spemanig said:
No, I have a lot of faith in the mass market to not care. The Wiimote still has calibration issues, and launched without motion plus. People were sold on motion controls because of Waggle Tennis, Waggle Bowling, and Waggle Golf. I'm not saying that VR doesn't have huge problems. I'm saying that VR has advanced enough as a technology to reach an equilibrium of quality and accessibility where it can become a mass market product. No one yet has realized that potential so far. This patent tells me that Nintendo can, and intends to.
Again, I'm not saying that the Switch VR at 720p would offer a great VR experience. In fact, I'm actively saying that it would offer the worst VR experience by far in a lot of ways. What I'm saying is that it would offer a good enough VR experience at a cheap enough entry point with a compelling enough line up of exclusive software for it to sell insanely well, which would be great for VR as a whole because currently there isn't a single VR product on the market that can do that.
PSVR, Vive, and Oculus are too concerned about quality of tech and not concerned enough about accessibility, while lower end products like Gear VR and Google Cardboard are too concerned about accessibility and not concerned enough about quality of software. Switch VR would meet both sides somewhere in the middle and reach that equilibrium.
The key word is "enough." It needs to be easy and comfortable enough long term. Switch VR can do enough. Even at 720p it can. Just as a sidenote, any of the shoulder buttons on the inward-facing sides of the Joy-Cons could act as an easily accessible dedicated reset viewpoint button without sacrificing a traditional layout.
Nintendo could launch the HMD bundled with Pilotwongs VR for $99. It would immediately communicate what's attractive and awe-inspiring about VR while offering experiences that range from comfortable to intense so people can easily adjust to their new "VR legs." It's familiar in premise, so it wouldn't alienate the mass market by being "too gamey." In other words, Wii Sports resonated because it was about sports and everyone is familiar with sports. Wii Fit is about fitness and everyone is familiar fitness. Nintendogs was about puppies and everyone is familiar with puppies. In Pilotwings, you fly airplanes (and other such realworld flight things). Instantly familiar. This familiarity made those games accessible not only because they were simple to play, but simple to understand when it comes to premise.
It wouldn't need to be graphically intense or even realistic, so they could focus instead on locking the framerate at 60fps. To make it even more compelling, they could include both local and online multiplayer, because that social aspect is what makes products like these shine. Wii Sports had it, Wii Fit had it by comparing profiles, Nintendogs had it, and Nintendo cares tremendously about VRs application in a social setting, so this or whatever they do would have it as well.
That would immediately give VR its Wii Sports. Its mainstream hook that opens the door for VR tech in the mass market. After that, all they'd need is a good launch line up, and a compelling line up of software coming down the line. Being only $99ish already does so much of the work for them. Launch with:
- Pilotwings VR Bundle
- Excitebike VR
- Waverace VR
- Metroid Prime VR
- A bunch of 3rd party VR games
And then release other franchises down the line. I've already mentioned Star Fox, Mario Kart, F-Zero, and Punch-Out, but they can go even further. Kid Icarus, Eternal Darkness, Endless Ocean, etc. Miyamoto even stated in an interview that Star Fox was an IP they'd consider for VR. He also said that the reason they haven't made another F-Zero is because he couldn't think of an original spin to make it different. VR would do that for it.
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