Reality Check - How Science Can Make VR Better

After playing Rise of Nightmares on Kinect I object to full body motion controls. For dancing games it works fine, but the wiimote and nunchuck are as far as I find appealing for traditional games.

I have a few problems with the whole true-VR concept as an objective to strive for:

1: I don't want to know what it feels like to have a car accident at 300 km/h (being t-boned at 50ish was bad enough, thank you). Let alone how it feels to have a <insert monster here> lop off my <insert limb here>.

2: I don't want horror games that use some gimmick (regardless of how scientifically advanced said gimmick is) to make me look behind me IRL. The entire point of the horror genre (and anyone else trying to give you a specific emotion, like Spec Ops: The Line does with the sense of horror and revulsion (ironically, the horror genre is largely about fear)) is to make you feel like you're in the characters shoes. Anything that makes me look away from the monitor, even for a second, is breaking that spell.

OK, if it's a really good horror game, I might be looking behind myself in-game in response to that sensation, but the sensation is such a basic survival mechanic (from an evolutionary perspective) that successfully subverting it to improve the game experience rather than pull you out of it has got to be very difficult.

3: personally, I see nothing wrong with using a controller or keyboard and mouse/joystick instead of snazzy motion sensor tech - if the game's sufficiently well made (and in all fairness, a lot of them are) and if the controls are mapped well (which is slightly harder on the gaming industry, but still a fairly common achievement), I'm in the game enough that I'm not really thinking about the fact I have a controller in my hands, I'm thinking about how I'm <insert ingame activity here>.

4: Then there's games like Flower (not exactly hardcore gaming material, I know, but thatgamecompany has been very successful even with the gamers that revel in the bloody, visceral nature of modern action/shooter games, and besides, there's other ones; Flower is just an excellent example for being so very alien). Games where you're directing something that has no context to fit with human movement. (what limb do I move when I want my floating flower petals to go down?) Any kind of VR here would just be a jarring experience, completely and utterly alien.

5: And what if I want to control more than one character? I know this is becoming less common (sadly), but a lot of the best RPGs out there feature multi-character control - in Baldur's Gate, there might be a "Me" character, but I also control Minsc and the other 4 party members; "me" might be a loud, clunky warrior type who rattles when I walk, so I'll have someone else stealthily probe the scary spider cave (and I might even have them drop a fireball on all those spiders if they're dual-classed). Strategy games could get away with hand-gesture control of the GUI, but without hotkeys, the speed of play would be hampered to the point where computers would likely be impossible to defeat without nerfing the AI.

I'll take the VR goggle tech for its new perspective (and its corresponding removal for the need of those awkward camera controls that have plagued the gaming industry since the advent of 3d games), but leave all that haptic motion sensory mumbo jumbo alone and learn to map controls reasonably, learn the psychology of manipulation and you'll be able to make me feel for an 8 bit sprite using a controller with 8 buttons.

(To a lesser extend, management/strategy games like SimCity and Starcraft (respectively) also have no relation to human movement, but there at least you could use hand gestures to navigate the command interface instead of

In the end, after the novelty expires, all that remains is the lameness of being stuck in chair, wearing over sized goggles on your face and flapping your hands like an idiot while your senses are somewhat fooled. That's the "reality check" of VR gaming.

At the end of the day the limiting factor for all of this stuff, as it applies to gaming, will be cost. Yeah, with the technology that already exists you could theoretically make a really great VR setup with haptic feedback, controller-less input, etc, but how long till such a setup is actually affordable by your average gamer? This is important because adoption rates of peripherals will dictate how much devs actually commit to making VR games and to making VR friendly versions of "normal" titles. If it ends up costing thousands to get this sort of setup, it will be nothing more then a minor distraction for well off gamers.

Still, it's neat to see that the pieces of the puzzle are all there when it comes to proper VR setups. It's just a matter of making them consumer friendly at this point.

omg is she mad at us???????????

WHY ARE YOU YELLING, LUCY?? WHAT DID WE DO WRONG??? :(

Awesome but that stuff won't catch on for at least 4 or 5 years, the price of that will limit it so much. Oh and that last stuff with the robots, I'm sure loads of people would use that to pleasure themselves somehow hahahaa, don't lie =P

I think it is interesting that it is mainly gaming driving these technologies with other fields then using the new possibilities.

Just look at the kinect. That thing is pretty darn advanced and powerful in its own right and when the first one was released that tech was pretty much restricted to semi good research equipment. If even that.

I imagine how much this kind of tech can help disabled people reach their potential as well as scare your undies of while playing horror games.

That also makes me think about the dark side. Think military and drones or DIY savy terrorists

One can only hope that tech will bring us together more that it tears us apart (both metaphorically and literally).

Have a nice day.

YAY for Lucy!

Such a great delivery of information. Hope to see you in Reality Check again.

"Pant browningly scary" I like that term.

yeaaaaah...science bitch!

I would rather see full-on Sword Art Online kind of VR, minus the dying in real life bit. This is a good start though. Haptic feedback is certainly a technology that can grow.

How much power does it take to run an Oculus Rift smoothly? Two 960x1080 screens, do those add together for a 1920x2160 rendering res?

i thought the solution to touch feedback would be some sort of glove-like device that tightens based on electronic commands. but i guess ultrasound works too >.>

Wow, these jokes are readily offensive.. Sorry about these, I need to stop this from happening again for sure.

To << LINK REMOVED >>:

(appropriate words in parenthesis XD)

Sorry Cam, but I hope you stay gone maaan.. I have adopted a life of restraint and maintenance of appropriate social posture, setting a decent example (for my admirers)..

Recently, I found out though.. I mean.. I'm more "attentive" when..

Well.. I remember everything from this particular episode.. Technical stuff.. Na mean (do you know what I mean)? I remember this stuff at an "Eidetic" type of level.. Oh, and thingz as well; I also remember thingz.. Yep.

The moral of this story is that it is better to get yo (your) news from attractive guuurlz (girls)! (it) Helps a lot: when you got (or have) the choice.. Opt pho (for) the gurls ere' (every) time!

Sincerely, BigZillaMoney T. Jones: a 23 yr old, top class athlete (in top condition) and A grade student (boss!).. In need of more attractive gurl news.

P.S. Seriously Cam, abundant respect.. But, stay gone. Stay completely, "Gorn" with the wind.

Oh.. And, 'bout (about) that gurl (girl).. Is she an American or a British citizen? 'Cause, I got (have) dual citizenship "homie" (or Holmes? Sherlock?)! Peace little dude; Oh, also ask that (the) gurl (girl) if she got (has) a bf, cool?

#RespondeSiVuPlay

(lol, wow I'm a poet, that would be funny if I got an email! *crosses fingas [fingers], repellin' [repelling] lemon bringas [bringers]; Mitches [@#^%&]*)

I doubt that these headsets VR is the future of gaming. Looks like a device that will only increase eye sensitivity issues, cause eye strain, headaches, and will only limit what we can potentially do with the game.

In my opinion Virtual Reality will only start to kick off when video games will be able to connect directly to our brain and neurological system. Our brain and nerves work on electric currents after all. Its not impossible anymore to connect devices into our brain. Thus it is only a matter of time before we can actually experience the video game - inside our own mind.

What it means is no more funky controllers, treadmills, punching in the air and moving your fingers: you would be able to "dream" the game, in fact it would be like controlling and living a dream. Before you go say it is all mumbo jumbo sci-fi, think of what we are capable of doing today in 2015. If you had asked someone from a few decades back about smartphones, our gaming system or Nano machines he would have regarded it as a crazy sci-fi stuff as well. But it's real.

I just hope that the real Virtual Reality will be here in our lifetime and won't take too long. If there would ever be applications to participate in live-experiment of Virtual Reality in the brain, I would be the first to sign up :).

All of these would be super cool! the freedom to use your hands would really push the boundaries let alone making it more tactile.

I'm on a team making an award-winning, Kickstarter-funded virtual reality game. It's co-op, stealthy and (unique for Oculus) involves a lot of communication. Check it out!

<< LINK REMOVED >>

Simulation sickness is the biggest problem with OR, if they don't fix that it will only be a niche market. Expect tons of people returning these things due to this sickness. R.O.B

Oh this also points out that the VR headsets needs so much in addition to what it is that it's pretty worthless as is.

I cannot believe there is so little o gamespot I would watch this

It is through science that VR came to be, and it is through science that it will improve.

Matter of fact it is with science, and honestly only with a scientific approach, can we fix 90% of the world's problems. Its just too sad that too many people value their faith over this fact, and still worship currency deities through obsolete economic/political systems to take the time to educate themselves on current state of technological understandings, and potential.

How about what you hear? Everyone knows what they sound like in their head, what if that voice were to change? With mic input chatting to friends and blurting out swear words could take on a whole new experience. Imagine you are playing as a lion and when you swear all you hear through your headset is a gutteral growl. An alien? and when you speak an indistinguishable language comes out it could be used to solve a puzzle in the game or be used in conjunction with subtitles. If you were a woman in a game you'd sound like a woman an old man, a child, a bird, dinosaur......When you look down at yourself this is what you see as well. the possibilities are endless.

Cancer video player...off to YT...