10-13-2017 05:21 AM
So after watching OC4 I’m left with a very worrying
thought “Is facebook more interested in creating a hardware that supports their
social media structure then continuing to push the boundaries of high end pc
based VR”
When facebook brought Oculus this was a fear that many expressed
and now I’m wondering if this is now the case.
I love my rift having brought it a month after launch and
with touch it’s given me lots of enjoyment. When I first saw Palmer Lucky talk
about VR and the kickstarter campaign it was inspiring, especially for a long-term
gamer like me.
When facebook brought Oculus, Touch and the current Rift
where already well under development with the principals for both units in
place.
So why am I worried that we will not see a CV2.
OC4 starts with Zuckerberg saying he wants 1 billion in
VR. Well that’s never going to happen from high end pc based VR. This only
leaves low end low friction based VR. With the announcement of Oculus Go this
fits that perfectly. Essentially a personal VR media viewer that will work well
for all types of media from watching films, youtube, internet browsing and
social media viewing.
Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of Go and have been
waiting for standalone VR devise that is cheap and easy to use to watch films
and do exactly what this will do, and I will buy one. Oculus Go is great
to achieve this and to spread the idea of VR as well as Oculus brand awareness.
However does this new venture depart the focus aware from
leading edge VR for enthusiastic PC gamers?
Zuckerberg has expressed disappointment that VR adoption has
not grown as quick as they would have liked and I wonder if this is a small
insight to what they really now want to do.
Yes VR adoption has not grown as fast as they would have
liked but hang on a second what kind of adoption is truly possible for current
VR.
Gaming right now is the natural fit for VR but VR is not a
natural fit for gamers on a large scale. My great nephew is 13 and he plays
games all day long if he could, either on his phone or on his xbox. For him
gaming is either quick and easy or a way to talk to his friends online. He is
not interested in great graphics, story lines or immersive gameplay, he wants
awards, quick arena matches, collecting stuff and so on. He has GTA 5 and has
never done a mission for him it’s about his friends meeting up and playing the
game the way they want to. I asked him “is this how all your friends play games”
and he said “yes”.
He has tried my rift but gets bored very quickly one because
he’s not interested in playing a game for the game, his friends are not in it
and the learning curve is more than he is prepared to put in to adapt to it. Maybe he is a lazy 13 year old, but aren’t most 13 year olds and this is the age
group the current gaming industry is focused on.
So who is VR right now for, well I would say the older gamer
who one has the money to spend, enjoys solo driven game or has a strong narrative,
into sims and is willing to take the time to adapt to VR, that is not a large
game base for mass VR adoption. As Palmer Lucky has said VR is for a subset of
a subset of a subset.
So with this knowledge and sales feedback If I was the owner
of a mass media platform and want to promote that platform high end VR would
not be the way to go, low end low friction mass adoption would be my choice. Leading back to sadly again no CV2.
What else points to facebook moving away from high cost
leading edge VR, what Carmack said in his talks and Q&A.
Firstly he said in his talk that almost made me shout was “if
Go tanks then Oculus will focus back to predominantly high end PC VR” WHAT are
you saying that Oculus focus is no longer on advancing PC VR. If that is true
than it is very sad news for all VR enthusiasts who see Oculus as the leading
light in VR. Also in a Q&A he talked about they have lenses that can
achieve 140 degree view but are not using them.
In OC4 there was very little talk about continue funding for
VR titles in fact no talk about funding. And there was no really big titles
being showed for next year. So we have Marvel Powers United and possible
Respawn doing something but we have no news on that. Not Very Encouraging.
Santa Cruz looks good but it’s not high end VR. I want
high end VR, where is my leading edge in visual fidelity and FOV VR, Oculus?.
NOT COMING GUYS NOT COMING.
Price drop to £399 had to be done because very soon Vive and
Rift will have inferior speks to upcoming HMD’s.
Samsung Odyssey is coming and yes the tracking is not going
to be perfect but it will have better ergonomics and visual fidelity. When
anybody tries my rift the first things they say is “it looks fuzzy, I don’t like
the binocular look and it feels uncomfortable on my face”, don’t get me wrong
they are also very impressed but it’s not enough.
So please oculus move towards the halo fit and get rid of
the baseball camp fit. Bump up the screen and lenses.
This is what Samsung have done, don’t get left behind.
So I hope the £399 is to clear stocks so that maybe just
maybe a bumped up rift is coming.
Rift will even be lesser in visual fidelity then the $199 GO
that’s mad and the media will have a field day with it.
The GO will have higher visuals and better lenses then the
Rift, even Carmack said that the new LCD screens has more net gains now then
OLED.
I wonder if these screens are the same as the ones Pimax are
going to use?
Lastly the coming update for Home with Dash looks great and
really looking forward to it. Please oculus let us know you are still committed
to high end PC driven VR because this update is maybe a prelude benefit for GO and
Santa Cruz.
I would have like to have seen some news about what Oculus is
working on for higher FOV, better lenses, better fidelity, and better
ergonomics. Even if this was not happening strait away and was coming down the
pipe as Oculus did in OC3 last year with Santa Cruz, this would have created a
buzz for VR on PC.
The silence is deafening.
10-13-2017 06:28 AM
10-13-2017 06:49 AM
10-13-2017 06:52 AM
10-13-2017 07:23 AM
10-13-2017 07:28 AM
10-13-2017 08:04 AM
Zenbane said:
I'd say we are between 12-15 months before real talks of a CV2 start to come out. That's not too bad. I'm still waiting for the first big VR MMORPG!
10-13-2017 08:09 AM
10-13-2017 08:13 AM
logotomie said:
While i agree that software is underwhelming, i don't agree on that there is no reason for new hardware. I would pay 600 now for a CV2 with higher res/no pentile/better fill display, ideally also with increased fov. And no that does not require more hardware
10-13-2017 05:12 PM
Zenbane said:
We can take the best of the best VR experiences, and none of them get dramatically better by increasing Res and FoV. Certainly not $600 worth of hardware better.
So anyone bragging about being so willing to spend another $600 on another PCVR HMD is going against critical industry pricepoints.