VR actually went through this from 2014-2024 or so. the original Oculus DK had such chonky pixels, very rudimentary tracking, game integration sucked, no hand controls. it rapidly got better to the point where playing Riven is like straight up being teleported into the world…
…except for like, being able to run around or touch things. so it’s stayed niche.
I have to think it’ll stay an arcade and power user thing indefinitely. The full experience needs large, clear section of your house, and housing is getting more expensive. Break down your costs per sq ft and see that you’re paying an awful lot for it.
Games like Beat Saber don’t have to move around too much, but the experience will always be limited if games have to keep the player in one spot and can’t use room scale. That said, Beat Saber can be pretty decent cardio workout if you put effort into swinging your arms (as opposed to lazily flicking your wrists around). Sweat buildup on the headset can be an issue, though. Keep some alcohol wipes around.
Racing/airplane sim stuff is one of the best uses. People who are into that are willing to drop a lot of money.
For VR to truly shine, I think we need brain interfaces like the Matrix or SAO. Though I think even that will be a double edged sword as people train their brains to do VR stuff which feels similar enough to RL that it might be hard to context switch. Not to mention I doubt I’ll be able to trust any corporations creating those either on the maliciousness angle or the competence one.
Even compared to what currently exists, full VR experiences will be fundamentally different. Current accessibility tools seem to be “provide sensory data to the brain or react to brain activity and let the brain figure out how to use it”, whereas true VR would be more like “suspend these normal comnections and replace them with virtual ones that reproduce reality well enough for people to enjoy using it, doing normal body stuff plus maybe things that aren’t possible like flying and magic with thought alone”.
That said, if you can handle moving around in a VR world with a control stick without getting nausea, headset VR is continuing to improve, though the pace seems to be a bit slower because I think the bubble has deflated somewhat.
Strong rumors of Valve’s new VR launching this year. Quite excited for that. Otherwise, the status (in my opinion) is stagnant. I still have fun occasionally getting into VR though.
regrettably, Meta is the state of the art for VR. the Meta Quest 3 is stunningly crisp for the price point. it’s almost retina-scale with the pixels, the head/spatial tracking is extremely accurate and doesn’t require any base station or wired attachment, and you can fluidly stream VR games from your PC wirelessly at 1080p and like 120fps with nearly no latency or reality sickness.
I played Myst and Riven while I was sick with COVID last year, and it was one of the top five visual experiences of my lifetime (along with seeing the Grand Canyon and taking psychedelics.)
Meta has also recently finally cracked the holy grail of non-chonky AR glasses with full FoV, though the gallium nitride waveguide process is quite expensive and yields are too poor for them to sell it. but they look like slightly nerdy glasses that let you see holograms superimposed on your vision, even outdoors in the light.
unfortunately, VR is still anti-social and there’s not much content there, and the company leading the way is awful. but even just for Riven alone it was worth it to me.
Valve Index is still a damn good headset if you want to jump in. They leapfrogged everyone else and had the best one for a few years. Even if it’s been surpassed now, it doesn’t have the corporate issues that the others do.
VR actually went through this from 2014-2024 or so. the original Oculus DK had such chonky pixels, very rudimentary tracking, game integration sucked, no hand controls. it rapidly got better to the point where playing Riven is like straight up being teleported into the world…
…except for like, being able to run around or touch things. so it’s stayed niche.
What’s the status of VR right now? Any major advancement? I know oculus got bought by Facebook, so no way in hell I’d ever get that.
I have to think it’ll stay an arcade and power user thing indefinitely. The full experience needs large, clear section of your house, and housing is getting more expensive. Break down your costs per sq ft and see that you’re paying an awful lot for it.
Games like Beat Saber don’t have to move around too much, but the experience will always be limited if games have to keep the player in one spot and can’t use room scale. That said, Beat Saber can be pretty decent cardio workout if you put effort into swinging your arms (as opposed to lazily flicking your wrists around). Sweat buildup on the headset can be an issue, though. Keep some alcohol wipes around.
Racing/airplane sim stuff is one of the best uses. People who are into that are willing to drop a lot of money.
For VR to truly shine, I think we need brain interfaces like the Matrix or SAO. Though I think even that will be a double edged sword as people train their brains to do VR stuff which feels similar enough to RL that it might be hard to context switch. Not to mention I doubt I’ll be able to trust any corporations creating those either on the maliciousness angle or the competence one.
Even compared to what currently exists, full VR experiences will be fundamentally different. Current accessibility tools seem to be “provide sensory data to the brain or react to brain activity and let the brain figure out how to use it”, whereas true VR would be more like “suspend these normal comnections and replace them with virtual ones that reproduce reality well enough for people to enjoy using it, doing normal body stuff plus maybe things that aren’t possible like flying and magic with thought alone”.
That said, if you can handle moving around in a VR world with a control stick without getting nausea, headset VR is continuing to improve, though the pace seems to be a bit slower because I think the bubble has deflated somewhat.
Strong rumors of Valve’s new VR launching this year. Quite excited for that. Otherwise, the status (in my opinion) is stagnant. I still have fun occasionally getting into VR though.
regrettably, Meta is the state of the art for VR. the Meta Quest 3 is stunningly crisp for the price point. it’s almost retina-scale with the pixels, the head/spatial tracking is extremely accurate and doesn’t require any base station or wired attachment, and you can fluidly stream VR games from your PC wirelessly at 1080p and like 120fps with nearly no latency or reality sickness.
I played Myst and Riven while I was sick with COVID last year, and it was one of the top five visual experiences of my lifetime (along with seeing the Grand Canyon and taking psychedelics.)
Meta has also recently finally cracked the holy grail of non-chonky AR glasses with full FoV, though the gallium nitride waveguide process is quite expensive and yields are too poor for them to sell it. but they look like slightly nerdy glasses that let you see holograms superimposed on your vision, even outdoors in the light.
unfortunately, VR is still anti-social and there’s not much content there, and the company leading the way is awful. but even just for Riven alone it was worth it to me.
Ah hopefully other companies will advance becuase there is no way I’m giving my money to that shit company
Valve Index is still a damn good headset if you want to jump in. They leapfrogged everyone else and had the best one for a few years. Even if it’s been surpassed now, it doesn’t have the corporate issues that the others do.
Not as widespread as the systems shown above though. Older VR games and even VR in general is pretty niche.