What killed VR?

[NTDaws]

Cosby Killed VR, not really a big fan of VR to be honest though.

[MajorGoob]

It is kind of dead. All though it was a good kickstart for the VR age, it may take many more years for it to become an essential form of output like a monitor is today. I have a very reasonable VR ready PC, but don't want to spend 600 dollars on a headset that requires space to use, is quite bulky, and quite buggy. Its just part of the development process. Computers took a while to gain traction as a household item, although as @nicklmg said, VR should have gained a bit more followers for it to be considered viable.  In time, VR will come to the common gamer's household. But until price goes down for the headsets, and until lower price hardware advances, we will be stuck in the current situation that we have for VR. It isn't dead entirely, think of it as cryosleep. Its downfall was its own ingenuity. 

[Brian McKee]

Yeah I guess all emerging tech is just DOA. Get real.

 

I mean look at 3D printers, no one could afford that shit for years so it saw no adoption, guess it died.

[c4103]

Cost is a big thing but really I think at least the 2nd biggest problem (with the Vive anyway) is space. Oculus is driving people away with their exclusivity and suckling at the Facebook teet making Vive the best option. However, not only do you need a gaming PC and $800 for a Vive setup, you need a room to play it in. Also not only do you need a room but that room needs to be big enough and be clean with nothing else in it so you can move around! In my opinion the whole experience needs to be a lot more modular / scalable so you can buy pieces of it at a time. Like, buy a seated Vive kit that's cheaper and then upgrade to the room scale model later if you can afford it / have the space.

[Sakkura]

1 hour ago, c4103 said:

Cost is a big thing but really I think at least the 2nd biggest problem (with the Vive anyway) is space. Oculus is driving people away with their exclusivity and suckling at the Facebook teet making Vive the best option. However, not only do you need a gaming PC and $800 for a Vive setup, you need a room to play it in. Also not only do you need a room but that room needs to be big enough and be clean with nothing else in it so you can move around! In my opinion the whole experience needs to be a lot more modular / scalable so you can buy pieces of it at a time. Like, buy a seated Vive kit that's cheaper and then upgrade to the room scale model later if you can afford it / have the space.

If you didn't do that fanboy nonsense about Facebook and exclusives, the Rift is exactly what you're asking for.

[c4103]

1 minute ago, Sakkura said:

If you didn't do that fanboy nonsense about Facebook and exclusives, the Rift is exactly what you're asking for.

Yea I've had a DK2 for many years.  It works just fine for what I use it for: elite dangerous, the occasional altspacevr Reggie Watts show and 360 youtube videos.  I really don't have much of a problem with Oculus aside from when Palmer goes on one of his ridiculous crusades.  Wasn't trying to display fanboyism, I really don't have a preference either way at this point.  I've tried both of the production models and neither of them wowed me to the point where I felt like it was worth the time, effort and money to sell the DK2 and pick one of them up.

[ARikozuM]

7 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

If you didn't do that fanboy nonsense about Facebook and exclusives, the Rift is exactly what you're asking for.

Both headsets are good. The only issue that I see is the cost but, owning one has shown [me] that if you do like to feel immersed, there is no better way to get in the game. Both Vive and Rift can be used from a seated position but only the Vive puts you into certain games like horror or adventure (until Rift comes out with the motion controls).

[Devin92]

Is there any explanation of why mobile VR is so much cheaper than desktop VR? I mean if mobile VR gains so much attention for investment, won't it lower the starting barrier of desktop VR anyway?

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Devin92 said:

Is there any explanation of why mobile VR is so much cheaper than desktop VR? I mean if mobile VR gains so much attention for investment, won't it lower the starting barrier of desktop VR anyway?

The issue with Mobile VR is that it doesn't completely fill the role for games on desktop. The bandwidth required for the frames to be transmitted and decoded from the desktop is somewhat high once you start factoring in motion tracking that has to be sent to the desktop.

[Devin92]

9 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

The issue with Mobile VR is that it doesn't completely fill the role for games on desktop. The bandwidth required for the frames to be transmitted and decoded from the desktop is somewhat high once you start factoring in motion tracking that has to be sent to the desktop.

And mobile VR dont need motion tracking? Or its desktop VR provide fully emerged experience as user's full body motion is simulated in the game, where mobile VR only track headset movement? When you say bandwidth, you mean transmitting speed/bandwidth OR computational power needed? Cause I dont think transmitting massive signal is tat complicated.

[ARikozuM]

12 minutes ago, Devin92 said:

And mobile VR dont need motion tracking? Or its desktop VR provide fully emerged experience as user's full body motion is simulated in the game, where mobile VR only track headset movement? When you say bandwidth, you mean transmitting speed/bandwidth OR computational power needed? Cause I dont think transmitting massive signal is tat complicated.

Remember that you have multiple sensors that have to track based on accelerometer, gyroscopes, and whatever else. The issue is the transmission has to be wireless and that isn't as fast nor as reliable. It's one of the reasons that the Vive/Rift requires tethers (multiples in fact) as the data must be consistent.

[pk-man]

porn will save VR

Spoiler

(that's what Luke wants anyways lol)

 

tbh, it'll continue to have struggle in the mainstream market unless the price comes way down.  Even the PSVR, which can be considered as the middle man between mobile VR and desktop VR, is hella expensive.  $500 for the headset, $ 50 for the camera, $100 for a pair of 6 year old PS move controllers, and $300 for the ps4.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, pk-man said:

porn will save VR

  Reveal hidden contents

(that's what Luke wants anyways lol)

 

tbh, it'll continue to have struggle in the mainstream market unless the price comes way down.  Even the PSVR, which can be considered as the middle man between mobile VR and desktop VR, is hella expensive.  $500 for the headset, $ 50 for the camera, $100 for a pair of 6 year old PS move controllers, and $300 for the ps4.

VR porn? It would probably just be Google Hangouts.

[Sakkura]

On 21/10/2016 at 8:55 PM, Devin92 said:

Is there any explanation of why mobile VR is so much cheaper than desktop VR? I mean if mobile VR gains so much attention for investment, won't it lower the starting barrier of desktop VR anyway?

A mobile VR headset is mostly just a couple lenses in a plastic shell with a headstrap. The display to show you stuff is in the phone you put into it, the sensor that tells the computer which way you're looking are in the phone, the computer doing all the processing and rendering is in the phone... so really the phone has the bulk of the functionality and hardware. And phones tend to be more expensive, especially the high-end ones you'd want to use for VR (to have a good screen and decent processing power etc).

 

So once you include the price of the phone, it's not that much cheaper. Especially now that an Oculus Rift can run off a $500 PC, so the total cost is ~$1100. High-end phone plus VR headset is maybe $600. Still a significant difference, but not completely massive.

 

And there is a huge difference in functionality. Mobile VR is better in one aspect - there are no wires restricting your motion, which is really nice. But in every other way, desktop VR is way, way better. You get spatial tracking rather than just rotational tracking. You get way better CPU and GPU so the games can have much better graphics and more detailed mechanics. You get much better input options. The headset is more comfortable to wear. You don't have to worry about battery life or heat. You're considerably less likely to get VR sickness. And so on.

 

Now, over time mobile VR will improve. And we may get some things that are halfway between PC VR and mobile VR. So in the long run mobile VR will likely become really cool. But right now it's really not great at all.

[SCHISCHKA]

Only high end GPU's are able to perform UHD gaming; a decent VR headset needs that many pixels to be viable. nothing is killing VR its only just been released and its only going to get cheaper and better. now what happened to 3D monitors?