I’m a big fan of virtual reality. For a long time, I wasn’t. I was, like many of you, a sceptic. Now, I absolutely believe that good VR is a gamechanger. But even so, I have to admit that most of what you can do with VR can quite rightly be labelled as experiences or Demos.
And, despite Microsoft’ recent charge in to VR, it won’t be coming to Xbox until it goes beyond being that – until developers really have their heads wrapped around how to make good VR games.
“I don’t know, just to be honest,” Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told Stevivor.“I love the technology behind VR. I have a Vive, I have an Oculus. I’ve used the PlayStation device a lot in demos and stuff. I don’t think the creators in the game space have yet found – well, they haven’t obviously perfected the craft of building VR games,” he said. “It’s so early, I think we’re a couple of years before we’ll really see that hit mainstream.”
Most of the good stuff is an experience, over being a game.
“I’ve seen great video uses of VR, like taking you to places you can never time travel, just the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or they simulate the surface of Mars, some really cool experiences users can see.”
But he absolutely believes that it’ll find its place in games – and when it does, Xbox will be there.
“I think VR will find its spot in gaming; I would make that bet,” he continued. “We designed Scorpio as a VR-capable console. Whether that happens this year, next year or the year after… like I said, I still think the creative community has to get its arms around what are these new tools, and this new feeling — this new immersion. What experiences do you put in people’s hands to have a long term engagement? Most of these things I’m playing now feel like demos and experiments, which I actually think it’s absolutely the right thing to have happened. That’s not a criticism at all, but should be happening. But I think it will take time.”
And for it to really work, it needs to ditch the wires.
“If I think about the technology I would say the idea… that I’m going to put on a head-mounted display and have a wire hanging out the back of my head that connects to some box in a room [is wrong]. It’s gotta go away. Most non-core gaming people are not going to do that. Whether people are going to put something on their head, I think is actually a legitimate question. They’re definitely not going to walk around in a shielded environment with a cord at scale. That’s absolutely where VR has to be today.”
Last Updated: November 1, 2016
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:11
Good call. Rather wait till the tech is sound.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 1, 2016 at 15:16
But how will they Kinect to the VR market if they wait too long?
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:16
I see what you did there!
Original Heretic
November 1, 2016 at 15:17
Stevie Wonder saw what he did there.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 1, 2016 at 15:18
rofl
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:19
Ohhhh!
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:17
They can use their iPhone 7 earphones?
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 1, 2016 at 15:17
Oh snap
HvR
November 1, 2016 at 15:13
Why the hell is Spencer the voice of reason in the gaming sphere these days?
On the ditching of wires I wonder how many people are willing to strap 10 000’s worth of mah LiPo batteries to their heads after the Samsung debacle
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:16
lol
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:16
Right now VR be like… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc146a1991730a867c762c908e0ba476628ed4ca99edb08ca487d4b011ee8fd1.jpg
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 1, 2016 at 15:17
In some cases like
http://d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net/wp/wblob/54592E651337D2/178A/26983A/e9NSp8zEfReNvifEFlDXWw/gear-vr-porn-japan-1024×548.png
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:19
And you’ll have it automatically saved, uploaded and streamed by your Xbox one…
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 1, 2016 at 15:26
With family sharing enabled
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:26
Hey little kids…
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 1, 2016 at 15:30
You know how they teach you about the birds and bees? Well this is squids and fish
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:35
So, Japanese!
Original Heretic
November 1, 2016 at 15:19
Yup, pretty much my sentiment as well. I don’t want VR for “an experience” or to play a “game” on rails. When VR gets to open world exploration, then it’s going to be something worthwhile.
EDIT: Elder Scrolls X in VR!!
HvR
November 1, 2016 at 15:23
Article on the Hololens in the latest Popular Mechanics seems M$ is focusing more on the industrial/commercial side with it instead of the consumer side like games.
Again good call on M$ part since the tech is extremely expensive (R43k+) and not at the level is should be.
Now I’ve complimented M$ twice in one article comment section, god the state in my mouth.
RinceThis
November 1, 2016 at 15:24
bwahahaha!
Pieter Kruger
November 1, 2016 at 15:48
Good move. Wait a bit, the tech is improving rapidly with the latest built in sensors not even requiring base stations to track their position in space etc. Wireless will be coming soon enough, just hope that by then the developer’s have come up with something more worthwile than “experiences”!
Original Heretic
November 1, 2016 at 15:50
The developers are learning, they’ll get there, even if it takes 5 years. Or more. But eventually, we’ll get the kind of immersive games we want on VR.
iusedtobe(a)regular
November 2, 2016 at 08:54
Its actually very ignorant of Spencer to say this or perhaps MS is so afraid to experiment with anything after the whole Xbox debacle and the failure of Kinect that they are willing to just sit back and let other people make the mistakes, unfortunately this just means that they will be late to the party again and from what Ive seen and heard from games like RIGS and Batman VR which are currently scoring higher than most std games, they are far from being experiments and demos.