WEBVTT - The State of VR 2016 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:14.800 Forward Thinking. Hey there, and welcomed up. Forward Thinking, the 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.760 podcast that looks of the future says, ever since I 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.239 was younger, I was into video games. I'm Lauren buck 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.640 Obama and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we're going to 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:26.960 be revisiting a topic that we've talked about on the 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.159 show before. But I felt like we were due for 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.280 an update. Yeah, because those back in when we talked 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:37.080 about the first time, December, which is late in the year, 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.120 was like all the way in December. I think there's 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:46.920 a few months after December. There's no February. The topic 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.360 today is going to be virtual reality. Oh shoot, because 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.760 I looked at virtual realty, oh, like like like lands 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.880 you would buy in in in like some city or something. 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.560 Oh that that wouldn't be a bad topic in itself. Actually, 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.280 maybe some uses of virtual reality in the future will 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.800 involve selling homes at low, low prices. Yeah, I'm pretty 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.760 sure they will actually, so Okay, So in this original 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.880 episode in we went really deep into the history of 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.039 virtual reality, including a lot of uses outside of the 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:22.280 gaming industry, like an therapy and training program stuff like that. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:26.160 That history, as far as we know, has not changed. 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.400 As long as no little police call boxes with a 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.759 defective chameleon device have landed somewhere in the past and 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:36.720 messed things up. I'm pretty sure all the VR news 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.480 are fixed points in time. I'm pretty sure they are. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.399 I mean, unless we're dealing with one of those like 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.679 Bahnstein Bear issues, that thing is still messing me up. Man. 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:48.000 All right, well, that's that's fair. I'm more of a 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.920 Weeping Angels kind of guy myself. But yeah, so we 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:55.960 wanted to to revisit this specifically because VR was one 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.120 of those things that went through an incredibly rough patch 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.720 shortly after the term got popularized. Yeah, and I think 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.240 that's because versions of it were being brought, would you say, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.679 to market I don't know, at least to consumer experience 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:12.720 in a way. Even if people weren't buying things to 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.680 keep in their homes, people were going to malls and 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.079 shows and stuff like that where they can get into 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:23.080 some kind of virtual reality experience. And it was underwhelming. Yeah, 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:27.119 the the expectations did not meet. Uh, we're not met, 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.840 I should say, especially based upon the amazing depictions we 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:38.480 got from Hollywood like lawnmower Man, you know, phenomenal depictions 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:45.160 of VR experience, Yes, exactly, but but certainly lanmore Man 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.480 is less nauseating than some of these early virtual reality headsets. 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.040 For you, I can speak from experience because we're talking 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.919 about the nineties, right, Yeah. I think I actually said 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.160 this in our In fact, I'm sure I said it 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.520 in our episode, which I did not go back and 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.360 listen to. But I am. I can't imagine that I 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.040 would have let a VR discussion go by without talking 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.400 about my personal experience of playing Dactyl Nightmare or whatever 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.720 it was, or Dactyl Terror, the polygon pterodactyl game that 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.640 was a VR game. They used to showcase it in 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.160 a mall that's not too far from where we are now. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.519 And I would go to this mall and spend five 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.600 of my heart earned dollars to spend five minutes feeling 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:33.560 very sick in this very primitive yeah, which vaguely pterodactyl 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:38.920 shaped polygons. Yeah, coming after me. It was not as 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.760 as awesome, like I could see the potential even then, 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.800 Like the head tracking software was amazing, the idea that 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.200 I could turn my head in real life and my 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.880 view in the virtual world would change as a result 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:55.000 of that. It was a cool idea. The latency issue 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.560 was terrible because that's what starts to create that feeling 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.040 of being nauseated, right, and that this is the problem 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.480 where the the hardware can't quite keep up. It's not 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.880 able to serve images to your eyes at just the 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.080 right speed to match how you're turning your head, so 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.760 instead there's this kind of dragging FCT that's swimmy kind 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.640 of feel. Now that was the case back in the nineties. Uh, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.479 Today we have much more powerful processors, including video processors 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.520 graphics processors, where we've managed to and by we, I 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.479 mean people who actually work on this stuff, have managed 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.400 to reduce that latency to a point where it is 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.560 not really detectable by humans and and we're surprisingly good 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.240 at noticing that. So that was a big challenge. Yeah, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.760 And that was the news that we were reacting to 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:47.279 when we talked about this and when we sort of 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.960 asked the questions, after so many bad incarnations over the years, 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.120 is virtual reality just dead forever? Or can can it 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.920 really come back? And can new innovations in VR make 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.560 the technology more attractive? And even thing that will become 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.680 the new way to have you know, virtual, immersive or 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:09.080 gaming experiences. Right, could this potentially be the replacement of 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.720 your traditional console or gaming PC. And there have been 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.120 some interesting developments on that question already. I've seen some 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:20.560 tech journalists calling twenty sixteen the year of VR. Understandable 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:22.920 that may be that may be premature, since we've only 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.040 made it a little bit into twenty sixteen, but they 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:26.760 might have a good reason for doing that. Because I 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.680 want to report on some survey results from the Game 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:36.840 Developers Conference State of the Industry Survey for sixteen, which 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.520 came out January sixteen, and it's based on feedback from 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:44.000 more than two thousand game developers who were attendees of 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.960 this conference, and they said, in the past year, the 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:52.440 percent of participating game developers working on VR projects has 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:56.920 more than doubled. So in seven percent of game developers 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:01.839 were working on virtual reality in two sixteen, sixteen percent. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.640 We're right. So this also reminds us that doubling is 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.760 not necessarily a huge number if you're starting with a 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:14.719 relatively small one, but still significant. So I'm actually surprised 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.840 that it's that low, honestly, just because VR is one 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:19.960 of those things that has so much buzz behind it, 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:24.280 even even considering the multiple delays we have seen, or 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.880 at least the perceived delays we have seen in the 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.719 release schedule for the hardware. Like some of the biggest 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.680 names in VR hardware as of the recording of this 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.840 podcast have yet to come out, but they're scheduled to 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.440 come out this year. Well, it seems like a big 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.600 gamble now because there really are I think there's only 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:43.680 one major VR headset available for the consumer right now, 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.120 isn't there. Well, yeah, and even then it's one that 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.320 considered actually VR. Yeah, we'll get into that later. So yeah, 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:53.520 I mean, this is a thing where you don't already 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:57.120 have that pretty dependable delivery methods. So if you're developing 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.440 a game for the Xbox or the PlayStation, you've already 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.200 got a base number of people who have this console 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.279 in their homes, and you can depend on some subset 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.080 of them to download it or buy it in the 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:12.520 store and pay for your product. With VR, we don't know, 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:14.440 I mean, you don't have a whole lot of people 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.000 with VR headsets in their houses. You have to you 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.240 have to create the market first and then sell to 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.120 that market. Yeah, so it is a gamble and you 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.280 so you can see why it would be slow to 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.480 pick up. But these numbers are making it look like 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.239 more and more people are making this gamble and saying 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.600 where we think VR is the future. And that lines 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.080 up with other numbers from this survey. For example, cent 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.800 of developers said that their next game project will incorporate 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.200 virtual reality, and that was up from six percent who 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.400 said this last year. This one is promising. Seventy five 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.800 percent of respondents held the opinion that quote VR slash 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.160 a R is a long term sustainable business to be 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.480 in a R of course, being augmented reality. The difference 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.960 with virtual reality and augmented reality is with augmented reality, 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:07.280 you are looking at the real world through whatever. Yeah, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.920 it might be through a transparent screen, or it might 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.240 be through a display that has a camera mounted on 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.160 the other side, so that you're getting a video feed 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.200 of the world around you. And on top of that 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.840 you have some sort of digital information that is overlaid 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.880 on on the real world. Yeah, so virtual reality is 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:28.920 all fake stuff. Augmented reality is real world plus fake stuff. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.480 more or less. Yes, um, I'll agree to that. And 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.320 and now, of course part of the problem with that 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.720 question is that by grouping both VR and A are together, 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.160 it may be that some of them have very strong 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.199 opinions on one and opposite opinions of the other. That's 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.080 exactly right. Yeah, I made that note that, Um, we'll 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.120 have to take that kind of prediction with a grain 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.160 of salt because we don't know, you know, maybe they 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.360 meant that, Oh, some people think a R is going 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.640 to be really big. Yeah. But and another one along 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.680 these lines is the question to game developers, how soon 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.800 will VR slash a R devices surpass the consumer adoption 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:10.600 rate of game consoles in which is about so, how 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.000 soon are they going to be bigger than game consoles are? Now? 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.480 When when are we going to see a VR headset 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.440 get greater sales than a PS four or an Xbox 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.000 one or whatever the equivalent is, which which they're saying 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:24.959 is a is a base level of the population of 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.760 about Yeah, so a hilarious group said oh, it'll happen 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:35.680 by that was one percent of respondence. That is incredibly aggressive. 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:40.200 That's a that's a small but mighty group. You have 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.760 to admire their optimism. Yeah, forty four percent said this 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.880 would happen by six and fifty four percent, so a 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:51.400 majority said it would happen. By said they thought it 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.240 would never happen. That you're never going to have VR 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.760 a R becoming more popular than game console. And if 0:09:57.760 --> 0:09:59.400 you add all those numbers up and you say, wait, 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.679 that's more than hundred percent, you can remember that that's 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.839 say it happens by essentially includes and the one percent 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:12.080 who said by well, I think it will happen, but 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:16.959 not like we have totally surpassed it and we've gone 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:18.760 to it. The next thing. No, no, I mean, I'm 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:23.680 yet again invoking tardist base. Gotcha, gotcha. So the interesting 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.080 thing to me is that it's by six still seems 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.960 I guess pessimistic is the best word for it, because 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.079 you think that's ten years out. So you're saying that 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.000 less than half of them thought that even in ten 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.400 years the technology would be not just mature enough, but 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.959 priced at a level where it would sell greater than 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.240 whatever the comparable console of the time would be. Yeah, 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.559 but that is talking about exceeding console performance. Sure, And 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.880 also you're to be fair asking a potentially biased group 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:59.360 of humans are employees of the game industry, and these 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:00.920 are the people who know what they're talking about, but 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.480 it also their future kind of depends on the answer. 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.720 There's also there's also a weird shift right now. I'm 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.599 not weird. There is a shift right now where for 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.599 a while we saw console gaming being really dominant in 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:18.679 the industry, and now it's another PC centric population. I 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.760 would say, like, I mean, I still know lots of 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.680 dedicated console gamers. That's the way they game and that's 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:28.720 all they do. But PC gaming has experienced a real 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.000 renaissance over the last five years. I would say absolutely. 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.959 If you had asked me when the Xbox had been 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.880 out for a few months that the first Xbox that 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.839 I would have said that PC gaming would never make 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.440 a comeback the way that it has well, And it's 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:45.120 one of the you know, I think it's a cycle. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.480 We are a pendulum at least right where you see 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.880 it swing one way versus the other. Where. If you 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.959 get to a point where the consoles are sophisticated enough 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.840 where you're getting of satisfying gaming experience from them, uh, 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.320 and you don't have to worry about upgrading them constantly 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.600 so that you can keep up with the latest games, 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.880 then it makes sense that there's a move to the consoles. 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.559 But then when you get to a point where PC 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.240 performance has reached a level where you're not outstripping it 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.800 as quickly, it's also not as difficult to upgrade as 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.520 it used to be, and you're getting incredible delivery systems. 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.600 The Steam delivery system has done wonders for the PC 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.960 gaming community. Uh that you can see why this pendulum 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.679 swings each way. So that's probably also a factor. You know, 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.640 it's not just that will ease overtake consoles, it's framing 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:38.120 that in if you already have a bias against consoles 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.439 because you developed for the PC and you think that's 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:44.120 the future of gaming, that might also guide your response 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.720 to a question like this on the survey. Absolutely okay, 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.640 but so that was with forty of households that last 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.640 survey question. What about a slightly more more modest proposal. Yeah, so, 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.240 like the idea that vr A R hardware will be 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.840 in ten per cent of US households, when did they 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:04.240 that would happen? Well, thirty eight percent said by it 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.160 would be there in ten percent of US households. Eighty 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.760 six percent said it would be there by and nine 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:15.040 percent said and never gonna happen, and we'll we'll have 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:17.360 more to say about this, because it may very well 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.480 be the VR becomes one of those things that is 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.120 a is a sort of a niche technology for a 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.360 slice of the gamer population, or really the computer population, 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:33.559 computing population, because it's not just for the purpose of 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:39.079 using in gaming. But yeah, I agree with especially the 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:43.240 six percent by saying at least ten percent of households 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:47.240 in in the US will own some form of VR headset. 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.800 I think that's pretty realistic. But you've actually you've used 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:57.120 an Oculus rift, haven't you. I have, I've almost almost 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.320 recovered from it. Yeah, to be fair, it was an 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.959 older one. Yes, the Oculus dev Kid. Yes, the dev 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.800 kid I used was version one. It wasn't even version two. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.000 Version two was the one that had uh the reference 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.839 dots on the outside and used an external camera to 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:17.079 help get better external tracking of the device. Um, the 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.320 one I used did not have that, so it's really 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.480 just the head trackers that were relying upon the accelerometers 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:24.840 in the heads of itself. It was still a little 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.920 bit Yeah, I may have mentioned. I don't know if 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.440 I had used it when we did our first episode, 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.440 but when I did try it out. The demo I 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:39.240 used was just walking around, virtually walking around a villa, 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.960 like an Italian villa. There's a lovely little seaside villa 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.400 that I'm I'm walking around. I got so motion sick. 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.720 And then my friend who owns the Oculus he works 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.040 for Google, said, all right, you're ready to try the 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:02.240 spaceship game. Heck, no, I do not want to cover 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.840 your keyboard and vomit is what I said to him, 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.000 And he thought, thanks me for the thoughtful reply, And 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.400 then we just played the Spacecraft game without using the 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:16.400 VR version. Yeah, well, I think we should take a 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.960 look at the lay of the land as things are 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.680 today with the big players in in virtual reality, like 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.520 what's out there right now, what's and what's on the horizon? Yeah, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.840 because when we did this, it really was basically just 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.640 the Oculus rift on the horizon, and there were kind 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.960 of like some independent developers working on a few things, 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.280 and there were some rumors that a few people be 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.160 getting into some things, like there was there was the 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.960 mention of a Sony Morpheus, but no one really had 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.440 any information about that. That, by the way, has totally 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.160 changed names at this point. Yeah, now it's the Neo, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.600 it's the blue pill. Uh and and there were a 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:56.800 couple of others as well. But yeah, the some of 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.480 the big names that people are really anticipating this year 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.200 and even really been talked about back at least not 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.520 in wide circles. Sure, sure, so okay. So, so the 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.280 only product that we can really reliably talk about because 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.680 it has already come to commercial market is Samsung's Gear VR. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.280 And unlike the other products that we will talk about, 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.840 this isn't something that you connect to anything as powerful 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.720 as a game console or a desktop computer. It runs 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.280 off of a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, off of one of 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:32.160 four models. Specifically, you just you just snap your phone 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.360 into this headset and it goes, well, it doesn't. It's well, 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.760 it's not quite that simple, but yeah, it's a it's 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.160 it's a headset you snap your phone in, and there 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.880 are Android platform apps that you can install to work 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.120 with a base Oculus app that will allow you to 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:52.320 play games, explore virtual environments, you know that sort of thing. Yes, 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.840 Samsung developed the headset in collaboration with the folks at Oculus, 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:00.440 the makers of the Rift. So the headset itself contains 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.320 a proximity sensor that detects when it's being worn, which 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.200 most phones actually have, Like they know if you're holding 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:08.800 your phone up to your head. So if you ever 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.760 have noticed that the light on your smartphone has dimmed 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:14.840 just as you're putting it up to your cheek, that's 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.200 the proximity sensor saying all right, there, Jonathan's putting his 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.000 phone up to his big fat head. I don't have 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.160 to have the screen on anymore. It makes it really 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.960 hard to dial numbers with your cheekbones. I don't have 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.119 well defined cheekbones, so I just find that offensive. I'm 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:33.680 sure Benndet Cumberback is mad every day every day. It 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.040 also has a few more sensors. Okay, so what else 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.240 does it go? Yeah, it's got an accelerometer in there, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:43.480 a girometer, and a geomagnetic field sensor. Yeah yeah, that 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.680 that one can help determine the device's position relative to 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.080 magnetic north, which apparently is a thing that a lot 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.040 of mobile devices do and I just haven't heard of 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.560 it before. Essentially essentially a digital compass. Yeah yeah, I 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.159 just think that's great anyway. So yeah, in order to 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.239 interact with with whatever virtual VI you're in, you can 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.280 move your head and then either a swiper clicker both 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.199 using the four directional touch pad that's on the right 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:12.040 side of the headset. Yeah. I saw a video review 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.840 of this with a writer from The Verge where she 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.720 was trying this out in public. Like she was like, well, 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.480 I do most of my mobile gaming on you know, 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.399 on the subway or public transportation or something, so I 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.240 want to see how well it works on those things. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.720 Apparently there is a problem if you're playing a game 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.880 or something that tracks your your head motion when you're 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:37.000 going around curves. So like if you if your car turns, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.080 or if you go around a curve in the subway, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.800 it will interpret that as you turning your head. I'll 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.920 just imagine trying to play a VR game aboard a 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:51.320 moving platform would make me feel motion sickness way faster. Well, 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.680 you wouldn't. You wouldn't be getting the external stimuli of 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.679 It's not like reading a book in a car because 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.880 your your field of natural vision is totally blocked. Yeah, 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.720 but what when you're looking at a virtual world and 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:07.640 let's say you're standing still while you're playing the game, 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.200 but you're moving in relation to you know, you're in 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.440 a train. That's moving your inner ear is still doing 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.560 a thing. Your your brain is probably just saying, like, guys, 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:18.240 something is wrong. I'm just going to send a message 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.960 down to Mr Tummy to evacuate and then everything's gonna 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.560 be cool. Yeah, right, And and this is the kind 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.000 of problem that wouldn't happen probably with most of the 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.800 other devices we're going to talk about, because those have 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:37.160 full blown positional tracking um, which reduces some of that issue. Yeah, 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.000 this one does not. Also, it's it's interesting to me 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.560 that the interface is largely a kind of a touch 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.520 directional pad that's on the device itself. So in other words, 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:49.800 you know, it's not like it's an external control, although 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:55.000 I would imagine you get cyclops reaching up to our 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.320 jority kind of Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.680 Those were exactly the two example is that come to 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.320 mind when I think of this, the idea of lifting 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:07.119 the hand up to the temple and adjusting something. But 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.720 also I would imagine in the future you could probably 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:17.600 create some functionality with Bluetooth enabled control. So they already have. 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.160 Actually there's uh, the the only one that I've read 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.520 about being available at the moment is that there's a 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.120 controller that Microsoft uses for for other Windows and Android 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:29.960 based systems. It's Bluetooth. It's you know, like a like 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:33.960 a console gaming controller. So it's not it's not anything 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.800 too fancy, but yeah, you can. They caused like seventy 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.800 bucks retail and and they're they're compatible with some of 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.440 the games. It's interesting because this this particular approach, this 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.400 particular device, once you set aside the price of the phone, 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:48.040 like if you already own the phone, then you're not 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.200 talking about the cost of it. But it's funny because 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.200 then the controller costs almost as much as what this 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.359 device does. Yeah. Yeah, the price tag on the system 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.280 right now is here in the United States, it's it's 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.240 a little bit, well, it's it's about equivalent in the 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:11.240 other places. In about that one. And I was trying 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:13.159 to think of if it was available throughout the European 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:17.119 Union or not. It's that that was the pause. I 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:21.359 know what the UK is called. Um but yeah, yeah, so, 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.560 uh so that's a bonus because certainly a lot of 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.520 the other systems that are out there are way more expensive. 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.480 Let's talk about one of them this well one more 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:33.840 one more thing are actually two more quick things, um 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.560 that reviewers have been talking about they really appreciate that 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.440 it's mobile, that it's a truly mobile device. You're not 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.919 tethered to anything, so you have a much better freedom 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.320 of motion, which you can use at your own peril, because, 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.280 of course, if you're exploring a virtual world, you have 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:53.159 to remember that things like tables are still present in 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.919 your own world. Subway tracks, subway tracks, Yeah, you can 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.760 still run into all of these cooligans aboard the train. Yeah. Um. 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:03.720 A lot of them were also saying that it's the 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.840 kind of system that's best used with independent headphones because it, 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.560 you know, just the sound out of your smartphone, as 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.800 lovely as it maybe, and these are modern times, uh, 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:19.159 it is, Yeah, not not as immersive. You're not very directional. 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.240 Like you, you couldn't tell where the sound is coming 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.040 from necessarily. I mean, you know what's coming from the phone. 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:27.240 I'm just saying, you don't know what direction relative to 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:30.280 where you were looking, it's coming from. And then, of course, 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:33.480 the other obvious thing is that the device and the 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.160 screen resolution are only ever going to be as powerful 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.920 as the smartphone that you possess, right, And also the 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:44.080 smartphone is essentially dividing the display into two Right, you're 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:46.080 getting one image for the left eye, one image for 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.679 the right eye, and so that also, you know, is limited. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.800 Your resolution is limited by the size of the division, 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:56.600 which also is a factor when we talk about Google Cardboard, 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:58.720