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by skip 07/01/2016, 10:43pm PDT |
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According to Steam, 2/3 of users are on the HTC Vive for their VR.
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
The Rift has its own store, but the odds of buying a high end gaming system that can play VR and not using Steam is incredibly small. Oculus has already come under fire and quietly reversed its decision to use DRM to block other head sets from playing their exclusives. Maybe the numbers will even out when the rest of the people who preordered get their sets (if they didn't bother to go to Best Buy to just buy it), but execs from Facebook can't be thrilled that their headset with a shit ton more publicity, preorders, and hype is underperforming to hardware produced by a Chinese smartphone manufacturer and online gaming store.
I wonder if management is kicking themselves for not releasing the set with motion controllers. Zuckerberg probably thinks selling a handicapped experience is fine as long its user friendly enough, but the majority of people buying this are PC gamers, many of whom have moderate-severe OCD, who obsess over hardware specs and aren't going to drop $950 for a lesser set just because it has a store with nicer colors. This bullshit works on Facebook because it's targeted to tech illiterates who get confused if the Windows Start button changes color. Even the upcoming controllers are gimped:
At our event demos, Oculus Touch-based Rift games have handled larger-space tracking perfectly, but without something like the Vive's Chaperone system (where virtual boundaries pop up to let you know when you're getting too close to the edge of your playing space) we aren't likely to see anything more than standing and very limited movement in Oculus Touch experiences.
Developers we've talked to also say that Oculus is asking them to track their Oculus Touch games in 180 degrees, instead of the full 360-degree experiences that the Vive gives you. That means standing Oculus Touch games will usually encourage you to face in one direction. Most of our Touch hands-ons so far confirm that.
Welcome to VR where you can truly immerse yourself in the world. Unless you want to turn around with motion controllers. Then fuck off. |
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