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There's been a lot of fighting between Vive owners and Oculus owners over which HMD is the best, but they both miss the reality that the biggest challenge to ge

There's been a lot of fighting between Vive owners and Oculus owners over which HMD is the best, but they both miss the reality that the biggest challenge to getting the average person to adopt VR isn't room tracking or motion controllers, it's getting them to even want to put the things on. There is very little compelling software at this point that would make anyone but an enthusiast want to use either of them for more than a few hours.

asadlionpk 10y ago
The thing is, without good a standard controller and tracking there can't be any good software other than tech demos.
askafriend 10y ago
You say "few hours" but I'd go even further and say "few minutes".
MatthaeusHarris 10y ago
Literally every person I've put into my Vive has been blown away by it. Sure, there's probably some selection bias, but I've been buttonholing anyone who sets foot in my house, including my 70-year-old in-laws. So far, of the 20+ people to whom I've shown it, one has taken it off voluntarily, and all had variations of, "Holy shit, this is really amazing."
- imh 10y ago
  I had that reaction to my brother's Vive too. It was really amazing. But that doesn't matter. I probably wouldn't spend more than $30 on one. Despite being blown away, there are no compelling games and it gave me a headache.
  - jobigoud 10y ago
    > it gave me a headache This is possibly because the interpupillary distance wasn't correctly calibrated for your eyes, which means you didn't get the correct scale and depth of things (hard to notice explicitly except that your brain doesn't like it).
- whatshisface 10y ago
  That's the reaction that got it as far as manufacturing. What's there to keep people engaged once it becomes normal? Hopefully this will turn out more like 3D graphics than 3D movies.
- darkrabbi 10y ago
  In a similar boat but at the same time I haven't pulled my VIVE out in almost a week now - when I think about why it's because 1) the hassle of getting the headset on comfortably 2) lack of new and interesting software/games to try. Will come with time, comfortable lightweight HMD + good telepresence apps will be the breaking point for this tech imo
  - visarga 10y ago
    Is there an app to walk on street view? That would be a compelling use case.
    - jobigoud 10y ago
      Street view images are fixed viewpoint and low resolution.
- netcan 10y ago
  They're impressive. But, we're impressed by the technology, the potential. It's a demo. To get usage though, it needs to get past that stage where you are putting it on to see how cool it is. It needs to get to where you don't care so much about the headset, you just want the content. I prefer game of thrones on a shitty laptop to storage wars on a hd
droopyEyelids 10y ago
Actually, there hasn't been a lot of fighting between oculus and vive owners. It's the least acrimonious tech choice I've ever seen. There has been a lot of grumbling about the choices Palmer & Facebook have made about the Rift, but people have not been attacking each other like they used to with android/iOS or other famous tech disagreement centers.
cm2187 10y ago
I have actually purchased both so I like to think I am impartial. The oculus is better pretty much on any metric: easier to set up, better tracking (the htc shows a grey screen regularly), better games (valkyrie, lucky's tale in particular), and most important, it hurts a lot less to wear, the htc is an absolute pain in the neck (and what doesn't help is that game developers feel they need to give you a black screen with very long, non skipable narrative instead of giving you some VR, bad point for oculus for putting this narrative on pause when you take off the headset). The only problem of the rift is the large vertical band in the middle, very visible in a dark environment. But both have few games, most of which are merely proof of concepts more than games, and have their own troubles (lucky's tale is great but it forces you to look down all the time, again it hurts). Also both are unfit for non gaming. They work on the assumption that your eyes will focus only on the centre of the screen, so the edges will be blury. That's simply not what we do when we work, only when we are shooting zombies. And like the author, I now only use them to demo them to friends.
k__ 10y ago
I read the vive was superior in tech (full room, good controllers, steam), but inferior in hardware-ux (to heavy) Luckily I have huge traps from lifting, haha.
- TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
  It's a lot easier for HTC to update the Vive hardware than for the Oculus to get a whole new stack. Vive has already been a hit with the early adopters. But HTC needs to concentrate on making the hardware better and cheaper if it wants to break into the mainstream commodity market. The biggest problem is pitching VR as gaming++, because gaming on its own is not a killer app - especially at the current price point. I won't be surprised if a killer app emerges from a different sector. But I also won't be surprised if no killer app appears, and VR is stuck in the gaming ghetto for another five years or so.
  - k__ 10y ago
    I think replacing Workstations with multiple displays would be the killer APP. Finally I would look like the hackers from the movies
    - WalterSear 10y ago
      Most people will want AR for that.
- madaxe_again 10y ago
  The weight is fine if you adjust the straps to sit below your occipital bone at the back of your skull - and the mass then rests behind/atop your head, not on your face. Also when worn like that you can literally violently jump and roll around (as is needed in some titles - holopoint for one) and you forget you're wearing the thing. That's kinda the key. You forget you're wearing it. You forget what's real and what's not - I've watched friends fall on their faces trying to lean on stuff that doesn't exist. I read of a guy who headbutted his fridge because he forgot you can't clip irl. That complete suspension of disbelief, even if relatively transient, is what tells this observer that the tech is ready. It's young, yes, but it works, today.
partiallypro 10y ago
I've used both and find both of them unimpressive. Like you said, the lack of software is the killing factor. Right now it's a novelty device, I don't think either are a game changer quite yet. AR makes more sense to me, because even though you have it on, you aren't blocked out from your surroundings so it feels less awkward. But that too is lacking in apps. I'm hoping that since Hololens is Windows 10 based that the apps will roll in. I think a tilt brush like app would be killer. I also have this idea that a less fragile AR headset could make for an awesome laser tag HUD, even simulating explosions from your shots. One day.

asadlionpk 10y ago

The thing is, without good a standard controller and tracking there can't be any good software other than tech demos.

askafriend 10y ago

You say "few hours" but I'd go even further and say "few minutes".

MatthaeusHarris 10y ago

Literally every person I've put into my Vive has been blown away by it. Sure, there's probably some selection bias, but I've been buttonholing anyone who sets foot in my house, including my 70-year-old in-laws. So far, of the 20+ people to whom I've shown it, one has taken it off voluntarily, and all had variations of, "Holy shit, this is really amazing."

imh 10y ago
I had that reaction to my brother's Vive too. It was really amazing. But that doesn't matter. I probably wouldn't spend more than $30 on one. Despite being blown away, there are no compelling games and it gave me a headache.
- jobigoud 10y ago
  > it gave me a headache This is possibly because the interpupillary distance wasn't correctly calibrated for your eyes, which means you didn't get the correct scale and depth of things (hard to notice explicitly except that your brain doesn't like it).
whatshisface 10y ago
That's the reaction that got it as far as manufacturing. What's there to keep people engaged once it becomes normal? Hopefully this will turn out more like 3D graphics than 3D movies.
darkrabbi 10y ago
In a similar boat but at the same time I haven't pulled my VIVE out in almost a week now - when I think about why it's because 1) the hassle of getting the headset on comfortably 2) lack of new and interesting software/games to try. Will come with time, comfortable lightweight HMD + good telepresence apps will be the breaking point for this tech imo
- visarga 10y ago
  Is there an app to walk on street view? That would be a compelling use case.
  - jobigoud 10y ago
    Street view images are fixed viewpoint and low resolution.
netcan 10y ago
They're impressive. But, we're impressed by the technology, the potential. It's a demo. To get usage though, it needs to get past that stage where you are putting it on to see how cool it is. It needs to get to where you don't care so much about the headset, you just want the content. I prefer game of thrones on a shitty laptop to storage wars on a hd

droopyEyelids 10y ago

Actually, there hasn't been a lot of fighting between oculus and vive owners. It's the least acrimonious tech choice I've ever seen. There has been a lot of grumbling about the choices Palmer & Facebook have made about the Rift, but people have not been attacking each other like they used to with android/iOS or other famous tech disagreement centers.

cm2187 10y ago

I have actually purchased both so I like to think I am impartial. The oculus is better pretty much on any metric: easier to set up, better tracking (the htc shows a grey screen regularly), better games (valkyrie, lucky's tale in particular), and most important, it hurts a lot less to wear, the htc is an absolute pain in the neck (and what doesn't help is that game developers feel they need to give you a black screen with very long, non skipable narrative instead of giving you some VR, bad point for oculus for putting this narrative on pause when you take off the headset). The only problem of the rift is the large vertical band in the middle, very visible in a dark environment. But both have few games, most of which are merely proof of concepts more than games, and have their own troubles (lucky's tale is great but it forces you to look down all the time, again it hurts). Also both are unfit for non gaming. They work on the assumption that your eyes will focus only on the centre of the screen, so the edges will be blury. That's simply not what we do when we work, only when we are shooting zombies. And like the author, I now only use them to demo them to friends.

k__ 10y ago

I read the vive was superior in tech (full room, good controllers, steam), but inferior in hardware-ux (to heavy) Luckily I have huge traps from lifting, haha.

TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
It's a lot easier for HTC to update the Vive hardware than for the Oculus to get a whole new stack. Vive has already been a hit with the early adopters. But HTC needs to concentrate on making the hardware better and cheaper if it wants to break into the mainstream commodity market. The biggest problem is pitching VR as gaming++, because gaming on its own is not a killer app - especially at the current price point. I won't be surprised if a killer app emerges from a different sector. But I also won't be surprised if no killer app appears, and VR is stuck in the gaming ghetto for another five years or so.
- k__ 10y ago
  I think replacing Workstations with multiple displays would be the killer APP. Finally I would look like the hackers from the movies
  - WalterSear 10y ago
    Most people will want AR for that.
madaxe_again 10y ago
The weight is fine if you adjust the straps to sit below your occipital bone at the back of your skull - and the mass then rests behind/atop your head, not on your face. Also when worn like that you can literally violently jump and roll around (as is needed in some titles - holopoint for one) and you forget you're wearing the thing. That's kinda the key. You forget you're wearing it. You forget what's real and what's not - I've watched friends fall on their faces trying to lean on stuff that doesn't exist. I read of a guy who headbutted his fridge because he forgot you can't clip irl. That complete suspension of disbelief, even if relatively transient, is what tells this observer that the tech is ready. It's young, yes, but it works, today.

partiallypro 10y ago

I've used both and find both of them unimpressive. Like you said, the lack of software is the killing factor. Right now it's a novelty device, I don't think either are a game changer quite yet. AR makes more sense to me, because even though you have it on, you aren't blocked out from your surroundings so it feels less awkward. But that too is lacking in apps. I'm hoping that since Hololens is Windows 10 based that the apps will roll in. I think a tilt brush like app would be killer. I also have this idea that a less fragile AR headset could make for an awesome laser tag HUD, even simulating explosions from your shots. One day.