The non-standard game interfaces discussion thread (move, voice, vitality, etc.)

[wco81]

How cheap will HMDs with all day battery life become?

And what other uses will they provide besides gaming and virtual tour content?

People are willing to spend hundreds on phones and spend over a thousand a year on data plans.

HMDs will have to provide more than immersion for games to get widespread adoption.

Meanwhile, games like Pokemon Go and all the imitators which will doubtless appear only care about the huge installed base of smart phones to target.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

How cheap will HMDs with all day battery life become?

How cheap will any technology become? Nobody knows. Cost has never been an insurmountable barrier for worthwhile technology adoption.

And what other uses will they provide besides gaming and virtual tour content?

VR is fairly well established in many aerospace and military programmes for training and this isn't new, we're talking 10+ years. BAE are using VR to assist in designing new warships. Lack of standard hardware has prevented proliferation elsewhere but thats becoming a solved problem. CISCO are working on VR solutions to augment their telepresence suite.

People are willing to spend hundreds on phones and spend over a thousand a year on data plans.

And VR likely won't be as high a constant investment over time. In the same way you use a TV or monitor for many years, you'll use the same VR headset for many years.

HMDs will have to provide more than immersion for games to get widespread adoption.

VR headsets were being used in non-gaming applications long before they have become viable for games it's just that you were not aware of it. Applications for new technology are not always readily obvious. We had computers for decades before they were mainstream in the office where they were typically limited to specialist roles like accountancy, design or publishing.

 

[wco81]

None of those are consumer applications.

Consumer use is what we're talking about here, not some vertical market where costs may not be as crucial to adoption.

 

[bunge]

None of those are consumer applications.

Consumer use is what we're talking about here, not some vertical market where costs may not be as crucial to adoption.

All jokes aside, the PC may win this war simply because of "pr0n".

 

[Rodéric]

You could play any tabletop game with AR, you could also navigate supermarkets more easily, you could filter products by weight, cost... It could also enhance movies [you could already have the ability to have stereoscopic views... [Obviously you could also get advertisements and the 3D Shark from Back to the Future...] I
It's not limited to gaming, and AR glasses that could do VR would be much more interesting than VR helmets, because you'd use them daily and only add some occluder on top to get into VR mode, a familiar lightweight device that's really useful daily vs an expensive gaming gimmick.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

...a familiar lightweight device that's really useful daily vs an expensive gaming gimmick.

Your points are mostly sound, but this is nonsense. How much would your concept AR glasses cost now? Or when your AR concept glasses are commodity priced, how expensive will VR glasses be? The way I see it, VR will always be the cheaper option as there are less issues to contend with and the option to use cheaper tech.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Not to mention... *yawn* Ya there's tons of interesting utility functions to AR, none of them particularly excite me in any meaningful way. In fact, I'm fairly certain I never want to strap tech to my face and further bombard my reality with distractions.

If you think VR is just for gaming, you're operating with a very closed mind. Open it up. The possibilities for non-game experiences is endless.

 

[scooby_dooby]

None of those are consumer applications.

Consumer use is what we're talking about here, not some vertical market where costs may not be as crucial to adoption.

Think no further than the Superbowl 52, UFC220 or World Cup 2018. Front row seat: $20. Watch from the comfort of your own home. Full 3d immersion, if you room-scale you can even walk out onto the field a few steps... Once people try this shit, they will be lining up around the corner.

There's also really neat possibilities like virtual game shows, where a player can be in the audience and possibly called down to join in the game and win some prizes. Think like a virtual Price is Right, with real virtual audience members and legit prizes. Or a virtual 1 vs 100 with 101 real people? Could be fun.

Worth noting that basically all of these experience would work on Google Cardboard / GearVR, enabling true mass adoption.

 

[wco81]

Even light glasses may suffer social backlash, as Google Glass did.

Already people are looking too much at their phones in social situations.

So more immersion, which means more isolation from the immediate surroundings is what people want?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If you think VR is just for gaming, you're operating with a very closed mind. Open it up. The possibilities for non-game experiences is endless.

Non-gaming is actually where VR is in its element, allowing people to train in hazardous or difficult situations. It's ocurred to me the perfect application is a driving simulator. You can learn to drive without any of the risk associated with learning in a real car on real roads, and can gain real experience of virtual hazards to prepare one to be a safer driver. Or, as Facebook realises, meeting people in virtual environments for long-distance socialising as good as it gets until teleportation becomes a reality. The main applications of AR seem to be more convenience, overlaying information that you'd otherwise have to look away at a screen for. Interactive guides and tutorials and instructions will be good, but VR has a greater potential impact.

 

[scooby_dooby]

So more immersion, which means more isolation from the immediate surroundings is what people want?

Well.. isolation from one world, and immersion into another. I mean, it's about leaving this boring-ass world, and going to another, more interesting one. Maybe I want to fly like a falcon and hunt prey. Or be Superman, flying around Manhattan. Or maybe, experience life as a tiny ant, trying to survive and build my colony out. Anything you can imagine, we can basically give you that world...

Social interactions in VR are also extremely compelling, even in these early early days. There's a surprising amount of body language that comes through using just head and hands, making eye-contact is very cool, and we're already seeing an explosion of interest in social onlines experiences like rec-room:

So you can see, that VR has the potential to connect friend/family across long distances, and present a much stronger sense of 'hanging out' than anything you can get today. Not to mention, co-op experiences will be a ton of fun. Sure you're not in the same room together, but really, you are there together, it really feels like you are in the room with that other person.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Non-gaming is actually where VR is in its element, allowing people to train in hazardous or difficult situations. It's ocurred to me the perfect application is a driving simulator. You can learn to drive without any of the risk associated with learning in a real car on real roads, and can gain real experience of virtual hazards to prepare one to be a safer driver. Or, as Facebook realises, meeting people in virtual environments for long-distance socialising as good as it gets until teleportation becomes a reality. The main applications of AR seem to be more convenience, overlaying information that you'd otherwise have to look away at a screen for. Interactive guides and tutorials and instructions will be good, but VR has a greater potential impact.

Yep great idea. Perfect example of 'mainstream' VR. Why pay $500 for some driving class, when I can pay $5/hr for a virtual instructor? And not only can it train me basics of driving, but it can also present me with much more dangerous scenarios than I would want to encounter in real life, to really build up your reaction time and responsiveness in case of an accident.

It would probably require some installation, that had steering wheel, pedals, blinkers etc... but this could be installed at your local DMV or whatever, and people could book appointments to come and use the virtual instructor.

As VR evolves, I wouldn't be surprised to see 1 or 2 of these 'car' setups in most VR Cafe's, where you could play racing games or utility apps like a virtual driving instructor, or maybe just a leisurely 30mn drive through the alps, no pressure