Virtual reality is on its way with the first consumer oriented headsets and games due out next year. However, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey still knows that there is more work to be done before virtual reality can be truly successful, one obstacle that he recently spoke out on was the use of cables, branding them as a ‘major obstacle' to VR success. He also seems to think that mobile VR will be successful long before PC due to the difference between wired and wireless operation.
In a couple of tweets yesterday, Luckey offered some further insight in to the kinds of problems he thinks about when it comes to VR's long-term success: “Cables are going to be a major obstacle in the VR industry for a long time. Mobile VR will be successful long before PC VR goes wireless. It is important to design both hardware and software with those limitations in mind. Real users won't have cable servants.”
The big thing here seems to be immersion. Wire free movement will keep you from tripping up, having cables dangling over you or even stepping on more cables. This is also partially why the Oculus Rift is being pushed as a ‘seated' experience for now, with games designed to be used with an Xbox controller, though the Oculus Touch motion controllers are also going to be a big focus.
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KitGuru Says: Virtual reality is going to make a big splash next year, with Valve, Sony and Oculus/Facebook all making a big push. I'm not sure cables will be much of an issue for me personally, though they may bother some, especially if you are playing a game that requires more movement. Do you guys think the use of cables on VR headsets will be a big deal? Would you consider it an immersion breaker?
Definitely great points. I’ll be grabbing the Oculus on it’s release, as I’m ridiculously excited for VR, and supporting the company will really push the technology forward 🙂
It’s a good job AuraVisor doesn’t need wires to immerse you in VR. 4% to go until funding on Kickstarter http://kck.st/1OEM9KD If anyone wants to give it a try we will be holding a session on the 12th November in London. Get in touch for details.
But AuraVisor still require android or its own OS to still give low quality gaming. If you want high quality graphics, great fame rate and great speed. You need to wire up for now. We are just going to have to deal with it until technology can stream wireless video at extreme high frame rate. The data rate has to be high to, just to keep up with our movements.
The problem with wireless is not bandwidth as you can get 10 Gbit/s over wireless connection, but the latency of over-the-air transmission. Maybe it is possible if the receiver unit is placed very close to the headset, a few feet away one can get low enough latency for it to be usable for realtime 3D graphics.