Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    PC

    Platform »

    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    Windows Mixed Reality: A Promising Move to More Accessible VR

    Avatar image for blackredgaming
    BlackRedGaming

    273

    Forum Posts

    2

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 33

    User Lists: 7

    Edited By BlackRedGaming
    No Caption Provided

    Today, I learned of Microsoft's big push into the virtual reality scene with their new initiative known as Windows Mixed Reality. This new step includes new headsets from various tech companies, a hub called Cliff House, VR games in the windows store, and more. I wanted to talk about this because I feel that this is the first step to a more affordable and accessible VR and could be the start of a bigger push into the landscape that could finally get VR to be a widely used device.

    In my opinion, VR is something that should've waited until the time and tech was right. I felt its release was too early, as for the hardware to run the device had to be top-notch, and the amount of content available was not enough. In other words, VR started as a pricey device with no standout games that made you want to go to the platform. That and many more issues plagued HTC Vive and Oculus Rift at launch, which left VR in a state of a product filled with potential yet lacking the manpower to use that tool. To this day, a lot of these problems still exist, even with Oculus and HTC heavily dropping the price on their headsets.

    Well, Microsoft and all of the companies developing for Microsoft's new initiative decided to take their time and wait, as for they have now just entered the VR landscape today with everything already stated above. If everything is what they say it is, this could be the first step into an actual shift into VR.

    I wanted to start with a clarification about the name Mixed Reality. At first, I thought they were talking about augmented reality, but discovered that they are not the same. Instead, mixed reality is actual in between augmented and virtual, and they do this by essentially doing the opposite of augmented reality. Instead of putting virtual objects in the real world, physical objects are put into the virtual world. Honestly, this and augmented reality are the weaker parts of this new shift, as for they have very little content behind. I believe that augmented reality will be the next big thing, but I don't see this as the start of it. A lot of the focus instead is on virtual reality, and that is where things are exciting.

    The four headsets currently on the market.
    The four headsets currently on the market.

    The specs of the headsets are very similar both between each other and between Oculus and Rift, so buying at the cheaper price point doesn't mean a worse product. And while the older sets are now around the same price point, these newer ones offer features that offers easier use. Instead of mounting cameras around your room, mixed reality puts the tracking cameras into the headset, which track the controllers. Also, the system supports lower spec computers and laptops and will only take up one USB 3 and HDMI port. These new features can also make the headset a bit more portable. If you have a compatible laptop, then the headset can also come without the need of lugging around cameras as well.

    All of the features stated and more tells me two things about this product: simplicity and accessibility. If you have the VR audience be limited to people who understand the complex hardware and software and have the money to afford all of it, then you will have developers who won't make games for the headsets due to risk of not making profit. In the end, these headsets will be played a lot in stores that demo the headsets because store demos are the only practical way to use Rift and Vive. With this headset, you have a cheaper product that has an easier setup both in hardware and software that is perfect for someone who wants to plug in and play. On top of that, if mixed reality is put into the stores as demos, showing the ease of use as well as the gameplay of the headsets could show a big shift in the VR population.

    Unfortunately, not everything is perfect with this new product. I think that launching four headsets with more on the way while having little difference between them other than look is confusing. To find out that these headsets are similar, I had to look up the specs and compare them, which is a complexity that goes against its simplicity. Also, the controllers look and are said to be rather clunky compared to the Rift controllers. I think a good controller is a big aspect of a good VR experience, so the clunky controllers is a little disheartening. Finally, the headsets are limited to the small library on the Windows store until they are supported on SteamVR at the end of the year. The end of the year is coming soon though, so the wait won't be too long.

    The controllers for Mixed Reality. The same controllers come with each headset.
    The controllers for Mixed Reality. The same controllers come with each headset.

    Despite some flaws, I feel that Mixed Reality is the best chance currently of bringing VR to a much larger audience by making it simple and accessible. I hope that these headsets bring in a large enough audience for developers to start making more and better games for the system, which in turn could start the big VR movement that we all thought would happen when it started. I just hope that its late arrival will not deter the headset. Whether or not this new initiative will be successful will only be told as time passes, but I do hope that this is the beginning of a true VR phase.

    Avatar image for deactivated-5a923fc7099e3
    deactivated-5a923fc7099e3

    533

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    VR has found a niche market. The racing sim and flight sim crowd is switching from multi screen setups to VR and the price drops will likely cause more of those people to get a headset. But aside from this VR is a flop IMO.

    I'm not sure if releasing a confusing line of headsets will save this market. One of the biggest problem is motion sickness and the way this impacts what developers can deliver. A game were you teleport around just doesn't look apealing. That being said I do believe that you get used to VR. I have a Rift and at first I only could play the thing for 10 minutes or so but now I can race for hours on end. But most people will probably not try VR after they feel sick from it. So developers choose to limit the amount of camera movement in games and thus we end up with a load of tame and underwhelming games. It's a catch 22 situation that seems hard to solve.

    Microsoft also needs to make sure that their headsets are compatible with Steam and Rift games. If they limit these things to the Xbox store I don't think people who have a Vive or Rift will be making the switch.

    Avatar image for blackredgaming
    BlackRedGaming

    273

    Forum Posts

    2

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 33

    User Lists: 7

    @bdead: I agree with you with the whole motion sickness thing, which is why we need a bigger focus on VR so we can solve this issue. I would love to play Doom in VR(I have tried awhile ago), but teleporting kills the game. As for the store, the system will get steamvr support soon.

    Avatar image for hughj
    hughj

    228

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    Window's Mixed Reality might help people for getting over the MSRP hurdle for hardware adoption (although the Rift permanently being at $399 now seems to make that less of an issue), but it's still going to have a problem with the trade-off between having content that meets or exceeds user expectations and having that content actually perform well enough on the average desktop computer or laptop. Low latency requires low frame times, and you only get that with very stripped down content, or a moderately powered gaming computer. This initiative by Microsoft was done because the reception to Hololens was pretty lukewarm and needs to stay in the oven a while longer, and because MS wanted a stopgap platform that could also appease their numerous hardware partners that were unable to sell their own HMD hardware until now.

    "In my opinion, VR is something that should've waited until the time and tech was right. I felt its release was too early, as for the hardware to run the device had to be top-notch, and the amount of content available was not enough."

    Nothing has really changed in that regard, imo. The biggest hurdles for VR adoption were (and still are) the low visual fidelity, stiff hardware requirements, and the lack of killer app use cases on the same level that Lotus123, desktop publishing, or the internet were for PC. Bespoke made-for-VR games are cool, but the cost of game development is high, the value for dollar expectations from consumers are high, and the size of the market is small. VR games made by teams larger than 10 people have little hope of earning their money back, and games made by fewer people have a hard time justifying their price -- the 'chicken or the egg' problem of content on a nascent platform.

    I think VR will probably continue to struggle with this problem until the HMDs have sufficient fidelity (pixels per degree) to be a viable display replacement for any/all existing tasks in the same way that the Iphone was able to leverage the common usage of cellphones, ipods, and the web. The fact that the Iphone had an app store was pretty incidental to how viable it was early on, where as the value VR brings right now is purely contained within their app stores. Having a $200-400 HMD that can give your PC or laptop as many virtual monitors as you like, or make the Netflix video you're watching on your phone look like an Imax is something that wouldn't need tons of GPU horsepower to run, and would be an easy sell when TVs and monitors cost several times as much. All of the available or announced VR HMDs though are still on the order of 1/10th the perceived resolution of a current TV/monitor though, so we're probably not going to see it anytime soon.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.