VR the champions of the world? - Page 26

mapuc · 04-30-24, 02:44 PM

<

Quote:

Despite losing money at a rate of more than $1 billion per month since June of 2022, Meta affirmed its commitment to Reality Labs, saying, "we continue to expect operating losses to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts and our investments to further scale our ecosystem."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/meta-l...illion-on-vrar

Markus

Skybird · 04-30-24, 03:37 PM

The point is that with the Relaity Labs and Applab and the software ecosystem they do not need to be making profits with VR hardware like the other companies producing VR headsets. Itzs the softwarecosystem that generates their profits from VR - at least sufficient o more than comensate for the non-profts from hardware sales. This way they saturate the VR market with their brands, even more so that now they open their operating system and plan that Asus, Lenovo and other companies release hardware of their own, but with Meta OS, merging them into the brand'S ecosphere. Clever move, imo. The Quest however promsies to remain the key player, since it may not be the outstanding perfectionist in any of the different performance sectoirs of VR headsets, but excelles sufficnetl yin all of them, and notallowign any weaklnesses of its own, this way presenting itself as the VW of VR, so to speak, the dominating generalist most people will turn to.

What should I say? I have packed my PC-bound G2 and stored it away. The one bigger player that turns into a victim of VR development, was surposingly or not surprisngly Microsoft'S Mixed Reality. Thats why they deactivate it in their windows versions. Microsoft never succeeded in really debugging it and improving its sometimes shaky reliability. The dying of Mixe dRelaity by Windows is not the customers' fault, but completely Microsoft's own fault. They messed up another hardware "revolution" of theirs. Not the first, but just the last in a long chain of failed Microsoft hardware attempts.

New Picos seem to be on their way. A new Valve headset is expected, too, after many years. I expect both to be much more expensive than the Quest 3.

Skybird · 05-01-24, 05:43 AM

Version 65 is coming. Small but good refinements, "stealing" from Apple.

Skybird · 05-02-24, 05:08 AM

Looks stunning.

Skybird · 05-03-24, 07:21 AM

A classic from the last millenia is back, redesigned from scratch for VR.

Skybird · 05-03-24, 11:26 AM

30 days ago I accidentally hit the "Prime" button when playing an Amazon order. I got their 30 days free test period. In that time, I watched the first season of Fallout - good -, and just recently the first season of The Rings of Power, a LOTR spinoff, also good. I now noticed that inside BigScreen, they have players for streamign platforms like Netflix and Prime. So, watching Prime series and Prime movies in one of BigScreen's very nice movie halls is easy peazy , bringing all that stuff up to the big movie screen. Since I place 1-2 orders per month at Amazon and found them to have several other series I am interested in, from Yellowstone to Westworld, and some more, I have decided to stay with Prime for the time being, it pays off easily for me. Also nice that movies I would not care to buy on disc or to buy tickets in cinemas, often are released early on streamign platforms and before disc release anyway, and then can be leased for 3-4 Euros, being watched in my private movie hall. Thats - MUCH - cheaper than a real cinema ticket or buying a Bluray.

Just to remind that it is a big mistake to underestimate the magic of VR for simply watching movies or series on the big screen. No home TV theatre can compete with that, none.

I still can mirror discs via PC into the VR mask, if it is a movie not available on Prime.

Big shows I have not watched on TV anymore since many, many months, and already since before the Q3 arrived. I currently let a service treaty with a cable TV provider run out, I do not need them anymore, and the German news shows and political reports simply are too bad as if I want to pay more for them than I must (via GEZ).

I also learned not before now that I can link blutooth hardware to the mask, and easily. Mouse or keyboard for exmaple, if need be, or a gamepad.

Skybird · 05-04-24, 06:08 AM

Skybird that I am, I must try this, it reminds me of Condor Soaring Simulator.

Skybird · 05-04-24, 07:43 AM

Holy cow, this ^ is frickin' awesome...!!! Superb physics, it seems, soaring in - as far as I recall from and compare to Condor - realistically modelled, ground and cloud dependent thermals, wind anyway, groudn effects, wave riding, and an excellent sense of really flying, intuitive controls with upper body leaning forward, backward, left and right, plus line controls. Graphics are good, good enough at least could better maybe, but I cannot complain, its fine, down to blossoming flowers on the ground. So far three flight regions. Several glider: motor glider, paraglider, speedglider, hang lgider ("dragon glider") - even a camera drone.

Find of the quarter, unexpected surprise! I love it. This will get a very lot of time from me.

Skybird · 05-04-24, 07:49 AM

You can see by this guy's eamaple that the sim is serious.

Well, there can be no doubt that some topics from reality can be simulated unbelievable well in VR. VR is not for every topic, it needs its matches in objects choosen - but if the pairing is choosen well, its only cool, cool all day long.

Skybird · 05-04-24, 07:55 AM

A whole collection of introduction and training videos.

https://www.youtube.com/@5drealities477/videos

Understanding their model of simulating thermals obviously is very important:

Why an FPV drone?

Skybird · 05-04-24, 01:02 PM

A 92 round at TPC Sawgrass lets my handicap drop into the 17s for the first time ever. That was hard work! Took me almost 40 played rounds since I switched to Pro to get there.

I like that it is so difficult. That way an accomplishment really feels like an accomplishment.

Next goal: handicaps in the 16-range.

I am also nibbling at the 90-strokes-per-round barrier. Slowly I get there. Lots of frustration included...

Skybird · 05-05-24, 05:34 AM

As a reminder, Meta is clearing its remaining stocks of Quest 2s, which come in 128 and 256 GB versions. The first is juicy an offer, the latter is no more: see the costs below.

In Germany, Amazon offers these 128 GB versions for 250 coins.

I usually would not recommend to go with it anymore if you want a VR headset for general, mutliple uses. But if you are believing that you know yourself good enough to say you are interested only in a very special, clearly defined subsection of the huge software market for VR, and these are titles - or is just one title - that do not need or do not run in Passthrough (=mixed reality) mode, then this offer might be for you, because it saves you an awesome lot of money. I have especially those titles on mind that are not technically extremely demanding (Quest 2 has significantly less performance power than Quest 3) and that are known to show only minor visual differences between both versions. Of course, dont expect that you could save 300 coins over the Quest 3 and get the exact same experience, you would deceive yourselfg there, but the Quest 2 is still good enough that it hinders many users to migrate to the Quest 3 already and is the most sold headset so far, I think thats not for no reason. Quest 3 sales are good, but are still handicapped by the popularity of the Quest 2, without the Quest 2 around, Quest 3's sale numbers would explode.

I mention this only for those who consider themselves interested in VR but are scared away by the price. You get a bit less, yes, but compare the prices:

Quest 2 128 MB - 250 coins
Quest 2 256 GB - 500 coins
Quest 2 + Elite Headstrap+Battery - 300 coins
vs.
Quest 3 128 GB - 550 coins
Quest 3 512 GB - 700 coins
(German Amazon prices)

The headstrap with battery alone usually costs 150 coins, both for Q2 and Q3.

The Quest 2 with 256 GB cannot be recommended, it has a clearly disadvantegous bang-for-the-buck ratio.

Its a compromise that may work well if you really know you want to limit to such specified titles to use. However, my general recommendation stands, its in favour of the Quest 3.

Skybird · 05-05-24, 03:51 PM

The latest Steam survey indicates a clear trend, the Quest 3 is about to overtake the user base of Valve Index headsets. Quest 3 is risinbg, Index is falling, it seems that after the Indey beign aorudn for so many years many users now decided it is time to repalce htis opld tech with a more modenr tech toy.

https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-3-use...s-valve-index/

However, the Quest 2 leadfs the charts, and this will remain to be the case for more time to come, due to its current pricing - Meta sells of its existing stocks for a bargain.

And Steam statistics again, there are now more VR players (on Steam at least) than there are Mac players. On a sidenote, while Mac players drop in numbers, Liniux players also increase in numbers.

https://www.roadtovr.com/theres-now-...mac-shrinking/

04-30-24, 03:37 PM	#377
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	The point is that with the Relaity Labs and Applab and the software ecosystem they do not need to be making profits with VR hardware like the other companies producing VR headsets. Itzs the softwarecosystem that generates their profits from VR - at least sufficient o more than comensate for the non-profts from hardware sales. This way they saturate the VR market with their brands, even more so that now they open their operating system and plan that Asus, Lenovo and other companies release hardware of their own, but with Meta OS, merging them into the brand'S ecosphere. Clever move, imo. The Quest however promsies to remain the key player, since it may not be the outstanding perfectionist in any of the different performance sectoirs of VR headsets, but excelles sufficnetl yin all of them, and notallowign any weaklnesses of its own, this way presenting itself as the VW of VR, so to speak, the dominating generalist most people will turn to. What should I say? I have packed my PC-bound G2 and stored it away. The one bigger player that turns into a victim of VR development, was surposingly or not surprisngly Microsoft'S Mixed Reality. Thats why they deactivate it in their windows versions. Microsoft never succeeded in really debugging it and improving its sometimes shaky reliability. The dying of Mixe dRelaity by Windows is not the customers' fault, but completely Microsoft's own fault. They messed up another hardware "revolution" of theirs. Not the first, but just the last in a long chain of failed Microsoft hardware attempts. New Picos seem to be on their way. A new Valve headset is expected, too, after many years. I expect both to be much more expensive than the Quest 3. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-01-24, 05:43 AM	#378
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Version 65 is coming. Small but good refinements, "stealing" from Apple. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-02-24, 05:08 AM	#379
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Looks stunning. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-03-24, 07:21 AM	#380
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	A classic from the last millenia is back, redesigned from scratch for VR. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-03-24, 11:26 AM	#381
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	30 days ago I accidentally hit the "Prime" button when playing an Amazon order. I got their 30 days free test period. In that time, I watched the first season of Fallout - good -, and just recently the first season of The Rings of Power, a LOTR spinoff, also good. I now noticed that inside BigScreen, they have players for streamign platforms like Netflix and Prime. So, watching Prime series and Prime movies in one of BigScreen's very nice movie halls is easy peazy , bringing all that stuff up to the big movie screen. Since I place 1-2 orders per month at Amazon and found them to have several other series I am interested in, from Yellowstone to Westworld, and some more, I have decided to stay with Prime for the time being, it pays off easily for me. Also nice that movies I would not care to buy on disc or to buy tickets in cinemas, often are released early on streamign platforms and before disc release anyway, and then can be leased for 3-4 Euros, being watched in my private movie hall. Thats - MUCH - cheaper than a real cinema ticket or buying a Bluray. Just to remind that it is a big mistake to underestimate the magic of VR for simply watching movies or series on the big screen. No home TV theatre can compete with that, none. I still can mirror discs via PC into the VR mask, if it is a movie not available on Prime. Big shows I have not watched on TV anymore since many, many months, and already since before the Q3 arrived. I currently let a service treaty with a cable TV provider run out, I do not need them anymore, and the German news shows and political reports simply are too bad as if I want to pay more for them than I must (via GEZ). I also learned not before now that I can link blutooth hardware to the mask, and easily. Mouse or keyboard for exmaple, if need be, or a gamepad. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-04-24, 06:08 AM	#382
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Skybird that I am, I must try this, it reminds me of Condor Soaring Simulator. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-04-24, 07:43 AM	#383
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Holy cow, this ^ is frickin' awesome...!!! Superb physics, it seems, soaring in - as far as I recall from and compare to Condor - realistically modelled, ground and cloud dependent thermals, wind anyway, groudn effects, wave riding, and an excellent sense of really flying, intuitive controls with upper body leaning forward, backward, left and right, plus line controls. Graphics are good, good enough at least could better maybe, but I cannot complain, its fine, down to blossoming flowers on the ground. So far three flight regions. Several glider: motor glider, paraglider, speedglider, hang lgider ("dragon glider") - even a camera drone. Find of the quarter, unexpected surprise! I love it. This will get a very lot of time from me. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 05-04-24 at 07:52 AM.

05-04-24, 07:49 AM	#384
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	You can see by this guy's eamaple that the sim is serious. Well, there can be no doubt that some topics from reality can be simulated unbelievable well in VR. VR is not for every topic, it needs its matches in objects choosen - but if the pairing is choosen well, its only cool, cool all day long. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-04-24, 07:55 AM	#385
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	A whole collection of introduction and training videos. https://www.youtube.com/@5drealities477/videos Understanding their model of simulating thermals obviously is very important: Why an FPV drone? __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 05-04-24 at 08:18 AM.

05-04-24, 01:02 PM	#386
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	A 92 round at TPC Sawgrass lets my handicap drop into the 17s for the first time ever. That was hard work! Took me almost 40 played rounds since I switched to Pro to get there. I like that it is so difficult. That way an accomplishment really feels like an accomplishment. Next goal: handicaps in the 16-range. I am also nibbling at the 90-strokes-per-round barrier. Slowly I get there. Lots of frustration included... __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

05-05-24, 05:34 AM	#387
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	As a reminder, Meta is clearing its remaining stocks of Quest 2s, which come in 128 and 256 GB versions. The first is juicy an offer, the latter is no more: see the costs below. In Germany, Amazon offers these 128 GB versions for 250 coins. I usually would not recommend to go with it anymore if you want a VR headset for general, mutliple uses. But if you are believing that you know yourself good enough to say you are interested only in a very special, clearly defined subsection of the huge software market for VR, and these are titles - or is just one title - that do not need or do not run in Passthrough (=mixed reality) mode, then this offer might be for you, because it saves you an awesome lot of money. I have especially those titles on mind that are not technically extremely demanding (Quest 2 has significantly less performance power than Quest 3) and that are known to show only minor visual differences between both versions. Of course, dont expect that you could save 300 coins over the Quest 3 and get the exact same experience, you would deceive yourselfg there, but the Quest 2 is still good enough that it hinders many users to migrate to the Quest 3 already and is the most sold headset so far, I think thats not for no reason. Quest 3 sales are good, but are still handicapped by the popularity of the Quest 2, without the Quest 2 around, Quest 3's sale numbers would explode. I mention this only for those who consider themselves interested in VR but are scared away by the price. You get a bit less, yes, but compare the prices: Quest 2 128 MB - 250 coins Quest 2 256 GB - 500 coins Quest 2 + Elite Headstrap+Battery - 300 coins vs. Quest 3 128 GB - 550 coins Quest 3 512 GB - 700 coins (German Amazon prices) The headstrap with battery alone usually costs 150 coins, both for Q2 and Q3. The Quest 2 with 256 GB cannot be recommended, it has a clearly disadvantegous bang-for-the-buck ratio. Its a compromise that may work well if you really know you want to limit to such specified titles to use. However, my general recommendation stands, its in favour of the Quest 3. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 05-05-24 at 06:28 AM.

05-05-24, 03:51 PM	#388
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,538 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	The latest Steam survey indicates a clear trend, the Quest 3 is about to overtake the user base of Valve Index headsets. Quest 3 is risinbg, Index is falling, it seems that after the Indey beign aorudn for so many years many users now decided it is time to repalce htis opld tech with a more modenr tech toy. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-3-use...s-valve-index/ However, the Quest 2 leadfs the charts, and this will remain to be the case for more time to come, due to its current pricing - Meta sells of its existing stocks for a bargain. And Steam statistics again, there are now more VR players (on Steam at least) than there are Mac players. On a sidenote, while Mac players drop in numbers, Liniux players also increase in numbers. https://www.roadtovr.com/theres-now-...mac-shrinking/ __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 05-05-24 at 04:14 PM.