4 Stumbling Blocks Before Virtual Reality Can Really Get Here
Over the course of this year, the excitement regarding Virtual Reality has been steadily building up. Already, the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift look to be doing fairly well, and other players such as Sony with its PlayStation VR have been generating quite a bit of interest.
In short, virtual reality may finally be ‘here’ – so to speak. However, as much as things seem to be heading in that direction, there are still a few stumbling blocks that are cause for concern and may even prevent it from getting the widespread acceptance amongst customers that it needs.
- Price of virtual reality devices
On the whole, virtual reality devices can be pretty expensive. So far the HTC Vive is probably the most expensive of the lot, but the Oculus Rift really isn’t that much cheaper either. The other big problem with both devices is the fact that they require PCs with high specifications – and that exacerbates the cost that the customer needs to bear even further.
The one exception so far seems to be the PlayStation VR that is not only cheaper than its competitors, but can also be used on any PlayStation 4 – removing the need for any additional hardware.
photp/ Wren Handman via Pixabay
- Game availability
While there are quite a decent selection of virtual reality games already available, so far, there is no landmark title that really fully takes advantage of virtual reality while at the same time draws sufficient interest to make gamers want to move over to VR platforms. That could change in the near future, and indeed, some of the games on the horizon such as Batman Arkham VR might be able to do just that.
- Comfort and design
Although the current generation of VR devices are all designed to be as comfortable as possible, they are still found to be wanting by some. Many of the people who have tried these devices report that they tend to feel a bit uncomfortable if worn for an hour – or more. Add to that the incessant problem of virtual reality sickness and there is still quite a bit of room for improvement.
- Non-gaming acceptance
For now, the bulk of the focus of virtual reality is gaming – and that’s understandable. However, at some point, virtual reality needs to be able to go beyond that, and reach the non-gamers in ways that will be useful to their lives as well. Whether or not that is possible remains to be seen, and it isn’t likely to be high on the ‘to-do’ list of any of the virtual reality players right now.
Already, many analysts are starting to become more cautious with their approach to virtual reality. The prevalent feeling right now is that while the technology is there, it may be at least another year or two before it actually arrives in people’s living rooms.
That being said, advancements in VR are still taking place on an almost daily basis – and every new announcement seems to inch it closer to that widespread acceptance that it needs. Suffice to say, virtual reality will eventually get here – the only real question is: When?
Guest Author: Mariia Lvovych
