Virtual Reality

[Kaitou Ace]

This seems to be the year that VR is really starting to get off the ground. I've had a chance to play (and own) a few of the headsets out there, but I was wondering, anyone else tried the Oculus/Vive/PSVR/HoloLens or similar devices? If so, what did you think?

[Rogi]

Not to be a buzz-kill, but even though this new generation of VR has come the closest to actually taking off, it's still crashing and burning this point as far as sales. The very high price-points combined with a lack of any "must have" software is just not a winning formula so far. PSVR may still change that however.

To answer the question though, I personally haven't had a chance to try out any of the headsets yet. Haven't been able to make it to any events where they are displayed, and can't really justify the steep price tags at the moment.

There is so much potential awesomeness to be had with VR however, so here's hoping that the PSVR succeeds where the others have failed so far.

[Kaitou Ace]

I don't see them crashing and burning, as much as still being slow to start up. The main hurdle has been computing power as much as anything, and that gets cheaper every year. I do agree though that the PSVR is likely to help move it into the mainstream. Of the two main devices, the Vive has the larger hurdle for start up costs, though I expect actual cost of a headset and two motion controllers to be about the same for the two headsets.

Myself, I've got both the Oculus and the Vive, and tend to do demos for people, and it's rare that someone isn't taken away by the tech, but it is so much something that you have to experience first, that it's another hurdle by itself, since you can only really try it in a few places, and just in major cities so far. Mostly, I am curious to see what sales will look like after the holiday period this year, when more people are buying new computers. I also use the VR daily, alternating between the two.

As for a killer app, I am actually curious as to what that'd be. I expect we'll get some AAA gaming titles early next year, though the indie market has been basically experimenting by throwing everything into VR in the hopes of finding something that sticks, and there are a lot of fun games out there, even if most lack polish.

[Jinjer]

everyone talks about "give up machines" and "snu-snu simulators"

but i'd really love to play a strategy game from the point of view of a commander standing in her command center