Re: VR still on the rise?

On 02/01/2025 19:47, Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 2 Jan 2025 10:00:18 +0000, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, JAB
wrote:

I feel a comparison with smart phones can be made. Even before Apple
took the leap of the iPhone I could still look at the concept of a
smartphones and think I can see why I would get one if someone could
just produce the right package of hardware and software. I just don't
get that with VR and as you say it's still feels like a gimmick and not
a cheap one either.

 Exactly. 3D. Virtual Assistants. VR. We've been doing them since at least
the 50s in various iterations and they are always a flash in the pan.
 Let's just look at the bookends of y2k.
 Assitants: There was Newton. There was Clippy. There was *gasp* Microsoft
Bob.
 VR: There was the VFX-1 and CyberMaxx HMD*.
 

Well the positive is that the person who came up with the idea of Clippy has a great anecdote to tell at social occasions, well as long as they are ok the self-deprecation.

3D: There were 3D TVs and Bluray players in the late aughties.
 

3E yeh, I remember the attempts around the early 80's but the only exposure I got to it was a demonstration on the Specky 48k with I think Crash magazine and also a TV series called Tomorrow’s World.
My next experience was watching some Star Wars movie at the cinema and I can't say I was impressed in say the same way I was when I first watched iMax on a gigantic curved cinema screen. I certainly never felt the need to get a 3D enabled TV at home. That was helped by the fact that we had access to hardly any media that supported it.
Bluray, well we do have a player but that's only because if you get any half decent DVD player it's going to play Bluray as well. The amount of discs we own is precisely zero as I never thought the picture quality justifies the price. VHS to DVD was a big jump. DVD to Bluray, not so much.
It's general failure reminds me of Minidisc in that it wasn't that the technology wasn't good at what it does but instead something else came along. So Bluray demonstrates that picture quality is important but video streaming/digital download trumps it with convenience.
Minidisc I really liked and I've still get a very nice portable Sony one in my draw of old electronics. It had all the advantages of tape (expect the cost of media) while solving the issues tapes had. It also was less bulky the a portable CD player, used less power but had a comparable sound quality for a portable format.
Unfortunately along came affordable writeable CD's and the final nail in the coffin SS portable devices. They in their turn where replaced by mobile phones. The same fate as digital cameras and SatNav devices.