nicked on 16/9/2015 at 18:25
Quote Posted by henke
Noone, just like noone in 1991 felt their gaming experiences were lacking just because they didn't have 3D graphics.
Have you seen that new Sonic the Hedgehog game? It's so fast! Cutting edge! We'll never need more modern hardware than this! :D
I'm pretty sure I can remember thinking about how games could be much better if only they could have graphics that were closer to reality (maybe not 91 but certainly 90s). There's clear, tangible and incremental improvement when you look at video game graphics (at least until it started to plateau).
Incremental is important. There's no additional learning curve to go through when you get a game with better graphics (maybe a bit with 2D->3D, but even so, it's the same controller, it's mostly intuitive if you're used to 2D). I think all I'm saying is that playing a game in VR is such a hugely different experience to playing a game normally that it's not "adoptable" in the same way, as an incremental improvement. It's something else entirely, and needs to be treated as such, and marketed as it's own unique experience.
What I can't get on board with is the marketing that suggests VR is somehow going to improve games, and types of games, that I currently enjoy just the way they are. Minecraft is never going to be a better
game if you play it as a hologram on your coffee table. It's just going to be exactly the same game, just slightly frustrating while you adjust to it, and then a mildly interesting gimmick that makes you feel like a poser until you sheepishly put down the VR and go back to playing normal games where you feel like less of a tit.
Sulphur on 16/9/2015 at 18:50
Figure out a way to have the headset go transparent at will so you can regain situational awareness, and then maybe VR will take off despite still being something you have to strap onto your head to experience. It's like 3D TV uptake that way -- how many people are actually bothered to put on those glasses when they want to watch some telly?
It's a cool thing, no doubt, but it's never going to replace the immediacy of just looking at stuff on a screen, and at that, without needing stuff bolted onto your head that severely limits normal vision.
As a plus, though, if henke's vision of the future comes to pass, I suppose we can all look forward to Demolition Man-like sex where two people sit in two different couches, strap on a headset, and then there's hot FMV flashes and you're suddenly a dad in 9 months.
icemann on 16/9/2015 at 18:50
I think it used to best effect would be to enhance specific types of games, as not all lend to the VR viewpoint.
Racing and FPS? Sure. RPGs and Survival Horrors? Sure could work. Puzzle (unless it's something like Portal) and RTS though? Hmm I dunno.
Just look at how the Nintendo VirtualBoy crashed and burned due to badly chosen game types to try and do on it. Beyond the fact of just bad the machine was.
Yakoob on 17/9/2015 at 01:15
Agreed that VR just needs a few "killer apps" to really seal the deal. I still think even kinect could have done better had it's tech been more precise and games more than dumb party games and rehashes.
And definitely see a big use in medicine/science, don't some high-tech hospitals already use VR for controlling those little cameras that go inside you? Or maybe it was motion controls, I forget.
Quote Posted by 242
I'd love to play a decent survival horror developed for this thing. Otherwsise, definitely interested too.
Gotta agree. I'm not into horror games at all but recently played a little (Crappy) unity horror game for google cardboard and the novelty of it was enough to get me intrigued. The game wasn't great but think what the makers of silent hill / PT could do with that..!
Quote Posted by nicked
Real innovation comes from filling a need, or at least a want in the case of entertainment.
That's the common saying but I'm frankly not too sure it holds. How many people mocked the iPad for being just a bigger iPhone until it basically invented its own niche?
nicked on 17/9/2015 at 06:05
I'll still never understand that. Always thought the ipad was utterly useless. Then I got bought an iPad. I used it about twice in a year and then sold it. I still don't understand the niche it fills. Probably just a sign I am an old curmudgeon.
henke on 17/9/2015 at 08:39
I use mine several times a day. Read the news on it in the morning at the breakfast table, use it for consulting wikis or imdb while playing games or watching movies, and watch youtube shows on it in bed before falling asleep. I love that rectangular chunk of plastic and metal. Couldn't imagine going back to not having one.
Thirith on 17/9/2015 at 08:39
Not sure it's a niche in the sense that you couldn't also do the things you do on a tablet using regular PCs, laptops etc. For me it's mainly about size, weight and ease of use. E.g.:
- In the evening while I'm preparing dinner, I use my tablet to listen to some This American Life while checking a couple of newspapers, blogs, forums and Facebook, and perhaps sending a Draw Something drawing to my wife.
- On holidays, I take along my tablet and an HDMI cable; that way I can easily check the websites I'm interested in wherever I've got wifi access, and we can watch something off Netflix when at the hotel.
- When teaching, I can have videos and presentations on the tablet, I can easily highlight or draw stuff on them on the fly, I have quick access to any repository of knowledge I need to check.
- When travelling for work, I can create and edit Word documents and spreadsheets - not book-length documents, but typing on a tablet works pretty well once you're used to it. In the evening I can Facetime my wife before going to bed.
Yes, I could do all of these things with a smartphone and a laptop, but I've lugged around a laptop for years and for the stuff I want to do I prefer the lighter, more mobile tablet, and I prefer the larger screen compared to a phone. It's more handy, more user-friendly and more fun. Unless I changed jobs and needed a laptop, I don't see why I'd go back to one.
Edit: Also, having a tablet next to my keyboard is the best way to spend long loading times in GTA Online...
PigLick on 17/9/2015 at 15:03
IPADS you guys dont know anything about how they change the dynamic of a family. ONCE upon a TIME oh god bloody ipads they have ruined life for all of us. FUCK GEOMETRY DASH
Yakoob on 17/9/2015 at 23:03
I used to not care about tablets, but as I've fallen on the habit of spending the last half hour of my night crawled in bed reading some news sites, I kinda wish I had one. My phone is a bit small, the laptop too bulky... a tablet would be just perfect.
Fafhrd on 18/9/2015 at 04:39
Quote Posted by Brethren
There's got to be an ease of use factor for VR to have any mainstream success. Can I get the headset on and off quickly, or does it take 5 minutes to strap it all on and engage? Is it heavy and cumbersome?
Have you ever put on ski goggles? That's how long it takes to put on a Vive. It is not heavy and cumbersome, at least not the second gen dev hardware. Final version might be a bit lighter.
Quote:
Also, I'm going to take a lot of convincing on control schemes. Will I ever be able to see my kb/mouse? I mean, I guess I don't understand how it will all work if you have to hit non-standard keys (meaning non qwerty), like Function keys, or Ctrl/Alt/Shift or the 10 key pad. Last thing I want to be doing is blindly stabbing around for a key in the dark when something is happening live on screen. Or air grasping for my mouse if I've temporarily let it go.
Seriously? Can you not touch type? Do you not know how your keyboard feels?
