Tom's Hardware's GDC 2017 Highlights

[Guest]

In which we recap the highlights from our time at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017.

Tom's Hardware's GDC 2017 Highlights : Read more

 

[envy14tpe]

Who is tomshardware? I have yet to see a real person. You guys should go youtube...even though tech youtubers are plentiful.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Tom was the founder of Tom's Hardware years ago, though I don't think he works directly with Tom's Hardware anymore.

It might be a good idea to go youtube, but the competition would be fierce...

 

[RavenDeth]

VR is currently way overblown. It's VR this and VR that and the huge bricks on your face. But how about all the issues? People getting dizzy, headaches and sick using these devices. You can't use them for long periods of time or the above happens. These are not designed for the mass market and are way overpriced for what they do.

And yet, all these companies are pushing this tech on us and the media eats it up. I'll get into VR when they remove the huge headset requirement and don't make people get headaches or sick after using the devices.

 

[scolaner]

Who is tomshardware? I have yet to see a real person. You guys should go youtube...even though tech youtubers are plentiful.

Heh. Our faces are pictured below the articles we write. (Except for on a piece like this one, where multiple editors/writers contributed.)

The "Tom" of Tom's Hardware is a real guy, yes. Dr. Tom Pabst. He stepped away a decade or so ago. As we're fond of saying now, "we're all Tom."

 

[scolaner]

VR is currently way overblown. It's VR this and VR that and the huge bricks on your face. But how about all the issues? People getting dizzy, headaches and sick using these devices. You can't use them for long periods of time or the above happens. These are not designed for the mass market and are way overpriced for what they do.

And yet, all these companies are pushing this tech on us and the media eats it up. I'll get into VR when they remove the huge headset requirement and don't make people get headaches or sick after using the devices.

Have you tried a Rift or Vive or PSVR?

 

[WhyAreYou]

Very nice highlights, nice pics!

 

[elho_cid]

VR is currently way overblown. It's VR this and VR that and the huge bricks on your face.

It's just another attempt to create a new market for devices no-one really needs. Just like the smartwatches few years ago, and it will probably fail as well. And VR already failed to gain mass market interest twice since 80's. Despite all the attention it got from tech magazines.

 

[ubercake]

They should create a VR program for people to see what it's like to wear a VR headset for more than a couple of minutes. This way there wouldn't be so much talk about VR.

 

[scolaner]

They should create a VR program for people to see what it's like to wear a VR headset for more than a couple of minutes. This way there wouldn't be so much talk about VR.

Therein lies the rub. Lots of talk about this all over the industry. It's REALLY hard to get people excited about your thing when all they can see is a (literal!) black box, and someone going "Whoa!".

There's really no substitute for seeing a good demo in a high-end VR HMD. Cardboard is super cheap and far more ubiquitous, but Cardboard and Rift/Vive/PSVR have as much in common as a go kart and an F1 racer. They both have four wheels and are fun to drive but...

I think XR adoption will come, in time. It's just going to be a little slow because it's taking so long for enough people to see the really good stuff that they get excited.

 

[Co BIY]

I'm am a VR skeptic but ...

- $200 dollar price drop on the Oculus bundle and the 1080 to $500.

The price for entry is really improving and many of the issues with the technology are getting fixed.

In a 3-4 years I suspect VR will be fully mainstream among gamers, computer geeks and tech nerds. That level of broad adoption is needed before we find out if it will have real uses beyond entertainment. I see it as big as console gaming (or at least all consoles will be VR machines) at minimum. But will it be bigger than that ?