isnt a solitary thing at all. Sure the people you are interacting with may not be right next to you but you can interact with a lot more people than what you normally can sat at home..
I think for general use augmented reality aka hololens will be a bigger deal but vr has its place too. I assume both techs will merge ultimately.
I think for general use augmented reality aka hololens will be a bigger deal but vr has its place too. I assume both techs will merge ultimately.
I think there are a number of reasons:
1) It's too expensive
2) It's too much of a faff
3) You can't go into the high street and try one
4) All the games appear to be demos
I think being a faff is the biggest problem. From my own point of view I bought a Gear VR and was amazed. But for a few weeks now it's been sitting on my shelf and I've not bothered with it. Why ? Because I can play a game on my PC instantly, but using the Gear VR means farting about; I even have to focus the bloody thing each time I put it on.
I also think it's like 3D TV in that respect. So people go "wow - look at that !" and then quickly go back to watching normal TV because it's all too much like hard work.
And they are not being marketed with seriousness. I looked at the PC World web site to see where I go go and try a Vive or Rift and there were only 3 places in the UK. To me that implies stores like PC World are not taking it as a serious proposition, i.e. they don't think it's worth their while to try and market it.
1) It's too expensive
2) It's too much of a faff
3) You can't go into the high street and try one
4) All the games appear to be demos
I think being a faff is the biggest problem. From my own point of view I bought a Gear VR and was amazed. But for a few weeks now it's been sitting on my shelf and I've not bothered with it. Why ? Because I can play a game on my PC instantly, but using the Gear VR means farting about; I even have to focus the bloody thing each time I put it on.
I also think it's like 3D TV in that respect. So people go "wow - look at that !" and then quickly go back to watching normal TV because it's all too much like hard work.
And they are not being marketed with seriousness. I looked at the PC World web site to see where I go go and try a Vive or Rift and there were only 3 places in the UK. To me that implies stores like PC World are not taking it as a serious proposition, i.e. they don't think it's worth their while to try and market it.
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