John Carmack thinks that the future of VR is in mobile tech
Since Oculus got everyone sweaty over virtual reality, the focus has mostly been on games, and specifically PC games. But that’s been slowly changing since it was acquired by Facebook, and the Oculus Rift has started to be positioned as this ubiquitous device in the same way the smartphone is now.
Don't care for platform wars? Check out the best VR games on PC.
That’s always been the plan, though. At his GDC talk today, John Carmack discussed the potential of mobile VR, and why it was the reason he originally started working with Oculus in 2013.
“Some people ask 'Why mobile VR at all?' It's a fair question, especially where most of the Oculus base is the hardcore PC gamer,” said Carmack as he started his talk. "We've got a ton of people working hard on it, but there's an opportunity to go beyond it. I can still say at GDC that VR goes beyond gaming.”
Carmack envisions a world where billions of people use VR, but he doesn’t think that can happen through gaming and PC peripherals alone. But billions of people already use phones, that’s a market that’s already around the scale he wants VR to get to.
Oculus’ current mobile venture is the Samsung Gear VR, which only works on the massive Galaxy Note 4. An updated version is in the works for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
My cyberpunkian cyberspace hopes and bizarre dreams, smashes against the rocks of reality.Thanks Carmack.
Sounds great to me. The main problem I'm grappling with is how to keep phones from overheating. It's a HARD problem.
He's got a point I think. Personally I'm not interested in slapping my phone on my face, but they have to reach a mass market and phones are probably it. If that makes a desktop version financially viable so that I can crap my pants in Alien Isolation then that's fine by me.
While it does go beyond gaming, I don't see mobile vr working, At least until they get it down to Gordi's 90's eye band. Which is a long, long way away.
I have a note 4, Its brilliant, do i want to cart around a head set, card board thing to fold out all the time. Nope. Do i want to sit on a train surround by strangers with a dollar sign on my head. Nope.
Ar on the other hand, Though imagine the ad's as you walk through a mall.
I think ar is a better option but with google glass being cancelled it seems unlikely it will get anywhere.
.
But it would be really cool to have a information HUD over your eyes for stuff like shopping or exhibits somewhere. Also would help with my plan to make an iron man suit using plumbing equipment.
This is the correct way to go but when the gear vr is nearly £200 for what is basically a phone holder they may as well just sell a full vr headset.