You have a lot of faith in Nintendo, yet I'm skeptical about what the hardware can deliver beyond quick pass it around experiences. Longer game sessions rely on a comfortable light weight fit and rock steady tracking. Tbh, psvr doesn't meet those requirements. I don't have a problem with it but I do see the problems.

Rotational gyro drift is real and you need to reset the device every so often. Most of the time it behaves or stays within 10-15 degrees deviation, sometimes it goes really wrong, like when my wife was trying Tethered and ended up having to face backwards on the couch. I've also had races in DC VR ending up sitting sideways to look out the front window. Positional drift depends on the setup, yet in DC VR it only takes a few laps to not be centered behind the wheel anymore or sunk into the seat. A dedicated reset viewpoint button is a must. (hold down options on psvr) So how is Switch going to do that without any external anchoring?

In non cockpit games where you move your head around a lot, the headset will slip, in some game I have to push it back up every few minutes. A heavier device hanging in front of you will make that worse. Text is uncomfortable to read on 1080p headsets, on 720p it will be worse. Yet maybe Nintendo will break tradition and switch to fully voiced games.

Don't get me wrong, I love it, I play it every day and have had 3 hour sessions with the headset on. (Leaving the headband pattern imprinted on my head lol) I'm used to turning the headset off and back on to reset the tracking and have found the sweet spot for the camera and correct ambient light level to get the best results.

Initial impressions are easy, putting the headset on the first time is amazing. Keeping people interested is a much harder challenge. For that it must be easy and comfortable to use long term. I don't see how Switch can provide that. But I love to be proved wrong!

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. 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.

......and it's portable-VR. That offers far more gameplay opportunities even if the VR isn't as good.

It would lack positional tracking and make people puke. Portable VR is good for watching movies but not for playing games. 

Poistional tracking is just sensor bars and 'wiimotes' isn't it?

Look at how many Switches you could fit in a 'backpack' that size. Combined they'd easily surpass PSVR.

Poistional tracking is just sensor bars and 'wiimotes' isn't it?

Look at how many Switches you could fit in a 'backpack' that size. Combined they'd easily surpass PSVR.