Virtual Reality

Well they're saying you'll be able to install Android APK files on the Frame, which pretty much confirms this is exactly what they're going for. Meta headsets run Android and the games are APKs.

There is actually quite a backlog on VR games by now. Admittedly mostly by b-grade studios, so not reaching the quality of HL:Alyx or so, but not bad either. Stuff like ~~Boneworks~~ Bonelab or the Alien and Metro games are genuinely quite good and came out recently.

No.

Because the biggest problem with VR isn't the library. It's the price. The Frame looks pretty great; but what would save VR gaming is if people could afford a headset. Or two.

Valve is going the route of not just selling this for VR, but selling it to play non VR games on as well. If there's no eyestrain or latency issues it will be a good purchase for a lot of people...if the price is right.

No one wants apple products to game on, or their huge pricetag. No one wants quest because the hardware is locked down. This could be a great product to pick up if it works as well as is being reported so far

And the fragmentation certainly doesn't help The market is already small, and yet locked to single store exclusives still come out all the god damn time

Given how it probably undercuts growth of vr, I can only guess why would companies do that. Facebook in particular probably thinks it could be a monopoly, and doesn't want to settle for just a slice of the pie even if the pie could be bigger.

It's sad that the majority either won't or can't pay full price for products, and go for those that are discounted due to vendor lock and/or built-in ads.

If the Steam Frame ends up costing only $1k I think that's a relatively good price, feels like everything else has doubled in the time since the original Vive was released. Obviously I hope for lower but I kind of expected it to cost at least $1.5k

Since the steam frame is an entire pc, you can run third party motion trackers on the headset itself like SlimeVR so every Steam Frame has the potential for full body VR for cheap.

Also it could run waydroid to potentially run android based VR games.

Also since it's is a PC, it would probably simplify game dev for VR games. And potentially run the same exe with a LOD/Quality slider to transition between pcvr and standalone.

Further, it may enable other companies like HTC to make steamos based headsets to escape Google.

Every single vr mmorpg has died

The lack of good games for it is by far my biggest issue.

It excels at flight sims, driving games. If there were really good mech games for it then it would be good at that.

I played the ever loving shit out squadrons in vr. BEING in a tie fighter was like a dream come tru and the immersion made the game incredible. Being able to look around the cockpit while dogfighting was one of the best experiences I've ever had in gaming.

But so much of what's on vr is just not that great. The tech has so much potential though.

I use the Valve Index with my glasses just fine. Probably depends on the specific anatomy of your face and geometry of your lenses. There's also a bunch of options for prescription lenses for (at least some) headsets.

For me, the limitation of VR is the actual physical effort - standing, limited movement, swinging your arms - a couple hours of that, especially on a warm summer day, is just about enough. It's far easier to lounge in a chair clicking buttons on a controller for hours. Like, Skyrim VR is amazing as an experience, but I just can't get into it the same way as Skyrim flatscreen.

That was an issue solved quite some time ago. Either you get custom prescription lenses for the headset, or you have a spacer (modern sets have an adjustable shroud built in, including the Frame).

It was fixed with the release of the HTC Vive almost 10 years ago.

It already had a ton of space, but you can slide the lenses further to make even more room. And if that didn't work you could get prescription lenses.