As the title suggests, Sony was pushing very heavily it’s PlayStation VR platform this year at E3, with several “new” games being demonstrated with the technology. I say new, but in many cases the games being presented are old titles with new VR updates – Superhot and (uhg) Skyrim are the most blatant examples, with plenty of other new games that are VR capable or VR intended.
Now, if Virtual Reality is your thing, then cool, enjoy! However, as I’ve discussed before, the cost to get this hardware, and the varied quality of the experience make this all seem like an extreme waste to me, something I’ve discussed before to a point where I wonder how long this fad will stick around.
Yes, it’s a fad. It won’t be around forever, and it won’t take over gaming like some think it will. Remember how motion controls took over after the Wii? Yeah, that ended quickly, now didn’t it? VR will be the same way, it will stick around, sure, but it will be a nice product for certain games – I just don’t see it as ever becoming dominant for both the cost, the physical space demands, and for the most immersive setups, the demands on the people using it.
If you like the idea, then good for you. All I know is I’ve literally been seeing VR stated as “the way of the future” for the past 30 years, and it’s always been the same ugly headsets, the same hand wands or other odd controllers, the same “full body” equipment, and the same reaction from the masses that it’s cool at first but quickly gets old.
I’ll share a few VR related videos here, for your consideration. Enjoy.
Yeah, it all looks cool, but imagine trying to play a whole game like this, for hours upon hours… doesn’t sound so great does it?
Oh, and no, this isn’t “fanboy” crap from me – if Microsoft was pushing this I would have much of the same reaction – VR is cute, and can be cool for some simulator type games, but is otherwise just not great for the long term, no matter who is behind it.