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2016 IN REVIEW PART ONE - VIRTUAL REALITY

12/12/2016

26 Comments

 
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Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it's about time we all made a bit more use of it. Preferably by not waiting until it becomes hindsight.

Listen to the average untrained self-help guru and they'll tell you to live in the moment. That sounds like reasonable advice - if typically more easily said than done - but sometimes it's nice to stop and take in the view from the mountain you just climbed. This year, more than most, we've not so much climbed a mountain as been dragged up one by a diarrhoeic, shrieking, mountain monkey.

And yet... despite all the celebrity death, despite all the depressing world events, despite the dangerous polarisation of Western society and the way everyone seems to be more entrenched and inflexible than ever, and despite a lying, exploitative, egomaniac becoming the most powerful man on the planet and proving to be everything many of us said he was... it has sort of been a pretty good year for gaming.

As we barrel towards the end of what few would deny has otherwise been a horrible annus, it felt like time to take in the view of the major gaming events of the past 12 months.

As the first big piece I wrote at the start of 2016 was about Virtual Reality it seems like that's a good place to start this retrospective. C'mon, kids!
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UNCONVINCED
As we stumbled into 2016, unaware of the horrors that lay ahead, I wrote that I was still unconvinced by Virtual Reality.

Now here I am at the other end of a brutal year, the owner of a PlayStation VR headset, with Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive having hit the market.

And how do I feel?

Well, I'm still sort of unconvinced, but a bit less unconvinced than I was. Sort of. I dunno. Let me try to explain, if only for my own benefit.

You see, I really, really like the PlayStation VR. The technology is incredible. The potential for the technology is incredible. There isn't a single person who has had a go on my PSVR who hasn't said "It's so much better than I thought it'd be".

That's pretty much my feeling too. Plus... compared to some of the other options out there, it's as close to affordable as decent VR is right now. 

​As I stated at the time of its release, it's also the closest I'll ever get to owning my own theme park. Not a British theme park, mind, which are basically one step removed from a couple of vomit-stained roundabouts in a Lidl's car park where the floor is littered with the remains of fried chicken meals and hippy crack cannisters - but one of the big, slick, American ones, which bend over backwards to show you their holes in an effort to immerse you and transport you to somewhere else.

'THOLOGY
Sony's anthologies - PlayRoom VR and VR Worlds - do a phenomenal job of selling that potential. From showcasing immersive experiences - such as The Heist - to demonstrating the gaming possibilities, both single-player and multiplayer. Almost everything offered by these two collections could - maybe should - be scaled up to full games. The platformer Robots Rescue is just one stage, but it's almost Miyamoto awesome.

Indeed, I don't think there has been a single PSVR game that I've played - many of which I've never gotten around to writing a full review of, simply because there were so many of them - which I haven't enjoyed on some level. VR can take even the most mediocre gaming experience and lift it to another level. 

Job Simulator, Arkham VR, Battlezone - all are massively enjoyable. Even some of the non-game titles, such as the stop-motion-ish animated story Allumette and Sega's surreal concert experience Hatsume Miku, demonstrate that VR is not just about games.

So... I kind of love VR. At the same time... a couple of months on, and I'm not finding myself gravitating back towards it very often. Given a choice, I'd still rather play a game sprawled on the sofa, looking at the TV.

Why is this, given that the technology feels like the future has finally arrived?

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ORDINARY HORSE
As I just said, my gaming tends to be done laying down on the sofa.

For VR I either have to stand up, or sit up straight, to get the most out of it. Plus, I have to move the coffee table. And I usually have to keep wiping the lenses, because they're always misting up.

These are not a deal-breakers, but are annoying enough that, when added to a lot of other things, becomes a litany of reasons to sort of put me off.

Thanks to PSVR, I've now got so many black wires underneath my TV that it looks as if somebody's dumped a plate of goth linguini on my living room floor.

Whenever I want to play on PSVR, after playing a regular PS4 game, I've got to trace all those wires back to their source, and untangle them, and plug them into the right sockets. You know: rather than just switch on the PS4 and pick up a joypad.


Also... all those wires... all that stuff on the floor... I managed to tread on the corner of the VR processing unit a few weeks back, and cut my foot open quite badly. What's that you say? I should be more organised? Yeah, well. I should be a lot of things, but life doesn't work that way. Also: shut-up.

Like you're perfect.


DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS
It also doesn't help that I still can't play certain VR titles for very long without feeling at least a little nauseous.

It seems that I've managed to build up some resistance - and it isn't as bad as it sometimes was at the beginning of my time with PSVR. Nevertheless, it's hard to forget that - potentially - every time I put on the VR headset, I might come away wanting to do a vomit.

Unless we feel like it's life or death, people tend to take the path of least resistance. Basically, if there are two horses to see, and seeing one of them means a long walk through bushes, and having to climb over a fence, and wear a special pair of gloves, and even if it's a special golden horse with a man's face... I know I'll choose the ordinary horse which doesn't require the faff and won't bite me on the foot or make me feel sick to look at it.

And then... and then there's this: I don't like shutting myself off from the rest of the world. It's rare that I ever get the house to myself... and so if I want to play on PSVR I have to do it with other people wandering around. I feel stupid waving my arms around with a bucket on my head. There has been more than one occasion where - without my knowledge - I've been filmed while playing on it. Because, y'know... it's funny to see someone swatting at imaginary wasps.

Unless that person is a mentally ill relation... and then it's tragic.

DONKEY CONCLUSION
How is the PlayStation VR doing?

Well, as predicted, it's doing far better than the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. According to Venturebeat Sony has a 30% share of the VR market, compared to 11% for Oculus, and just 6% for the eyewateringly pricey Vive. 8% goes to Google's cheap-and-cheerful option, and 7% is swallowed up by Samsung.

The remainder of the market is - according to the report - "comprised of lesser known or lower profile VR headsets, engine providers such as Unity, Epic Games and Crytek, and a handful of developers, with companies in this last group accounting for 1% of the market each."

Again, as anyone could've told you at the start of the year - and, indeed, I did - the cheaper and more accessible the hardware, the better it's going to do. HTC and Valve have invested a small fortune in the Vive. It's interesting to wonder how they might view those sales figures. 

What's not mentioned in the report - and which might help to put all of this in some sort of context - are solid sales figures. The only thing Sony has said is that sales are "on track", without giving specific numbers. Which isn't helpful given that you'd expect them to put a positive spin on things for the purposes of keeping shareholders happy. 

Around the time of launch, analytics firm IHS Markit suggested that the PSVR "could" sell 1.4 million units this year. Which sounds good... but that means only about 2% of PS4 owners will have bought one. And then we're into the familiar Catch-22 situation, where people are only going to buy one if there are things to play on it, and developers are only going to make things to play on it if they stand to recoup their development costs.

Already, the PC is showing a worrying dearth of must-have VR content (to the point that last week HTC - in desperation - announced it was starting up its own games development division). 

While I've softened my stance on VR since the start of this year - it really is very, very cool - most of my concerns, most of my predictions, have come true to a greater or lesser degree. 

​At this stage... I honestly don't know what's going to happen with Virtual Reality in 2017.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: STEEP (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)

REVIEW: WATCH DOGS 2 (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)
​
REVIEW: DISHONORED 2 (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)


26 Comments
Seam
12/12/2016 12:42:57 pm

Have you tried the PSVR add on level for Star Wars Battlefront? It's really very nice indeed, albeit short (about 20mins of play time). It's a free download but obviously you need Battlefront to play it. I bought the game just for that experience as Tesco currently have it for £10 - which I think is worth that at least.
I'm not sure of the value of the higher priced PSVR games but free add ons or lower priced vr specific dlc might be the way to go.
Looking forward to the Resident Evil release in PSVR though - the demo of the first bit of gameplay is terrifying in VR.

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Wicked Eric
12/12/2016 12:54:17 pm

I nearly soiled my kecks playing it on my telly in the dark with my headphones on. I think if I played it in VR my poor heart would give out.

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RichardM
12/12/2016 12:51:00 pm

Commented before that I bought a Google Cardboard to try out the 3D video preview for Rogue One, which gave a dim and blurry and headachey insight into this glorious slice of the future made present... haven't touched it since, all the same.

I think to commit to VR I'd need a killer app, something like Rogue Leader off the GameCube. At the same time seems unlikely major devs will ever commit the readies to make it happen. But maybe Half Life 3.............................................?

(I bet Valve will announce it's coming out in 2017 on Christmas Eve!!!)

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Seam
12/12/2016 02:03:16 pm

The Battlefront VR level is 'almost' Rogue Leader-esque.
It's easily one of the better PSVR experiences and does show the potential of a fully fledged Star Wars vehicle game in VR. Maybe Battlefront 2...

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Spiney O'Sullivan
12/12/2016 04:55:09 pm

A Christmas Eve Half Life 3 announcement? I think you're getting confused. While Gabe Newell is indeed a jolly bearded man of larger build, he is not actually Santa Claus.

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Wiggles
12/12/2016 01:21:18 pm

Since when did it become OK to sell 'potential' at a premium price? I remember when we'd pay less for 'actual'. How is 3DS's 3D a gimmick and Wii's motion control also a gimmick that ruins games, but somehow, the *exact* same things but with the added burden of heavy headsets, headphones, and need for lots of space, are simultaneously "the future"? And all despite there being absolutely no high quality full AAA games for it. Just can't figure out that contradiction. We can all see the potential, but market forces aren't driven that way. VR in gaming, much like MS's Kinect, sadly, I feel, is doomed to failure (and for the exact same reasons). It'll be used alongside kinect by doctors and other non-gaming demographics in a few years having been abandoned by the gaming ecosphere like so much tainted meat. Pity because it is awesome.

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Wiggles
12/12/2016 01:25:00 pm

And still in development technically too... I don't recall paying £800 for a pre-alpha 3DS that played 3D pong.

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Wiggles
12/12/2016 01:31:53 pm

3 main reasons identified to be why Kinect failed:1. No decent games, 2. Expensive, 3. Needs space and is a hassle. Three facts about VR: 1. No decent games, 2. Expensive, 3. Needs space and is a hassle. Ah...oh

Spank Tranknester
12/12/2016 04:06:56 pm

Who is calling Wii's wagglestick a gimmick? Are you dragging in opinions from other, less reputable places?

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Wiggles
12/12/2016 04:21:35 pm

Most of the core gamers didn't really like it much, but the casuals tended to love it. Motion control was decent enough for a few games (metroid prime) as a pointing device. Generally for gesture-based input it wasn't that good.

Spank Trankster
13/12/2016 09:29:02 am

I would say the 3 rules you applied to Kinect apply with more relevance to Wii's waggle wand; sure, they sold a lot at the start, but renewed interest was basically non-existent

Super Bad Advice
12/12/2016 05:16:52 pm

I was as sceptical as the next guy, but it really, absolutely is the future. That said, I have no illusions that we're right on the very edge of that future - in the sense that it won't be mainstream until the hardware is cheaper, simpler, wire-free etc., but today's PSVR is essentially the early 8-bit era for this sort of gaming.

The Kinect analogy is a bit of a red herring because that was limited by the fact you couldn't do anything sophisticated control-wise. VR isn't - it's purely a different method to deliver visuals, but the games you can play can be just as sophisticated (similarly, the Wii and 3DS features are only gimmicks when poorly used - some games on the formats are exceptional and could only work on those formats).

There aren't any 'this is the absolute one, AAA' games to sell the format yet, but that's not to say that there aren't a few that come close even at this early stage. One thing that is notable though is that even a short VR experience has the prospect of being a thrill-up that can exceed what you get out of full-priced games. Case in point being the VR Star Wars Battlefront mission. Yes, it's one simple mission that lasts 20 minutes. But feeling like you're flying your own X-wing? That's truly something else.

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Wiggles
12/12/2016 06:29:49 pm

Not sure about the Kinect thing. The whole point of it was that it was the most advanced input device out there, allowing for very sophisticated (motion) controls at least comparable with Vive’s controllers. It flopped hard for (mainly) the three reasons mentioned. Yes there’s potential for new experiences, yes, there are a few nice tech demos floating around, but the mass market doesn’t care about that. VR's problem is that you need lots of big software to push the hardware. Software is extremely expensive to produce (AAA quality at least) and a sub-critical mass are going to risk investing unless there’s confidence the hardware will actually shift big numbers comparable to a console platform itself (the Wii U sold over 13 million units and is considered a commercial flop). It’s a chicken-and-egg that really hampers peripherals but is overcome at the platform level; hence why the add-on Kinect failed, but the platform Wii succeeded. Even when MS tried to force Kinect into the XB1 and achieve effective-platform status, it was too late and there was still no software for it. So they suffered the embarrassment of silently killing it with the ‘new’ XB1 in a U-turn so huge it exonerated most politicians. You only need to look at sales: VR is a complete flop. While some argue this away by saying it’s still early tech, it actually isn’t. It’s been in development for years and is commercially available to the public as an official product; it’s mature and other devices by now had sold their way to success. You only need to look at sales figures when Wii was released to believe the hype that it was the future; the competition also believed it so much even they jumped on the bandwagon faster than they could shake their musty wallets and rushed out imitations. How they were wrong. The PSVR had the best chance of fixing this by being cheap and more easily available to many, but it’s an optional peripheral, so there’s no serious quantity or quality software, and so no takers bar the numerically insignificant (commercially) early adopters. All the currently available evidence in the bigger picture indicates VR is going to be a flop (for gaming), sadly, similarly to the several previous attempts. The only opportunity for success I can see is if a big company embraces it as a full platform rather than an optional peripheral, e.g. Nintendo releases some major VR console next generation and a ton of quality software that fully utilises it. Then it might take off. But this is unlikely given their focus on ‘family’ gaming experiences where people play together than on their own wearing Biffo’s bucket.

Tough Guy Gus
13/12/2016 09:25:12 am

I really don't see Nintendo having much market influence at all after the WiiU debacle, certainly the idea that the future of VR gaming rests in their hands is close to nonsensical

Wiggles
13/12/2016 09:30:54 am

The Nintendo comment was just an example to illustrate the actual point that VR's success rides in becoming a dedicated platform rather than a peripheral. "Nintendo" could easily be replaced with "Microsoft" or "Sony".

RG
12/12/2016 02:14:47 pm

I don't like the man, but I agree with Zuckerberg in that VR will be the future. Maybe not this year, maybe not next, maybe in five years time, maybe later.

The problems mentioned above will all be on the roadmap, but it's going to be a iterative journey, just like the journey from ZX81 to PS4. There will be a few casualties along the way, but I think the big companies will keep going until it takes off properly rather than missing the boat.

I haven't tried VR for all of the reasons above, but am looking forward to version 2 or 3 with less wires, more games, easier installation, scalability, smaller pricetag... Rome wasn't built in a day.

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Keith
12/12/2016 03:22:28 pm

I've got a PSVR, and ultimately I think it's just the case right now, like it or not, that those of us who fantasised about the potential of VR over a decade before we got to try it do need to be the ones to give it a future, and have some degree of tolerance to its current limits.

There are already some truly brilliant experiences and games right now - it's just that strangely, the types of games we always thought we wanted in VR aren't neccesarily the ones that work best.

Werewolves Within is by far the most fun I've had in VR yet

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something for the weekend
12/12/2016 04:57:36 pm

MR BIFFO WROTE: ​"At this stage... I honestly don't know what's going to happen with Virtual Reality in 2017."

You do and you know you do!
It's going to languish like a poorly seaside donkey bleeding from the snout and anus.

Zuckerberg can't even make people think he's a nice bloke and he's up against lovable tyrants like Jobs and Gates!

I had a PSVR for a weekend and thought it was 'better than I thought it was going to be', but not good enough to keep hold off. I flipped it and made a cheeky few bob into the bargain but I'd have kept it if my 8yr old son had liked it - he shared my fast n sure apathy.
But it was great for an hour or so.

Augmented reality is another kettle of fish entirely.

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RichardM
13/12/2016 10:40:50 am

I could definitely go for one of those Star Wars hologram projector things, like they have in Star Wars. Anything Star Wars really: even Shadows of the Empire on the N64. Did I mention I like Star Wars and that a new Star Wars film is coming out this week?

STAR WARS!

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Joker Products
13/12/2016 12:55:37 pm

Not about the film but yeah, you mentioned Star Wars a bit.

I'd like a holographic projector that projects smiles and giggly faces onto the forlorn.

Also, I'd like to hear more about this film.
So, it's a STORY and it's set between III and IV.... Why does Darth Vader walk so fast in the trailer.... Is the trailer on fire?

RichardM
13/12/2016 01:13:24 pm

It is a STORY: they were hedging their bets with the name and saying it was just going to be a one off, in case it's crap. If it's good they'll make it into a theme park and release 7 sequels. And Darth Vader always walked fast, you're just older and remembering it slower.

Darth n Dumb
13/12/2016 01:41:51 pm

"Vader always walked fast, you're just older and remembering it slower."


You're probably right!
Genuinely laughing at that :)

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Billy-Bob Thornton
13/12/2016 02:01:54 pm

The future? pfft. VR will be pushed onto us and we will happily oblige since the future will consist of a diet eating insects, a planet devoid of flora and fauna since fracking will continue the trend of planetary destruction, demagogue politicians living in the pockets of lobbyists and perpetual war puppeteers driving the war economy, not to mention a robotic workforce replacing their human counterparts and the never ending outsourcing of labour to cheaper markets. We will happily don these knightmarish upturned receptacles just to escape the utter hopelessness of existence.

Merry Christmas.

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RichardM
13/12/2016 02:17:59 pm

Mark Zuckerberg came round my house last night and gouged out my eyes, and replaced them with Christmas baubles. He said I'd see everything in VR but I only saw this: the future.

It was sort of like what you said, but everyone had a headache from all the VR and there were pools of vomit everywhere. But Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was really good.

It wasn't the far future at all! It was just next week! Do you see?

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Perplexed Pete
13/12/2016 03:44:10 pm

Woah!

Jeep Barnett
13/12/2016 04:51:55 pm

You absolutely shouldn't accept sickness as a part of VR. This is down to software and game design. Opt for games that are leveraging VR's strengths and limitations (more common in Roomscale VR) and there's a ton of great stuff that won't make anyone sick. It also helps to have the better lenses (reduced pupil swim) and tracking on PC.

Where analysts get their numbers is a complete mystery: http://www.roadtovr.com/what-vr-headset-makers-not-analysts-have-actually-said-about-sales-expectations/

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Arizona Sunshine (http://store.steampowered.com/app/342180/)
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