So how is that VR thing going CCP?

Everyone who isn’t backwards won’t buy from Okulus and takes a VIVE instead. I don’t see the VR market having any problems. They don’t set the bar.

Since the sale for the Occulus Rift, folks that I know have started to purchase it. I took the plunge as well.

it’s dropped to 549.99 so it’s getting more in -line…but that’s still the equivalent of an entire ps4 pack.

Not that I do console games…

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Any wanna bet if Eve Vegas turns into yet another Virtual Reality circlejack ?

Vr this, Vr that. Hey guys we love Vr! Oh yeah… uh we got lotsa exciting things coming to that EVE game too… yeah lots… but GUYS CHECK OUT THIS VR STUFF!

All that VR stuff PAID for by Eve subs and whale skin sales of mscrotransactions

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I picked up a Rift + touch for 300 bucks on the Amazon sale, and I like it for what it is at that pricepoint (as I already have a beefy gaming rig), but it is still an early technology. It is too expensive, resolution is too low, too much blurriness, there is no real software base that is worth using long term, etc. The most fun I’ve had out if is 360 videos, and the resolution issues with that won’t likely keep my interest once the novelty wears off.

VR’s biggest problem right now though, and one CCP is directly contributing to? Exclusivity. There are like 5 different overpriced headsets that do the same damn thing, yet they’re splitting the already horribly barren selection of games over these platforms with exclusive deals. Even better, a couple of them (the phone based ones and PSVR) are the weak platforms that are never going to have the horsepower to advance to the potential VR needs to succeed.

Good ol CCP apparently learned nothing from DUST of course has SPARC as a “timed exclusive” (just as DUST was supposed to be, with CCP’s dev cycles I doubt it’ll survive to make it to other platforms) on the weakest VR hardware out there, PSVR. Developers that are supposed to be helping pioneer the tech are helping to kill it. Bravo.

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Well, PSVR might be the weakest, but is also the largest in terms of user base… even if sales aren’t exactly breaking through the roof.

BTW, after looking for SPARC, I just confirmed that VR suffers from a similar issue as Google Glass: the user looks like a jerk.

This could be you!

Entertainment +5%
Charisma -50%
Chances to get laid -95%

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VR development has always gone in waves. this most recent one was a big step forward, and I had initially gotten excited about it. but I could tell even from early on that this wouldn’t be the wave that brought it to the masses. get people excited, sure, help push development ahead by years, yes. but its still not quite there yet.

the tech is still too expensive for widespread adoption, and it is still too bulky. while it might not be a MASSIVE device, they are still large enough and heavy enough for users to report neck strain after an hour or two of use.

I’m hopefully that the next wave of VR might be the one where we start seeing more widespread adoption, and then the one after that being the one where it explodes.

In order for that to happen, the price would need to come down to around the 500 dollar mark. yes people might, in future, be willing to spend 1-2k on a kick ass system, but for untested tech with limited fully released products you need to keep the initial trial investment low.

it would also need to become much smaller, with mobile games becoming so much more popular year after year, it would need to be something that people would be willing to wear in public. google glass sized. sure it might still leave you looking like an asshole, but no where near as much as the full headsets do.

I predict that the next big VR wave, and the one that will finally start gaining it some traction as a platform would be augmented reality. google glass sized devices priced around the 500$ mark, that would work along side games on various platforms, most likely mobile. you know all those pokemon Go commercials, the ones that make it actually look badass. well with the right AR headset we could actually get the game we all wanted it to be. and i think its stuff like that that will really help VR explode. much more than, frankly, gimmicky tech demos on over priced hardware.

Technology wise it’s great, and it’s also not really any more uncomfortable than staring at a screen for hours at a time once you have gotten used to it. But while some indie developers are starting to figure it out, the big and shiny AAA titles aren’t there yet. It’s also too expensive. Those headsets have not gone down in price even a tiny bit for a long time, until FB cut down the price to 500 recently, because they cannot sell their stuff. The better set (as in the Vive) still puts you back 800 bucks. That’s a lot of dough to throw at gaming equipment, especially considering that you still need to buy everything else that you’d need for “normal” gaming. Most people I reckon wouldn’t spend that kind of money on a PC, let alone a single peripheral.

Until there aren’t big games to play in VR, most people will not buy the equipment. However, until most people have the equipment, the big wigs like UBI or EA won’t put a lot of money into making big titles, as of course they want to be sure they can sell them first. It has to start somewhere. And since I don’t think that enough people will ever be willing to adopt the technology if there are no big games to play on it, it has to be one of the big companies.

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But Tenga have special VR harness. :sunglasses:

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yeah it kind of a shame they released vr this early i think it might die
should have waited a few years so more people have better rigs
the technology might be cheaper to produce
right now large name developers arent making games for it because the playerbase is too low
its too risky to make a $150m game for such a small playerbase
and if it doesnt have the games its not gonna get the playerbase

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People spend $1500 plus in monitors and GPUs for triples.

Yeah, but those three probably aren’t enough to kickstart a new technology. Volume is what drives the gaming industry, and the volume is a bunch of i3 or i5 processors, GTX 1050(Ti)s and RX 560/570s for playing Assassins Creed and Battlefield in 1080p.

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They’re first generation of course they’re going to be somewhat expensive. It’s called being an early adopter. Next gen will likely be cheaper or even more for the same money. Part of Oculus’s problem was they were asking top dollar for a HMD with inferior tracking. Notice how HTC didn’t even flench when the Rift cut the price by half. They’ve outsold the Rift by 2:1. Give it a couple years, and the price along with the content will be there. The VR headset market is also about to heat up with a few more competitors here soon. Which will only help drive innovation, and competition.

Do you still have your Betamax? :wink:

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This will only really help if they are compatible and driven on the same platform. The worse thing that can happen is splitting the player base among even more platform.

Betamax was a system standard. Having a single standard (VHS in this particular case) is good - it means whatever you buy, if it’s compatible to this standard, it’s compatible to other devices or media which gives you the freedom to choose from a variety of products, which in turn creates competition, which in turn prevents inflated prices.

Are you under the impression that Betamax owners were able to trade in for a VHS machine? They weren’t. They were fucked.

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Yes they were. Because it was a different standard. That’s what I am saying - having multiple companies in the market that make devices is great. Doesn’t matter if they are video cassette recorders or VR-HMDs. But they need to have open or at least common standards. So if there is a new VR game, you can play it on whichever HMD you ended up buying. Oculus tried limiting that in the beginning, pushing Oculus-exclusive games. That didn’t help the technology as a whole, the players or the market.

Multiple competing devices aren’t bad. Multiple competing standards are.

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I once read that Betamax owners were dicked because porn was cheaper on VHS.
It doesnt look like VR porn will save expensive VR googles.

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I think it was just that Betamax machines cost triple as much as VHS.