3 ms·

I think you overestimate the draw of device that isn't really market tested and doesn't yet have a lot to recommend it besides its newness. Christmas of 2016 wi

by Kapura 11y ago

I think you overestimate the draw of device that isn't really market tested and doesn't yet have a lot to recommend it besides its newness. Christmas of 2016 will give it time for good games to have bubbled up and make the value proposition of the Oculus + supporting hardware much stronger.

macspoofing 11y ago
Nintendo Wii.
christoph 11y ago
This. It appeals to a very specific market at the moment. Most consumers will probably never experience VR on a PC at home. The real seller to mass market will be a combination of integration with phone handsets (a la Gear VR) or console (Morpheus/PS4) devices. The mass market doesn't want a big, expensive black box chugging away in their living room.
- cookingrobot 11y ago
  PC gaming may be bigger than you realize - it's twice the size of the console gaming market and growing. PC might not reach everyone, but it's where the money is. http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/07/14/the-console-war-is-over-the-pc-already-won/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/07/14/the-c...
  - joshuapants 11y ago
    But how many of those PC gamers have large powerful computers adequate for use with VR?
    - exodust 11y ago
      Not many considering you really want a GTX 970 minimum to keep framerate high enough - crucial to reduce motion sickness. Those new MSI GTX 970 4Gb nvidia cards look nice. I'd put the $400 down for one if I didn't just buy a coffee machine. BTW, these graphics cards are the first I've seen which spin down to a stop for normal computing, the fans only kick in for 3d applications, great stuff. PC gaming and graphics is more amazing than ever.
  - christoph 11y ago
    I know. But rightly or wrongly I personally believe the reach of VR long term extends a lot further than just gaming.
- wavefunction 11y ago
  The Star Citizen community is slavering over the Oculus and its competitors. I don't know what adoption rates will be but the population of the game's backers is approaching a million accounts, though some of those are surely alt "accounts." I bring this up to say that I believe people are underestimating how much interest actually exists in acquiring such a device.
  - wingerlang 11y ago
    > the population of the game's backers is approaching a million accounts Seriously doubt that there's a 1:1 ratio of backers and buyers of VR tech.
smacktoward 11y ago
Christmas is exactly the right time to roll out a product that has nothing to recommend it besides novelty and a ton of buzz. That's when all the people who know nothing about what they're buying go shopping! Pushing it to Q4 2016 will give them time to develop some good apps for it, but it will also give competitors like Valve and Sony a year to build up an installed base. And "pay X hundred dollars for this novelty gizmo" is a much harder sell when the customers already paid X hundred dollars for a similar gizmo the year before.

by Kapura 11y ago

macspoofing 11y ago

Nintendo Wii.

christoph 11y ago

This. It appeals to a very specific market at the moment. Most consumers will probably never experience VR on a PC at home. The real seller to mass market will be a combination of integration with phone handsets (a la Gear VR) or console (Morpheus/PS4) devices. The mass market doesn't want a big, expensive black box chugging away in their living room.

cookingrobot 11y ago
PC gaming may be bigger than you realize - it's twice the size of the console gaming market and growing. PC might not reach everyone, but it's where the money is. http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/07/14/the-console-war-is-over-the-pc-already-won/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/07/14/the-c...
- joshuapants 11y ago
  But how many of those PC gamers have large powerful computers adequate for use with VR?
  - exodust 11y ago
    Not many considering you really want a GTX 970 minimum to keep framerate high enough - crucial to reduce motion sickness. Those new MSI GTX 970 4Gb nvidia cards look nice. I'd put the $400 down for one if I didn't just buy a coffee machine. BTW, these graphics cards are the first I've seen which spin down to a stop for normal computing, the fans only kick in for 3d applications, great stuff. PC gaming and graphics is more amazing than ever.
- christoph 11y ago
  I know. But rightly or wrongly I personally believe the reach of VR long term extends a lot further than just gaming.
wavefunction 11y ago
The Star Citizen community is slavering over the Oculus and its competitors. I don't know what adoption rates will be but the population of the game's backers is approaching a million accounts, though some of those are surely alt "accounts." I bring this up to say that I believe people are underestimating how much interest actually exists in acquiring such a device.
- wingerlang 11y ago
  > the population of the game's backers is approaching a million accounts Seriously doubt that there's a 1:1 ratio of backers and buyers of VR tech.

smacktoward 11y ago

Christmas is exactly the right time to roll out a product that has nothing to recommend it besides novelty and a ton of buzz. That's when all the people who know nothing about what they're buying go shopping! Pushing it to Q4 2016 will give them time to develop some good apps for it, but it will also give competitors like Valve and Sony a year to build up an installed base. And "pay X hundred dollars for this novelty gizmo" is a much harder sell when the customers already paid X hundred dollars for a similar gizmo the year before.