Gears Of War Creator On Why VR Might Take A Long Time To Take Off

vr is just a gimmick, with no real good games yet, if you have bought any of the garbage thats VR "ONLY", you are a idiot thats wasted your money.

Will help a lot if Valve/HTC and Oculus release new and improved headsets this year.

I'm impressed with my Rift and it's clear VR has a ton of potential, but it's held back by the low-ish resolution and screen door effect, the somewhat narrow 110° field of view, and being slightly heavier than I'd like. All those things can and will obviously be improved in future models.

A VR headset would have a lot of non-gaming value if they simply increased the resolution and FOV to the point where Virtual Desktop could be a robust alternative to a real TV or monitor. Sometimes I watch Netflix or YouTube inside my Rift just for the novelty of it, but it's... a bit blurry.

To be honest VR is only hampered by a lack of creativity and understanding by most developers and critics of it. It's not the current hardware that cripples VR, it's the fact that for so long game creativity has been based on the concept of watching it on a Monitor or Television. The only difference now is that the display is worn on the face and allows us to step into what we see. Even though the games we've been playing for ages are 3D we've only been seeing a portion of them at once due to tricks conveyed on a flat screen. Of course any VR game can be done without requiring a headset just as any of today's games can be done in VR --- the game concepts aren't different it's just how they're presented and how we interact within the game. The difference is VR takes you farther into experiencing the game and requires a great deal more optimization and work than hiding a few graphical tricks and flaws/framerate numbers. Twenty years ago the excuse for VR not being a consumer product was that it was too expensive for consumer use and the hardware just wasn't there, social fears---self-isolation, and motions sickness. The same reasons given today were given back then except now the hardware is more reasonable and readily available than it was back then. The problem is trying to rewrite creativity when it comes to VR instead of taking what's been learned and applying it in a new way --- there's no need to recreate the wheel just refine it and it leads to thinking outside the box. The first developer to truly embrace that concept will be seen as the real pioneer to bringing game creativity to VR gaming at home and copied like crazy.

VR will flop.

People just don't like to wear special appartus to play (I'm speaking the general public here). There's a history of this kind of widgets that flopped before.

Last one was 3D TV. If peple don't want to wear 3D glasses, I don't know how you will convince them to wear VR headsets that are a lot more expensive, heavy, that make you sick ans with which you cannot play standard games. Because, you know, with VR you need games where you don't move too fast or jump, both of which make people sick.

"No actual real games"... I get his point, but that's a pretty stupid statement. Thumper and RE7 are 2 I'll be getting. I don't need every game on VR. I wouldn't even play every game on VR. A few good ones a year and a bunch of tech demos, and live events and I'm sold.

Lawbreakers and Robo Recall look really amazing.

If Nintendo can sell a console that people are buying for one game then VR systems can do the same.

VR was dead before any of the major VR systems were released. ( Much like those long forgotten Steam Machines. )

Not enough people want to wear a Facemask while playing games. Period. That won't change.

Hmm, it's a been a few weeks and I've not been mentioned on news sites, time for me to pick a random topic to write a few quoteable thoughts on so my ego doesn't shrivel and die.

Cliff Bleszinki 2012 onwards,

Of course it is. Right now, VR is just the same fad it was in the 80's.
Though the day they develop full dive VR is the day that the masses will accept it.

I tend to agree with Cliff for the most part as it pertains to the VR component of the gaming world.

Right now it’s in its infancy so it’s no surprise that its install base is rather low, especially when you consider the amount of hardware consoles/PC units out there.

However, the same could be said for something like Fakebook ..errr, I mean Facebook.

I remember around 10 years ago when that first started and everyone thought it would be another fad, soon to go the way of the dinosaurs. I don’t think many people at that time would have envisioned it becoming such a “mainstay” of our society (unfortunately, lol.) from everything from staying in touch with people to business ventures.

The point is that we may not see it now but VR may be so commonplace in 10 years from now that we will look back and laugh at ourselves for doubting it’s lasting power.

Games like RE7 have already shown us that the technology in the hands of a talented team can really add another layer to the overall gaming experience. I’m sure other developers are thinking the same thing.

Personally speaking, I think I will always be a “sit down and play a game on the big screen gamer” but then again I’m as stubborn as a mule so...

-HEE HAW NINJA APPROVED-

HOW DARE HE SAY THAT ABOUT THE ESTEEMED CONSOLE? I'M APPALLED.