Take the Wall Street Journal, for example, whose Geoffrey A. Fowler had this to say about the Rift: "Oculus Rift is the 2016 product you hope your neighbor buys. You'll definitely want to try it, but there's little reason to own one unless you're a serious gamer."
That sentiment was echoed by Cnet, whose critic Sean Hollister wrote: "You simply must try the Oculus Rift. It's breathtaking. I just wouldn't buy one right now — and there's no reason you should feel the need to, either."
The Verge's Adi Robertson seemed to be more upbeat about the device: "The Rift is something I'd be happy to have in my living room. (...) The headset you can buy today is not Oculus' most ambitious vision for virtual reality — but it's a vision that Oculus has successfully delivered on."So, much as I expected, the tech is very impressive in person... and also basically useless. Only the highest of high-end PC gamers will even have (or want) rigs that can even make use of the device, there aren't many games that even support the tech, none of them require VR to be playable, and none of them would be at all notable except for the VR. Oh, and the VR sickness issue? Still a problem:
Physical discomfort is the #1 biggest issue.
In order to experience the niftiness of VR, you’ve got to be willing to put up with some persistent low- and mid-grade physical discomfort. It starts with the headset, which is comfortable at first but after 20 or 30 minutes will begin to push into your face. It gets warmer over time, as well, and after playing for an hour or so I’m acutely aware of the fact that I have a heat-radiating piece of electronic gear strapped to my face.
Most Rift games are haunted by the specter of nausea, as well, though to varying degrees. Known as “Virtual Reality Sickness,” the nausea I felt was usually related to the fact that my eyes were telling my brain that I was moving through space while my inner ear was aware that I was actually sitting still. The studios making the Rift’s launch games have come up with a number of creative ways of combating VR sickness, but the fact remains that at any moment while playing any game, you might suddenly start feeling queasy.
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It already feels pretty clear that the physical discomfort of VR remains the biggest thing holding this technology back. For now, you gotta want this stuff enough to put up with feeling queasy from time to time. That’s a big ask for most people.Will I give VR a try, if someone else that I know buys one and invites me over? Sure. Do I have any intention of dropping $1500 on a new technology with no obvious practical application, little by way of unique frivolous applications, and a big dose of discomfort in the bargain? Not a chance.
It's early yet, and there's lots of big corporate money behind VR, so it's possible that things could still change, but some of the corporate interests currently pushing VR are the same companies that were telling us, in total seriousness, that we absolutely had to have 3D televisions in our living rooms... and just look how well that worked out. I have a sneaking suspicion that VR is closer to 3DTV than it is to the smartphone, on the transformative technology spectrum.