The internet is not very good at blowing things insanely out of proportion. Oh wait....

Fuck.

Hot Take Jeff Gerstmann.

Well after skimming twitter everyone is saying VR is dead now because of this image so I was wrong.

I can see where Jeff is coming from but I think times have changed. I don't think it's that big of a deal to a mainstream audience. We live in the 21st century of Sasquatch selling beef jerky. Just saying!

The cover is now totally worth it.

It's a bad cover, but come on, it's not going to have that much of an effect.

No, you were correct. It's just that everyone is overreacting to the same thing. It's pretty funny that it's a magazine cover that they think is ruining something they like.

You would think that a billion dollar startup would have at least some veto power over what their cover ends up looking like. I wish they would have shown a screenshot of EVE Valkyrie or something depicting why the view inside of the goggles is appealing in the first place.

It's a silly cover, but it says *right there* that VR is joyous and is going to change the world

Things will be okay

gg VR

@cale said:

From the article:

Good stuff. I only hope that one day I too will be able to talk in normal sentences, just like Palmer.

I made a weird noise with my mouth

That is the worst cover yet. I mean, had they picked artwork from an early 90's EGM or Gamepro magazine cover it would have been better. I'm convinced this cover is supposed to be ironic and hipster douche from Brooklynn run Time now.

That quoted excerpt is just insane. Turn on the news clown. The "nerds" are mainstream and running the fucking planet at this point. People should say, "Doesn't talk like your typical non nerd."

@cale said:

From the article:

Good stuff. I only hope that one day I too will be able to talk in normal sentences, just like Palmer.

Christ...was this written by Zack Morris?

I really hope this was all Palmer Luckey's idea.

I thought it was a joke, the people at time seem like they're stuck in the last century especially after reading that horrible article outtake.

the internet is garbage

VR will never gain mainstream acceptance. People do not want to limit their senses to view entertainment. It happened with the 3d TV market and it will happen with VR.

@gorillamopena said:

the internet is garbage

Wow. That's a quick turnaround. Almost makes it feel like they did it on purpose. I doubt they're that self-aware, but still.

I think it'll blow over. 3D glasses that relied on tech failed before because the only real benefit was to games. They relied on bespoke patches you had to apply yourself, much like game mods.

An example from a while back was Andretti Racing which had a 3D glasses version, the small 3D hardware company involved went bust so any development agreements above the working 10 or so they had were forgotten about quickly.

In this case something closer to true VR is involved and the companies are larger, and have other revenue streams. They're more cut-throat maybe, but there are more markets than games to explore. It doesn't matter if an estate agent can't be bothered to get out of bed, you could still see the inside of a property in a similar way to Street View.

The mainstream population will adopt the hell out of VR once good porn gets onto it and someone makes a vibrating USB fleshlight. (that probably exists already, but what a great combo!)

This image actually makes me actively dislike the thought of VR, so it is very effective in a way.

Print Media; Killing Itself since 2002.

Sorry guys, it's what you look like with those things on your head. And who needs shoes to fly? It's not like he's ever going to touch the ground

Palmer Luckey is pretty awesome. Fuck Palmer Luckey. :(

oh, man! that's terrible!

Another one because I felt like it.

Did Palmer Luckey even research who was going to write this thing? Require that he be given final say on the cover photoshoot?

Unless this some sort of brilliant "no publicity is bad publicity" thing, Palmer Lucky has lost a good deal of my respect. It's funny how people can be so smart in some ways, and so dumb in others.

But print magazines are dinosaurs and Time has been a joke for years now. By the time devices like the Rift and Morpheus are in stores and ready to purchase, no one but the internet will remember this stupid article even existed.

The especially sad part of this is the old man yelling at this particular cloud is only 44 years old.

@ravelle: that russian doctor was successful with his transplant, it seems.

The beach is fake, but the crabs are real.

That cover says to me "Hey!I love blackjack, so I'm doubling down on this shit!!" #hatersgonnahate

VR had a good run.

If I didn't already think Palmer Lucky was an awesome dude, seeing that picture would probably make me think he was some kind of weirdo.

However, hearing about the bomb crew's experiences with him, he seems like an alright dude. Fuck Time Magazine. VR is here to stay.

Pretty sure 3d didn't take off because it's kinda trash.

I felt the same way in 2006 seeing you sitting on the couch waggling to play Wii Sports. This too shall pass.

The worst part is the beach background, seriously what the hell is going on with that? It looks like the work of a child that just discovered photoshop. Personally, I think it's pretty hilarious. I'm sure there are people that this will turn off, but I didn't want them stinking up my cybermansion anyway.

If a goofy-ass cover on Time magazine was all it took to lose a "good deal" of your respect, then he never had it in the first place.

Yep.

To be fair this is basically the kind of garbage I picture every time I hear people discuss how much they dig on Oculus. Regardless of how much better it's likely to be this go-around VR as a concept still has one hell of a stigma to overcome.

I thought this was a re-print of a cover from the early/mid 90's when I saw it on the front page.

Pretty bummed out about being wrong.

I don't know, that's kind of the most accurate image to represent my thoughts on VR.

Yes.

Let it all burn.

Well, it's an exaggeration, but it's still sad to see someone so smart allow people to make them look so stupid.

Showing someone wearing a headset and standing in a stupid pose is about as accurate a representation of VR as showing someone sitting in a movie theater is an accurate representation of film.

Always love reading Gerstmann's articles. My exact thoughts too. But, that's a really amazing cover.

Oculus needs to immediately fire their PR team for letting that ever make it to print.

There is no background in existence that you could photoshop behind that pic of Palmer that would make this product shine in a brighter light. Even if the product was a consumer-grade jetpack he would still look like a total pansy and the casuals would think it looks totally lame.

@spaceinsomniac: The reality is that this is often what people look like when playing VR games. There's really no way around this, and looking at how many people have substituted other silly-looking VR-playing pictures in this very thread, it sort of backs up that notion. No matter what you did, showing someone playing VR is going to look weird.

Is the whole beach photoshop dumb? Sure. But I think this is one of those protest-too-much situations. Alex tweeted earlier about the "aggro self-consciousness of VR detractors", but the people I see being super self-conscious here are of the pro-VR camp.

A clip wasn't unloaded in VR's chances. This is the mainstream news being as ignorant of video game as they always are. It's nothing new.