Virtual Reality

[MartyG]

The launch event for this is at 4PM today (BST).

https://engagevr.io/go-with-the-flow/

[MartyG]

Well, it looks interesting, but given its functional limitations I think £499 is a massive stretch pricewise - the Quest 2 is a much better bet techwise given the £299 (Facebook connections aside).

This isn't a Quest or PCVR competitor, it's definitely more like the Oculus Go, but currently the only way of controlling it is via an Android device (no Apple iPhone control for you) and I think marketing it as a holistic wellbeing device is a really really weak pitch. In realitiy it's a TV you stick on your face.

You can pre-order now directly from Vive.com shipping next month and for a moment I thought maybe, had it been £250-300 I may have clicked the confirm button.

[wakka]

I don’t really get who or what this product is for to be honest. I feel quite strongly it’s going to be a dud sales wise.

It doesn’t help their case that all of the official product photography is just the device photoshopped onto the faces of models in shots they got off iStockPhoto for a few quid: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2021/1...s-stock-images

[Brad]

The yoga woman. I don’t know all about this stuff but yoga seems like it’s all very spiritual stuff. Is anyone thinking how can I combine my yoga with tech?

[Neon Ignition]

I don't really understand the HTC approach in general. They seem to veer to niche's within a niche to the point it bewilders me that they bother anymore. Either pursue big business customers or general masses ala Quest 2 but not these weird pockets.

To be honest, PSVR2 would be on my radar due to the potential exclusives but in a general sense I see VR as something of a box ticker. I have a Quest 2 and so I find that my interest in rival products is pretty much non-existant and in a problematic way for Facebook etc the same goes for the potential Quest 3 etc. Though resolutions etc improve it's one of those pieces of tech that because I have one I feel very little drive or need to pay the money required to get the next iteration. It's essentially good enough now.


As a side note - Resident Evil 4 VR is out in a couple of days, can't decide whether to get it as it is RE4 yet again... anyone else biting?

[MartyG]

Thing is it's not even really niché, because it isn't doing anything existing headsets can't already do (and cheaper). It's a little bit lighter and smaller, sure, but not to the point it isn't still bulky to carry, plus you have to carry a battery bank and have your (Android) phone with you - and you have to pay more for it.

There is one thing with it that is clever and that's the built in dioptre - but if you're out and about, you're probably wearing your vision correction anyway.

So, the sector of the market is exceedingly niché, yes, because there can't be that many people that want to spend more and get less and if you just want something like glasses simply for media consumption, well, you have alternatives: https://www.vopmart.com/huawei-vr-glass.html

[Asura]

Thing is it's not even really niché, because it isn't doing anything existing headsets can't already do (and cheaper). It's a little bit lighter and smaller, sure, but not to the point it isn't still bulky to carry, plus you have to carry a battery bank and have your (Android) phone with you - and you have to pay more for it.

Yeah, this is the weird thing. Usually when these products come out, they're a bit bewildering for the mass consumer but they have some kind of use-case and the mass-market is just a bonus. Like, really this device is for, I dunno, to be used in first-class passengers on aeroplanes, or something for nursing homes, or a very specific branch of the military. In this case though I can't even see what that would be, considering that these things already existed and were never a big success. The idea of a superlite, very comfortable, small HMD is definitely a good one, as there are many situations such a thing might be good - but the technology's just not there to the point where people will use it for the things they're touting.

A good example of this, I think, is that the iPhone was obviously not the first smartphone; however, earlier models had things like styluses and were quite tricky to use. I had the early PDAs and while they were useful for the very specific use-cases they were built for, you had to push yourself to use it.

People think,

"I want to watch something on YouTube," and they pull out their phone.

They don't think,

"I'm gonna sit down and use my phone for an hour, let's see what's on YouTube."

VR's still the second of these two examples, and the experience is so, sooo far away from the first that these devices just don't make sense... But I suppose, from a consumer perspective, it's good that someone is trying.

Now BRB, I'm gonna be on my luxury yacht.


(shamelessly stolen from Reddit)

[Neon Ignition]

[Asura]

Not sure how I feel about it pulling into third-person at times.

[dazza_cole]

Will RE4 work on Quest 1? Only just saw this is coming out !

[Brad]

Waiting for it to be hacked to work on BR other than quest. This is a dick move. VR doesn’t need per headset exclusives

[MartyG]

It isn't the first on Quest to be exclusive.

Think there are some PSVR exclusives too

If it were PCVR and only worked on Valve Index, I'd have more issue with it, but this isn't really any different to platform exclusives. The Quest 2 thing seems purely down to the fact Quest 1 doesn't have the hardware grunt to cope.

[Brad]

I’m against all vr exclusives if possible. Make stuff work on all VR headsets. Move the concept forward.

[Asura]

Waiting for it to be hacked to work on BR other than quest. This is a dick move. VR doesn’t need per headset exclusives

Presently though, the Quest pretty much is VR. No developer will turn down Oculus's money for exclusives because they're basically the entire space. Until someone releases a competitor.

Also, FB's big annual conference is in a week's time, and we expect to see a Quest Pro.

[MartyG]

I'm not a big fan of exclusives either, but I can't see the odd one or two holding back the concept of VR from moving forward. It's not like there's a shortage of horror VR games out there. Arguably, pricing Quest agressively has done the polar opposite.

I am quite looking forward to Facebook connect: https://www.facebookconnect.com/en-gb/ the breakout sessions last time were pretty interesting as their R&D is pushing things along, even if they are are evil, they still have some clever engineers working for them

(I don't like the FBC website tho - mute your sound because they have annoying background music that autoplays - click top right to turn it off).