Who's excited for Samsung Gear VR?

[cybereality]

Have you guys seen the Samsung Gear VR yet? What do you think?

If you haven't seen it, are you excited to try it out?

Share your thoughts here.

[pixel67]

I can't wait to see this in the wild. Truly disruptive technology that will open up new doors for oculus and developers alike.

[treytech]

I tried it at Connect, but I heard Samsung will be bringing it to the Dallas VR meetup I'm going to Thursday.

[snappahead]

I'm in the middle right now. Need to try it. I think it'll be great for getting VR out to the masses of course and simple applications should work nicely, but the lack of positional is a concern. It's hard to go back to a device without it now. I'm very impressed with the latency and of course being wireless is a huge plus. Really looking forward to checking it out.

[Sharpfish]

For me, no because my personal interest in VR lies in both VR *AND* pushing systems to create believable environments. Something a smart phone isn't really gonna do.

And positional tracking (lack of) is a deal breaker for me, I avoided DK1 due to that as I knew it would feel weird if you couldn't move your head subtlety and have it move in game, it was one of the main things I wished for in a future DK and DK2 had it. It's now one of the things I like most about DK2 and am implementing it in my own software everywhere I can (to useful effect not gimmick).

Gear VR may be nice as a personal movie viewer, untethered but again not for the price of the phone!! If it was a standalone unit costing half the phone's price - maybe. Really I have to question though if it's any better than using a regular '3D only' personal movie viewer given that you barely move or look around when watching a film AND with the cost of the phone (again). I either want full immersion/tracking/top graphics and power in my virtual movie theatre or I will settle for a cheaper more restrained version.


Obviously this is a different proposition for those that already / will own Note 4s as it's just a little extra to buy the gear VR but starting from nothing? it's out of the question for me even as a developer as my interest doesn't lie there. I want to feel empowered and free to develop things I've dreamed of for years not constrained by the hardware.

An interesting product nonetheless but I have no interest in buying a phone I don't like (Android isn't a great phone OS I much prefer Windows phone 8.1, I also abhore oversized 'phones' - my lumia 4.5" screen is about the limit for a phone for me) though it's great on tablets (nexus 7 etc). for that price when that money could buy me a FAST GPU in a year or so (and possibly even a rift CV1 to go with it).

It reminds me a bit of developing for iphones app store vs doing your own thing for PC and we had some bleak years as indie devs if you wanted to maintain focus on PC while stuff you could knock up in 2 days (flappy bird) could make millions on a smart phone. If you ultimate goal is money then Gear VR is interesting, if you ultimate goal is the coming together of the ultimate tech, converging at last with future fast PCs and a great Rift CV1 combined with software that pushes the envelope graphically, gameplay wise and imagination wise then no, it's not really interesting.

I'm behind oculus all the way but I remain where my original dream lies and that isn't staring at smart phone level graphics in the VR I've waited pretty much half of my life for. 🙂

[ptisinge]

It won't be a great platform for VR gaming, but it could really take off as a portable cinema (and other immersive experiences) IF it manages to go beyond being an accessory for a single phone model - otherwise it will probably remain a soon forgotten experiment. Personally as a Note 3 owner I was disappointed that they didn't come up with a HMD compatible with more phone models - a Note 3 would still be great for watching movies - I have a ColorCross HMD (which is a cheap plastic mount which can be found on ebay) that I use for my Note 3 and it suffers from the small lenses and small FOV - but change that for bigger and better lenses and you already have a recipe for a decent VR viewing experience.

[z6]

I am very excited by the prospect. I think mobile, now that they have already 'cracked it' is a fundamental requirement.

The rest will become a matter of 'degree'. Beyond the technical discussion it's about telling stories to me.

I expect to fry my Note 4 but it might last long enough to serve my purpose until the next behemoth phone takes it to the next level.

Limitations force us to be creative, to alter the way we try to elicit emotional responses.

I am very encouraged by the reviews. The only criticisms I read are related to unrelated bullshit about Samsung or phones or cost or some imagined rivalry. (Cost is a factor but it's solved, bar the shouting, as an add-on.)

These are great signs. We need developers to push boundaries while a mass market 'appears' as an offshoot.

It's the gimmick that could keep on giving. I consider it pure genius. Technically, creatively.

If there is to be a disruption this is where it is most likely to happen.

My worry is that a web full of angry customers will throw a spanner into the works if a movie makes it sizzle. But even that could propel it further.

Liquid nitrogen cooled cpus and 4-way Rolls-Royce gpus are where developers can live while they figure out how to tell their tales.

The power, for me, is rational license agreements on games engines and the level of integration. I'm now able to afford UE4 and it is a masterpiece.

We maybe have a window here where we'll learn new styles of 'gaming'.

I'm not a gamer at all but my 12-year old son is. He keeps me honest about what is cool and what is not.

I want to get the Gear down to the old folks home and see what gives with completely unselfconscious criticism... Or joy?

That it is even possible for me to develop for these technologies is a marvel. The tools are beyond belief.

These are exciting times.

(Me and my boy are waiting for a pre-built 980 sli to arrive. I may change my mind and reckon Gear to be 'pussy' soon though.)

Seriously though, the whole framework is coming together, orchestrated by Oculus/Facebook.

This is like watching the Beatles at The Cavern and now they're starting to 'make it'.

When people start dying while rifting (maybe I'll give the oldies a miss) and when we see severe addiction (me) the media will both attack it and ensure its continuing future.

It'll be bigger than Jesus Christ.

[kimblarsen]

I tried the Samsung Gear VR at OC1, and it will be huge I think. No, it does not have positional tracking and is thus less immersive than DK2 or the Crescent Bay prototype. It will however be accessible, affordable (you don't need a super charged gaming PC) and introduce a different kind of consumer to VR than those who will purchase the Oculus Rift CV1.

One other big benefit of mobile VR is that because a smartphone has so much less graphic power you have to get creative about how you make an app. This also means 360 stills and videos. There is work needed for creating stereo panoramic lens shaders for more 3D applications (currently available for Maya and 3d Studio Max with Mental Ray)

When I was at SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver I was won over by mobile VR trying out Google Cardboard VR and I started developing several concepts for mobile VR apps.

We are working on several architectural based mobile VR applications which initially will be bespoke apps but may later hit the Oculus Home. We are using the Durovis Dive SDK for Unity at the moment since I have no idea how to purchase a Samsung Gear VR devkit, nor getting access to the Oculus Mobile SDK.

Best,
Kim Baumann Larsen
@kimusan

[Gerald]

I really hope that consumers will adopt it on a broader scale just for the movie experience and test out the games as a side effect. What good mobile VR experiences will be is still open, but I can see VR on mobile a great step for the software side to evolve as well.
Solutions will be found and then adapted by other developers when they become "obvious". The bigger the market, the more likely the devs will be to share those obvious solutions.
What I am curious about is what prices will early adopters accept for games in VR - $2, $5, $10? Will we have to adjust prices to the battles fought on the mobile market?
And then there is free to play - VR allows for great options to place advertising in games, but at the same time I think it would be a very bad time to go that route. It might start up that facebook and ads in VR discussion again, I think ads should wait until the market has grown beyond the first million of GearVR gamers (not GearVR users).

I am looking forward to November and GearVR hitting the marketplaces. 🙂

[boomji]

Definitely am Cyber.
Even with 3Dof it will be great to develop for it. Hope the dev kit is available soon.

b