No. VR is probably destined to remain a niche interface. There just aren't enough potential applications which would benefit from VR, or which would be improved with VR. It won't be adopted en masse because there will never be that great a demand for it.
Although if the price went down, what demand there was would probably be met. I definitely don't want to pay $400 or more for something that should just be a peripheral.
Anyone who's seen clips of an NFL or NBA game on a VR headset knows that this is the future. Unfortunately we are not there yet and development seems to have really cooled down recently. In fact we might have another VR winter on hand until someone makes a new breakthrough and re-awakens all the hype and interest. But I don't think it's too far-fetched to say that sometime within my lifetime VR could easily become the main delivery medium of entertainment, replacing TV sets, movie screens and gaming consoles for most households
Even beyond entertainment, when working hours in an office, I'd rather look at a beach or fantasy landscape with a nice ambient sound than a dull wall with rain under a greyish light outside. I'd likely spend most of my time in VR just because it's nicer.
Life-like VR fundamentally holds the promise of being one more great social equalizer if you can essentially simulate material wealth (objects, locations) like a video game, even just the visual part of it. E.g. IKEA is all over such research, with good reason.
Most people also don't realize that in terms of communication, any non-physical interaction (so excluding sex and hugs) would be just as good in VR as in reality, thereby making face-to-face meetings the norm anew (like before any form of distant communication existed, save for mail). That's bound to be a healthy change, a welcome improvement from text, audio and even video.
It's just a little bit too early indeed, and probably headed for a (shorter) winter I agree. Come 2030ish we should have much more decent options to move forward (from current specs you'd estimate a 10x at least to reach 'acceptable' capabilities, and more like 100x if you seek visually life-like sim, i.e. ~250px per arc minute at 100Hz or more over at least 180° field of view).
I’ve been using my Quest daily for working out since I bought it in May, hard to argue with 30 pounds of weight loss. On the other hand, I’ve never actually gamed with it, or used it for anything other than about an hour of fitness daily. Totally worth it for me, I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Mostly BoxVR but with some BeatSaber mixed in. BoxVR is super effective once you’ve learned its quirks and really commit to shadow kick boxing (putting a lot of force into your punches). BeatSaber is more fun and less of a grind, but its lack of a fitness mode means you fall out of zone too much inside and between songs. I want to try some more games with fitness potential like PistolWhip, and I’m still hoping for something better than BoxVR, which has a lot of usability deficiencies.
You should get the "Thrill of the Fight". Better workout than BoxVR and truly feels like a real boxing match (except for the part where you don't end up with a black eye).
I have it and it seems to require way too much space. Would nice to have a tutorial or something, and also because it is like real boxing, it is much more difficult to grind. There really isn’t a rhythm you can easily get into, you have to keep thinking and reacting. Rhythm games have a huge advantage in the grinding department.
I’ve bangered up my hands with BoxVR enough by hitting my controllers against my headset. Really should wear glove or something.
