Nerds rejoice, our dream of virtual reality is finally upon us. Before I dive into my reasoning behind why I believe virtual reality is not ready to take over gaming, I am obligated to disclose my personal opinion toward it. I was introduced to the Oculus rift years ago when it was in a very early stage. The notoriously high-strung, hilarious YouTuber Jacksepticeye had gotten his hands on the very first developer kit put out by Oculus, and I began to watch all of the videos he posted using this brand new technology. He played Mirrors Edge, rode roller coasters, and played horror games. I was completely hooked. These matte black ski goggle things with displays inside were the realization of everyone’s childhood dream, ever since they watched Timmy Turner wish himself into a video game in 2001(maybe that was just me). After further research, it turns out that Oculus is not the only player in the realm of virtual reality. Both Sony and HTC have developed own versions of this advanced hardware, clearly seeing potential in this realization of a once crazy and unrealistic dream. By this point, you may say that I’m contradicting myself. While I am extremely excited that this level of immersion is finally possible, I do not believe that the current wave of virtual reality hardware will be the one to truly transition gaming to the next generation.

The first problem that I encountered while patiently waiting for a consumer release of these VR machines was the price. Back when Oculus was in the developing stages, one could buy a developer kit (basically an early build of the product) for a mere $300. I battled with myself for quite some time about purchasing one of these kits, which were publicly sold. I opted to not test the capabilities of my trusty Mac, and I may have made the wrong choice. The consumer versions of these headsets all are much pricier than I could have ever expected. After visiting each company’s website, I gathered these prices:

Oculus Rift – $599

Playstation VR – $399

HTC Vive – $799

After paying AT LEAST the amount that you payed for the console itself (unless you’re on PC), you will receive the headset and all of its accompaniments: the cameras to track movement, hand controls, etc. With price points this high, I began to think about the value of what I would potentially be purchasing. VR is a new display method, and a controller. It really isn’t something that applies to every game, as I play a whole range of games. I couldn’t really put my finger on how I would use it to play sports games, third person games, and any sort of strategy game. The first person aspect to games would have to be seriously exaggerated, and I don’t see the application to that. I, for one, was never able to use the cockpit view while racing in any sort of game.

That was me. Say you are a person that exclusively plays games for their immersion and favors the first person view over all other alternatives. In order for the VR immersion to work correctly, games must be running at 60 fps or the experience will be ruined. Not only that, but one of the main issues with these headsets is that they can cause nausea after playing for a short amount of time. With this being said, developing games to run smoothly on this hardware is expensive and very hard to do. This leads to my next topic, VR exclusive games.

A quick search on YouTube will make you aware of the kinds of games that people are making for headsets. Many of them are in the early stages, just demos where the developers are learning about this new frontier just as much as the players are.

In conclusion, I believe virtual reality is in the infant stages and will eventually hold a massive share in the gaming market. As much as I would love to immerse myself in other worlds and experience this amazing new technology, the price point is just too much to conquer as of right now. Until the testing phase is over, the hiccups are updated out of the systems, and the games are more than technology demos and gimmicks, I will be patiently waiting. That day will come, though, in due time.