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Comment by fbrchps | Hacker News Reader

I largely agree with you, however Superhot is the closest thing I've experienced to the "can't do it outside VR" games. I did previously play the browser version of the same game, and it was fantastic still, but there's something different about moving around in space like that.

HL:Alyx got close to the "only in VR" sort of mechanics, but change 2-3 big set pieces, and it could very much be done on a 2D screen.

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Well, it doesn't only have to be "only in VR" mechanics, it also has to be a really really fun game compared to almost all the other games you could at the moment purchase and play on your normal PC with a normal monitor and no extra $1000 investment in hardware..

I've tested VR sporadically ever since the first Oculus Rift came out, and I just get a headache after 15 minutes and that kind of has ruined it for me forever I guess as I now associate VR with motion sickness, bad ergonomics etc. That's very personal of course, I know there are others who can run around in VR fine for a whole day without these reactions.

Anyway... the game has to be outrageously good for me at least to use a VR version instead of just sitting on my chair staring on the screen with a cup of tea next to me.

Weird to say the barrier to entry is “an extra $1000” when the headline is exactly half that, which is similar to the cost of a console or decent GPU.

Edit: and the Quest 2 will be reduced to $300 in a couple days from now

It was $300 before Facebook raised its price. Completely worth it.

I will buy the Quest 3 as soon as it is released, but just for my stack of fitness games that are in my daily routine.

You can get back into it. I get motion sick too with some stupid games (like X-Plane that has this really annoying opposite movement when it's loading, GRR). But just do it slowly and don't keep going the moment you get even a hint of sickness. Soon you'll be running aroudn with no issue.

> I just get a headache after 15 minutes

That usually means your IPD isn’t setup properly on your headset. It’s more common on HTC headsets or any others that have really fresnel lenses

I tried Alyx and it was just not fun. Not for the game or anything, but I was really just uncomfortable being in a virtual reality environment where I was hunting/being-hunted by aliens. That's really not my idea of a good time - more like a nightmare.

VR needs some less intense and some more fun, low-stress gaming experiences to draw in the casuals like me.

> VR needs some less intense and some more fun, low-stress gaming experiences to draw in the casuals like me.

You’re in luck because those types of titles form the majority of VR titles today. The more common complaint is the lack of AAA content like Alyx which is due to the lack of users

I think it's amazing. I played through about 5 times now. And a lot of the user-generated content too.

But I feel like there's a lot more for people like you. Moss, Beat Saber, Red Matter etc.

IMO this is true for all “games”, not just VR.

The industry is surprisingly conservative in terms of content/genre outside of indie studios. It’s basically Hollywood.

Bizarre that the industry keeps pumping out the same kind of games that alienate casuals like me as well as women. That’s a massive untapped market.

The only game my wife ever played was The Sims and was completely baffled when she learned there were no other games similar to it.

And yet they’ll spend $200M making yet another military FPS

It's not like other games in the broader genre don't exist. eg Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, My Time at Portia all come to mind.

Yes they exist, with laughably meager budgets compared to “mainstream” games.

I’ll concede animal crossing is a good exception to the rule, but this only serves to prove our original point that there’s room for AAA-grade games in this market segment.

Stardew Valley is the perfect example. It took an indie game developer to make a game with broad appeal.

What are these big studios even doing? Why didn't their customer research tell them that there's demand for games like Stardew Valley?

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