3 ms·

VR is in its infancy for over 30 years now. It is just not really good.

giancarlostoro 8y ago
Getting a headset needs to be stupid simple. The Oculus as someone else mentioned rrquires 3 - 4 USB cables. What!? Regular non geeks dont have time for that. It should hook up to a single hub via USB C now that its a thing and do the rest wirelessly not necessarily BlueTooth since that can be unreliable. Whatever Logitech has been doing for their keyboards and mice seems efficient when BlueTooth fails their dongle just works. If the barrier to entry is beyond turn this thing on and use it. It will not get people crazy about it. Also you need some sort of fun goofy games that will be addictive / fun enough to market themselves. They dont need to be full blown Skyrim or Minecrafts just something free and simple enough media hype about it will make people want to buy it. Hell if Fortnite was somehow better in VR I could see people buying any headset they deem worthy.
- jobigoud 8y ago
  At the moment inside-out 6DOF tracking isn't millimeter accurate, so we require additional hardware. Oculus uses cameras which is where the USB requirement is from, and Vive requires laser beaming stations (no USB required). Hopefully we can get rid of this extra hardware in the next few iterations.
  - throwaway34241 8y ago
    This actually looks like it will be solved pretty soon; Microsoft VR headsets have been using inside-out tracking for a year and a half, the Quest will use it, and a revision to the rift is widely expected to launch soon with inside-out tracking too. SteamVR tracking might have some advantages if you want lots of tracked objects (that may be outside the headset's field of view) but it seems like good-enough inside out tracking will be widely available this year.
andybak 8y ago
> It is just not really good. I suspect you having been shown the right content. I could reel of a long list of amazing work being done in VR. Google Earth in VR is one of the most astonishing things I've tried in the last decade. Narrative works like Dispatch and Manifest 99 show the potential of VR as a storytelling medium. Tilt Brush, Gravity Sketch are already genuinely useful creative tools... Oh - and Beat Saber. :-)
- tomclive 8y ago
  I have a Mixed Reality headset and Google Earth is amazing with room-scale VR. It's not something I would have thought would work as well as it does. Beat Saber is the only VR game I keep coming back to - the controls are spot on. So simple and intuitive. You really need to work to get used to all the buttons and sticks to control most other VR games.
  - andybak 8y ago
    > You really need to work to get used to all the buttons and sticks to control most other VR games. This is a controversial opinion but I prefer the Vive wands to the Oculus touch for this very reason. It pushed developers towards simpler control schemes on the whole. Trying to remember which button does what is not immersive. Picking the controller up with the wrong hand every single time is not immersive. Being reminded you're using a game controller is not immersive. The best controls in VR are your hands but failing that - the Vive wands are often used as a lump with a single trigger - which I find ideal. This is one of the reasons why public demos are always smoother with the Vive. You just pass people the controller and show them where the trigger is (and maybe the big trackpad button if necessary)
- jniedrauer 8y ago
  > Google Earth in VR is one of the most astonishing things I've tried in the last decade. It really is hard to overstate how game changing google earth VR has been for me. I use it extensively to plan outdoor excursions now. I can memorize the route ahead of time, get a quick sense of how exposed I'll be, plan bailout routes, etc.

Getting a headset needs to be stupid simple. The Oculus as someone else mentioned rrquires 3 - 4 USB cables. What!? Regular non geeks dont have time for that. It should hook up to a single hub via USB C now that its a thing and do the rest wirelessly not necessarily BlueTooth since that can be unreliable. Whatever Logitech has been doing for their keyboards and mice seems efficient when BlueTooth fails their dongle just works. If the barrier to entry is beyond turn this thing on and use it. It will not get people crazy about it. Also you need some sort of fun goofy games that will be addictive / fun enough to market themselves. They dont need to be full blown Skyrim or Minecrafts just something free and simple enough media hype about it will make people want to buy it. Hell if Fortnite was somehow better in VR I could see people buying any headset they deem worthy.

jobigoud 8y ago
At the moment inside-out 6DOF tracking isn't millimeter accurate, so we require additional hardware. Oculus uses cameras which is where the USB requirement is from, and Vive requires laser beaming stations (no USB required). Hopefully we can get rid of this extra hardware in the next few iterations.
- throwaway34241 8y ago
  This actually looks like it will be solved pretty soon; Microsoft VR headsets have been using inside-out tracking for a year and a half, the Quest will use it, and a revision to the rift is widely expected to launch soon with inside-out tracking too. SteamVR tracking might have some advantages if you want lots of tracked objects (that may be outside the headset's field of view) but it seems like good-enough inside out tracking will be widely available this year.

andybak 8y ago

> It is just not really good. I suspect you having been shown the right content. I could reel of a long list of amazing work being done in VR. Google Earth in VR is one of the most astonishing things I've tried in the last decade. Narrative works like Dispatch and Manifest 99 show the potential of VR as a storytelling medium. Tilt Brush, Gravity Sketch are already genuinely useful creative tools... Oh - and Beat Saber. :-)

tomclive 8y ago
I have a Mixed Reality headset and Google Earth is amazing with room-scale VR. It's not something I would have thought would work as well as it does. Beat Saber is the only VR game I keep coming back to - the controls are spot on. So simple and intuitive. You really need to work to get used to all the buttons and sticks to control most other VR games.
- andybak 8y ago
  > You really need to work to get used to all the buttons and sticks to control most other VR games. This is a controversial opinion but I prefer the Vive wands to the Oculus touch for this very reason. It pushed developers towards simpler control schemes on the whole. Trying to remember which button does what is not immersive. Picking the controller up with the wrong hand every single time is not immersive. Being reminded you're using a game controller is not immersive. The best controls in VR are your hands but failing that - the Vive wands are often used as a lump with a single trigger - which I find ideal. This is one of the reasons why public demos are always smoother with the Vive. You just pass people the controller and show them where the trigger is (and maybe the big trackpad button if necessary)
jniedrauer 8y ago
> Google Earth in VR is one of the most astonishing things I've tried in the last decade. It really is hard to overstate how game changing google earth VR has been for me. I use it extensively to plan outdoor excursions now. I can memorize the route ahead of time, get a quick sense of how exposed I'll be, plan bailout routes, etc.