Microsoft announces new VR headsets for Windows 10, starting at $299(theverge.com)
theverge.com
Microsoft announces new VR headsets for Windows 10, starting at $299
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/26/13418156/microsoft-windows-10-holographic-virtual-reality-headset-announced-price
27 comments
This seems like a pretty big announcement and yet there's no real details. When is this shipping? What software is available? Weird.
I was super excited to preorder an Oculus on the first day... until I saw the price. At a more reasonable price point, this is probably going to get me started on VR, finally. I know it won't be the "best" quality, but the market's too fluid to invest heavily in the high end immediately.
Likewise. I have phone-based VR and a beefy PC. The pricey headsets, limited content and exclusives for headsets have kept me out of the higher end. A friend (also a dev) and I were just chatting yesterday that we'd get hololens and attempt to write apps with it - were it not for the insane price (especially after I wasted almost 2K on Google's Glass debacle). A lower price point and wide availability across vendors might mean fewer exclusives and that is great for the whole industry.
Incidently, I thought Google was doing a good job with the Google VR SDK. But I now am very skeptical since it appears (just my humble, personal opinion) they are more focused on their Daydream platform than they are on wide availability across vendor devices.
Incidently, I thought Google was doing a good job with the Google VR SDK. But I now am very skeptical since it appears (just my humble, personal opinion) they are more focused on their Daydream platform than they are on wide availability across vendor devices.
I bought a fancy PC, a Vive and the Rift to play with them and see how the tech is shaping up.
The Rift may be better now given Zuckerberg's demo and the shipping touch controls, but I ended up selling it. Playing with an Xbox One controller was a pretty bad experience (with the one exception being the space game) and it was overall pretty disappointing compared to the Vive.
The Vive with room scale is something different - it's really impressive. The touch controllers work well and the movement feels natural. The content right now though is pretty limited and Oculus has tied up a lot with software exclusives.
Maybe Oculus will do well with the social stuff they're working on (demo was cool) and GearVR might save them, but the Vive is a much better product right now and worth playing with if you can.
The Rift may be better now given Zuckerberg's demo and the shipping touch controls, but I ended up selling it. Playing with an Xbox One controller was a pretty bad experience (with the one exception being the space game) and it was overall pretty disappointing compared to the Vive.
The Vive with room scale is something different - it's really impressive. The touch controllers work well and the movement feels natural. The content right now though is pretty limited and Oculus has tied up a lot with software exclusives.
Maybe Oculus will do well with the social stuff they're working on (demo was cool) and GearVR might save them, but the Vive is a much better product right now and worth playing with if you can.
Yeah. For $299, I can buy a headset with the knowledge I'm gonna replace it soon. But if I buy an $800 headset, it has to do EVERYTHING.
I did Glass too, and again, HoloLens outpriced my acceptable "stupid expense to be on the leading edge" budget. :D
I did Glass too, and again, HoloLens outpriced my acceptable "stupid expense to be on the leading edge" budget. :D
Buying nextstep on intel (I think it was os 3.3, it cost like $800) was the last big thing I invested in that turned out to be a big mistake, but I'm lucky :-) I happened to think google glass would never go anywhere but that was lucky too. Probably most developers never have been nextstep running (except on a mac ;-)).
If you are not developing for VR then wait. We all know that version 1 is always a bit rubbish. Version 2 is better, version 3 is better and hits the right price point.
Unless Lighthouses are super-seeded by inside-out tracking in all kinds of common household light settings at comparable precision, for the VIVE the thing that needs an upgrade the headset (with a flip up style option for casual use), which will also result in a new non-HDMI connector box, you could still keep the controllers plus the lighthouses.
Also shipping the headset only, should be less pricey than it was on that comparably huge VIVE box set.
I'm quite confident there will be room-scale enabled (foveated) 4k resolution class headsets in the next two years for $500 or less.
Although the money saved will then still have to go towards a more capable GPU than something currently available in the $200 price range.
Also shipping the headset only, should be less pricey than it was on that comparably huge VIVE box set.
I'm quite confident there will be room-scale enabled (foveated) 4k resolution class headsets in the next two years for $500 or less.
Although the money saved will then still have to go towards a more capable GPU than something currently available in the $200 price range.
I bought IO-Glasses (back in 90's) for 1600 Deutsch Marks. Early adoption is not foreign to me. However, somehow I still don't see anything compelling about current VR/AR wave that would nudge me towards buying one.
IO-Glasses were great for Dark Forces though. And a motion sickness after 20+ minutes or so.
IO-Glasses were great for Dark Forces though. And a motion sickness after 20+ minutes or so.
Same with the Google Glass. At the time I was living in a place where $1k USD was way more than I wanted to pay. Looks like it was a good thing I didn't either.
MS is probably selling this at a development loss (probably not a raw materials loss; betting the parts are <=$100 at scale fabrication) just like consoles. They can afford it too, and even if it fails, it's not like it's a large amount of money consumers would lose like with the Glass.
I have a hard time believing the augmentation is as clear as they portray it to be, and you can't really tell without the product either (like trying to show off how good UHD is on a 1080p screen).
I think it'd be interesting if within 4 years, we see versions of this products that are the same size as the holobands from the Caprica tv series.
MS is probably selling this at a development loss (probably not a raw materials loss; betting the parts are <=$100 at scale fabrication) just like consoles. They can afford it too, and even if it fails, it's not like it's a large amount of money consumers would lose like with the Glass.
I have a hard time believing the augmentation is as clear as they portray it to be, and you can't really tell without the product either (like trying to show off how good UHD is on a 1080p screen).
I think it'd be interesting if within 4 years, we see versions of this products that are the same size as the holobands from the Caprica tv series.
Just to touch on the augmentation- I got to try one of these a few days ago, and you're totally right.
The viewing angle can't be more than 1/2 a steradian, and everything has this washed-out and prototype-y feel. I would never buy one of these in their current state.
The viewing angle can't be more than 1/2 a steradian, and everything has this washed-out and prototype-y feel. I would never buy one of these in their current state.
Instead of having a headset, I'd rather have a room with projectors and sensors that can make it more immersive... Besides clothes - guess you'd have to physically change those unless you had some small glasses to augment certain real things.
Does anyone have a link to the demo video? This video refers to the first, but doesn't have much useful info in it.
Man was that ever boring. I was expecting some Direct3D or XBox integration, like a Forza game or something.
Between the stale demo, the lack of technical details, and no release date, I wouldn't be surprised if the headset doesn't actually work all that well yet.
Between the stale demo, the lack of technical details, and no release date, I wouldn't be surprised if the headset doesn't actually work all that well yet.
unfortunately that video just subjected me to a long boring talk which never covered the VR headset. Thank god for the browser plug in which lets you speed up videos!
I was wondering this too. Thanks!
wonder if there is something similar for linux?