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Four Factors That Will Push VR Forward in 2016 (technologyreview.com)

Posted by timothy on from the in-my-day-we-had-pieces-of-cardboard dept.

At MIT Technology Review, Rachel Metz lists four factors she believes will mean great advancements for virtual reality in the next year. More and better games; wider adoption of specialized cameras for capturing the deep imagery that immersive worlds require; specialized presentation techniques that supplement VR with physical cues like temperature or direction; and availability of better viewing hardware. That better hardware seems poised to take off. According to the article, Facebook-owned Oculus’s first consumer headset, Rift, is slated for release in the first quarter of the year, while the HTC Vive—a headset created by smartphone maker HTC and video-game company Valve—is set to be available to consumers in April. Sony, meanwhile, is building its own headset, called PlayStation VR, which the company says will be released in the first half of the year.

9 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There was a real chance to garner interest in VR for the second time. Too bad it was overhyped without anything to show for it and now everybody is tired of hearing about it.

    Maybe someone will get it right in another 10 or 15 years.

    1. Re:Too late by rasmusbr · · Score: 2

      Cheap accelerometers are too slow, this creates a nauseating lag, rendering it useless for many types of games. Presumably there are high grade sensors used in aviation and precision fabrication plants that will eventually come down to consumer level pricing.

      I would like to see VR done without the gamer in mind, just tech for the sake of it project to see what can be done had money not been a factor, like hypercars.

      This is true, but a little misleading. It's not the analog part of the accelerometer that is slow, it's the digital part and the ADC.

      Cheap accelerometers often deliver sample rates of about 50-100 Hz, which means you get something like 20-10 Ms of latency right off the bat. Filters that you attach will add another 20 Ms or more depending on what sort of filters you use. If the signal runs through a software layer (Android, iOS, etc) you get additional latency on the order of 20 Ms. In the end you might end up with 100 Ms or more of latency on a smartphone.

      Now, the underlying analog system inside the chip (the MEMS accelerometer itself) that functions as a sensor has latency lower than 1 Ms.

      Occulus has designed their own accelerometer that runs at 1000Hz. I would guess that they have designed filters and a simple software layer so that the total latency of the accelerometer samples that a game gets on the Occulus is below 10 Ms, with a smooth enough signal that the movement isn't too jerky... I guess we'll find out when the final product launches.

    2. Re:Too late by Zobeid · · Score: 2

      Your attitude won't stop headsets from shipping in a few months, and your attitude won't stop people like me from buying one.

    3. Re:Too late by KGIII · · Score: 2

      I am not a gamer but I'd like something somewhere between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. It occurred to me when I was back at the early part of my current wanderlust. I was in Buffalo and headed up the Skyway to Niagara. I realized that I'd like to have something that lets me look at the highway, find out when it was built, learn what the structural ratings are, see the typical throughput, learn about the construction workers, and see the construction process. I'd like to be able to look at a building and find the layout, the history, and things like that. I'd like to take a virtual tour of the building and be able to explore it, empty or full. I'd like to redecorate a home, just an empty one, and see if it can be filled with things I find interesting. I don't want pre-created plans for that, I want it to adapt to the existing structure and then allow me to work within it.

      Now, of course, I was driving at the time and I realize that this augmented reality would not work well as a driver but it'd be neat to have points of interested flash up on the HUD and readable when it is safe. It'd be interesting to be able to dig down into those points of interest but that probably shouldn't be done while one is trying to pilot an automobile. I guess it would be okay if you were a passenger.

      At any rate, my real goal would be to be truly jacked into the 'net via some sort of cortex interface. I'd even let 'em attach a wireless antenna to my skull for that. Barring that, some sort of wearable might be nice for something like what I'm envisioning.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. "Four Factors" by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All four of the factors are porn.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  3. Neat. by will_die · · Score: 2

    So I can use this along with the Kinect to play a hand full of games and demos after which it will sit gathering dust.

  4. Re:Controller support on PC by malditaenvidia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    PlayStation Eye Toy, Xbox Kinect for 360, and PlayStation Move all failed for the same reason: market size. Why build a game to support this hardware which targets 40% of the userbase, when you could have an easier time leaving it out and reach 100% of the userbase?

    Gotta love how you conveniently omitted the Wii, one of the most successful consoles of all time.

  5. Suffering from perfect is the enemy of the good? by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I always assumed VR needed the absolute best hardware and software technology could make -- and I suppose it does, if re-creating insane framerate high end games is the goal.

    But when I got a free cardboard viewer with my NY Times I was blown away with how good even the most ghetto VR setup could be. The NY Times' video content was meh, but the quickie Google Cardboard app museum tours were immersive and I can't tell you how much time I wasted on the streetview cardboard view.

    I'm starting to think they could be doing decent if flawed VR *now*, and building up content, even if it is fairly tame still imagery. As a potential consumer, I could give a shit about gaming but I could easily see spending hours as a virtual tourist.

    I worry basically that they're making the perfect the enemy of the good, which means it arrives late, with high cost and a ton of flaws because they've baked too much into it.

  6. View Master VR by SpiceWare · · Score: 2

    I received a new View Master VR for Xmas. It's impressed the hell out of everybody I've shown it to, a number of friends plan to pick one up soon.

    It uses your smart phone for the display so it's rather inexpensive - while the starter pack (viewer and a demo disk) has a list price of $29.99, Amazon has it for $20.95. It's compatible with apps written for Google Cardboard.

    I've written a blog entry about it for anyone interested in more detail.