• @[email protected]
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    39 months ago

    Wildly overpriced, except for the options owned by the devil. For fuck’s sake, “even with this Apple’s hilariously expensive flop” underlines how hard companies refuse to get it. To reach a wider audience - charge less. Reduce cost. Simplify and add lightness. the only company even trying is god-damned Facebook, and they’re still fumbling it.

    You need low-latency 6DOF. Everything else is negotiable. Everything.

    And for god’s sake, have an intermediate format. Ship a VR gizmo that only renders ten million floating dots… and guarantees it can show them at 200 Hz, with up-to-the-millisecond tracking. Disconnect that performance from computing power. And latency. Let an absolute potato, on the other side of the world, be capable of producing the magical dreamscape you’re standing in, without making you throw up.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      Thought this too until I was gifted a headset, and found out I was dead wrong.

      Btw they genuinely aren’t even that expensive anymore. Cheaper than a console, a phone is 3x the cost, and a gaming laptop 6x the cost.

      • @[email protected]
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        9 months ago

        I love the shit out of mine. Got the VrCover face pieces which keep sweat from being a problem. I mainly play heavily modded Skyrim VR and a few different exercise games. My son plays a ton of different games with his friends. I don’t think they are for everyone, but not a gimmick IMO.

    • @[email protected]
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      39 months ago

      I feel like you haven’t tried it. 3D TVs were fine and kinda cool. VR is still mind-blowing every time I play it.

    • Shirasho
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      309 months ago

      Unlike 3d tvs it actually has something to offer. I wouldn’t call it a gimmick, but it definitely has a price barrier that is hard to swallow.

      • @[email protected]
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        79 months ago

        They’re like $300 now. Cheaper than a console, 1/3 the cost of an iPhone, 1/6 the cost of a gaming laptop…

        • Flamekebab
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          99 months ago

          I still cannot fathom how anyone justifies paying so much for phones. My most recent one was a Pixel 4A, £100. I’ve not seen anything exciting in a smartphone in a decade or more.

          • Tarquinn2049
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            9 months ago

            Generally for gaming. It’s like PCs, you can totally get by with a 100 dollar second hand computer… unless you want to play a game made this year.

            Typing this on a 120hz 4k gaming phone.

            • @[email protected]
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              19 months ago

              I don’t even play games on my phone but 120hz is INCREDIBLE. I’m so happy my phone is finally a high refresh rate display.

              • Tarquinn2049
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                39 months ago

                Hehe yeah, nice added benefits to everything, but ourside of gaming it would be hard to justify the price of a high-end phone. Heck even with gaming it can still be hard, lol.

                • @[email protected]
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                  19 months ago

                  What kind of games can you even control with a touch screen where refresh rate matters that much?

          • @[email protected]
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            19 months ago

            Mainly camera, nice screen, and longevity. I went from an iPhone XS Max that’s over six years old to a like 1600USD iPhone 16 Pro Max that I’ll probably have for six years. I’m in my phone all the time so I want something fast, 120hz screen is amazing, and super high quality low light pictures of my cats are amazing.

            • Tarquinn2049
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              39 months ago

              Yeah true, not having to switch phones every couple years is a plus. I don’t do contract, just buy the phone I want and pick the network I want to use it with. Then use that phone for as long as I can stand to. Eventually the upgrade is positive enough to outweigh having to get used to the physicalities of a new phone. New muscle memory, especially for typing on a screen based keyboard is so annoying.

              • @[email protected]
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                19 months ago

                Completely agree! I don’t fault anyone for buying less expensive phones—1600 is an insane amount of money for a pocket rectangle. But I justify it as, I use it more than six hours every day, and it has replaced my DSLR. And I’ll have to for five or six years! It’s nice to have a fancy!

      • @[email protected]
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        219 months ago

        It’s all closed source trash. No one wants to get stuck with a $500 paperweight if meta decides to alter the deal further.

        • moonlight
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          99 months ago

          Yeah I used to have an old Windows MR headset until it stopped working (and I switched to linux)

          It was a lot of fun, and I do miss beat saber.

          But I’m not going to spend a thousand dollars on an outdated index, or put facebook spyware on my face. If Valve or some other company comes out with something modern without proprietary bs, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

          • @[email protected]
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            29 months ago

            Yup and hopefully untethered. The thought of being attached by a cord to my most expensive appliance would never let me be fully immersed

        • Shirasho
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          49 months ago

          Whether it is closed source or not is irrelevant to this discussion. The fact of the matter is that VR offers a different gaming experience, one that has the opportunity to provide real exercise for the player.

          • @[email protected]
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            19 months ago

            If it did someone would have come out with an actual good game for it in the decade or so it has been around by now.

            • Tarquinn2049
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              19 months ago

              What game would you finally consider good? Do you even know what people play in VR? There are literally thousands of games. I personally own 250 from over the 10 years, and that’s me holding back. There are so many more that I wanted to play if I had more time to do so.

              And even outside of bespoke VR games, a VR headset is an awesome monitor replacement now for your regular computer games too. My Virtual monitor is 4k 120hz, that I can use while sitting in a recliner.

    • @[email protected]
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      29 months ago

      its a standalone device that functionally is like buying a phone with a Snapdragon 865(for older quest 2 models). relative to what you’re paying for. It’s actually not that expensive in the grand scheme of other gaming devices, as its on par/cheaper than basiaclly all other mainstream gaming devices, and on the low end in terms of smartphone pricing.

      • @[email protected]
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        9 months ago

        Only if you’re willing to do business with Facebook.

        Paying you per hour to use Facebook hardware would be overpriced.

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          which is the condition on whether a user wants to make it cheap, else you have to go theough the trouble of sideloading the requied stuff to turn the device into a mixedvr/piracy headset by cutting off the meta related services.

          else the “cheap” option would be to go use older windows mixed VR headsets, or cheaper chinese options(e.g Pico Vr headsets), both having their own cost of using it, very similar to what you sign into for users who buy a phone, or a console.

    • dindonmasker
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      69 months ago

      Medical training in VR isn’t a gimmick. Your view of the uses is just too narrow.

      • @[email protected]
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        19 months ago

        Still seems fairly narrow, the field where you train for literal RL tasks but can’t train on actual RL objects because those are living beings is fairly narrow in itself. Not to mention that there is a fairly limited number of them where you actually have to use your hands on the patient directly considering the prevalence of keyhole type surgeries in recent years where the actual patient contact is not the surgeon’s hands anymore.

  • @[email protected]
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    69 months ago

    There is potential here, maybe, in the future. But nothing really happening now. Outside of Beat Sabre and a couple of other fun kinda cool but then boring ones, my VR experience got stale quickly.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      Does it just need more games maybe? How are flat games that have a VR mode, are those good?

      • @[email protected]
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        29 months ago

        Skyrim is mind blowing.

        The actual gameplay feels very different, and locomotion on that scale was more uncomfortable for me than other games (on an original vive). It might be that the performance isn’t stable, as their engine has always had some level of that.

        But holy shit, even the whole introductory sequence hits different, and just getting to whiterun feels like an epic adventure. Because of physical space requirements I never got super deep into it, but I could easily see getting lost in it if I’d had more time and got past the slight discomfort other VR games didn’t give me.

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          So what you are really saying is that playing Skyrim in VR is painful and difficult and makes you uncomfortable. And people wonder why that technology never took off with the masses…

      • @[email protected]
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        9 months ago

        There are some cool ones coming out for Meta Quest exclusively, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to buy one of those. Meta’s going to exclusive the market to death.

        • @[email protected]
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          9 months ago

          Yeah I don’t think doing a VR console war will work. They need to all play the same games, and compete in hardware. Which puts more pressure on devs to make sure the control options are there.

      • lost_faith
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        49 months ago

        Got an og Vive (699.99 cdn at the time came with headset, controllers, and base stations), playing the hell out of that headset just over a year in steam VR playtime at 2 - 4 hrs a day. I have played Half-Life:VR mod (due to the age of the actual game it is my worst port experience) Half-Life 2: VR mod, Half-Life 2 ep 1 and 2 in VR (absolutely amazing) Raft:VR mod (a few bugs and a few abilities missing from flat, but overall flawless) The Forest:VR mod(excellent), and let’s not forget Valheim:VR mod.

        Quest garden can be limiting but you can plug your quest (air link, ?whatever? desktop, link cable) and pretty much play anything on steam, personally have 90+ titles under my VR library (no beat saber). You can check yt for people playing these flat2vr games

        • @[email protected]
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          49 months ago

          Nice. Valheim:VR must be interesting. I can’t blame you for HL1, I have a hard time even with Black Mesa. The mechanics are just out of date.

          90 games is pretty decent for a niche system. Someday I’ll play, it’s on my bucket list.

    • @[email protected]
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      49 months ago

      It’d be nice for there to be ‘halo software’ to raise market share, otherwise I think it’s circling the drain, suffering from the same feedback loop as SLI. It’s niche, so developers aren’t exactly clamoring to port things or make new offerings for it, which leaves consumers with less incentive to buy the hardware, which leaves developers with even less reason to touch it. Would Nintendo be in the console business if not for Zelda, Mario, and Tetris? Hard to tell

  • Rhynoplaz
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    819 months ago

    I got a quest 2 a few years back, and it blew my mind. We ended up getting my wife her own so we could play together. Now, my daughter plays a lot of gorilla tag, but other than that, they collect dust.

    For me, the biggest thing that prevents me from using it more, is the isolation. You need to find an empty space and remove yourself completely from the world.

    On my phone or Xbox, I still know what’s going on around me, and I can hop in, play for a bit, and still know what’s going on in my house. I can walk away for a moment and get back to what I was doing. In VR, it feels like more of an investment. If I’m not sure that I have plenty of time to disengage from reality, I’m not going to bother putting on the headset.

    Also, I’m a sweater, and a soggy, foggy headset is just eww.

    • @[email protected]
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      189 months ago

      Bingo. I spent a few hours playing some zombie killer game/demo with the HTC Vive back in like 2017, and while it was actually a lot of fun, it was super disorienting and I definitely knocked some stuff off my shelves by trying to stand in the middle of the room by myself. Someone also walked in without me hearing, and they got a hearty elbow to the face when I swung around to shoot a zombie behind me.

      And ugh the sweat is real. After a few minutes the headset fogged up and started slipping off my face, and since that particular headset had porous foam all over it, the sweat soaked in and became gross immediately. That was the last time I used VR.

      • Rhynoplaz
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        59 months ago

        I know some people hate the idea of VR and want it to go away, others are all in.

        I do enjoy it, and I want to be all in, but it’s not worth digging it out and charging it up at this point.

        • @[email protected]
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          39 months ago

          Yeah, I’d be all in if the headsets were small, comfortable, and didn’t necessarily block out the outside world. I think there’s a ton of potential, so I hope development doesn’t completely stall. I wear glasses, and that’s pretty much the maximum amount of hardware I can handle on my face.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      This definitely, vr is a lot of fun, especially with friends (in the game or sharing a headset while we all sit in the same room). But it isn’t worth setting it all up (especially if it is pcvr) when I could just play one of the 100s of pancake games I have collected over the years.

  • MrSebSin
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    149 months ago

    Let’s be honest, any manufacturers/developers willing to embrace porn will successful. Everyone else is just picking gnat shit out of pepper, hoping it’ll turn to gold.

    • Sabata
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      59 months ago

      Hardware and content is still the big issue. The good porn games still suck in VR, and there’s not a lot of them. The equipment is just too inconvenient.

      Your hands are occupied, your positions are restricted, your tethered to the PC, and I don’t want to get a thousand dollars of delicate hardware nutted on. It’s just not there yet.

      • @[email protected]
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        29 months ago

        I think the fundamental flaw in VR proponent thinking is that they think you need a first person perspective to be immersed.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      just picking gnat shit out of pepper

      Thank you for this wonderful phrase that I will be using from now on.

  • PhobosAnomaly
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    179 months ago

    I bought a second generation of Rift (no idea what model it was, but it was the second retail one, not including the CV1 or whatever dev build it was) - and it was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

    The moment they forced the use of a Facebook account, it stopped getting used. The visor, controllers, and sensors have been sat in a cupboard for a year or two.

    I really should see if it has been jailbroken, or if there’s a way to utilise the Rift features without any Meta bollocks.

      • PhobosAnomaly
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        49 months ago

        Awesome, so it’s usable without an account now?

        Honestly, I never checked after I stored it.

        • @[email protected]
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          109 months ago

          they seperated facebook and made it specific to a occulus (meta) account. however at some point of having a meta account, there are methods of outright stripping most of the meta connectivity after granting yourself developer mode and sideloading changes.

          • PhobosAnomaly
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            39 months ago

            Well that’s just fuckin awesome, thank you my friend.

            That’ll be a giggle on the weekend 👍

  • Flamekebab
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    159 months ago

    I’ve long been skeptical about VR as a mainstream platform. I think the technology is quite cool, but much like those people who used to say “In ten years everyone will have a 3D printer!” and the like, no, I just don’t see it happening. The hassle factor is too great for it to be for everyone. Hell, most people seem to be fine with stereo sound, even though surround sound setups have been available for decades.

    Whether it’s space, cost, or lack of software support, it all seems to combine to make it a bit of hobbyist kit at best. If your goal is to sell millions of copies then you need to target a broader market than hobbyists, and it looks like a lot of companies have ploughed enough cash into this that hobbyist sales aren’t going to be enough.

  • Snot Flickerman
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    579 months ago

    This is why there hasn’t been a refresh on the Valve Index: not enough interest, not enough games. Half Life Alyx is still one of the few major games with any depth to them in the market, and you can’t access it easily outside of the Steam ecosystem. In other words, it’s unavailable for a lot of VR headsets. They aren’t going to dump more resources into more VR games if people aren’t buying the headsets or the games.

    Steam Deck on the other hand? Huuuuuuge market, people want that shit.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      True, but there are 2 sides to this: the majority won’t buy VR, unless there are enough games to play.

      Studios should be actually investing and taking a risk, maybe it works out and becomes a big market, maybe not. If they keep going the current path, VR will forever remain an expensive niche gimmick. Which they seem to okay with.

      • @[email protected]
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        109 months ago

        There are probably better returns on making games for the existing markets, vs gambling money making games hoping to grow a new market. If VR ever truly takes off, they can always jump in later. (Which is a shame because I would love it if there were a ton of great VR games)

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          VR will never take off the way some other gaming platforms did. The situations where you can use it are just too limited.

    • Tarquinn2049
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      69 months ago

      Stand alone headsets can play PCVR games too, especially steam games, that is the most accessible market for PCVR on standalone. Most do it wirelessly, which likely isn’t as bad as you are thinking, but some also still do it with wired and some even with uncompressed video over wire. But honestly, as the resolution and bitrate keep going up, the difference between raw and compressed gets harder and harder to spot. At this point, you can only really tell in side by side comparisons of still frames which feed is compressed.

      The main remaining problem of compressed streams is the total latency added, most importantly the decompressing time, since it’s done on the headsets mobile hardware. And the networking time. Though a dedicated network device, either a router or a bespoke VR streaming tool can get that down to 5ms or less now. My streams total latency to my wireless headset is about 30ms now. I wouldn’t be able to professionally compete in a frame counting fighter game… but that is about the only type of game where that level of latency is too much. Heck, people of my generation grew up through a point in time where TV screen latency was over 100ms… And while I will admit that there is still a benefit to sub 14ms latency, it’s not as big of a difference as it used to be. And that is only when I stream PCVR stuff, it’s still under that for stand alone content. Which also is not as bad as you likely think it is.

      I have a total of about 250 VR games currently, and I only buy about 10% of the ones I want to buy. But I have also been in VR for 10 years now. About 150 of my games are standalone and about 100 PCVR. With about 30 of them being titles that gave both versions for the price of one. There is no shortage of games, I could not possibly play even all of just the good ones.

      A VR headset is basically a console now, except one you can stream your PC to if you want. Even just for flat games too, I have a Virtual 4k 120hz monitor in my VR headset because in real life my 4k screen is an older TV that can only do 60 hz pc input or a very janky 120hz for 1080p. The nice thing about streaming to a VR headset instead of some hand held device, other than 4k 120fps, is that I don’t have to look at my hands or hold my hands up to my eyes to play. My neck feels so much better than it did when Phone, Switch, and Steamdeck were the best way to game away from a computer.

      My headset is comfortable, I can, and unfortunately often do, wear it for 16 hours a day. I have a single third party mod for it that was less than 100 dollars to convert it from a 2 hour headset, to an infinity headset. There are multiple options, but I went with BoBoVR, dumb name, but quality product.

      But my headset has basically replaced my computer monitor, I haven’t used my computer in person in like 2 years now. When I want to play a game on my computer, I just stay in my recliner, put my headset on and open Virtual Desktop, the same software I use to stream PCVR when I’m in the mood to be in the game instead.

      There is basically no downside anymore, they aren’t even expensive. While a Quest 3 is notably better, the lower end 3s is a totally viable headset at 300USD, notably cheaper than most consoles. Just do yourself a favor, if a Quest 3 seems too expensive, do not try it on. Stay with 3s and don’t see how much greener the grass is for a little bit more, it’s very easy to talk your way up to a real Quest 3.

      Also, Steam deck has sold about 5 million units extrapolating from last known good data, Quest 2 sold over 20 million, Quest 3 is seemingly up to 10-15 million so far judging from old sales data for pacing and some recently reported hardware ratios from game devs, and still has about 4-5 more years left of active sales.

      So if the Steam deck is a “huge market”, then I don’t know what you would call the stand alone VR market now. Considering that is just one brand of standalone headset. It’s the market leader, sure, but there are other brands that do at least as well as the steam deck. Distant second as that may make them, seems like it’s still relevant to include given the context.

      • @[email protected]
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        59 months ago

        You have an extremely warped view of the popularity of VR, possibly because you like it so much yourself that you literally can’t imagine how other people feel about it. Wearing a VR headset 16 hours a day? Most people wouldn’t do that if it literally gave them orgasms.

        • Tarquinn2049
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          19 months ago

          I very much know how other people feel about it, we can be different and both our opinions can still be valid. I don’t think at any point in there I said that everyone is wearing their headset 16 hours a day.

          But the matter remains that one headset has sold 4x as much as the steamdeck, and the second most sold is 2-3x as much as the steam deck… so why is the steam deck considered a good seller and VR is considered dying?

          I was just making a pre-emptive counterpoint to the arguments people usually make against VR. That the headsets “aren’t comfortable”, which has been less and less true for the out of the box experience over time, and has never been true for people that are willing to tailor the experience to their individual headshape and preferences. I have always worn my headsets for 8+ hours even right from the dk2 days, first step: battery bank on the back, to get the weight counter balanced and for older headsets a different choice of facial interface was often a good idea. Eventually, once I tried a few options, I determined my personal best comfort came from “halo” style headstraps. So I have since just been buying BoBoVR’s kit for each headset I buy that is an all-in-one cenversion kit to take headsets from 2 hours of play time to infinity with no other adjustment needed.

          I think honestly most people have only tried VR once or twice, and don’t even know what state it is in now. The Quest 3 crossed a threshold, now that you can use it as a 4k 120hz screen, it’s the first headset I would say is clear enough that normal people would find it worth using. I do still think the tech barrier is a bit too high. I’m very aware that if I didn’t show her how, my Mom would have had trouble figuring out on her own how to do virtual calls with my sister in New Zealand. But she very much appreciates being able to sit in the same room as her and have face to face conversations now. And even though desktop streaming is something built right into the headset, the default option isn’t the one that would sell people on it, Virtual Desktop is so much better. If in the future that becomes the default, and the desktop streaming client half of it is just baked into the headset software. Or if the default solution just learns from Virtual Desktop and at least looks as good as it even without all the extra bells and whistles… either one would be a huge help. The built-in desktop streamer just hasn’t been revisited since the screens are clear enough to actually see 4k, so it’s still unoptimised and kind of muddy looking.

          But, my Mom did figure out on her own how to launch and play Tetris Effect, she loves it. Also Puzzling Places and Cubism. My mom is a bit of a gamer though. She doesn’t like anything with killing, but she has made some exceptions like for Stardew Valley. My Dad on the other hand still needs me to launch games for him from the phone app, hehe. He just “doesn’t want to break it”, to be fair he prefers the Quest pro, which is still a pretty expensive headset. So I can understand his hesitation, he’s used to windows 95… where you very much could break it by clicking the wrong thing. But he loves city building games, and there are a few good ones to choose from in VR. Cities:Skylines VR for “professional” city building ported to VR, and Little Cities for “fun” city building made for VR first are his favourites so far.

          My brother only really got into it when I gave their family my old Quest 2, he still just plays the default “normal people” games like beatsaber and other exercise stuff. But he doesn’t have his VR legs yet, he does want to play adventure/rpg games with me, but they tend not to have comfort settings, as they would be kinda ruined with teleporting and stuff. I explained to him how to go about training for not needing the safety features any more, but he keeps taking it too far any time he tries, he likes the games so much that he doesn’t want to stop playing so soon when he first starts feeling the symptoms. But that is the most important part, otherwise you are working to make your VR sickness worse instead…

          So yeah, there are definitely hurdles still. Maybe there should be supervised programs for getting your VR legs. You very much need to stop as soon as you notice the very first symptom for you, usually face flush, but can be different per person. The earlier you stop, the more you convince your brain it doesn’t need to “save you from the poison berries”. The bodies reaction to a vestibular mismatch is to assume you must have eaten poison, and it should save you by throwing up. But you can train it to leave you alone. Done well, you can gain as much as 5 more minutes of playtime each attempt. Doesn’t take long until you don’t even have to think about it any more.

    • @[email protected]
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      79 months ago

      I hate to say this, but I played through Half-Life: Alyx and my response was to the effect of “…That’s it?”

      It performed badly, gameplay was largely based around very uncreative shooting (take out gun, shoot combine 10 times around corner, eject magazine, reach back, put magazine into gun, pull slide, shoot around corner 4 more times, repeat) and there were only 3 guns. Even the gravity gloves weren’t used in combat.

      I was even more wowed by the few VR combat games that made some innovations or had features in the level to outsmart enemies.

    • @[email protected]
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      119 months ago

      That’s not why. There’s a very high chance Valve is actively working on new standalone VR since some years, there are regular leaks confirming some progress.

  • IndiBrony
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    49 months ago

    I sometimes use VR. I have a Quest 2. I just don’t really care for any of it outside of linking it up to my PC and playing custom tracks on Beat Saber or getting my wheel out for racing games.

    One of the scariest experiences was getting Wreckfest (not sure if it supports VR now but it didn’t when I used it), stretching the 2D screen around me, jacking up the POV and having a heart attack when getting side swiped by a bus. That’s probably the most fun I’ve had with a VR Headset 😂

    I’ve also played Civ V on VR just for shits and giggles because why not.

  • @[email protected]
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    29 months ago

    My brother bought the cv1 Oculus Rift pretty fast after it came out, we’ve both used it for most of the big releases and I’ve been wanting to buy my own since, but there’s been a bit of hesitation considering my brother early uses his own. I also had reservations against buying a Facebook device after they took over, and I was seeing new releases and resolutions going up a bit.

    Then information about the Big Screen Beyond came out, and I really wanted to get it. I checked out the page to buy it several times, kinda wanted to save the money too, though, but I think I was close enough that if I’d known anyone with the facescan iPhone I’d have done the scan and paid the ~$1,500 or so for the full setup.

    Knowing myself and my brother, I would have played multiplayer occasionally and bought a few favorite games like Until You Fall, Bonelab, B&S, and Alyx but mostly it would end up sitting unused. I kinda also wanted to develop for VR but I probably wouldn’t have done anything more than the two shitty assets I once imported poorly into Blade and Sorcery.

    Right now I’m glad I have the $1,500 now because there are car issues to take care of. Ultimately I think VR is beautiful, but my world is still a little too rough around the edges to pay huge sums for a daydreaming toy.

  • @[email protected]
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    149 months ago

    There’s just too many edge cases in VR for it to be a real platform. Movement is hard, there needs to be a lot of space around a person, form factors aren’t great for the hardware, there’s more graphical requirements, etc.

    • Flamekebab
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      159 months ago

      It’d legitimately be easier to fit an arcade cabinet in my house than space for proper VR play.

    • Eggyhead
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      449 months ago

      I’m not going to lie: I would own a Quest 3 already if it didn’t have Meta all over it.

      • @[email protected]
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        19 months ago

        Same. I want to use it as a huge desktop display at work for those days when I need like 40 things visible at once

      • @[email protected]
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        69 months ago

        That’s how I feel about it. I don’t know if I would buy one but independence from Facebook is a prerequisite. Can these even be used without logging in?

        • Tarquinn2049
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          49 months ago

          Yes, I have no facebook account. It hasn’t been a problem. Other than the logo on the headset, I haven’t seen any other downside to it being a meta ptoduct. The money they have put in to make sure they are and remain ahead of everyone else for tech means that until there is an actual downside, I pretty much have to use their headsets. But I will have no trouble jumping ship if there ever is a downside, or if anyone else even comes close to catching up.

          • Eggyhead
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            39 months ago

            They’ve sunk ungodly amounts of cash to create unrealistic expectations for the VR market. Nobody can compete for the low end, and there’s no way meta is profiting, so what’s their end game?

            • Tarquinn2049
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              9 months ago

              Presumably, they want to get everyone used to their environment so that when their hardware lead doesn’t mean as much in the future, there will be hesitation to leave. We know they aren’t currently doing anything untoward as there is plenty of overlap between paranoid tech experts and people interested in pioneering new tech. Can’t hide from them. The software and network traffic has been thouroughly vetted and everything is so far doing exactly what it would need to or purports to do.

              As long as you go into it knowing you will be changing platforms at some point in the future and hedge all software purchases against that in your mind, the only remaining downside is whether you can stomache giving them your money.

              And if that ever changes, it won’t go hidden.

              There is also something to be said for the fact that everyone in the Meta community see VR as thriving and growing, and everyone that is outside of it sees VR as stagnating or shrinking. So their money is doing that too presumably.

              Their ultimate main goal is also, of course, marrying the tech from VR headsets to the tech from AR glasses. Which will be a true ubiquitous product. Being the first one there will be a huge pay day.

      • @[email protected]
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        69 months ago

        Saaame and I have an index and a WMR kit hahaha. But in my house, no Facebook hardware or code on any machines.

        …I miss beat saber. I’ve been too lazy lately but I have all the parts I need for a quarantined beat saber computer.

  • @[email protected]
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    119 months ago

    I personally don’t feel like spending 700 or how many euros to play beat saber on my ps5.

    Other games that might be awesome in this is ones were you don’t need to move around but benefit from being able to look around, so flight sims, driving sims, but there the chair setups are better imo.

    Can’t really think of much else, that’s why VR is on the decline, really limited number of fun games to be had, or it would require some paradigm shift, like a strategy game but you are playing on the inside of a globe, but then that game would have to survive on being a VR exclusive.

    • Ms. ArmoredThirteen
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      69 months ago

      A VR mech game could be so baller. Also a remake of Black and White would work well. But generally yeah it’s just not a great medium for most games and while we have a lot of promising hardware we’re struggling to find ways to use it intuitively

      I think after the bubble breaks it does down a bit well see some groups take their time to build really functional stuff. We don’t have good standards on how to interact in VR and it shows. We don’t have enough data on how to make people less motion sick. Basically the hardware is there but the software isn’t and that’ll take more time than we’ve been giving it, imo

      Realistically though I think the fundamental limits on how you can interact in VR means while there may be a strong niche market, I don’t expect it to be a mainstream thing. Even if the prices drop a lot and the headsets get smaller there’s still a lot working against them

    • @[email protected]
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      29 months ago

      More games and a Matrix-esque visual file manager where you could walk through various libraries of documents, files, videos or pictures in 3D space, or proportional size like WinDirStat would be cool.

      The lack of good games has really made VR hard to enjoy. I have five good evergreen titles and not much else.

  • masterofn001
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    69 months ago

    It will always be 1993 for vr.

    It will always be the future.

    It will always suck.

    • @[email protected]
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      19 months ago

      VR seems like one of those things that sounds amazing to the person who first has the idea and maybe even looks amazing in tech demo but once you think about it for a few minutes or have to actually use it for anything practical it just doesn’t live up to that.