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your mother on 01 August 2007
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Entroper said:
your mother said:

I think the problem with VR is the helmet in itself.

It's not a very social thing to wear - you don't see anyone else when you're wearing it, and others can't see what you see. Plus, I think there'd be quite a number of people who wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like that anyhow. It's also clunky - not as bad as it was 10 years ago, but clunkier than just looking at the TV.

The technology has been around for at least a generation, yet nobody has been able to capitalize on VR yet. Even those goggle contraptions that you wear to watch TV have never really sold well - I don't know anyone who's bought one of those TV goggles yet, despite its promise to "revolutionize TV viewing like never before! It's like having a 6-foot screen two inches from your nose!"

The future of gaming may be in those new 3D screens that are being made, but then again, it poses a whole bunch of other problems, namely space and cost, for obvious reasons (many screens = high cost = 1/2 your living room dedicated to VR).

 


The technology has been around forever, but it's been expensive and impractical. Newer 3D visors are affordable and practical, they're lightweight with good resolution. We're not talking huge helmets anymore, these go on your face like sunglasses. No one is going to buy one to watch TV because there is very little, if any, stereoscopic TV content available. But think about it, if you could watch The Matrix and experience bullet time in real 3D, wouldn't you want to?

The Wii has proven that people can get over their "I don't want to look silly" inhibitions when the content is compelling. If you can swing a remote, stand on a balance board, or play a plastic guitar, you can put on a visor.

I wasn't referring to those ridiculously heavy helmets from a generation ago - I was referring to the visors, which are much less clunky than before, but still clunkier than just watching TV.

And yes, I would love to be in Matrix in virtual 3D surround, controlling bullet time! The technology is certainly there (it's been around for a generation already) but I don't think we're quite there yet in terms of social acceptance.

Everything the Wii does makes you look silly, and people accept that, but the major difference between donning a helmet/visor and flailing your arms around is that with current Wii peripherals, you never lose that element of human interaction - you still look at people doing those silly movements, watching their expressions, react accordingly and everyone getting a laugh out of it.

It's not the lack of compelling content - that's always been there. It's not the silly inhibitions - the Wii has amply demonstrated that people don't care!

With a helmet/visor, you are only looking at the game itself. There is no eye contact - I think the human element is lost there, and that is probably the largest issue with regards to universal acceptance.

But who knows? Perhaps VR is ready for prime time after all. Perhaps VR will come in another format that doesn't involve helmets/visors. Perhaps the next generation will reveal surprises that we can only conjecture about today. The Wii certainly demonstrated that surprises in gaming can come in all shapes and sizes.