Saturday, February 8, 2014

Virtual Reality and a note on Kinect

There's been a lot of talk lately about the Oculus Rift, and a few other companies (Sony, Valve) apparently working on something of their own. Some people are arguing that virtual reality (VR) is the future of gaming. On the surface, it may certainly seem like it. I've heard hands-on reports of the Oculus Rift that sound like an amazing, truly immersive experience the likes of which we can't even imagine with our little flat-panel displays.

But VR by itself can't be the next big thing. It needs something to drive it. There's going to need to be a "killer app" for the device, something truly ground-breaking, easily accessible, and (the biggest bit) affordable. Those last two also means it has to be able to run on pretty much anything, as far as a PC goes, or to run it off of existing hardware like a Playstation 4 or Xbox One. You have to make the initial investment small enough to be affordable to most people, and enough that they'll think that it's worth it.

The problem is, I don't think there is such a killer app just yet. And right now, Oculus Rift needs a pretty hefty PC to push it. Not necessarily just the VR portion, either, that's not really any more demanding than normal 3D. But in order to feel realistic, it's going to have to look realistic, too, which means using some of the latest rendering technology and the most powerful game engines out there. One of the more impressive demos I've heard about is from an upcoming title called Star Citizen, a science-fiction game using the CryEngine. CryEngine is certainly up to the task, and creates easily some of the best graphics in gaming today. But it comes at a cost of needing a pretty beefy rig to run it effectively (which is why, even though it's available on consoles, it remains a stigma of high-end PC gaming).

As it is, I think VR will be, at best, a niche item for the time being. In a few more years, maybe with the next console generation, we can see VR packaged in the box, automatically putting it into millions of homes across the world. But until then, I think VR users will remain in the minority. Maybe I'll be part of that. Maybe I won't. We'll have to wait and see.

Now, I just wanted to throw in a quick word about Kinect, based on a discussion I just saw. The question essentially boiled down to "We have the hardware, so where's the software?" With the previous generation, Kinect was an optional thing, and developers tended to shy away from it since they couldn't guarantee a large enough install base to guarantee that their game would sell enough to be profitable. With this new generation, a Kinect is included in the box with every Xbox One, and yet developers are still shying away from it. Why? I think the answer is pretty obvious, really... people still don't want to actually play the damn thing. Given the choice, I think most Xbox One owners would rather unplug it and put it in a closet. Gamers still want the same experience they had before, and it's already been proven that Kinect's control style is completely unsuited to the "hardcore" experience. So right away, any game marketed strictly to Kinect would have to be a niche title, probably one aimed at younger gamers (which isn't even the primary market for the system as a whole). Also consider that, as an exclusive piece of hardware, the concept of a multiplatform release is thrown right out the window, further limiting the potential profits from the game's release. Which, in turn, reduces the amount of money a developer is willing to invest in the title. Sort of a downward spiral, really. Developers are going where the money is, which is in the opposite direction from Kinect. They're sticking with what works... big-budget AAA titles spread across every available platform.

Sorry, Microsoft, but I think the plan has already failed. You built it, and they did not come.

On a small gaming note, I've found a cure for incontinence in the form of Red Barrels' Outlast. Because this game will make you shit yourself in fright. I don't know what in the hell I was thinking downloading it.