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Facebook has sold 4M Quest 2 headsets in the US, recall docs reveal
- owlbynight 5y agoMy friends and I watch movies in Bigscreen VR (simulated movie theater) and honestly, it's some of the most fun I've ever had. It's like renting out a theater with friends where you can be as loud as you want for free, several times per week. I feel as though most people think about VR for its novelty use cases, like putting grandma on a roller coaster, or doing some exercises or whatever. Swing a lightsaber at Darth Vader! I don't think we've even scratched the surface on the possibilities of just creating fun environments for friends to goof around in. That's going to be the future of this technology.
- shreyshnaccount 5y agoand tech in general.. everything is getting more and more goof-around-able and I'm here for it!
- Hippocrates 5y agoThis sounds awesome and I've also thought about a VR headset for regular console games. Can you comment on if that is a good idea and which specs/devices I might compare for that? I have no interest in most actual VR games until there is something "killer".
- gen3 5y agoSteam has a setup that allows you to play regular games in what looks/feels like a large home theater. I haven't used it short of checking it out, but it looked nice.
- dougmwne 5y agoThe Quest 2 might be getting official android app support. You could use that to wirelessly stream through the Xbox app possibly. Future state.
- baby 5y agoThe first time I joined a cinema room I didn’t know I would be sitting next to people. I turned and looked on my left and a bunch of people were looking at me. I screamed out loud (didn’t know my mic was on also) and everybody laughed. That was magical somewhat.
- spaced-out 5y agoThat sounds awesome. I've been ignoring VR, maybe it's time to look into getting a headset.
- piyh 5y agoI had a conversation with an Israeli guy about smart grids and the iron dome while watching old Bond movies. Highly recommend Big Screen. Eye contact, hand gestures and the occasional air drawing go a long way to connect people.
- rubicon33 5y agoNot OP, but have had similar experiences with VR. I absolutely LOVE VR. It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting / interesting / immersive. I still think the content isn’t nearly as mature as say, the traditional PC gaming or PS/Xbox games, but it’s slowly getting there. Hopefully as more people adopt VR, bigger and bigger publishers will see it as a profitable domain. If you’re a Skyrim fan, check out some recent Skyrim VR (with mods) videos… It’s a truly mind blowing experience!
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago> It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting / interesting / immersive. Wow, I couldn't disagree more with that statement. I'm very very aware I'm playing a game in VR bacause I have to be constantly aware of the space limitations, which often isn't handled well by games that expect a larger space than I have. Not to mention trying not to trip on the cables (which Quest[0] doesn't have I guess, so there's that), and the relatively uncomfortable headset... In fact, so far I'd say I've played a total of two games that I thought did well with VR: SUPERHOT and Beat Saber. [0] Because Facebook is involved, I will never own one.
- tvirosi 5y agoIt will indeed. It's frustrating that all of this is going much slower than I thought it would though. I feel like AR and this and the big ML GAN breakthroughs are still like 10-20 years away from now. (From my recollection it's felt like a year away for like 7-9 years now.) My kids are going to have such a fun time with it once its actually here but I'll be near middle age before the next wave is actually mature.
- post_break 5y agoIs there a way to do that while using your surround sound system? Because that would be amazing.
- jedberg 5y agoYou could use the headphone jack and plug it into your stereo.
- dougmwne 5y agoActually you don't really need it because positional head tracking will pin the sounds to their proper points in space, quite similar to the same feature on the airpods. You can plug in better headphones of course.
- jamespetercook 5y agoWhat tech do you use to do this?
- nickthegreek 5y agoBigScreenVR, a Quest 2 and a network share with your video file and an internet connection.
- tpmx 5y agoAh, it supports... ehh, sideloading of liberally licensed media files. Smart move.
- owlbynight 5y agoI use an Occulus 2 headset, Bigscreen VR app, headphones, and that's it really. I personally prefer hooking my Occulus 2 up to a PC, but it's not required unless you're doing a room with more than 4 people in it but that's just for the person hosting the room. Participants only need the headset and app.
- deanclatworthy 5y agoIsn’t it like watching potato quality? We had the first oculus rift at our office many years ago and there was an app to play video files in a movie theatre. But the resolution was so bad it was like watching a VHS. I see the potential here but the quality/resolution is going to have to take a huge leap.
- dougmwne 5y agoIt is quite good. I have watched hours of shows and movies on the Quest 2. The resolution of your virtual cinema screen is essentially 1080p, which really is not bad. The main drawback is the quality of the lenses as they can add blur outside the sweet spot, god rays and chromatic aberration. I think these devices are only a few hardware generations away from delivering on the promise of a no compromises cinema in a bag.
- littleweep 5y agoMy problem with VR is that I wear glasses — I never could get comfortable with a headset over my glasses.
- anotherman554 5y agoYou can buy prescription lenses from third parties that you insert into the headset. Then, no glasses are needed.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y agoYeah, me either. They are definitely not designed to be worn over glasses comfortably. I ended up getting custom lenses that clip over the headset lenses because I play Beat Saber enough to justify it.
- losvedir 5y agoMy oculus quest 1 works just fine over my glasses (had to add the little foam insert that came with it). Not sure about the 2, though.
- 5y ago
- astlouis44 5y agoWe have this functionality over at vrland.io as well, and it doesn't require going through FB's walled garden Oculus store. It's like a web-based VRChat, so it will work on any device with a browser. If Apple ships WebXR when they release their headset next year, it will work by default there too. Universal, decentralized, and free of walled gardens. That's the definition of the metaverse! Our team is on a mission to build a immersive version of the web in 3D and VR. Check it out here: https://vrland.io/cinema https://vrland.io/cinema
- jazzyjackson 5y agoHaha it’s a bit of a party with the hacker news crowd Is there a way to sit? I got a hang of the controls within a minute which is pretty impressive for touchscreen on mobile, but FYI it was pretty easy to back up to a wall such that my camera was behind the wall while I was still in front of it, so I couldn’t see anything. I wonder if it would be any easy fix to make the wall surfaces one-sided.
- astlouis44 5y agoThanks for trying it out!!! Yes there is, if you're on mobile. I will join now and walk you through
- jazzyjackson 5y agoO, I heard you talking for a minute but I’m having some trouble. On using Safari on an iPhone SE (v. 2020) I gave access to microphone but it wasn’t clear if it was muted by default, when I tapped to mute, all of the audio cut out, which was unexpected, I was just trying to mute myself to be polite. And when I open the chat, and click in the text field, it highlights with blue edge and my keyboard opens, but nothing I type is reflected in the text box, and I see no way to submit. Best of luck, it’s an ambitious project.
- ajcp 5y agoThis is very reminiscent of Active Worlds[1][2], right down to how you drop-in and interact with the world. Would have thought after 25-years we would have developed the value proposition better, and not the client. 1. https://activeworlds.com/ https://activeworlds.com/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds
- breakfastduck 5y agoThis is so depressing. It is such a strong signal that the general consumer just does not give a shit when it comes to privacy or hardware products being able to be remotely disabled by bloody facebook of all people.
- baby 5y agoIt is an amazing product.
- kstrauser 5y ago...tied to a horrid service. Do you really want Facebook having full access to your VR activity log? All of it?
- missedthecue 5y agoWhat exactly is the downside
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kstrauser 5y agoI don't own a VR set, so this is talking about ideas rather than any specific implementation. Every time I've heard someone mention having a VR setup, in a social/non-work setting, someone has asked them if they've checked out porn on it. In fairness, we've all read Snow Crash etc. and wondered how close we're getting to that stuff in the real world. Now, the big question: do you want Facebook to have a record of porn you've viewed, even if it was for 5 minutes out of curiosity? Can you imagine the "interesting" ads you might start getting if you did that? I consider this similar to "why do you care if you're being watched if you have nothing to hide?". I'm not doing anything illegal there, but I don't want a camera in my bathroom. Similarly, even if I'm not doing anything illegal online, darned if I want Facebook to have a record of everything I do.
- 5y ago
- cblconfederate 5y agothe quest 2 is the best piece of tech of last 10 years. even as a non-gamer, i spend hours looking at google earth photos around the world. wireless makes it just so easy to pick up and down of course, facebook does not know what to do with it beyond "senator, we sell ads". i hope someone else copies them and realizes its potential
- c7DJTLrn 5y agoI wish I could rejoice at the adoption of VR but I can only feel despair that Facebook of all companies is leading the way. I owned an Oculus CV1 for 2 years and loved it. It completely shifted my perspective on VR, changing me from a naysayer to an enthusiast. Then Facebook began strengthening its grasp on Oculus by making account migration mandatory, and I decided not to comply and got rid of my headset instead. Facebook needs more competition in the VR space but nobody seems interested. Valve shipped a headset, sure, but they are not pumping anywhere near the kind of resources into R&D that Facebook Reality Labs is. My blog post on the topic: https://cedwards.xyz/goodbye-oculus/ https://cedwards.xyz/goodbye-oculus/
- dmead 5y agovalve likes money, and they see money in handhelds right now and their convoluted attempts to make touch pad controls a thing. see the steam controller, link, machine and now deck.
- azinman2 5y agoIf you're sad now, just wait until the ads start coming. I'm not joking or hypothesizing -- I have a friend at Oculus who hoped that they'd take a different path because they're selling hardware. They've made it very clear to my friend that Facebook is an advertising company, and their strategy is to sell hardware with little margins to squeeze everyone else out, and then monetize you and your eye balls with ads.
- 5y ago
- astlouis44 5y agoNot a big enough install base for the metaverse though. They need to target WebGL, WebAssembly and WebXR to create a 3D social space where you can jump into games and virtual worlds to play with others, or just hang out. A web-based VRChat that works universally via the browser, including headsets via WebXR.
- criddell 5y agoWhy web based? Wouldn't native versions be better as far as performance and latency goes?
- astlouis44 5y agoBenefits are that developers don't have to give a cut to the Oculus store and Facebook, and for users it will be nearly as performant as a native application. Cross-platform, meaning VR applications that work across any headset including Apple's upcoming HMD is a huge bonus, because they will work day one if Apple does ship support for WebXR.
- criddell 5y ago> developers don't have to give a cut to the Oculus store and Facebook That's a good way to make Facebook think it's a failed platform and to stop investing in it. > for users it will be nearly as performant as a native application I'll have to see that to believe it. It's never been true for desktop or mobile applications so I can't see it being true on a resource constrained headset. > WebXR The new VRML?
- astlouis44 5y agohttps://vrland.io/lobby https://vrland.io/lobby
- dougmwne 5y agoI am one of them and I have been blown away by my first headset. Most of the news about Quest revolves around mistrust of FB. That's fair, but it's still going to take billions in investment to make this tech hit it's full potential, so I am glad it's at least a US company. Maybe I would pay the Apple premium if they ever release a decent competitor. In the meantime, I think this is the most promising new consumer technology since the iPhone. There's huge potential for social, exercise, gaming, media consumption, general purpose computing, business, art, and education. I have had many magic moments where the human-computer interaction was as natural as waving to a friend or hitting a ping pong ball. AR is going to share in most of this potential, so I view this as an early iteration of a device that will have AR and VR modes and can be used both in every day life and in the VR bubble. Eventually our phones will be obsolete.
- azinman2 5y agoSo why hasn't it happened yet? It's been on the market for _years_ and very little units have sold. Personally I think VR is way overhyped. The experience is fun but intense, much like a rollercoaster. I like rollercoasters, but don't want to go on one daily. In terms of everyday HCI, there are very few scenarios where it truly beats a flat 2D screen with touch.
- sjg007 5y agoCan you play roblox on it?
- astlouis44 5y agoNo, but you can access VRland which is sort of like a web-based VRChat. Social 3D/VR via WebGL, WebAssembly, and WebXR that works cross-platform via the browser, not just limited to headsets but can be accessed via phones and computers. Link to try it here: https://vrland.io/ https://vrland.io/
- ryneandal 5y agoYes, it supports Roblox VR. My kids adore playing VR Hands. edit - here's the process, although most steps are already completed if you actively use your headset. https://www.lifewire.com/play-roblox-on-oculus-quest-or-oculus-quest-2-5113211 https://www.lifewire.com/play-roblox-on-oculus-quest-or-ocul...
- vyrotek 5y agoThanks for the guide! My kids love our Quest2 and have been asking me about Roblox VR but I hadn't looked into it yet. Rec Room and Roblox are definitely the most played games in our home.
- dessant 5y agoFacebook will delete your account without notice, even after they've messed with your account once and reinstated it after making the issue public. https://github.com/wit-ai/wit/issues/1946#issuecomment-883373513 https://github.com/wit-ai/wit/issues/1946#issuecomment-88337... Facebook employees will ignore your calls for help, and there is no proper way to contact them regarding a disappeared account. You have to pretend to be an active Facebook user in order to access services tailored to developers, such as Wit.ai. Imagine having to like YouTube videos and subscribe to channels, maybe post a comment sometimes in order to not wake up with your Google Cloud instances gone without notice. That's how Facebook developer services operate.
- omgitsabird 5y agoI had an account I used for work (documentation, local API keys, etc) with a fake name that was also deleted. I replaced that account with one using my actual name and a couple of friends, a phone number, etc, and I haven't had issues so far (like two years). I log into it maybe once every three months or so.
- riffraff 5y agoWeird, I have a fake account i created for testing something years ago and it still works fine, I log in with it maybe once a year. I did take care to befriend a lot of random people tho, so maybe that matters.
- Jyaif 5y ago> Facebook will delete your account without notice Yeah, same for your Google and Apple accounts. So what?
- mplewis 5y agoSince when did Apple delete your account because you didn't post enough statuses or photos of your kid on the Apple social network?
- 5y ago
- danso 5y agoI'm an OQ2 owner and am pretty happy with it especially compared to my PSVR which broke after less than a year of intermittent use. But the thing is, I really don't use it that much, other than for exercise or as a way to virtually meet up with my young nephew (who also rarely plays it). We spent far more time on our PS4s. Some of it is old habit — and form factor of course, as light and wireless as the OQ2 is, it's still magnitudes more "work" than just plopping on the couch and turning on the TV. But for me, the big thing is game quality. Other than dedicated rhythm games (basically, Beat Saber) or ports of successful non-VR video games (Skyrim, Superhot, Tetris Effect), very few if any VR games for the OQ2 (I do not have an Alyx-capable PC) feel more than a half-fleshed out tech demo, with the possible exception of multiplayer freemium (e.g. Rec Room). I've basically bought every Oculus game with an average rating of 4.3 (out of 5) or more, and nothing has really hooked me. And I can understand the lack of fully polished/thought-out games given what I thought was a very small and niche audience. So I was genuinely surprised to see that 4M OQ2s have been sold...that's obviously smaller than a traditional console, but not at all bad for the first year of non mainstream tech. I wonder what the active user/game purchaser rate is? edit: actually since I've been very physically lazy lately, I get the most use out of my OQ2 by watching Amazon Prime video. The resolution is just barely good enough for an immersive experience, and the Prime app (unlike the very basic Netflix app), allows you to resize and reposition the screen exactly as you like.
- Kosirich 5y agoI have had a similar experience. I have 0 regret, I really do love it, but yes it is "an effort". I feel Oculus is "just there" to be that VR defining experience that will get people hooked en mass. I think you also make a good point that is missing the games that will "define it" and that will make you come back. I really don't understand, considering the numbers sold, why some games can't be just reworked for VR "perspective". I know it's expensive, but I would pay money right away if someone ported (I realize it's not that easy) old Lucas Arts adventure games (e.g). Perhaps I'm under the impression or The Room VR which reminded me of Broken Sword. Also, you mention purchase rate. I can only judge based on myself and my colleague, but I would say it's high! Neither of us are "hardcore" games, but we each both 10 games so far. Also x2, how would you (anyone) feel using it on a plane,train, bus ect. I haven't tried it, but if someone has I would appreciate the feedback.... did people think you were a weirdo?
- nsxwolf 5y agoIs there anything in the SteamVR world that does what the Quest 2 does? A completely self contained, inside-out tracking experience? I love my Quest 2, but I don't like knowing that I'm one algorithmically determined bad Facebook comment away from losing access to my device and everything I've paid for permanently.
- dougmwne 5y agoWe can hope for a Valve Index 2 to be released with wireless. It would still require a beefy gaming rig, but their first headset was impressive at the time.
- nsxwolf 5y agoI'm fairly impressed with playing SteamVR games on my Quest 2 via Air Link, but the video quality takes a hit with compression. I wonder if that's as good as it gets, or is it because it's over regular WiFi and not whatever that many-gigahertz solution there was for the original Vive?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- belltaco 5y agoWindowsMR headsets. Odyssey+ and Reverb2 headsets have iside out tracking. Not wireless though, has to tethered to PC.
- mark_l_watson 5y agoI am surprised that number is so low. I own both versions of Quest, and one of the best toys ever. I worked in the VR field in the 1990s, and I wished for a good consumer rig. Now I have two. Quest is better than our SGI Reality Engine driven VR experiences, even though we had really nice custom built motion platforms. I am not fan of Facebook, but I have no complaints about how they manage their VR acquisition. I upload home videos to FB now just so I can watch them in a virtual cinema. Also, the Star Wars Vader series, pingpong, racketball, etc. are all first class experiences.
- EvanAnderson 5y agoI upload home videos to FB now just so I can watch them in a virtual cinema. With no offense to you intended that feels so incredibly wasteful from a network bandwidth perspective-- both the upload and the streaming back down to watch. It also seems incredibly privacy invading. I cannot understand how people stomach the business model.
- mark_l_watson 5y agoI only uploaded Arizona hiking videos, perhaps a few kayaking videos also. I did say that I am not a FB fan, but the Oculus is a very fun product. re: wasting bandwidth or computer resources. Compared to what has been used in my work for customers, this is a drop in the ocean. This is probably more detail than you want, but since you mentioned FB’s business model (and thanks for your comment): I had all but stopped using FB until Apple placed restrictions on apps sharing information without permission. Now I probably spend 4 or 5 minutes a day on FB. I seldom post but I like to see what my family is doing. That said, I have spent almost an hour today with family on FaceTime and the phone, and a 2 hour coffee with friends this morning. Much more satisfying than social media!
- EvanAnderson 5y agoI feel like I'm missing out of a lot of cool experiences, but I just can't get behind the hardware being, effectively, a rental on Facebook's whim. Does it bother you that Facebook can deny your use of the Oculus hardware with little to no recourse available? re: bandwidth - I have a 90s sysadmin background. Analogous to being a "child of the depression" I have a permanent paranoia re: bandwidth scarcity. Years of making a living supporting corporate WANs running across drinking straw-sized pipes with to-the-moon-and-back latency has, no doubt, scarred me. I can't help but think that the world would be better, however, if developers tried to make things that worked "local first" and kept traffic on the local network as much as possible. Overall I'm probably destined for "hermit living in a shack" when it comes to the direction technology is going. I'm a market segment of about a baker's dozen of people, I'd guess. I have no tolerance for products that are unable to function without the use of a third-party system for any reason other by necessity. If a product requires compute or storage resources that, by necessity, need to be off-device then so be it. If the product needs off-device resources to drive a vendor lock-in model, DRM, etc, then it's a net negative for humanity. Living in a world where Lamport's famous distributed systems quote[0] is also really infuriating to me. I want my stuff to work when I want it to work. Nobody can take away my locally-hosted stuff. [0] https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/distributed-system.txt https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/distributed-system.tx...
- imglorp 5y agoIt really bugs me when a journalist can't be troubled to check their facts and learn there's a difference between silicon and silicone. Plus it's right in the linked CPSC filing. https://www.livescience.com/37598-silicon-or-silicone-chips-implants.html https://www.livescience.com/37598-silicon-or-silicone-chips-...
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoThe VR experience is so good it’s astonishing. What’s also very clear is that there’s very little software out there for it that makes you want to keep it off the shelf collecting dust.
- dougmwne 5y agoI have found a number of gems. Eleven Table Tennis is just awesomely accurate table tennis against real people. Pistol Whip is a great workout and beats the pants off DDR. Population One is a fun Battle Royal that keeps me coming back. Eternal Starlight has major Homeworld vibes. Walkabout Mini Golf is a mini golf course in your living room. The platform needs way more investment, but this is a decent start.
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoFor sure. It not fair for me to say there isn’t a lot of software out there already, but I just don’t have anything personally that I want to come back to every day yet.
- mupuff1234 5y agoAre they selling the Quest 2 at a loss?
- EvanAnderson 5y agoI would love to experience this but I'm completely unwilling to buy-in because of the "you must have a Facebook account". I just want a piece of hardware that I can use. Is there any comparable (functionality) product that I buy that doesn't have the onerous third-party account requirement? I expect that I'll have to spend more not to be "monetized" but I can live that that (grudgingly).
- dmead 5y agothe valve index, but it's cost isn't subsidized by mark. it's a grand or more.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y agoI'm fairly certain the Valve Index doesn't actually require Steam. Unfortunately it is very expensive. I myself am using an old Rift that I've refused to update since the Facebook account fiasco.
- city41 5y agoNot saying this is a good or viable option, but just pointing out you technically can get one without a Facebook account: https://www.inputmag.com/tech/oculus-sells-a-quest-2-headset-that-doesnt-require-facebook-login-but-it-aint-cheap https://www.inputmag.com/tech/oculus-sells-a-quest-2-headset...
- riffraff 5y agoThe article says it's selling like hotcakes, but also that it may be at 8M sold worldwide. By comparing, the Nintendo switch sold ten times as much. Surely 8M is good sales but isn't this a bit over hyped?
- ls612 5y agoIt may well be supply constrained for the same reason every other device with a processor is supply constrained.
- dougmwne 5y agoI think it is probably not a fair comparison since the Quest has mostly been in stock. I think it is greatly benefiting from people not being able to buy next gen consoles.
- danso 5y agoThe Switch is the next generation for 2 extremely popular consoles — the 3DS and the Wii (let's ignore the WiiU, since the rest of the world largely did) — which has a userbase far greater than all VR systems combined. The 3DS alone sold 76m consoles. By comparison, the PSVR took about 3 years to hit 5 millions sales in 2020.