I agree with the price barrier conclusion. I know many people who want to try the Vive or Oculus but can’t due to price range and not going to PAX where every 4th exhibitor has one or the other.
I was able to introduce what VR was in a very superficial manner with Google Cardboard however this was still a fairly static situation.
The Daydream VR headset and the various Youtube videos, taking 360 photospheres which also record ambient sound, plus games, apps and navigating around using the controller and the store and VR app menus let my family in on what VR feels like, whether it be trying to run away from sharks or shoot enemies etc.
Why is this even crazy? You need a pretty modern computer to even run Occulus or VIve. My two year old computer is one gen of video card out of date for VR and most people don’t even own a computer that is capable of handling it. Meanwhile the Gear VR works on your cell phone. So the barrier to entry is somewhere in the lines of over 2K compared to a lot less for the Gear VR That’s really out of reach for a mass market hit right away. VR is not going to be mass market until someone can buy a whole system with VR for about 500 dollars, until then it’s going to be a niche market. It’s doing surprisingly well in my opinion for those barriers, how many l33t PC gamers with unlimited budgets are there in the US?
How many of those systems are in the hands of businesses trying to run VR experience type things.
If you thought of VR headsets as peripherals for video game consoles (which in the case of PS VR, it truly is), then these attach rates are through the roof. Peripherals typically have abysmal sales numbers, and then nobody wants to develop for the tiny install base. There’s enough novelty and commitment in the VR developer community that I think it will sustain itself until the install base is large.
We can make more of these cheaper now, so we will charge a much more reasonable price and expand the market!
[/quote]Personally, I think this is the more likely one. From what I know of the product(Having seen quite a few examples from various points in their manufacturing history, including quite a few taken apart), and manufacturing processes, they weren’t lying when they said they were selling close to cost.
But I’d fully expect them to have worked out better deals for sourcing parts and materiel now that they have a product they’ve proven will sell, as well as figuring out how to refine their manufacturing process to a point that allows them to drop the price.
Of course, the second option does follow in as a close second for likely possibilities. Third is highly unlikely - facebook isn’t likely to let it go after such a high-price acquisition, without trying to make their money back and then some.
My girlfriend just dropped two grand on a new computer and HTC vibe, we are making a dedicated room for VR play right now. I need game/software recommendations.
Based on what I know of the state-of-the-art from multiple sources, “better” hardware isn’t on the near term horizon from anyone. We’re pushing the limits of consumer-facing technology for now.
I had a real weird dream where my augmented reality glasses weren’t working great, and then I work out I was wearing VR goggles over the top of my AR glasses. Two different systems were trying to work together, but it wasn’t going smoothly.
Anyway, I like the idea of a story where someone thinks they are using AR but in fact it’s also VR. Not sure it’ll make as much sense to as it did to me in my dream.
Superhot is coming to Steam. It already worked well through Revive, but that’s a major exclusive coming over. Superhot VR was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had in ages.
