Self contained Wireless Oculus VR headset to cost just US$200

[HEXUS]

Qualcomm Snapdragon device, codenamed 'Pacific', coming in 2018 says Bloomberg.

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[nobodyspecial]

Wake me when it looks like google glass. As long as it is basically strapping on scuba masks, I'm out. I would get tired of wearing that in about an hour and never touch it again.

[Saracen]

Wake me when it looks like google glass. As long as it is basically strapping on scuba masks, I'm out. I would get tired of wearing that in about an hour and never touch it again.

What you're talking about is AR (Augmented) rather than VR (Virtual), though there are applications where the line blurs, lije Augmented virtuality.

Google Glass 'augments' reality with digital HUD-tupe overlays. VR is more immersive than that, and rither for entertainment or some serious real-world purposes, seeks to replace the real-world with a virtual world. The human brain integrates all sorts of sensory input and if you want to really convince it it's in a virtual environment, you need to be as immersive as possible, and that certainly means removing real-world sensory datastreams ... especially periphefal vision. And for that matter, replacing real world sound with virtual world sound. If you can add other things, like vibration, and/or head and hand tracking, you can notch it up until you have a higjly convincing world to present to the brain.

The whole point of VR is to make it as convincing as possible. To be thorough, you'd need full body suits capable of simulating pressure, temperature, etc. Bear in mind this is not just about games, but about realistic-as-possible training for situations hard to do in the real world, like pilot training gor crash situations, to deep-sea diving emergencies, fire service training or simulating astronauts having to do delicate servicing jobs on a spacewalk.

Anyway, VR has to be snorkel-mask type headsets because as well as presenting the digital virtual data, it has to remove the real-world data, or it'd be AR not VR.

[Saracen]

Oh, and try flying an FPV drone, whether it's just flying around looking at things from perspectives you can't hope to see any other way, or racing them. Because in an immersive headset, you see what, and only what, the camera on the drone sees, it feels rather like you're in it. Personally, that's a feeling I never tire of, never mind in an hour.

[nobodyspecial]

I'm talking gaming (don't think this is a medical/pilot site...LOL). I have no use for that thing on my head for hours gaming. As far as stuff like medical, pilots etc, sure bring on the possibilities. But again for gaming? I think it's already dead (as in like the day it launched), as there are not enough of us willing to part with $200-300 for VERY few experiences and it will likely be upgraded constantly for a while due to major advancements per model (power and perf per die shrink, etc). Also now that devs see how well the units sell (like crap, along with their games in VR), overall most will decide the first try was enough. Most want re-look at this until there are 10mil+ of these things out there in the market (of one type, so there isn't a bunch of effort to port to all the other players (no leaders really yet). That could take a while. A suit for this? ROFL. Not in my lifetime. The day I have to actually DRESS for my game, is the day I stop gaming...LOL.

You can build glasses that block out side light etc (I own a pair, leather on the sides blocks incoming crap). Feel free to call the version I want a glass-enhanced model Just a few mods to make it more VR than AR I'd rather buy a vid card or new cpu for $200-400. Color me unimpressed by the gaming side of VR. At some point maybe the gear will reach the point where I'd actually want one, but that's 5-10yrs away at best for me and even then I'd probably just buy a gpu/cpu or something else I actually NEED. For instance, I'm really looking forward to buying an AI car, ~2020.

[peterb]

I'm talking gaming (don't think this is a medical/pilot site...LOL).

No, its a technology site, and VR/AR is an upcoming technology that has many uses - including remote control, which includes remote piloting, tele-0medicine, training/simulation (which also includes 'gaming') and so any discussion that discusses the uses of VR/AR in these fields is valid - and the fact that prices are falling is going to increase development and adoption in these fields.

[Saracen]

As you say, nobodyspecial, the market for these currently is small, and a bit niche, and getting large-scale dev money into games requires a large market. That's the point. VR is still an emerging technology.

But do you remember the first cellphones? £3500-ish, and connected by wire to a transceiver unit the size, and weight, of several housebricks? What scale of take-up would there be now, for those?

Or the first CD burners? I had one, at approx £4500 (including the software) and blank discs were £15 EACH. Again, it'd be easy to write them off, at that time, not least because they were awkward and clunky to use, and required careful choice of supporting system and decent expertise to avoid turning a £15 blank into a useless coaster. Now? £60 buts not a CD burner, not even a DVD burner but a Bluray burner, and even that is rather old hat. And DVD blanks are more like 15p than £15.

This VR headset is supposed to be the crossover point where the tech has developed far enough that it moves from the point where cellphones were £300-400, not ten times that, and mass market purchasing starts the snowball rolling downhill. And it just might.

The same could be said of so many emerging technologies.

As for what people will pay, well, I don't know about you but I know a lot of gamers that would definitely be up for a good quality VR headset at this sort of price point IF it, and software, deliver on the gaming experience.

[Kimbie]

I have not kept up with the VR stuff but do games from steam support occulus and the vive or do you need to buy a game for a specific headset?

Surely one of the drivers, needs to be for VR to become universal in terms of you buy a VR game and it will work on any VR headset, rather than using some hacks or bodges to make work?

Kimbie

[Andi-C]

Wake me when it looks like google glass. As long as it is basically strapping on scuba masks, I'm out. I would get tired of wearing that in about an hour and never touch it again.

What you're talking about is AR (Augmented) rather than VR (Virtual), though there are applications where the line blurs, lije Augmented virtuality.

Google Glass 'augments' reality with digital HUD-tupe overlays. VR is more immersive than that, and rither for entertainment or some serious real-world purposes, seeks to replace the real-world with a virtual world. The human brain integrates all sorts of sensory input and if you want to really convince it it's in a virtual environment, you need to be as immersive as possible, and that certainly means removing real-world sensory datastreams ... especially periphefal vision. And for that matter, replacing real world sound with virtual world sound. If you can add other things, like vibration, and/or head and hand tracking, you can notch it up until you have a higjly convincing world to present to the brain.

The whole point of VR is to make it as convincing as possible. To be thorough, you'd need full body suits capable of simulating pressure, temperature, etc. Bear in mind this is not just about games, but about realistic-as-possible training for situations hard to do in the real world, like pilot training gor crash situations, to deep-sea diving emergencies, fire service training or simulating astronauts having to do delicate servicing jobs on a spacewalk.

Anyway, VR has to be snorkel-mask type headsets because as well as presenting the digital virtual data, it has to remove the real-world data, or it'd be AR not VR.

You've forgotten the most testing & worst simulation of all, CUSTOMER SERVICE !

[Saracen]

Huh?