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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 dri

by 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.

by Zikes 11y ago

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.