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As their first game Eve:Online is a very complicated game it is encouraging to know they are thinking about casuals from the beginning, > "We don't yet know wh

As their first game Eve:Online is a very complicated game it is encouraging to know they are thinking about casuals from the beginning, > "We don't yet know who our audience is. It would be crazy to assume everyone who buys an Oculus is a hardcore gamer; I don't think that's the truth," Willans said. "We're going to have a really diverse cross section of people who are buying the technology." I am most excited about this game so far and have tried another space sim in the DK2 and it was COMPLEX (elite dangerous). Not just because of the game but because moving in 3D space first person is not first nature to many... Even flying around though, not knowing what I was doing, was one of the most immersive fun experiences I had. As long as they have a way to get casuals to know the basics and have fun play they should be a great start to VR.

gh02t 11y ago
> Not just because of the game but because moving in 3D space first person is not first nature to many On a mostly unrelated note, this is one good marker of good space opera/sci-fi - how well it gives you a sense of where space ships are positioned and moving relative to each other at vast distances. Being able to communicate how people move through space in writing is extremely difficult. It'll be interesting to see how this translates into VR games... if you ever play EVE you'll notice that basically all movement is performed relative to other objects and not in terms of absolute directions. I imagine communicating a sense of spatial position is going to be an very challenging part of games like Valkyrie.
- ibelimb 11y ago
  The enemy's gate is down!
Zikes 11y ago
Is it really possible to have a casual Oculus Rift gamer, though? The Rift itself is $600 (which I think is entirely reasonable, by the way) but in order to drive the Rift properly you also need a computer capable of producing TWO simultaneous (minimum) 1080p+ 90fps outputs, and even a lot of off-the-shelf gaming PCs can't really do that without sacrificing a great deal of graphical quality. That might be what "casual" means for VR for a while, graphics that hearken back to the early ages of 3D on consoles.
- VikingCoder 11y ago
  Some people can spend lots of money, but not lots of time. Which makes them a "casual" player, rather than a "dedicated" player. I'm in that boat. I can spend $1500 on a Rift... but I might only get to play with it 7 hours a week, or less.
- mdorazio 11y ago
  On the hardware side, no, a person dropping $600 for a Rift + $900+ on a desktop to run it is unlikely to be a casual gamer. I think the parent comment is referring to "casual" in the context of game style, though. EVE Online has a very steep learning curve and can sometimes devolve into life-sucking "spreadsheets in space" gameplay, which does not appeal to people who just want to jump in a game and have fun shooting stuff. E:V seems more casual friendly in the sense that you can learn to play it quickly and have fun in matches without needing to invest dozens of hours in mastering the metagame.
- ekianjo 11y ago
  Its for the 1% casual gamer. Indeed not sure if that market exists, the richer folks tend to buy Macs instead. In a sense PSVR will probably be most people s first VR experience.
- metafunctor 11y ago
  I think there are quite a lot of people out there who are maybe a bit older (30s or 40s), can easily drop a couple of thousand on new toys every now and then, but have very limited time to play with said toys.
- peteretep 11y ago
  > Is it really possible to have a casual Oculus Rift > gamer, though ... me? I've pre-ordered it, and will buy a gaming PC to run it when it shows up. It'll be the first non-Apple device in my house for a while, other than my Kindle. My gaming is currently limited to playing Red Alert on my laptop when bored on flights, and the odd iPhone game here and there. Really hope I can get a laptop that will support it, but I suspect it'll have to be a tower. I'm buying it because I think the VR will be awesome, and because I think VR is the future, and because I'm curious.
sleepybrett 11y ago
The game they are bundling is NOT EVE:Online, it's EVE:Valkyrie. It's a dogfighting game, think wing commander, not 'The Universe as a Spreadsheet'.
- david-given 11y ago
  Is Valkyrie tied into the EVE MMORPG the way that Dust 514 was going to be, or is it a strictly standalone game? I see no mention either way.
  - marricks 11y ago
    It seems like it, which I think will be super fun! They mentioned there will be microtransactions in game for cosmetic things and xp boosters. Ain't no need for xp w/o rpg skills!
  - rhokstar 11y ago
    It would be awesome to have all EVE (Dust, Online, Valkyrie) games in a simultaneous environment. I think there have been no other games like this before?
- marricks 11y ago
  I know, made it more clear in the post.

gh02t 11y ago

> Not just because of the game but because moving in 3D space first person is not first nature to many On a mostly unrelated note, this is one good marker of good space opera/sci-fi - how well it gives you a sense of where space ships are positioned and moving relative to each other at vast distances. Being able to communicate how people move through space in writing is extremely difficult. It'll be interesting to see how this translates into VR games... if you ever play EVE you'll notice that basically all movement is performed relative to other objects and not in terms of absolute directions. I imagine communicating a sense of spatial position is going to be an very challenging part of games like Valkyrie.

ibelimb 11y ago
The enemy's gate is down!

Zikes 11y ago

Is it really possible to have a casual Oculus Rift gamer, though? The Rift itself is $600 (which I think is entirely reasonable, by the way) but in order to drive the Rift properly you also need a computer capable of producing TWO simultaneous (minimum) 1080p+ 90fps outputs, and even a lot of off-the-shelf gaming PCs can't really do that without sacrificing a great deal of graphical quality. That might be what "casual" means for VR for a while, graphics that hearken back to the early ages of 3D on consoles.

VikingCoder 11y ago
Some people can spend lots of money, but not lots of time. Which makes them a "casual" player, rather than a "dedicated" player. I'm in that boat. I can spend $1500 on a Rift... but I might only get to play with it 7 hours a week, or less.
mdorazio 11y ago
On the hardware side, no, a person dropping $600 for a Rift + $900+ on a desktop to run it is unlikely to be a casual gamer. I think the parent comment is referring to "casual" in the context of game style, though. EVE Online has a very steep learning curve and can sometimes devolve into life-sucking "spreadsheets in space" gameplay, which does not appeal to people who just want to jump in a game and have fun shooting stuff. E:V seems more casual friendly in the sense that you can learn to play it quickly and have fun in matches without needing to invest dozens of hours in mastering the metagame.
ekianjo 11y ago
Its for the 1% casual gamer. Indeed not sure if that market exists, the richer folks tend to buy Macs instead. In a sense PSVR will probably be most people s first VR experience.
metafunctor 11y ago
I think there are quite a lot of people out there who are maybe a bit older (30s or 40s), can easily drop a couple of thousand on new toys every now and then, but have very limited time to play with said toys.
peteretep 11y ago
> Is it really possible to have a casual Oculus Rift > gamer, though ... me? I've pre-ordered it, and will buy a gaming PC to run it when it shows up. It'll be the first non-Apple device in my house for a while, other than my Kindle. My gaming is currently limited to playing Red Alert on my laptop when bored on flights, and the odd iPhone game here and there. Really hope I can get a laptop that will support it, but I suspect it'll have to be a tower. I'm buying it because I think the VR will be awesome, and because I think VR is the future, and because I'm curious.

sleepybrett 11y ago

The game they are bundling is NOT EVE:Online, it's EVE:Valkyrie. It's a dogfighting game, think wing commander, not 'The Universe as a Spreadsheet'.

david-given 11y ago
Is Valkyrie tied into the EVE MMORPG the way that Dust 514 was going to be, or is it a strictly standalone game? I see no mention either way.
- marricks 11y ago
  It seems like it, which I think will be super fun! They mentioned there will be microtransactions in game for cosmetic things and xp boosters. Ain't no need for xp w/o rpg skills!
- rhokstar 11y ago
  It would be awesome to have all EVE (Dust, Online, Valkyrie) games in a simultaneous environment. I think there have been no other games like this before?
marricks 11y ago
I know, made it more clear in the post.