VR - Is it really going to be a success? Or, thanks Time for starting a discussion!

Yeah, I find that a bit mystifying too. I guess it can give you the illusion of being in a theater with a giant screen.

A giant screen with shitty resolution.

I could see maybe using one on an airplane to watch a movie, instead of watching it on the tiny screen in front of you or using your phone. That is, if you don’t mind sitting there looking ridiculous with your VR headset on. It won’t look ridiculous when everyone is doing it, but that might be a while.

Oculus also suggested that improvements in display resolution would naturally follow due to the evolution of panel technologies.

Cool but until this becomes real all other features of half dome are pretty much irrelevant to me. We need higher resolution.

Given the Go has a higher resolution than the Rift I don’t think this is something you need to worry about.

ossum!

For the vari-focal lenses I guess they’ve got eye tracking working, which means foveated rendering is likely too. The point-cloud environment reconstruction would indicate stereo cameras. Full hand tracking. Pretty exciting stuff!

I own a large TV but still think Oculus Go’s wireless movie-watching capabilities are neat in certain situations. Specifically, they are especially cool if you are lying in bed and want to have a screen projected above you. (This is very useful if you are injured, but it’s also kind of cool to do if your main living room is occupied and you want to comfortably watch a show). The screen resolution actually doesn’t strike me as terrible – it actually seems somewhat similar to seeing a movie in theaters, but maybe that’s a reflection of my poor vision.

FWIW, Totalbiscuit just tweeted that he thinks the Go is worth it just for the movie-watching capabilities, and he is very very sensitive to poor resolution and image quality.

Still, the Go has convinced me to check out my Rift again, since the Go is simply bad for gaming. (Except for Keep Talking and No One Explodes – that’s a riot with the Go). Had tons of fun with Raw Data, Eleven: Table Tennis and Beat Saber. But the benefit of Go – the wireless – is key. And surprisingly, I like the Go’s screen more than my Rift’s.

The image quality when watching a movie in VR is indeed poor, but the illusion that you’re sitting in a theater watching it on a big screen can sometimes make up for it. I watched some of Top Gun during the big screen VR event a few months ago and felt it was watchable. But that’s an older title and already quite grainy. Not sure I could sit through a more recent title like Blade Runner 2049, especially after watching it on an OLED TV. The downgrade in quality might bother me too much.

I guess I just don’t have any particular attachment to “sitting in a theatre watching it on a big screen”, now that TVs have got big enough that the viewing angle is about the same as sitting a comfortable distance from a cinema screen. My sound system is decent enough that the cinema doesn’t add all that much (and VR certainly doesn’t). And, certainly compared to VR, the image quality is vastly superior on my TV. Plus, as discussed on other threads, no other people with mobile phones and talking etc.

What about these “3D” movies we see in theaters? can these movies made to feel 3D in VR?

Yes, obviously, just as you can do 3D gaming with the right monitor and glasses (and can replicate that inside VR). But even better (technologically at least) are actually 3D movies that you can look (and sometimes move) around in. It’s still a pretty nascent art form, and most of them tend to be shorts for obvious reasons, but I’m extremely hopeful for it in the long term. Fully immersive movies, basically.

Just catching up on the thread, I’m a few months behind.

Wow, this makes me want to get VR all by itself.

I really don’t see pricepoint or immersion quality as blocking VR from going mainstream. GearVR and Google Daydream are equivalent to the Oculus Go, they have been available for years now, are super cheap, and nobody cares.

VR failed as a gaming platform because it doesn’t have a standout genre-defining VR-exclusive game. It needs its Wii Sports, its Halo.

All you people gushing over how the Go will be a mainstream success because you can strap a pound of hardware on your head and watch Netflix lying down for 2 hours until the battery runs out are dreaming.

VR Porn seems a more likely system-seller, but $200 to masturbate in a more immersive environment is a stretch even for the most discerning hairy-palmed onanist. And indeed, you could do that with GearVR for years now and nobody cares.

VR needs its raison d’être. Until that comes, it will remain a curiousity, nothing more.

I don’t recall anyone gushing over it as a mainstream success.

That was the royal “you people”, indicating pretty much anyone the High King (me) decides it does.

I think the reason no one cares about GearVR and Google Daydream is because they don’t want to strap their cell phone to their face. Sure, the Oculus Go is basically the same thing, but its all-in-one package makes it seem more like “real” VR. Also, it is much cheaper (unless you own a high-end Samsung or Google phone).

I think that video media will be one of the keys to success for VR, especially streamed 360 video. Spectating a sports match live across the world in VR is something I’m very excited about personally. Also, being an ex-pat, I hope that more people buy into VR so that we can use the social features Oculus and Facebook are offering. Sure it sounds silly sitting around with virtual avatars playing checkers and watching netflix, but these are experiences I can’t really do now with my relatives.

It does have its gaming raison d’etre, though; Vendetta Online, or for those that aren’t hard core VO nuts like me: Minecraft.

There are also a host of other less time consuming but utterly playable titles such as End Space, Bomb Squad, Land’s End, Dreadhalls, Annie Amber, Laser Arena Online, JUMP, not to mention interesting social experiments such as AltspaceVR or Facebook 360.

As cpugeek13 said, it’s the setup time that’s the main draw for me as a GearVR owner, although that alone may not be enough right now. Having a second device might be cool.

I don’t really buy that it is cheaper. Nobody is going to buy a Gear VR unless they have (or were intending to get anyway) a compatible phone. It’s a crazy idea, given that the combined package costs more than a proper VR headset for much less VR functionality and worse and fewer games. So in practice the only cost is the headset, which is much, much cheaper than the Go…