• conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    129
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    15 days ago

    They were a $3500 dev-kit to enable some base level of preparation when the costs come down. They were never going to be mainstream.

    • CouncilOfFriends@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      14 days ago

      With no controllers made by Apple, it seems VR gaming wasn’t an intended use either as devs aren’t going to port games if most users don’t have them. Which only leaves people who will pay that price for a glorified external monitor.

  • paraphrand@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    61
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    15 days ago

    People love to shit on VR because Meta pulled all that metaverse bullshit. But VR just keeps growing. Slowly, but it’s growing.

    There’s no evidence it’s stopping yet.

    In fact, Samsung and Google are jumping back in. And we have some of the lightest headsets ever made on the market right now.

    VR is in a slow upswing.

    • Zorque@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      43
      ·
      15 days ago

      They didn’t say VR was dead, just not mainstream. Which is okay. Not everything has to be.

      • paraphrand@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        15 days ago

        Yeah, I’m mostly responding to the people I perceive to always shit on VR by mocking the idea of a metaverse or Meta’s version of a metaverse.

        People dismiss the whole medium because of Zuck going wild with metaverse hype, and causing the whole industry to make all these nonsense metaverse claims.

        Even Microsoft Teams was boasting about metaverse aspects at one point.

        • Zorque@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          15 days ago

          Those people are mostly just naysayers who like shitting on things, it’s best to just not acknowledge them until they actually show up with a cogent thought. Otherwise you’re basically just having their argument for them.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      14 days ago

      Yep. The problem is that they keep trying to push it as some sort of workspace for home or office.

      It’s a shitty workspace. Nobody wants that box strapped to their face and work in a cartoonish porthole view world. The controllers are limited in functionality and using a physical desktop while somewhat blind sucks.

      However, for visualization and gaming, it’s great! But not for $3,500. $200-$400? Yeah, that’s doable.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        Yep. The problem is that they keep trying to push it as some sort of workspace for home or office.

        It’s a shitty workspace. Nobody wants that box strapped to their face and work in a cartoonish porthole view world.

        It will eventually be great for a virtual workspace, but the technology isn’t there yet. The resolution on headsets has to get several orders of magnitude better, and the headsets need to get several orders of magnitude lighter/more comfortable.

      • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        14 days ago

        It’s a excellent workspace, if your work involves anything 3D.

        It is not for office work though. I don’t see VR spreadsheets taking off.

    • FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      15 days ago

      This is just the early versions we’ll look back on and laugh at even when the successful versions have taken over EVERYTHING.

      so VR equipment is getting lightweight and powerful enough for high realism. AI is just about generating compelling reality on the fly. Augmented realty is just about working smoothly thanks to modern hardware.

      Now give everything another 10 years development.

      We’ll be tapping up compelling 3d ‘personal shoppers’ and ‘personal customer service agents’ that feel more like butlers and servants because they ARE. And they’ll be 100% generated and pretty easy to talk to, especially compared to waiting on the phone or trying to type chat.

      Perhaps Zucks metaverse dream will be located in there somewhere. What if in that time we nail 3d video chat - perhaps a dose of AI and VR ‘learning you’ so it gives you realistic micro gestures without having to scan your face aggressively.

      I can see it all becoming a lot more believable. And chatting to company AI services like you would a person becoming the norm.

      And someone will be like “ha, remember the ‘metaverse’ back in 2023/4?” and someone else will point out all the technology they’re using right then and there is owned by meta. In fact I bet there’ll be a TIL post about it in 2035…

      • paraphrand@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        15 days ago

        Yup, I like to sum it up as “we are in the palm pilot era of smart phones still.”

        It’s a huge cliche to compare it to the iPhone. And it appears we won’t have an iPhone moment, it seems like we will have a more gradual shift.

        But yeah. We love our palm pilots right now. But it’s gonna get so much better.

        I can’t wait for social VR to be filled with more “normal” people.

    • BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      13 days ago

      I just love the people who refuse to get a Quest device (formerly Oculus) because it’s meta. And meta bad. But then they have their entire life connected in a web of google and/or Microsoft. For my money it’s the best VR option out there. No computer required, relatively cheap, and a relatively large catalog and user base.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        I just love the people who refuse to get a Quest device (formerly Oculus) because it’s meta. And meta bad. But then they have their entire life connected in a web of google and/or Microsoft.

        Meta is a walled garden. You have to give them everything to get anything. Google and/or Microsoft you only have to give them some to get some, so you can choose if what you want is worth what you get from them. Meta is all or nothing. So for Meta, I choose nothing.

  • TheFogan@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    15 days ago

    I mean did anyone think of the vision pro as more than a very expensive tech demo? It was always too big, too heavy to be viewed as something people were expected to wear all day long.

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      15 days ago

      Why do people think you’re supposed to wear that all day long? I don’t think it was ever marketed as a permanent piece of headwear.

      I’ve always assumed that every VR or AR system was intended to be used for a session and taken off, seems obvious.

      • BirdObserver@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        28
        ·
        15 days ago

        I don’t think Apple themselves marketed it this way, but viral photos of people being spotted on subways and walking down the street wearing one probably didn’t help sell the product.

        • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          edit-2
          14 days ago

          They marketed the headset as being able to replace the functions of basically everything an average person uses a laptop/pc, cellphone, and tv for.

          People routinely use computers and tvs for many hours at a time.

          People routinely spend hours on their phone and basically always have them in their pocket or nearby.

          They showed people wearing the things in planes, to watch 2-3 hour movies.

          Sitting down in their (strangely TV-less) living rooms to watch 2-3 hour movies.

          Doing … some kind of work you’d do on a laptop, but easily being able to keep the things on, kick a ball around with your kid, and then seamlessly go back to working.

          Wearing the headset as you are unpacking at a hotel, and then taking a video phone call with them.

          Not the thing ringing, you putting the headset on, and then taking a call.

          No, you’re just already wearing the headset, having just arrived in a hotel, implying you just had them on as you took your luggage up to your motel, like a hat.

          https://youtube.com/watch?v=IY4x85zqoJM

          Taken as a montage, you certainly get the impression that you’re encouraged to just wear the thing all the time, anywhere, that its an ‘all-device’ that replaces a whole bunch of other devices, and is easily used/worn in many settings for long periods of time.

          • BirdObserver@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            14 days ago

            Yeah, that’s weird. Like, I get the idea, but the tech just hasn’t caught up to it yet. It needs to be as convenient as just putting on a light pair of glasses - on top of not being especially light or comfortable, VR is still a “process” which requires a degree of effort and adjustment every time you use it, which really kills the whole concept of it being a convenient tool.

            I think Apple is probably more likely than most to make something like this take off eventually (Google Glass’ biggest failing was also that it made you look like a total dork, whereas Apple somehow managed to make AirPods cool), but this seems more like a software proof of concept for hardware that doesn’t exist yet.

      • TheFogan@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        15 days ago

        Namely what the features are and the functionality of it. I mean if you are expecting to use it in a closed controlled area, then for the most part the pass through side isn’t necessary, the screen showing your eyes to outsiders is completely meaningless. So I guess the point is, there isn’t really a defined ideal place to use it. It isn’t super useful in one place, it’s made to be slightly helpful, everywhere.

        Which of course begs the question, where is it intended to be used. when is the ideal time to put it on, and then how long should a session be before you take it off.

  • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    14 days ago

    There’s one simple way to do it: stop milking it with ludicrous prices that make it inaccessible for the average consumer and stop trying to corner each implementation with your own proprietary closed market that becomes worthless when it goes down because all of your digital purchases were “digital subscription options”. The problem with VR is that it now has a place in the market but one that is basically limited to a luxury market, and as such it will only include self enclosed ecosystems of novelty implementations that appeal largely to whales. It is basically an example of the hellhole the PC landscape would have been if governments back then had been as lax with bad consumer practices as they are now.

  • h54@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    15 days ago

    It is a stupid and expensive solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Like every other company, Apple have their fair share of flops.

  • MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    14 days ago

    I thought the apple headset was MR for productivity and stuff? VR gaming headsets like the Oculus seem to be doing fairly well.

  • Tattorack@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    14 days ago

    What do you mean “even”? I would say especially apple couldn’t make VR mainstream.

    But VR is already mainstream to a certain demographic; furries. They try to get VR headsets even when they’re broke, because they want to escape reality as much as possible, and pretend like they’re the actual character they like to imagine themselves as. And it’s better than any fursuits can.

    You want to make a successful VR headset, then you’ll have to make and market it for those that want to live (and do virtual sex) in VR. Not as some weird, incredibly expensive office tool.

    • woelkchen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      14 days ago

      But VR is already mainstream to a certain demographic

      That’s not what mainstream is. That’s what a niche is.

      • Tattorack@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        15
        ·
        14 days ago

        Furries have long since stopped being a small, niche, minority corner of the Internet. You can literally measure the success of a platform these days by how many furries are actively using it.

        • woelkchen@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          13 days ago

          Even if your echo chamber has like a million people, they’re still just a tiny portion of worldwide population.

          • Tattorack@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            13 days ago

            Not a good argument when a majority often doesn’t consider the entire world’s population.

    • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      14 days ago

      it’s also a bad vr headset. it’s an augmented reality headset that does vr secondarily. and surprisingly uncomfortable.

    • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      14 days ago

      I didn’t realize that VR was big in the furry community, but it makes sense.

      Do they have a specific app/community? Things like VRchat I can’t imagine being very well suited to furries, since you’d have random people coming in yelling slurs/bigoted shit.

      I’ve always been tangentially fascinated with the furry community, while not one myself. Always seemed like an interesting, weird group, which as someone a part of other weird groups…you go furries.

      • Tattorack@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        14 days ago

        VRChat is the most popular thing that furries use. If you have random people popping in, you’re in an open, public world. But in VRC you also have the ability to open private worlds or extended friend worlds.

  • sudo42@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    14 days ago

    Apple’s (and by extension every VR platform) big mistake is the lack of a Killer App for VR.

    If they didn’t have a compelling use case, them researching and building any VR device is a waste of time, money and effort. Walking out on-stage and saying, “Now you can see dinosaurs in VR” just isn’t a compelling use case, even if they weren’t expensive.

    To me, a decent intermediate step would have been, “Have and unlimited number of huge screens for less than the cost of one big, high-quality monitor.” would have been compelling if it were made small and light enough. Finding a way to continue using the current keyboard and mouse would have made it much more affordable and approachable.

  • arararagi@ani.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    14 days ago

    Apple’s headset was sold as mixed reality, I don’t even know if it can actually do VR and play VR games, and mixed reality is not that interesting actually. If you think VR games aren’t interesting even though they are full experiences nowadays like Asgard’s Wrath and Into the radius, MR games are legit minigames.

    • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      14 days ago

      Mixed reality will be awesome. But we need a handful of killer apps, and the headsets need to be affordable enough that your friends have it, too.

      Apple half-assed their rollout. They should have been dumping money into development of must-have apps before launch.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        14 days ago

        One killer app that I still haven’t found is the ability to scan a living space and then make virtual modifications. I’ve got an idea to expand my kitchen and want to walk around it, and you’d think a VR rig that can scan rooms could do this. But I can’t find any app to do this on any VR platform.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      edit-2
      15 days ago

      I wouldn’t say it’s mainstream just because there are a few affordable options. It’s still a niche subset of gaming in general.

      And guess what? A fancy piece of hardware isn’t going to make it happen. It needs software! Part of the reason VR is stagnating is because it doesn’t have any good fucking games. You’ve got a ton of shit that is no more than a 5-10 minute experience you’d check out once and then never again. You’ve got one, maybe two, actually good games that take full advantage of what VR can do. And that’s it. What good is a VR headset if there is nothing to fucking do in it? Which is exactly what sucks about the Vision Pro. Thing is $3500 and has next to nothing to run on it (like even less than a Quest or PSVR) lol

    • Chozo@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      14 days ago

      Just because those exist doesn’t make them mainstream. Less than 1% of players own any of those devices.

  • vane@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    15 days ago

    I want foldable 3d display to replace tablecloth, not some stupid VR headset.