Right, but the experience on those units that are not the Vive or Oculus are very limited if not bad. That might hurt the overall market. In this case I think the competition is a hurting factor. Many of these companies do something because someone else is. As soon as one or two drop out the others might too unless they can actually capture the market share.
I am also curious what the life cycle of the devices will be, if the upgrade cycle follows a 4 or 5 year cycle then that might not being in enough money to develop a new generation. These big companies still have a limited money flow to the divisions working on this .Right now it’s probably a solid idea to get some toes in the game in case it actually takes off.
Another example of that is the Playstation eyetoy/stick with weird ball, and the Xbox 360 motion detection device. Both had pretty much stopped existing in the mind of the general public.
I think it is a bit early to tell. I mean, there are a lot of tech demonstrators out there, some full games, and stuff we haven’t even imagined yet. VR has business and industry applications that are just now getting explored (as an aviation technician, I think you’ll end up seeing a “demo” of work you perform before you do it at some point). Medicine, social networks, MMORPG - there are a lot of ways this technology can split off that will drive the purchases.
Personally, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a technology that gives so much presence. It is probably why pilots think it is so wow because it so closely approaches what we see every day. I do think it will move beyond a party parlor trick pretty rapidly. Once (if) the resolution starts to blur reality vs. VR - it is gonna take off.
Fair enough, although I do not consider it impossible to end up like 3D movies and 3D tv’s. The wastelands of tech are amazing.
Really, no MX division in any airline has that kind of money, I think perhaps the manufacturers have a better use for it to simulate and experience the spaces they are designing(for passengers as well as staff). Would be neat though, but for now we still work on tiny 19" displays that load PDF files from a remote server on a relatively slow connection ;). Would be nice to have a big screen in the first place to display the technical drawings on, but alas!
I do want it to succeed, I just have a hard time seeing a viable approach to rapid expansion of the market.
I disagree that the competion hurts. It means some will lose out, but ultimately the tech needs it to get better. Early adopters will get burnt, some companies will fade away, such is life. Valve won’t do exclusives, so that’ll help in the long run.
The primary companies involved are absolutely enormous, which actually makes it more unusual a fad this time around - a lot of new tech comes from smaller places that had a ‘good idea’, while in this case they all have 5 - 10 year spending plans.
Whether VR or AR is a bad idea or not they literally have more money than they could reasonably burn without environmental contraints. The next round of units will be 2018 and by then there will be even more people coming to market making stuff. Facebook especially would be willing to spend in the next 10 years, putting huge efforts into making it ‘social’ as ‘somewhere to go with Facebook’. Maybe these companies shouldn’t be so wealthy from ad money, but they are, and they are investing very heavily in VR.
The PS Motion Controller balls are actually used with Sony VR today, so if you purchase their VR unit you have a simple 3D space controller. The XBox 360 Kinect was an extension of the success that they saw Nintendo had with the Wii and wasn’t adopted by anyone outside of Microsoft.
Yeah but that I’ve seen a dozen times already, where all the big companies jump in (3D TV was going to be it. DAB+ was going to be it, etc). And as soon as one shows a hint of leaving they all bail. So I do not think that that is a given.
Also, people are not going to just use VR for facebook. I hope they come up with something better then a novel way to view a website.
I do not think VR and AR are bad idea’s! Neat concepts, but the big market for many of these technologies has never materialized in the past and I do not think it is a given that it will now. Cost being one of the big inhibitors.
It also helped that Microsoft couldn’t generate a coherent vision for the product besides “be like the WIi”, or create a persistently entertaining tittle for it.
I’ll respond more in depth when y’all stop responding every two minutes.
Well how do you expect us to get the conversation going?! Do we have to wait for you to write a essay and send it off to the publisher first? At this rate by the time we hear from you we’ll all be long dead and burried! Like the F-14!
Back in 2005 I got an invite to Facebook and laughed. Myspace had the market pretty much sewn up, as in what could possibly be done more than just some stupid statuses on a page? Not going to happen.
I think we need to recognize that VR isn’t a new concept. There have been previous attempts at making it work but the tech wasn’t really up to the task and the cost of the units was prohibitively expensive.
Now we have the tech to make it work well, and at a price point that is, while not cheap, at least affordable to those who are used to buying the latest consumer tech (I’m writing this on an iPad Pro that cost a good bit more than the Rift CV1). Headsets will only get more capable. I’m not so sure that the prices will drop at the high end any time soon though.
I just hope that the big players don’t abandon PC Gamers (i.e. us) in favor of cheaper mobile phone based units which would not fit our needs at all.
I have the touch controllers. They are very neat but I am not really using them all that much, mainly because I am having fun with flying the Viggen in DCS (which is marvelous in VR).
The games I have for the controllers are The Climb and Arizona Sunshine. The Climb really is very neat and fun to play. Arizona Sunshine is also fun if you like shooting Zombies :).
I am tempted to pick up Ultra-wings for a bit of light hearted flying fun, but Landfall looks good too (which doesn’t use Touch controllers)… Decisions decisions.
I read that Ultra Wings is pretty cool with the touch controllers. Being able to hit the ignition switch and stuff…should be interesting. Can’t wait to hear. My Amazon Touch Controller order is in your virtual hands Paul…
Well, it’s quite fun. The Ultralight is the first aircraft that you qualify in. The first missions cover takeoff, flying the aircraft and landing. The Touch controls work well with it. The first missions after the “qualification” involve flying through target rings as fast as you can. After that you are told that you can fly to another island, land and purchase the airport there.
It’s very “Lite” as far as the operation of the aircraft is concerned… open the fuel valve (which seems to be kind of fiddly), turn on the magneto and then press the start button. You then grab the stick and throttle, and off you go. You have to be quite generous with the stick movement. It feels like you are flying a B747 rather than an Ultralight but that’s ok I guess.
I think Kai would enjoy it a lot
Is it worth dropping $200 on Touch controllers for Ultra-wings? I would have to say no, but the controllers are very cool, and if you are planning to play games such as the Climb (which is great) and some of the other Touch titles, then I say go for it. I have to admit that I have been buying titles to have something to do with the controllers though…and I still spend most of my VR time playing DCS, which of course does not need them.
The next round of units will be 2018 and by then there will be even more people coming to market making stuff. Facebook especially would be willing to spend in the next 10 years, putting huge efforts into making it ‘social’ as ‘somewhere to go with Facebook’. Maybe these companies shouldn’t be so wealthy from ad money, but they are, and they are investing very heavily in VR.
