I actually think it'll be socially positive. Have you ever seen videos of people messing with a guy in VR?

I think for people that have tried it, they see the huge amount of potential in the tech. As someone who has played a few different games on the Rift and the Galaxy Gear, I can safely say it really does completely change the way certain games play. War Thunder for instance transforms from something I don't really play to a game I would absolutely buy a VR headset for.

As for VR content, there are already 197 games with native support for Oculus Rift... that's without a consumer product. Most consoles don't release with this amount of support.

In terms of market, we have at least four major companies building devices with varying amounts of content; Samsung, Oculus (Facebook), Valve/HTC and Sony. It may not hit mainstream right away, but that's pretty much how tech evolves. It only needs to hit a customer base where the products sell enough to break even and support a growing developer base.

Touche...

I still think mobilization and the perception of video games or consoles/gaming pcs (because lets face it a 400 dollar ps4 or 500+ gaming pc are basically equivalent in this regard, smartphones are replacing pcs as much almost as much as they are consoles when it comes to gaming) thus extending to morpheus/oculus as luxury items is going to make it extremely prohibitive to any kind of mainstream. Whereas the hairdresser qualifies as cosmetics which are seen by middleclass and up as necessities. 

I mean look what happened with Google Glass.

Everythings gotta start somewhere. The possibilities for VR is practically endless, using motion controls to control the character , then with your mind with ease, to even taking over your senses in your body (taste, touch, smell, hear, sight). The future of VR looks more promising then gimmicks like motion controls. It's pretty big that Facebook aquired oculus aswell, because now you have one of the biggest company in the world promoting VR and for not just gaming which widens the market substantially.

Like AR, VR probably has more use outside of gaming than inside it. However unlike motion controls VR can be implemented in any and all games, because at its core it is merely another was to see your games not a way to interact with games, though no doubt head tracking will be a feature of games that make use of VR. So long as all games can be viewed through VR then VR fans will be able to adopt VR for use in all their games. But if VR is only useable on VR enabled games then it will have a very limited lifespan because not many games will use it.

For VR to have a snowball's chance at succeeding it needs to be implemented in the most popular franchises: CoD, Fifa, Gran Turismo (PS4), and GTA. And in the case of Morpheus Sony needs to put some muscle behind it with its first party studios, in addition to GT of course.

But even then, it will only sell to a minority of gamers.

Hmmm, I do and don't agree. FIrstly I think your comparison is wrong simply because the home gaming market is bigger now compared to the NES, both PS3/360 outsold the NES by 20m and they're still selling, and what did the wii sell on? I think the type of immersive experiences we get Is a part of that expansion we saw, I myself am one of those weird people who actually really struggles to play and enjoy 2D games, unless they're arcade games just made as a minor distraction. On top of that part of the wii and Kinects draw was definitely immersion, motion controls is a huge part of the VR fantasy. I think you insanely underestimate the amount of people that want escapism, traditional games just don't offer it as well as you'd think, especially for those who weren't introduced to gaming from a young age. All popular media music, films, books are forms of escapism. Games by comparison are clumbsy, hard to control and grasp, they require a lot of investment unless you're playing angry birds and are the least convincing and accessible of the bunch. Have you tried VR? In controlled demos it really does transcend any gaming jump the industry has offered thus far in terms of immersion. So in that sense I don't agree with you that VR won't catch the imagination of those not already considered gamers.

I do however agree with you that this gen it won't really make a difference. The two main reasons is that only those greatly interested in technology, or the specific technology (games+VR) or those with large amounts of expendible income will splash out $200 on something that just intrigues them. Many will want to try it and they probably will, but that doesn't translate into sales. Second is content, which you already covered. Other things include the form factor of VR, its too big and clumsy right now... But anyway time will tell.

VR is not just a gaming application. Its the future of everything. VR will melt together with the real world in AR and at some point far in the future replace reality.

But overdramatizations aside. The reason is it changes gaming fundamentaly even in its crude current state its as big a transition as 2D to 3D. I was around when Mario 64 came and the awe I had playing Half Life 2 in VR was atleast as strong as when I was playing a proper 3D game in this case Mario 64 for the first time. The immersion is so unbelievably big it can not be escaped. Any comparison with 3D TV is a joke as VR is not even in the same ballpark experience wise. Ofcourse the technology with the first iterations is not going to be good enough to convince alot of people. Its a technology in its infancy. I cant wait for 2030 when all sceptics will accept the inevitable futúre of VR.

Some people might still yell about the new generations and their stupid evil VR hobby. But it will be the minority

I commented earlier about VR possibly going the same path as 3D. However, that does not change the fact that I think it will sell immensely well initially. It being a gamechanger or lasting for any sort of time will depend moreso on designers pushing its potential.

I would allow my 5 year old to play certain things on it in moderation.
He likes to retreat to his bedroom for a bit after school with his iPad already. A bit of alone time after a busy day of interaction.
I used to have a console in my bedroom. My parents were fine with me spending many hours on it alone.
Rather do something that involves mental stimulation and hand eye coordination instead of watching Blitzwinger on Youtube.

I think this is something that a lot of people that haven't tried it don't get which in many ways could also be its greatest negative. With 3D it was easy to demonstrate how much of a jump in realism and immersion it was when compared to 2D. VR adds a completely new dimension to gaming but a lot of people that haven't tried it aren't going to "get" it.