Comment by dalfonso | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dalfonso | Hacker News Reader

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One thing that hasn't been mentioned: Kinect was Microsoft's reaction to Wii's success.

I worked at Microsoft when the first Kinect came out. I spoke with a few members of that team (non-engineers). My question was very clear -- are you expecting this to takeover for controller based gaming? I don't recall all the responses, but I think the overall sentiment was along the lines of "No, but it might", whereas my thoughts were along the lines of it absolutely will not, this is such a gimmick. I'm not a gamer at all, but I used to be in college. When I want to game, I plop down on my couch and mash on the controller. If I wanted to jump around and flail my arms, I'd go to the gym or play some pickup basketball.

I think there was (maybe is) a disconnect between Microsoft and hardcore gamers. Kinect and Xbox One's initial non-gaming features were an attempt to take Xbox "mainstream". Stop it. Appeal to the core demographic. To their credit, it seems like they've been doing that now.

> I think the overall sentiment was along the lines of "No, but it might",

This is business though. Lots of stupid side products and features are launched to compete with ideas that might take over. If it doesn't, fine but if it does become popular you aren't 5 years behind and dead in the water.

This is my concern with VR not taking off with the mainstream. Many gamers (myself included) want to plop down on the couch and not move around much. Many of the VR experiences coming out require movement, not to mention the initial effort to put on the headset.

I'm a huge proponent of VR (backer #238 of the Rift on Kickstarter), but I worry VR headsets will end up in the dustbin with the Kinect for this very reason...

vr has larger problems. mainly, the nausea thing: your character can't accelerate at all without giving you really unpleasant nausea. The strength of that nausea isn't being exaggerated. That takes out all games that you would think are good ideas for vr, like sports games, fighter jet games, .. first person shooters where your character walks around.. basically first person anything where your character isn't always moving at constant speed or teleporting is ruled out. It's a shame.. but it's really how it is

Have you actually played VR games recently?

The most popular games are flight simulators and first person shooters where people walk around (Elite Dangerous, Eve: Valkyrie, FSX, Onward, Pavlov, From Other Suns). The best games released, Lone Echo and Echo Arena, take place in zero-gravity environments with highly non-constant speed and no teleportation.

Any game that gets released without joystick/trackpad locomotion will get a flood of angry message board postings.

Nausea is certainly a concern, but huge strides have been made in addressing it for the vast majority of players.

There are seated vr experiences too, but as a Vive owner, I don't think they're going to get cheap enough quickly enough to take off. Maybe we'll get attempt #3 taking off next decade..

I don't think price has much to do with it. Even if they were free I can't see them taking off.

VR isn't going to replace flat-panel gaming, it's a new medium, and for more than just games. Think of a VR headset as a new kind of output display, not a new format for video games.

I agree with that. When I say "take off", I mean become popular with or useful for the general public. It makes a great demo though. Also, I'm talking about the current generation of VR that involves strapping something to your face. Get rid of that and everything changes.

I don't see any way that VR can take off with the mainstream. I honestly just don't get it. If the Kinect and 3D TVs didn't work, why would this?

Oddly enough, both Wii and Kinect were very successful outside their official gaming applications, because people were able to hack their protocols and use them in ways the manufacturers never intended.

I remember buying a Wii just for the gesture control capabilities. I wrote a whole VJ performance app based on Wii gestures, so you could crossfade video and scrub through animations (the video equivalent of a DJ scratching records), just by waving your hands around. I toured with that thing for years... it was so essential to my performance that I stashed a few candles in my bag, so I could use them for IR tracking in case the sensor bar stopped working.

I then bought a Kinect and used it in a couple performances, projecting 3d mapped effects on to the band onstage. Even with VR/AR tech now: it starts with games but then gets co-opted into art and music. Open, hackable hardware is so important for society.

I bought an Xbox because of the kinect (and two of my friends did the same). I tend to play on my computer otherwise but the kinect was fun and something different. Just wished there had been more games using the kinect better.

Having games that are fun and allow me to play without plopping down in my sofa is definitely a plus. I get enough sitting done when working.

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