Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Wednesday January 09 2019, @04:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the need-moah-faster-computes dept.

CNet:

it's 2019. I'm at CES, and VR is an idea gathering dust for all the wrong reasons, lost in a sea of strange peripherals and pipe dreams. Self-contained VR devices, like Oculus Quest and the newly announced HTC Vive Cosmos, are en route, but it feels too little, too late. VR has lost the attention of mainstream audiences.

In 2019, VR is a sideshow in a theme park, a marketing stunt, a slide in a PR powerpoint presentation, a niche hobby for people locked in rooms with a ton of money to spend, and -- worse -- no one seems to know what direction we're headed in, or even what virtual reality should be.

TFA cites motion sickness as a continuing issue, one of the same reasons VR didn't catch on 20 years ago. What will it take for VR to finally realize the potential everyone keeps believing it has?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Wednesday January 09 2019, @05:36AM (7 children)

    by Barenflimski (6836) on Wednesday January 09 2019, @05:36AM (#783991)

    While people are still on earth, the majority still can go to a park. When people hit Mars, walking through a forest in VR will be a thing.

    On earth, the current audience is relatively small compared to future Mars when everyone is going to want a holodeck.

    Folks can sneak in a little smartphone usage at work but plug into a 4 hour experience and people will eventually notice.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @07:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @07:22AM (#784014)

    The nursery was silent. It was empty as a jungle glade at hot high noon. The walls were blank and two dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadley stood in the center of the room, the walls began to purr and recede into crystalline distance, it seemed, and presently an African veldt appeared, in three dimensions, on all sides, in color reproduced to the final pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun.

    —Ray Bradbury, The Veldt

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday January 09 2019, @08:27AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 09 2019, @08:27AM (#784027) Journal

    everyone is going to want a holodeck

    A proper holodeck won't happen until you have artificial gravity.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday January 09 2019, @02:57PM

      by fyngyrz (6567) on Wednesday January 09 2019, @02:57PM (#784118) Journal

      A proper holodeck won't happen until you have artificial gravity.

      And much, much higher resolutions.

      And detailed, full sensory engagement - not just sight, but also sound; touch; both imposed and radiated heat as well as imposed cooling; smell; air pressure and movement; imposed pain, pleasure, nausea, Coriolis forces, etc.

      Essentially, your biology needs to interact with a totally artificial imposed physics regime, or, your mind must be convinced that is happening and your actual motor functions defeated so trying to interact with the illusion doesn't cause you to be damaged (such an approach is considerably more likely, IMHO. No "deck" required, just a couch.)

      And a lot more computing power to run all that, presuming the tech can be put together.

      And you don't have to wear something that feels like you have a rubber boot on your head.

      ...of course, if they get all that done, then you're going to need ad blockers of similar capability.

      --
      If thought bubbles appeared over my head...
      I'd be so screwed

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by istartedi on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:44PM

      by istartedi (123) on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:44PM (#784291) Journal

      A way to safely "jack in" to the brain seems more attainable.

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @08:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @08:33AM (#784032)

    butt plug into a 4 hour experience and people will eventually notice.

    FTFY! And how will they notice!

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:52AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:52AM (#784041)

    or people could get an education, learn about noneuclidian spaces, and realize that they can use VR to explore them.
    there are already noneuclidian maps made with the portal tools (example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xFbRecjKQA). [youtube.com]
    I made a particularly nice one myself, but I hit the limits of the engine (it won't show more than 4 portals at once, and this is a hard limit that I can't tweak unless I talk to the developers).
    once the kids are old enough not to bite the wires and play bouncey bouncey with the goggles, I'm getting the htc vive (or whatever's better in 5 years).

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 10 2019, @01:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 10 2019, @01:35PM (#784488)

    Ah but they only THINK they're in Mars... ;)

    And why actually go to Mars in the first place? One of those asteroids with water would be a better destination than Mars.