whelanweb wrote:This tread is making me giggle a bit.
Attreyu I think you have slightly shot yourself in the foot when it comes to Oculus as at the moment they are the market leaders in both the development and software support department for VR and im pretty sure they would have taken note of your post above. If you were ever to look for a good quote to put on your marketing campaign from Oculus im pretty sure you wont get one now.
Nah man, I'm too insignificant for them to actually bother about some dude on the MTBS3D forums' oppinion. Plus, I'm not actually criticising them, never did. I'm just seeing all these new cheaper alternatives appear so I've sat and drew the common-sense conclusion: "if these little guys continue to advance and be able to manufacture similar products at half the price, than I can't see how the Rift can manage to stay in business by manufacturing HMDs one year from now". It's common-sense if you ask me, but I'm not a luxury-hardware type. I'm an Android person, rather than iOS.
whelanweb wrote:In business ( no matter what your opinion is ) don't ever knock the new kid on the block. You never know what will come in the future and the smallest fish in the pond can always grow into the biggest fish. Just look at Google V Yahoo...
In my view I see Rift as the biggest fish and the small indie producers as the new kids on the block, not the other way around. HTH.
whelanweb wrote:Attreyu you seem to base your future predictions on the current Dev Kit hardware. Yes to all your points about newer phones having better components but the current Dev Kit is ( A DEV KIT ) only used to show developers the potential of VR and how immerse it will be. Nobody here knows what will be in the final version of the Rift or the Sony HMD but people seem pretty cretin its only going to be 1080p ( Why?? ). Oculus have always stated that number as a minimum guide line. For all we know it could be a lot more then that.
Absolutely, but my main reasoning comes with from the price of the
others. Again, it's not me agains the Oculus people. Kudos for them, it's a brilliant product.
whelanweb wrote:Having a cheap mount for your latest 500 dollar phone / tablet will be cool but your going to run into the following problems
1. Your in some VR world reaching your final goal next moment ( Ding Dong ) your phone rings and your screen goes dark
People buy phones for talking to people sometimes.
There are workarounds. Personally, I wouldn't use a smartphone in the first place, but a tablet, for a variety of reasons.
whelanweb wrote:2. Battery life in phones is dismal when doing anything on them. Imagine trying to play a game longer then 3 hours either native or streaming it to the phone. You might say why not plug it in when using it, Id say what advantage has it over a consumer Rift if I have to keep it plugged in when using it. Lets be honest people when's the last time you've watched a 2 hour movie on netflix using your mobile without having to plug it in.
Tablet standby times are around 4-6 hours atm, with intense screen activity. And it will only increase, with time.
whelanweb wrote:3. Weight. All the hardware that goes into a phone weighs a lot more then what a consumer rift will weight id bet because a phone has a lot more components that it needs to be a phone. All of this weight will be pushed away from your face as its all behind its screen. This will then all be supported on the bridge of your nose.
With a dedicated VR headset the only part that needs to be put in front of your eyes is the screen. Hence the current ( Rift control box )
Smartphones are surprisingly lightweight and the current trends are towards making them even more lighter, slimmer, etc. Spot the Sony Xperia Z Ultra.
whelanweb wrote:4. Price. A good quality phone ( the type you talk about ) are about 3-400 dollars ignoring cheap knock-offs. You then need to get yourself a VR mount with the correct optics. In the end your going to pay more for an inferior product as sliding in and out your phone ( of which they are many shapes and sizes ) cant be ideal as each year they are new models and you will need to get a new mount every time you change your phone.
That's the adapter designer's job. It remains to be seen how they manage to resolve these issues. But a 7" tablet will remain a 7" tablet, more or less, regardless of who's making it. And the sweetspot for VR displays is around that size.
I concur that the Vrase guys are digging themselves in a hole, but they weren't meant to build a VR exclusive device to start with.
whelanweb wrote:5. Software. No developer in his or her right mind would put a large amount of money into developing games optimized for 100 different types of handsets. Its just not possible to get a good return. Just look at the types of games that are making money today on handheld ( all simple flash based ) . Each handset out on the market today has a slightly different display to each other in both size and resolution. You would need to optimize your game for each type of phone and optics. Hell you just need to look at how the screen on the Iphone has changed each year.
Game Devs are just like real people (
) they dont like change ( well not that much ) . They like to know when they start to build a game that the technology hasn't passed them by. By having a set consumer Rift or Sony HMD they can be confident that their game will run as it should and display correctly. I'd estimate that a consumer Rift would have a 3 year life cycle until a newer high resolution screen would come as a replacement but allowing older games to be played on it easily.
I'm not talking about Android games. See my previous posts. I'm talking about something that would deliver the same experience an Oculus Rift has, using the same mechanics (streaming or cloning the PC display).
whelanweb wrote:Your statement that the Rift is a Fail ( Wont even come out ) is crazy. Especially when your trying to build and market an Omni Treadmill. I really fail to understand how you can say this. If I were you id be singing from the roof tops and praising all VR displays as you need as wide a market as possible to become successful and sell your product.
See my first line. In fact, if you give it a minute's thinking, an ODT and a Rift are somehow mutually exclusive. It's just that at the moment the only product in the game (sic) is the Rift. What you're saying is something among the lines "the only possible ODT to be used with the Rift is the Virtuix Omni so we'll hold them in high regard, no matter what". Which again, is true for the moment but I don't think anyone in their right mind can realistically expect that no other competing products would emerge. It's about progressing, not stagnating or monopolysing the VR accessory industry.
whelanweb wrote:I've only talked about the Rift above but you just need to look at Sony's history to know that when they engineer something you can be dam sure they will over engineer it to make it the best possible hardware around. They probably have some super display hidden away that they were keeping for just such a project. We will know very shortly.
I agree. My general view on this whole matter, as someone who is trying to come up with a new alternative, is that ultimately people will settle for accesibility and all-in-one solutions, since if anyone would manage to deliver products with the same quality and immersion level as the Rift, at a fraction of the price, would win.
Take the Nexus 4 example. Price IS important. That's my take on it. Just seeing the comments other have made regarding the shipping and customs costs for the Omni, one should take note.
whelanweb wrote:Their have been a lot of ( If's ) in the previous posts above but Oculus and Sony are doing what we all really want. They are creating the VR that we've been dreaming about for years.
Absolutely ! No question about it. But it's a free market and I can really see dozens of small indie developers helping to reach those waypoints quicker.
whelanweb wrote:Finally just because you can do something with your phone doesn't mean that it will be better. I have a phone and I use it as a phone. I also have a tablet and I use it as a tablet. I can do the same things on both but I choose to use them differently.
Sure, it's a question of choice and personal comfort in the end. I for one like to fiddle with things and exploit them to their maximum potential.
whelanweb wrote:Consumers will be the same. They will want VR and will want a dedicated VR headset to do it with.
We will agree that we don't agree then
I can't convince you, you can't convince me, time will tell which one was right about predicting it.
whelanweb wrote:I welcome feedback but please be more detailed then one sentence answers.
cheers for taking the time to express your views.