Wii and Kinect both succeeded because they brought an all new level of immersion to games.   Virtual Reality is the next step and now it's been created:

"One of the demos at E3 that gathered a lot of attention was a new virtual reality (VR) headset being shown by none other than programmer extraordinaire John Carmack. The fluidity and impressive field of view created a compelling illusion of being inside a virtual world, according to those who tried it."

There is an extensive interview about this new VR technology here:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-30-oculus-ceo-this-is-just-gonna-change-everything

I must say, if Sony or MS can buy this up and make it part of their next gen system, they will win the next generation hands down.

"When I put on the prototype of Rift, and I looked into the VR world, and I'm moving my head around, it's perfectly tracking and I'm in this 3D world, that's when I said "Oh my god, this is incredible, this is just gonna change everything." I want to play my favorite games; I want to play Crysis and Call of Duty and Battlefield and Gears of War and Hawken. I want to play these games which are so incredible, and I want to play them in VR where I can feel like I'm in the game. Like you said, this is really going to create a lot of excitement in the game space. You don't get somebody like Gabe Newell or Michael Abrash or John Carmack excited about too many things, and when you do you should definitely pay attention."

Thoughts?

It's very exciting, but mapping movement to the player's head creates the problem of needing adequate space to

Well you get the idea

I do like TVs I can wear on my face, though, as a rule

I disagree as currently (well two years ago, might have been one year), my experiences with products like these are that VR goggles still needs to be tweaked, and reduced in price, simply because you have the cost of the VR goggles + hardware + the option to not use it.

I guess you could still hold a controller in your hand and just have the camera controlled by your head, then you could play sitting comfortably on your couch.

Right, but what if i'm playing a fast-paced shooter and need to constantly be checking my six? THe only solution is to stand up, and if the game's camera is locked into the direction I'm looking then I have to look in every direction manually

It sounds very immersive but not immediately practical

Yes, essentially creating ./hack series idea of how gameplay works. 

They are estimating under $300 for the googles - which is assuming the googles themselves are the console.   If we take WiiU's approach, and let the console do the grunt processing work, then the googles are basically like a WiiU gamepad on your face minus controls.   This would reduce the price dramatically.

Having VR with motion controls would be an awesome way to experience games.

Has been attempted before;



Wasn't a success.

Sure, this was a long time ago, but judging by the pic you still have this machine on your face.

And you would look pretty stupid spinning around like a dog chasing its tail in your living room. I also see a couple of neck injury lawsuits looming if this idea is implemented.

I saw the price, but I believe that the googles themselves aren't the console, but more like the replacement of an output (instead of the TV). I am not saying it won't be awesome, I am just saying the time currently isn't right.  

GIven that isn't exactly how it would be implemented (or I would hope not).... because it would potientially cause damage to the surroundings if you had motion controls on top of it. 

I see it more like output interface, with neat features like tilting your head.