Is VR dead?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 197115
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For me the words "who cares?" come to mind. In our daily lives we're already tracked constantly by numerous different companies in numerous different ways, so what difference does it make?

For example, the majority of people have mobile phones with all manner of apps installed, including the dreaded Facebook. Unless they're very careful with the permissions granted those apps can track your location, the apps you use, the websites you visit, your daily habits, your contacts, and a hell of a lot more besides. Most phones also have at least two cameras on them, one pointing in each direction.

Yet outrage at this (potential) invasion of our privacy is far less prevalent than that generated since this new Oculus policy was announced, and I very much doubt many people will be boycotting mobile phones anytime soon.

So in the grand scheme of things, when we can be easily tracked by phone, PC, ISP, bank account, CCTV, shop reward cards, and "smart" TVs, does it really matter that a VR headset is now going to track the games we play on it? No, not really. Big brother is out there, and we're already in full view.

(Also, for those who already have an Oculus HMD, 2023 will likely be long after we buy new hardware anyway. I was already thinking of switching brand, and it has nothing to do with privacy concerns.)

I'd never had a Facebook account as only set one up to get Quest 2. I don't like the way have to have an account to use my hardware. In terms of personal data I've opted out of everything on the accounts I set up.

As you say if worried about who has info on us you would not do anything in life as so many areas of our lives are monitored in one way or another. I do care about who has our info but realistically how useful my info is to them in the scheme of the billions of GB data being collected is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Majority data collected is done so to sell us more stuff - usually things we don't really need.

I'll be replacing the Quest 2 at some point with better headset as served its purpose in showing me potential of VR.
 
Nope, I enjoy racing AMS2 and ACC much better in it. Could it be better? Sure, I'd like a little more sharpness to view. Have if my face a bit better (but I have a plan). Figuring out the settings with no help has caused me some issues and with some help, I could probably fix my issues. But the good hugely outways the bad. Oh and I'm using I guess now antique Oculus Rift Touch.
 
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WMR improvements in the works, according to TymAtMSFT on reddit:
We do have some feature updates in the works. One of the notable ones is a change we're working on with Valve that'll significantly reduce the amount of GPU memory used when running SteamVR. That one's exciting because we've found it has a cascading effect - a lot of VR workloads tend to max out the GPU memory, and reducing the amount used reduces the need for memory paging, leading to a smoother overall experience.
This is probably only WMR-specific. Right now the issue is that we have to create an intermediate set of GPU buffers that we copy the SteamVR content into before we send it off to our system compositor. The change we're working on will eliminate that set of intermediate buffers. Since each buffer is (generally) sized to match the resolution of the headset, the memory savings potential is huge.
It probably reduces the frame time slightly by removing that extra operation, but the copy shouldn't be impacting performance that much. But at the same time reducing memory pressure can help a lot if stuff is getting paged out. We've definitely seen performance improvements in that scenario in our limited testing.
Ideally, this might obviate gaming demand for RTX 3090, with its key advantage over RTX 3080 being VRAM..
 
A bit steep at 3K though even for Apple.

And the announcement from Tim Cook at the launch will be "...and Beat Sabre is coming to the iHolo", followed by an awkward demo where nothing actually really works correctly, and then followed a few weeks later by the Beat Sabre devs pulling out because Apple are absolute "see you next Tuesday"s to anybody who works with them.
 
So a video that said Valve is projected to put out a software development kit in 2022 for their next headset, but it sounds like they are biting off quite a bit.

So looks like I may be waiting a while for my next Valve headset unless this news is for the next-next generation.
 
  • Deleted member 197115

Doesn't everyone move to OpenXR, why do we need another SDK?
 
Doesn't everyone move to OpenXR, why do we need another SDK?

They are going in directions that are not currently covered by an SDK.

"Where they're going they have no roads!" LOL! Frankly I'm a bit surprised by what they claim to be working on, but odds are you won't care about these features.

Hint: What I heard was that they are doing research in reading brain waves...

I have no idea what-so-ever as to their end goal with this. I suspect it will either be ground breaking or totally useless for our needs.
 
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They are going in directions that are not currently covered by an SDK.

"Where they're going they have no roads!" LOL! Frankly I'm a bit surprised by what they claim to be working on, but odds are you won't care about these features.

Hint: What I heard was that they are doing research in reading brain waves...

I have no idea what-so-ever as to their end goal with this. I suspect it will either be ground breaking or totally useless for our needs.

Reading brain waves is already done, one use for it would be games where magic are involved, think and focus on the right things, and you cast a spell. Not my cup of tea, but for some that’s the best thing in the whole world. (Like SimRacing is for me.)

What a exiting time to be alive!
 
Reading brain waves is already done, one use for it would be games where magic are involved, think and focus on the right things, and you cast a spell. Not my cup of tea, but for some that’s the best thing in the whole world. (Like SimRacing is for me.)

What a exiting time to be alive!

There is a lot going on in this space. Elon Musk is working to develop robotic limbs for paraplegics that they can control with their mind because he considers that an easy entry way that will be welcomed.

However his long term plan is to allow for a mind control interface with AI since he sees our being in control of AI this way as a way to keep it from taking over on it's own.

Unfortunately the AI race is on and there is no telling who will get there first.

I've read a number of SciFi books that refer to brain implants and embedded personal assistants.
 
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VR is not dead, I think it just has a longer run-up than other innovations to become mainstream.

I just stepped back in the world of VR myself as I recently purchased the HP Reverb G2. I'm very happy with it eventhough it has some downsides. (You can read my first impressions here) But I understand VR is not (yet) for everybody.

This has to do with various reasons in my opinion.

First of all it's quite an investment for most people and for people who never experienced VR they actually don't really know what they are buying. For example an ordinairy game trailer is more obvious and makes people think quicker: "Hey that looks so cool, I want to buy a Playstation".
A VR experience is harder to sell, apart from all the gear you need, if you haven't been in VR before, you can only try to imagine what it's like. Then if you do decide to take the plunge which VR set should you get?

It's obvious VR comes with struggles. Most VR headsets are still far from user friendly. You need to hook it up to a decent pc, hope it all works. The software that should welcome you in the world of VR is often not great (e.g. WMR, Steam VR). There's cables, sometimes separate motion sensors, the mask might not fit right, the lenses may be blurry etc..and then after a few sessions there's the chance you feel like throwing up because of motion sickness.
Also there's awkwardness to actually wear a VR mask and move around the house like a lunatic. (those are my gf's words not mine). And it's a very individualistic activity, it's hard to enjoy it with your friends or family members and have a shared experience.

So there's many downsides to think of when it comes to VR. But I do sense improvements on that.
I think Oculus is taking a step in the right direction with the Quest 2. As far as I know this works right out of the box, has decent specs and pricing and you dont even need a pc to have some good fun with it but you can hook it up to a pc if you need the extra power to play a race sim for example. Downside is you need to sell your soul to Facebook in order to use it ;-).
But it does open the door to VR to a larger audience and as far as I know it's selling quite well too. Even to people who aren't necessarily gamers or tech nerds.
I hope more manufacturers will take effort in making VR more user friendly and go for a more universal standard. Over time cables might become a thing of the past, resolutions, frame rates and the overall experience will improve. Just need to put on ski mask like goggles and you're good to go. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

For now I'm enjoying my VR experiences a lot and I can see the improvements VR is already undergoing right now, although it's still at a slow pace.
 
  • Deleted member 197115

Sony confirms PS5VR.
 
Sony confirms PS5VR.

In many ways I consider the original PSVR to actually be superior to many current HMDs. I have the Rift-S, Reverb G1 and G2, and apart from resolution the PSVR dominates with, IMO, superior head tracking and butter smooth visuals at 120Hz, 90Hz or 60Hz motion smoothed to 120hz.

I don't use the PSVR much these days, but when I fancy a blast on Wip3out Omega Collection, I'm always amazed at how smooth the tracking and visuals are compared to the other HMDs I have, so much so that I can easily overlook any disadvantage in resolution.
 
  • Deleted member 197115

Wipeout is awesome, wish there were PC counterpart. Redout is the closest but artistic design and graphics are not as good.
 
  • Deleted member 197115

This guy just went EA. No idea how good or bad it is but looks like Wipeout clone.
 

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