$199 is an absurdly good price for a still-good standalone VR headset, but is the Quest 3 Lite around the corner?
      • SailorMoss@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        41·
        8 months ago

        I bought a quest 2 a few years ago. I searched for hours and hours to try and get it to work with no FB account. Best I found was that you can sideload APKs to it… with a Facebook account.

        Eventually broke down and temporarily made a Facebook account to at least try it. Was pretty unimpressed with the content which was meager in comparison to PCVR. Ended up returning it and deleting Facebook account.

        In my opinion the experience is not worth making a Facebook account for even if the headset was free.

        If you want to get into VR on the cheap get a windows mixed reality headset off eBay. Most of them aren’t as good of a headset as the quest 2. But it will probably be comparable if you’re streaming most of your content from PC anyway. And you’ll avoid Facebook’s shit.

        Be forewarned though windows mixed reality headsets don’t yet work on windows LTSC or Linux :(. (Though maybe windows 11 LTSC later this year?) So you’ll have to use the garbage version of windows to use it.

        • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          21·
          8 months ago

          I have a WMR device and I regret it.

          So many games simply do not support it, I’d have been better off with a Valve index that seems to work with most PC titles.

          • SailorMoss@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            8 months ago

            I have HP reverb G2. It has seemed to work fine with everything I’ve thrown at it. Though I’m not sure about the cheaper devices. I probably wouldn’t recommend spending that much on a WMR headset at this point.

            But, WMR devices can be found for $75-$150 dollars on eBay. I don’t recommend them if you’re serious about VR. But if you just want a cheap entry point, they work.

    • Bubs@lemmings.worldEnglish
      7·
      8 months ago

      I would use it for like 1 game on the quest store and more portable/wireless VR on PC. Even though my Index, is superior in almost every way, an easy headset to give to a visitor would be nice.

      I probably wouldn’t pay $200 for one, but if a friend was getting rid of one for $50-100 I would likely snatch it up.

      • nanoUFO@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
        131·
        8 months ago

        Because I try not to let my personal opinion dictate what I post here. Lots of people do care about this even if I don’t, but I couldn’t help commenting on it.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        It is, but it’s not just $200, it’s $200 and a Meta account. I’m not making a Meta account, so I’m not buying this.

        If it was usable w/o a Meta account, I’d probably get it.

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    161·
    8 months ago

    That’s the right price range, for VR to properly catch on.

    Shame it still owns you rather than vice-versa.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      51·
      8 months ago

      Wait, I don’t get it. Your comment implies you are locked in to the Meta ecosystem, so wouldn’t this be a fantastic option for you?

      I’m not interested because it requires a Meta account, which I’m unwilling to create.

      • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

        Oops, my bad. I meant “it” or “if I wouldn’t be locked into the Meta ecosystem by buying it”. English is hard.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          Ah, that makes way more sense. I’m in the same boat, I’d totally buy this if I didn’t need an account at any Meta service to use it (I’d even pay a bit more for it). But since it does, I just pretend the product doesn’t exist.

          And as a native English speaker, I totally agree, English is hard.

  • Scrof@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    7·
    8 months ago

    My friend let me try out his Quest 2 and I feel like it spoiled my first impression of VR… That is, I was not impressed. Picture quality was abysmal, I definitely expected something more immersive than blurry binoculars experience, and Facebook integration was annoying as fuck.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    4·
    8 months ago

    For me the issue with VR headsets isn’t the price, but the lack of a relevant killer app.

    If I were super-into flight sims, I could totally see going VR – makes more sense then the many-monitors setups that fans have done for decades – but most game genres just don’t, IMHO, gain that much. And there hasn’t been a new genre that really blows me away that leverages VR.

    I can believe that it might be professionally-useful for architects.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
      4·
      8 months ago

      I have a Q3 and I’m also feeling that right now. Most of the games for VR aren’t even really games. They’re “experiences;” Interactive movies where the only interaction is that you can move around the scene. The other biggest type are practically mobile games. Alyx was great. But it’s been long enough that it needs something to surpass it or at least learn from it.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        Alyx was great. But it’s been long enough that it needs something to surpass it or at least learn from it.

        Hmm. Yeah, that’s a thought too. To put some numbers on that, if I go to Steam and do a search for VR-only games and rank by User Rating, I get:

        https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Reviews_DESC&vrsupport=401&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

        1. Half-Life: Alyx, 2020 release

        2. VTOL VR, 2017

        3. COMPOUND, 2022

        4. UNDERDOGS, 2024

        5. Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, 2016

        6. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, 2015

        7. Half-Life 2: VR Mod, 2022

        8. The Room VR: A Dark Matter, 2020

        9. Walkabout Mini Golf VR, 2021

        10. fpsVR, 2018

        11. The Last Clockwinder, 2022

        12. Blade and Sorcery, 2018

        13. Vertigo 2, 2023

        14. I Expect You to Die 2: The Spy and the Liar, 2021

        15. Vermillion - VR Painting, 2021

        16. Beat Saber, 2019

        17. The Lab, 2016

        18. The Thrill of the Fight - VR Boxing, 2019

        19. OVR Advanced Settings, 2020

        20. I Expect You To Die, 2017

        So of the best-of-the-best out there as of this writing, we have in releases-per-year:

        2024: 1 (understandable, year is only about three months in)

        2023: 1

        2022: 3

        2021: 3

        2020: 3

        2019: 2

        2018: 2

        2017: 2

        2016: 2

        2015: 1

        I mean, that’s just not really an exponential explosion.

        • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          Some of those aren’t even games in any sense of the word. fpsVR and OVR are both just utilities for overlaying things while playing games (and there are free options).

          It’s also the most expensive way to play a game, so I do understand the lack of demand compared to the normal gaming space, but there seems to be plenty of people in VR to sustain a good market. So where is it?

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    I am shocked they couldn’t get everyone to wear a headset all the time for personal, work, and any other time for that price. I’m sure for 200 it’ll work.