Oculus Rift

Today we're going to take another look at the emerging technology that is virtual reality.

I found two of Angry Joe's videos for you to look at. The first is an unboxing and setup/review of the Oculus Rift and the second is a game review for Dreadhalls, a horror game for the Oculus.

Not only do I find this tremendously interesting in itself, but the one point that really stood out in the Dreadhalls video, is the point Joe makes about the games graphics.

See, the graphics are “old-school” if I'm being polite. I could be rude and call them dated and clunky, but I am nothing if not polite. That's not the point either way. The point is what I have been saying for years, namely that graphics mean nothing if the game isn't good.

With the immersion the VR goggles creates, you'll forget about the graphics in no time, and your survival is all that becomes important. By today's standards, Skyrim's graphics are old, but that doesn't matter when I play it, since the game is so good.

For years now, people have complained that the AAA studios are churning out bland garbage. Not all the time, sure, but too often considering the price tags. Then the studios complain that the games aren't selling well enough, even though they turn out a healthy profit.

Of course, if you invest $250 million on a game and the players can't even begin to guess what you actually managed to spend the money on, you have a problem. Yes, the game looks awesome, but with barely any story, and dull repetitive gameplay, your game is not going to break any records, and then it does not matter how pretty the game is. No way, and never.

Case in point: The Order 1886. Amazingly beautiful graphics, boring dumb gameplay. I can't find any hard numbers on it's sales, but all sources report it was garbage, and a large portion of the gamers refused to even finish the game. That alone says something considering it's about six hours long.

So what does that have to do with the Oculus Rift? Well, this:

VR is the first new thing to happen to games in decades. And I'm not talking about minor things like “Ooh, we put a touch pad on the controller. Isn't it shiny and wonderful?”

Sure that's “new” but at the end of the day it's still just a controller. VR is for-real-new, and it will hopefully teach the developers and publishers to think outside the box and make them reevaluate what makes a good game, not just for VR but for all gaming.

That's it for me today, so until next time, have a cool week!

Backup video links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IJU1AtcAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvvooIcET8k

Virtual Reality

Many are calling 2016 the year of VR. If you're not in the know, VR stands for Virtual Reality and it's coming out this year. Now it's important to point out that this is not the Star Trek holodeck we're talking about here, but rather goggles.

So how does this work? Well you plug the goggles into your PC, or in the case of the PlayStation VR, your Sony PlayStation. Then you slip on your goggles and off you go.

But why should I do that, you ask. Good question. One of the most prominent areas of interest is of course gaming. Genres like racing, flying (air and space), first person shooters and indeed any first person game like survival and horror are going to be vastly enhanced by this technology. The immersion will be incredible, you should feel like you are there in person, or so I'm told. I should perhaps point out that I myself haven't tried any of the different systems, but we'll get to that.

If gaming isn't your thing, maybe you like concerts. Or sporting events. Imagine that. Feeling like you are in the crowd of the Superbowl even though you are sitting on your couch. Or perhaps you'd like to attend the Sydney Opera, but you are nowhere close to Australia. Well, with VR you can be there. All it takes is a 360 degree camera in the crowd and you can tune in. To be fair, streaming technology is not yet good enough to do this live without heavy lag, but a recording should be just as good. Keep in mind that this is emerging technology.

Another area is tourism. Google Maps in Street View is already a fun way to look at different places but imagine moving your head and seeing all the buildings around you, being able to stand in a museum as long as you like admiring the art or just wandering around in some of the most beautiful places on earth, all in your living room. Okay so actually going there is always better, but travel is both expensive and time consuming, and people who are handicapped will be able to experience the world in a never before seen way.

It is also necessary to point out that the Adult Film industry is already working hard on this. I'm not going into details here, use your own imagination, but it is none the less important. All media technology has been pushed forward by the porn industry. Youtube would not be what it is today without adult film. That's just a fact.

Apart from these wonderful recreational uses, there are also many therapeutic uses for VR. The virtual distraction could make painful treatments considerably more tolerable. And eventually there could be powerful educational uses as well. Reading about a historically significant event is one thing, but to actually be there in person? A whole other ballpark.

So what's stopping us from rushing out and getting these magical goggles? Well, most aren't out yet but they will be soon, so the price is perhaps the really big issue. The Occulus Rift is about $600, the HTC Vive is $800 and the mysterious Microsoft HoloLens will set you back a whopping $3000! But wait, that's not all. You will need a powerful PC as well. The goggles are playback devices, not computers. So apart from the buy in price, you will most likely need a $1500 computer as well. The money adds up fast here, and it is already too expensive for most people.

Now suppose you do have that money, keep in mind that there aren't yet that much to use them on. More will come, no doubt about it, but it takes time to create all the good stuff. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that, so you need to be a bit patient.

Like all emergent technology, time will tell. The goggles will get better and cheaper. Tablet computers were horribly expensive when they first came out, but today you can have a great tablet for round about $200.

There are of course tons of details I can't talk about here. Like the possibility of dedicating an entire room to VR game in, motion sickness, if the goggles work with glasses, etc. You get the idea.

Keep an eye on this if anything I said sound cool. In the mean time here is a link with a bit more info. For even more, Google is your friend.

So until next time, have an actually great week!