[HN Gopher] Facebook has sold 4M Quest 2 headsets in the US, rec...
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Facebook has sold 4M Quest 2 headsets in the US, recall docs reveal
Author : danso
Score : 73 points
Date : 2021-07-29 19:43 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.protocol.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.protocol.com)
| astlouis44 wrote:
| Not a big enough install base for the metaverse though. They need
| to target WebGL, WebAssembly and WebXR to create a 3D social
| space where you can jump into games and virtual worlds to play
| with others, or just hang out. A web-based VRChat that works
| universally via the browser, including headsets via WebXR.
| criddell wrote:
| Why web based? Wouldn't native versions be better as far as
| performance and latency goes?
| astlouis44 wrote:
| Benefits are that developers don't have to give a cut to the
| Oculus store and Facebook, and for users it will be nearly as
| performant as a native application. Cross-platform, meaning
| VR applications that work across any headset including
| Apple's upcoming HMD is a huge bonus, because they will work
| day one if Apple does ship support for WebXR.
| criddell wrote:
| > developers don't have to give a cut to the Oculus store
| and Facebook
|
| That's a good way to make Facebook think it's a failed
| platform and to stop investing in it.
|
| > for users it will be nearly as performant as a native
| application
|
| I'll have to see that to believe it. It's never been true
| for desktop or mobile applications so I can't see it being
| true on a resource constrained headset.
|
| > WebXR
|
| The new VRML?
| astlouis44 wrote:
| https://vrland.io/lobby
| dougmwne wrote:
| I am one of them and I have been blown away by my first headset.
| Most of the news about Quest revolves around mistrust of FB.
| That's fair, but it's still going to take billions in investment
| to make this tech hit it's full potential, so I am glad it's at
| least a US company. Maybe I would pay the Apple premium if they
| ever release a decent competitor.
|
| In the meantime, I think this is the most promising new consumer
| technology since the iPhone. There's huge potential for social,
| exercise, gaming, media consumption, general purpose computing,
| business, art, and education. I have had many magic moments where
| the human-computer interaction was as natural as waving to a
| friend or hitting a ping pong ball. AR is going to share in most
| of this potential, so I view this as an early iteration of a
| device that will have AR and VR modes and can be used both in
| every day life and in the VR bubble. Eventually our phones will
| be obsolete.
| azinman2 wrote:
| So why hasn't it happened yet? It's been on the market for
| _years_ and very little units have sold. Personally I think VR
| is way overhyped. The experience is fun but intense, much like
| a rollercoaster. I like rollercoasters, but don't want to go on
| one daily.
|
| In terms of everyday HCI, there are very few scenarios where it
| truly beats a flat 2D screen with touch.
| AurelioB wrote:
| I believe we're on the verge of that happening. Yeah, VR has
| been available for way too many years, but available !==
| accessible. The Oculus Quest product line alone has done more
| for making VR accessible to the masses than any prior form of
| VR technology. Sure, Valve, HTC, Sony and others were there
| before, but their approach was more enthusiast friendly than
| mass market friendly, requiring additional hardware and
| wiring, for starters.
|
| Sure, there are still many issues to overcome, but even with
| those the Quest line has managed to make a dent in the
| industry in only 2 years of being available. I think we all
| will take this seriously when Apple finally joins the game.
| dougmwne wrote:
| My theory is mostly it needed to be wireless and stand alone
| with inside-out tracking to reduce the barrier to entry and
| play.
| zlsa wrote:
| The Quest 2 has only been out since October 13 of last year.
| 4m units in the US in less than a year is a great number.
| azinman2 wrote:
| The first iPhone sold 6.1m in its first year, and it was
| way more expensive than a Quest 2. Last year well over a
| billion cell phones were sold. The Quest 2 isn't the first
| oculus product -- they've been at this for years. I'd say
| these numbers aren't great if this really is 'the future of
| computing' as many would have you believe.
| dougmwne wrote:
| I think this is the blackberry of VR. We haven't hit our
| iPhone moment yet, but we are getting close.
| Teslazar wrote:
| There were 3.3 billion phone subscribers in 2007 (source:
| https://www.statista.com/statistics/270850/number-of-
| mobile-...).
|
| It's likely that most of those 4 million users have never
| had a VR headset before.
| danso wrote:
| An Oculus is at best a gaming console. An iPhone is at
| the very least a mobile phone, which even in 2007 was a
| daily necessity for most people.
| sjg007 wrote:
| Can you play roblox on it?
| astlouis44 wrote:
| No, but you can access VRland which is sort of like a web-based
| VRChat. Social 3D/VR via WebGL, WebAssembly, and WebXR that
| works cross-platform via the browser, not just limited to
| headsets but can be accessed via phones and computers.
|
| Link to try it here: https://vrland.io/
| ryneandal wrote:
| Yes, it supports Roblox VR. My kids adore playing VR Hands.
|
| edit - here's the process, although most steps are already
| completed if you actively use your headset.
|
| https://www.lifewire.com/play-roblox-on-oculus-quest-or-ocul...
| vyrotek wrote:
| Thanks for the guide! My kids love our Quest2 and have been
| asking me about Roblox VR but I hadn't looked into it yet.
| Rec Room and Roblox are definitely the most played games in
| our home.
| dessant wrote:
| Facebook will delete your account without notice, even after
| they've messed with your account once and reinstated it after
| making the issue public.
|
| https://github.com/wit-ai/wit/issues/1946#issuecomment-88337...
|
| Facebook employees will ignore your calls for help, and there is
| no proper way to contact them regarding a disappeared account.
|
| You have to pretend to be an active Facebook user in order to
| access services tailored to developers, such as Wit.ai.
|
| Imagine having to like YouTube videos and subscribe to channels,
| maybe post a comment sometimes in order to not wake up with your
| Google Cloud instances gone without notice.
|
| That's how Facebook developer services operate.
| 0xTJ wrote:
| This is part of why I refuse to buy one of their VR headsets.
| I'll get a Valve Index if I can justify the expense at some
| point, but I won't get a Quest.
| abraxas wrote:
| Microsoft Live accounts get the same treatment. Those sons of
| britches cancelled my kid's Minecraft account and screwed up
| his ability to play with his friends. Because he was using my
| email address. He doesn't having an email address. He is 9 for
| crying out loud.
| legerdemain wrote:
| You don't need technology to play with friends. This can be a
| valuable early lesson to your child about genuine
| friendships.
| speeder wrote:
| With the lockdown rules in some places, yes you do.
| legerdemain wrote:
| I am perhaps unfairly assuming that we're talking about
| the US... name one place where children aren't allowed to
| play together.
| l00sed wrote:
| Are you saying technology automatically doesn't make
| friendships genuine somehow?
| legerdemain wrote:
| What? No, !(Genuine Friends - Technology) is not
| logically equivalent to Technology - !(Genuine Friends).
| IshKebab wrote:
| How patronising.
| omgitsabird wrote:
| I had an account I used for work (documentation, local API
| keys, etc) with a fake name that was also deleted.
|
| I replaced that account with one using my actual name and a
| couple of friends, a phone number, etc, and I haven't had
| issues so far (like two years). I log into it maybe once every
| three months or so.
| riffraff wrote:
| Weird, I have a fake account i created for testing something
| years ago and it still works fine, I log in with it maybe
| once a year.
|
| I did take care to befriend a lot of random people tho, so
| maybe that matters.
| Jyaif wrote:
| > Facebook will delete your account without notice
|
| Yeah, same for your Google and Apple accounts. So what?
| mplewis wrote:
| Since when did Apple delete your account because you didn't
| post enough statuses or photos of your kid on the Apple
| social network?
| danso wrote:
| I'm an OQ2 owner and am pretty happy with it especially compared
| to my PSVR which broke after less than a year of intermittent
| use. But the thing is, I really don't use it that much, other
| than for exercise or as a way to virtually meet up with my young
| nephew (who also rarely plays it). We spent far more time on our
| PS4s.
|
| Some of it is old habit -- and form factor of course, as light
| and wireless as the OQ2 is, it's still magnitudes more "work"
| than just plopping on the couch and turning on the TV. But for
| me, the big thing is game quality. Other than dedicated rhythm
| games (basically, Beat Saber) or ports of successful non-VR video
| games (Skyrim, Superhot, Tetris Effect), very few if any VR games
| for the OQ2 (I do not have an Alyx-capable PC) feel more than a
| half-fleshed out tech demo, with the possible exception of
| multiplayer freemium (e.g. Rec Room).
|
| I've basically bought every Oculus game with an average rating of
| 4.3 (out of 5) or more, and nothing has really hooked me. And I
| can understand the lack of fully polished/thought-out games given
| what I thought was a very small and niche audience. So I was
| genuinely surprised to see that 4M OQ2s have been sold...that's
| obviously smaller than a traditional console, but not at all bad
| for the first year of non mainstream tech.
|
| I wonder what the active user/game purchaser rate is?
|
| edit: actually since I've been very physically lazy lately, I get
| the most use out of my OQ2 by watching Amazon Prime video. The
| resolution is just barely good enough for an immersive
| experience, and the Prime app (unlike the very basic Netflix
| app), allows you to resize and reposition the screen exactly as
| you like.
| Kosirich wrote:
| I have had a similar experience. I have 0 regret, I really do
| love it, but yes it is "an effort". I feel Oculus is "just
| there" to be that VR defining experience that will get people
| hooked en mass. I think you also make a good point that is
| missing the games that will "define it" and that will make you
| come back. I really don't understand, considering the numbers
| sold, why some games can't be just reworked for VR
| "perspective". I know it's expensive, but I would pay money
| right away if someone ported (I realize it's not that easy) old
| Lucas Arts adventure games (e.g). Perhaps I'm under the
| impression or The Room VR which reminded me of Broken Sword.
| Also, you mention purchase rate. I can only judge based on
| myself and my colleague, but I would say it's high! Neither of
| us are "hardcore" games, but we each both 10 games so far. Also
| x2, how would you (anyone) feel using it on a plane,train, bus
| ect. I haven't tried it, but if someone has I would appreciate
| the feedback.... did people think you were a weirdo?
| rjh29 wrote:
| I use it as a dedicated Beat Saber machine and I still think
| it's worth the money. It runs BS more than well enough and it's
| wireless. Like you I bought other games but nothing else has
| been anywhere near as enjoyable!
| abraxas wrote:
| I guess it depends where you are coming from. In not a gamer
| and find most screen based games a chore but I adore a bunch of
| VR games. They are simpler and thus require far less time
| commitment to get into. And the additional exercise is great
| after sitting in an office chair for 8 or 10 hours.
| jensensbutton wrote:
| Have you tried Jurassic World Aftermath? I thought the game
| experience was great (and quite intense!).
| nsxwolf wrote:
| Is there anything in the SteamVR world that does what the Quest 2
| does? A completely self contained, inside-out tracking
| experience? I love my Quest 2, but I don't like knowing that I'm
| one algorithmically determined bad Facebook comment away from
| losing access to my device and everything I've paid for
| permanently.
| dougmwne wrote:
| We can hope for a Valve Index 2 to be released with wireless.
| It would still require a beefy gaming rig, but their first
| headset was impressive at the time.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| I'm _fairly_ impressed with playing SteamVR games on my Quest
| 2 via Air Link, but the video quality takes a hit with
| compression. I wonder if that 's as good as it gets, or is it
| because it's over regular WiFi and not whatever that many-
| gigahertz solution there was for the original Vive?
| owlbynight wrote:
| My friends and I watch movies in Bigscreen VR (simulated movie
| theater) and honestly, it's some of the most fun I've ever had.
| It's like renting out a theater with friends where you can be as
| loud as you want for free, several times per week.
|
| I feel as though most people think about VR for its novelty use
| cases, like putting grandma on a roller coaster, or doing some
| exercises or whatever. Swing a lightsaber at Darth Vader!
|
| I don't think we've even scratched the surface on the
| possibilities of just creating fun environments for friends to
| goof around in. That's going to be the future of this technology.
| deanclatworthy wrote:
| Isn't it like watching potato quality? We had the first oculus
| rift at our office many years ago and there was an app to play
| video files in a movie theatre. But the resolution was so bad
| it was like watching a VHS. I see the potential here but the
| quality/resolution is going to have to take a huge leap.
| concernedctzn wrote:
| It seems a lot of people don't know about the jump in quality
| between the headsets that came out. The original oculus was
| leapfrogged fairly quickly by the HTC Vive, and then that was
| eventually superseded by later headsets like the pimax, Valve
| Index, and Quest. If you haven't tried any of them I
| definitely recommend testing one out, the difference is very
| noticeable.
|
| Not only watching videos but even reading text is much easier
| in the latest headsets. Unfortunately many people have only
| tried the older or commodity VR solutions and think that's
| the limit of the technology. This is largely due to the price
| and physical setup required for some of the better headsets,
| but already there are some great setups out there.
| dougmwne wrote:
| It is quite good. I have watched hours of shows and movies on
| the Quest 2. The resolution of your virtual cinema screen is
| essentially 1080p, which really is not bad. The main drawback
| is the quality of the lenses as they can add blur outside the
| sweet spot, god rays and chromatic aberration. I think these
| devices are only a few hardware generations away from
| delivering on the promise of a no compromises cinema in a
| bag.
| littleweep wrote:
| My problem with VR is that I wear glasses -- I never could
| get comfortable with a headset over my glasses.
| Crespyl wrote:
| As a fellow glasses-wearer I can say that I've had a good
| experience with the Valve Index, which lets me adjust the
| distance between the lenses and my face enough that my
| glasses fit comfortably.
|
| I've read that it's also possible, at least for some
| headsets and levels of correction, to purchase custom
| lenses such that you don't need glasses at all while
| wearing the headset.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| Yeah, me either. They are definitely not designed to be
| worn over glasses comfortably. I ended up getting custom
| lenses that clip over the headset lenses because I play
| Beat Saber enough to justify it.
| CountHackulus wrote:
| I've used vroptician.com with my Valve Index and it works
| great.
| losvedir wrote:
| My oculus quest 1 works just fine over my glasses (had to
| add the little foam insert that came with it). Not sure
| about the 2, though.
| anotherman554 wrote:
| You can buy prescription lenses from third parties that
| you insert into the headset. Then, no glasses are needed.
| tekromancr wrote:
| It's not incredible now, but it's a lot better than it once
| was. I watched a few movies on an airplane recently and I
| noticed some fuzziness at first, but stopped noticing it
| after a while.
|
| This was on quest 1
| only_as_i_fall wrote:
| I don't own one so I can't say for sure, but if you mean the
| original oculus devkit that thing had terrible resolution
| compared to the quest 2 and others
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_virtual_realit.
| ..
| FractalParadigm wrote:
| I had the same experience with Google Daydream (RIP). It's a
| really neat immersive experience to try out a couple times,
| but I could never seriously watch anything in there because
| it was just plain unpleasant.
|
| I like the VHS comparison, but I would argue it's worse than
| that because you get a weird screen door effect if you're on
| any kind of angle that tends to distort things weirdly. I
| think Netflix had a decent tradeoff where the "screen" was
| rather large, but it feels like sitting in the front row of
| an IMAX where you're moving your head to see everything.
| rockostrich wrote:
| It should just come down to the source files and the
| hardware. The Quest 2 is 1832x1920 per eye but with the FOV
| it probably can only really render 1080p video if you're
| watching it in something like BigScreen.
|
| I use mine to watch 3D movies and it's pretty great. I missed
| out on seeing Avatar in theaters so being able to watching it
| in 3D without waiting for a re-release or anything is
| convenient.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| Rift CV1 was 1080x1200 per eye, Quest 2 is 1832 x 1920 per
| eye. I haven't used one (have a Quest 1) but I hear it's
| quite good.
| astlouis44 wrote:
| We have this functionality over at vrland.io as well, and it
| doesn't require going through FB's walled garden Oculus store.
|
| It's like a web-based VRChat, so it will work on any device
| with a browser. If Apple ships WebXR when they release their
| headset next year, it will work by default there too.
| Universal, decentralized, and free of walled gardens. That's
| the definition of the metaverse! Our team is on a mission to
| build a immersive version of the web in 3D and VR.
|
| Check it out here:
|
| https://vrland.io/cinema
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| Haha it's a bit of a party with the hacker news crowd
|
| Is there a way to sit? I got a hang of the controls within a
| minute which is pretty impressive for touchscreen on mobile,
| but FYI it was pretty easy to back up to a wall such that my
| camera was behind the wall while I was still in front of it,
| so I couldn't see anything.
|
| I wonder if it would be any easy fix to make the wall
| surfaces one-sided.
| astlouis44 wrote:
| Thanks for trying it out!!!
|
| Yes there is, if you're on mobile. I will join now and walk
| you through
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| O, I heard you talking for a minute but I'm having some
| trouble.
|
| On using Safari on an iPhone SE (v. 2020) I gave access
| to microphone but it wasn't clear if it was muted by
| default, when I tapped to mute, all of the audio cut out,
| which was unexpected, I was just trying to mute myself to
| be polite.
|
| And when I open the chat, and click in the text field, it
| highlights with blue edge and my keyboard opens, but
| nothing I type is reflected in the text box, and I see no
| way to submit.
|
| Best of luck, it's an ambitious project.
| ajcp wrote:
| This is very reminiscent of Active Worlds[1][2], right down
| to how you drop-in and interact with the world.
|
| Would have thought after 25-years we would have developed the
| value proposition better, and not the client.
|
| 1. https://activeworlds.com/ 2.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds
| warvstar wrote:
| This makes me feel old, thanks for that.
| ajcp wrote:
| Haha, sorry friend, but still, memories of cranking up
| that 56k and logging on to Active Worlds night after
| night. Well, everything is illuminated I guess.
| shreyshnaccount wrote:
| and tech in general.. everything is getting more and more goof-
| around-able and I'm here for it!
| Hippocrates wrote:
| This sounds awesome and I've also thought about a VR headset
| for regular console games. Can you comment on if that is a good
| idea and which specs/devices I might compare for that? I have
| no interest in most actual VR games until there is something
| "killer".
| dougmwne wrote:
| The Quest 2 might be getting official android app support.
| You could use that to wirelessly stream through the Xbox app
| possibly. Future state.
| gen3 wrote:
| Steam has a setup that allows you to play regular games in
| what looks/feels like a large home theater. I haven't used it
| short of checking it out, but it looked nice.
| baby wrote:
| The first time I joined a cinema room I didn't know I would be
| sitting next to people. I turned and looked on my left and a
| bunch of people were looking at me. I screamed out loud (didn't
| know my mic was on also) and everybody laughed. That was
| magical somewhat.
| spaced-out wrote:
| That sounds awesome. I've been ignoring VR, maybe it's time to
| look into getting a headset.
| piyh wrote:
| I had a conversation with an Israeli guy about smart grids
| and the iron dome while watching old Bond movies. Highly
| recommend Big Screen. Eye contact, hand gestures and the
| occasional air drawing go a long way to connect people.
| slim wrote:
| Do you build a 3D avatar using your face or something?
| rubicon33 wrote:
| Not OP, but have had similar experiences with VR. I
| absolutely LOVE VR. It makes all forms of gaming 10x more
| exciting / interesting / immersive.
|
| I still think the content isn't nearly as mature as say, the
| traditional PC gaming or PS/Xbox games, but it's slowly
| getting there. Hopefully as more people adopt VR, bigger and
| bigger publishers will see it as a profitable domain.
|
| If you're a Skyrim fan, check out some recent Skyrim VR (with
| mods) videos... It's a truly mind blowing experience!
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| > It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting /
| interesting / immersive.
|
| Wow, I couldn't disagree more with that statement. I'm very
| very aware I'm playing a game in VR bacause I have to be
| constantly aware of the space limitations, which often
| isn't handled well by games that expect a larger space than
| I have. Not to mention trying not to trip on the cables
| (which Quest[0] doesn't have I guess, so there's that), and
| the relatively uncomfortable headset...
|
| In fact, so far I'd say I've played a total of two games
| that I thought did well with VR: SUPERHOT and Beat Saber.
|
| [0] Because Facebook is involved, I will never own one.
| Robotbeat wrote:
| It's understandable and defensible to not use it because
| of Facebook, but I gotta say that Quest (especially Quest
| 2) is a qualitatively different and better experience
| than a lot of PCVR.
| thih9 wrote:
| What about motion sickness? Is it possible to play
| comfortably for longer periods of time?
| dougmwne wrote:
| You acclimate over time. Always best to stop the moment
| you feel a hint of motion sickness. I purposefully took
| it quite slow and played only roomscale games without any
| artificial movement for the first few weeks. Now I can
| play for any length of time, until the batteries die or
| my legs give out.
| nucleardog wrote:
| It depends a lot on the type of game I think. For me and
| from what I've observed, the motion sickness tends to
| come from a mismatch between what you're eyes are seeing
| what what your body is experiencing.
|
| So any game where you're not moving besides when you're
| actually walking around in meatspace generally doesn't
| seem to trigger that "oh god you ate the bad mushrooms
| abort abort" reflex.
|
| The other area this can kind of sneak up on you is if
| you're trying to use a device/PC that isn't really up to
| par and the frame rate is dropping. You cross a threshold
| where it's not quite keeping up with your movements and
| get the same mismatch between your movement and what your
| eyes are seeing and it makes you sick.
|
| So to that end, stuff like SUPERHOT VR or Beat Saber you
| can generally play comfortably for hours. I've thrown my
| 85 year old grandmother who gets horribly car sick into
| Job Simulator for an hour without any problems.
|
| It's a pretty short easy leap to any games that provide
| "blink" movement where you just kinda point at a new spot
| and suddenly you're there. Literally "blink" and when you
| open your eyes you're in a different place. A lot of
| great games support this style of movement and it's
| usually pretty comfortable--there's no actual motion to
| the movement. Something like Half Life Alyx has been
| pretty comfortable and fun (besides being absolutely
| terrifying waiting for headcrabs or zombies to get me)
| with this movement method.
|
| Any racing or flight simulators where there's constant
| motion are generally the stuff that even still get me.
| I've acclimatized a bit and can actually play them now
| for an hour or two at a time, but certainly not
| indefinitely.
|
| EDIT: This is all with an old HTC Vive. I did used to own
| a Oculus DK2. The extra 15Hz or so refresh rate and a
| more powerful PC made a _huge_ difference in how sick the
| simple stuff made me.
| tvirosi wrote:
| It will indeed. It's frustrating that all of this is going much
| slower than I thought it would though. I feel like AR and this
| and the big ML GAN breakthroughs are still like 10-20 years
| away from now. (From my recollection it's felt like a year away
| for like 7-9 years now.) My kids are going to have such a fun
| time with it once its actually here but I'll be near middle age
| before the next wave is actually mature.
| post_break wrote:
| Is there a way to do that while using your surround sound
| system? Because that would be amazing.
| dougmwne wrote:
| Actually you don't really need it because positional head
| tracking will pin the sounds to their proper points in space,
| quite similar to the same feature on the airpods. You can
| plug in better headphones of course.
| jedberg wrote:
| You could use the headphone jack and plug it into your
| stereo.
| jamespetercook wrote:
| What tech do you use to do this?
| nickthegreek wrote:
| BigScreenVR, a Quest 2 and a network share with your video
| file and an internet connection.
| tpmx wrote:
| Ah, it supports... ehh, sideloading of liberally licensed
| media files. Smart move.
| riffraff wrote:
| The article says it's selling like hotcakes, but also that it may
| be at 8M sold worldwide.
|
| By comparing, the Nintendo switch sold ten times as much.
|
| Surely 8M is good sales but isn't this a bit over hyped?
| ls612 wrote:
| It may well be supply constrained for the same reason every
| other device with a processor is supply constrained.
| dougmwne wrote:
| I think it is probably not a fair comparison since the Quest
| has mostly been in stock. I think it is greatly benefiting
| from people not being able to buy next gen consoles.
| danso wrote:
| The Switch is the next generation for 2 extremely popular
| consoles -- the 3DS and the Wii (let's ignore the WiiU, since
| the rest of the world largely did) -- which has a userbase far
| greater than all VR systems combined. The 3DS alone sold 76m
| consoles. By comparison, the PSVR took about 3 years to hit 5
| millions sales in 2020.
| mark_l_watson wrote:
| I am surprised that number is so low. I own both versions of
| Quest, and one of the best toys ever. I worked in the VR field in
| the 1990s, and I wished for a good consumer rig. Now I have two.
| Quest is better than our SGI Reality Engine driven VR
| experiences, even though we had really nice custom built motion
| platforms.
|
| I am not fan of Facebook, but I have no complaints about how they
| manage their VR acquisition. I upload home videos to FB now just
| so I can watch them in a virtual cinema. Also, the Star Wars
| Vader series, pingpong, racketball, etc. are all first class
| experiences.
| jsnell wrote:
| It is not a low number at all! For comparison, the PS5 has sold
| 10M units _worldwide_ in the same time.
| azinman2 wrote:
| But it's not a PS5 competitor. It's supposed to be a
| competitor to computers + smartphones (or at least that's the
| hype.. the 'next big thing'). These numbers are tiny for such
| hype.
| riffraff wrote:
| Wasn't the PS5 severely limited in availability?
|
| If so, this doesn't seem the right comparison.
| cblconfederate wrote:
| You can use something like the Deo (?) player. It can access
| folders shared via windows media sharing for example.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| _I upload home videos to FB now just so I can watch them in a
| virtual cinema._
|
| With no offense to you intended that feels so incredibly
| wasteful from a network bandwidth perspective-- both the upload
| and the streaming back down to watch. It also seems incredibly
| privacy invading. I cannot understand how people stomach the
| business model.
| imglorp wrote:
| It really bugs me when a journalist can't be troubled to check
| their facts and learn there's a difference between silicon and
| silicone. Plus it's right in the linked CPSC filing.
|
| https://www.livescience.com/37598-silicon-or-silicone-chips-...
| andrewmcwatters wrote:
| The VR experience is so good it's astonishing. What's also very
| clear is that there's very little software out there for it that
| makes you want to keep it off the shelf collecting dust.
| dougmwne wrote:
| I have found a number of gems. Eleven Table Tennis is just
| awesomely accurate table tennis against real people. Pistol
| Whip is a great workout and beats the pants off DDR. Population
| One is a fun Battle Royal that keeps me coming back. Eternal
| Starlight has major Homeworld vibes. Walkabout Mini Golf is a
| mini golf course in your living room.
|
| The platform needs way more investment, but this is a decent
| start.
| andrewmcwatters wrote:
| For sure. It not fair for me to say there isn't a lot of
| software out there already, but I just don't have anything
| personally that I want to come back to every day yet.
| mupuff1234 wrote:
| Are they selling the Quest 2 at a loss?
| breakfastduck wrote:
| This is so depressing. It is such a strong signal that the
| general consumer just does not give a shit when it comes to
| privacy or hardware products being able to be remotely disabled
| by bloody facebook of all people.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| What's depressing to me is that in 2021 there are still people
| who look down on others for not placing privacy over
| functionality.
|
| That's the mentality that ensures casual use of open platforms
| by every day people will remain a fringe occurrence.
|
| It's almost like people think being open/free/privacy-conscious
| should somehow make up for an otherwise inferior product, and
| that's just not the case.
|
| -
|
| I have a CV1, *DK2, Quest 2. I've used the Vive, I've used the
| Index. The Quest is just an insane value.
|
| Features the most approachable VR controller by far, works with
| PCs and standalone so it scales with the user's interest. UI is
| very _very_ well thought out.
|
| It's just a really damn good piece of hardware for a seriously
| competitive price. That's why it sells.
| motoxpro wrote:
| I'm glad you're coming to find out there are individual
| preference in the world. That's like saying, "It's so
| depressing, people are still driving cars even though they have
| killed countless people. Such a strong signal that people don't
| care about their lives."
| mtoddsmith wrote:
| Don't all the other devices tie you to an account somehow? Xbox
| live account. Nintendo switch account. Epic account.
| Playstation account. Steam account. etc. etc.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| The big difference with Facebook is that it is tied your
| social media account. Get banned from that and you can't play
| games anymore. And Facebook explicitly bans accounts that
| don't use real names and other PI, and rumor has it they love
| to ban obvious VR-only accounts as well.
| baby wrote:
| It is an amazing product.
| kstrauser wrote:
| ...tied to a horrid service. Do you _really_ want Facebook
| having full access to your VR activity log? _All_ of it?
| mod wrote:
| Probably one of the information sets I'd care the least
| about.
|
| I'd rather they have that, for instance, than my face in
| photos my friends took that they incorporate into their
| facial recognition.
| missedthecue wrote:
| What exactly is the downside
| kstrauser wrote:
| I don't own a VR set, so this is talking about ideas
| rather than any specific implementation.
|
| Every time I've heard someone mention having a VR setup,
| in a social/non-work setting, _someone_ has asked them if
| they 've checked out porn on it. In fairness, we've all
| read Snow Crash etc. and wondered how close we're getting
| to that stuff in the real world. Now, the big question:
| _do you want Facebook to have a record of porn you 've
| viewed_, even if it was for 5 minutes out of curiosity?
| Can you imagine the "interesting" ads you might start
| getting if you did that?
|
| I consider this similar to "why do you care if you're
| being watched if you have nothing to hide?". I'm not
| doing anything illegal there, but I don't want a camera
| in my bathroom. Similarly, even if I'm not doing anything
| illegal online, darned if I want Facebook to have a
| record of everything I do.
| [deleted]
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| Which personally I can't help but hear as "But she's got a
| new hat!".
|
| I don't share OPs depression over it, but it is pretty
| disappointing.
| c7DJTLrn wrote:
| Yep. I got rid of my headset when the account migration plans
| were announced but I've never heard of anybody else doing this.
| General consumers just don't care, even with all of the
| complaints about Facebook accounts being locked and bricking
| headsets.
| colinmhayes wrote:
| As if practically everyone with internet access being on
| facebook wasn't proof that almost no one gives a shit about
| privacy.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| I would love to experience this but I'm completely unwilling to
| buy-in because of the "you must have a Facebook account".
|
| I just want a piece of hardware that I can use.
|
| Is there any comparable (functionality) product that I buy that
| doesn't have the onerous third-party account requirement? I
| expect that I'll have to spend more not to be "monetized" but I
| can live that that (grudgingly).
| city41 wrote:
| Not saying this is a good or viable option, but just pointing
| out you technically can get one without a Facebook account:
| https://www.inputmag.com/tech/oculus-sells-a-quest-2-headset...
| dmead wrote:
| the valve index, but it's cost isn't subsidized by mark. it's a
| grand or more.
| MikusR wrote:
| It's also not standalone. And is half the resolution of
| Quest.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| I'm fairly certain the Valve Index doesn't actually require
| Steam. Unfortunately it is _very_ expensive. I myself am using
| an old Rift that I 've refused to update since the Facebook
| account fiasco.
| cblconfederate wrote:
| the quest 2 is the best piece of tech of last 10 years. even as a
| non-gamer, i spend hours looking at google earth photos around
| the world. wireless makes it just so easy to pick up and down
|
| of course, facebook does not know what to do with it beyond
| "senator, we sell ads". i hope someone else copies them and
| realizes its potential
| c7DJTLrn wrote:
| I wish I could rejoice at the adoption of VR but I can only feel
| despair that Facebook of all companies is leading the way.
|
| I owned an Oculus CV1 for 2 years and loved it. It completely
| shifted my perspective on VR, changing me from a naysayer to an
| enthusiast. Then Facebook began strengthening its grasp on Oculus
| by making account migration mandatory, and I decided not to
| comply and got rid of my headset instead.
|
| Facebook needs more competition in the VR space but nobody seems
| interested. Valve shipped a headset, sure, but they are not
| pumping anywhere near the kind of resources into R&D that
| Facebook Reality Labs is.
|
| My blog post on the topic: https://cedwards.xyz/goodbye-oculus/
| azinman2 wrote:
| If you're sad now, just wait until the ads start coming. I'm
| not joking or hypothesizing -- I have a friend at Oculus who
| hoped that they'd take a different path because they're selling
| hardware. They've made it very clear to my friend that Facebook
| is an advertising company, and their strategy is to sell
| hardware with little margins to squeeze everyone else out, and
| then monetize you and your eye balls with ads.
| dariusj18 wrote:
| I wonder if this is documented/leaked if they can get hit
| with an anti-trust suit?
| dmead wrote:
| valve likes money, and they see money in handhelds right now
| and their convoluted attempts to make touch pad controls a
| thing. see the steam controller, link, machine and now deck.
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