Re: VR still on the rise?

On 12/30/2024 3:20 PM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Mon, 30 Dec 2024 13:54:15 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
 

>
Gamespot has an article that suggests that -despite a number of new VR
titles being released in 2024- it feels like something of a swansong
for the platform, with general excitement over the technology
dwindling amongst users and fans.*
>
And honestly, I can't say that I disagree, but I also am not sure I'm
in a position to judge. I never really got onto the "new" VR
bandwagon, and have always considered the whole thing a bit of a
gimmick. Nor do I hang out with a lot of VR fans. It's possible I'm
just out of touch.
>
Still, despite the release of several new games big VR titles ("Metro
Awakening", for example, or "Batman: Arkham Shadow") it doesn't seem
like VR is making much of a splash anymore. It isn't in the news
often, we don't see big new hardware revisions, and Sony even paused
production of their PSVR2 because they had a huge backlog of unsold
devices. Meanwhile, Facebook keeps trying to promote the best use of
MetaVR as its awful metaverse concept, and the Apple Vision Pro was an
overpriced flop.
>
Is this second age of VR coming to an end? It's not entirely dead yet,
but it does seem like the excitement over the platform has faded and
--except for platform fanatics-- it just isn't drawing in new users
(or, as importantly, users who keep using the device after the initial
novelty wears off) they way it used to. What new stuff we see seems
largely to be titles that have been in production for years and are
only coming out now; meanwhile, hardware companies seem to be
shuttering their VR device plans and VR game development is slowing
down or being quietly ended entirely.
>
I dunno. It doesn't seem a very positive outlook for the platform, but
--again-- that opinion may just be because I've never had a positive
outlook on it to begin with. What do you think? Do you see VR living
up to its promise and taking over the industry as it was once expected
to? Are you considering getting a new VR device anytime soon? If you
own a VR device, how often do you actually use it?
>

I don't own one, but I have a comment.
 VR. 3D. Virtual assistants. Marketers keep bringing back these things
every 5-10 years with a new skin, and arguably better tech, and they
always fail.
 I don't know for sure why that is, but maybe it's not the technology.
Maybe it has something to do with people being hardwired to prefer
*reality* and other *actual human beings*.
 Maybe it's something to do with the "uncanny valley" effect.
 

The Oculous my daughter still plays Beat Saber off and on, I think I fired it up once last month.
It's still got a long way to go tech and game wise.  It doesn't really work well for interacting with anything that has solidity.  Swing a sword - your character does it as fast as you do, and you can blenderize NPCs, and your hand/ weapon just passes through or slides across.
I suppose it works better for ranged FPS, but moving around is disconcerting and unnatural compared to kbm or PC controller.
It's getting better, but it'll probably be another 10 years until until it's tried again, and I still don't see it being miniturized enough then.  Maybe in 20.  If I make it to 75 maybe I'll see good VR.
On the other hand there's too many people it doesn't work well for - me with vertigo, and motion sickness, people who don't have true 3d vision doesn't do anything for etc.
--
-Justisaur
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