Oculus Rift: The Vision of the Future?

With virtual reality always being something that people have wanted to have but have not quite polished it to a usable degree, in comes the Oculus Rift trying to appeal to those who enjoy the idea of using virtual reality while gaming. The author of this article, George A. Fowler, tried out the device and said that despite the hype behind it and how great it looked when peering through it the Oculus Rift still had issues with its sensors and bugs out every so often. He even goes as far as to describe it as a device you want your neighbors to buy so that you can just try it out from them. This shows how while the Oculus Rift seems like a great advancement into the future for entertainment, it currently is nothing more than a gimmick to be tried out once for the first time then put on your shelf to never be used again. With the long power cables you have to keep track of when walking around and how large and clunky it is, it is a device that seems to have a lot of issues just maintaining it, let alone using the item.

One of the main issues of the Oculus Rift is that it tries to appeal to too wide a range of audiences. While it is initially a gaming device, it also sponsors how it can be used to enhance one’s television shows and movies which makes it seem like a great tool for anyone to have. It also tries to make itself seem like with it you can pretend to climb mountains without having to be there, being a great entertainment tool for anyone. However, with many of its reviews showing how buggy it can be and how movement-based activities with it are quite limited it has a long way to go before it can become a universal entertainment tool. This broad range appeal will make it seem mediocre to everyone and cause it to have sales similar to that. Even if it tries to focus on just being a enhancer for a single audience like videogames or virtual reality travelers, the giant price tag of 1,200 dollars makes it almost impossible for anyone to simply impulse buy it due to the huge investment into something so minimal to someone’s life. It requires other devices to be truly worth it and because of its dependence on other electronical devices the Oculus Rift’s future looks to be very slow in sales at best or crashing downwards into a pit of debt for the makes at worst.

Other similar devices like Samsung’s Gear VR is only 100 dollars, making it a huge saving in money compared to the overbearing price tag on the Oculus Rift. Other devices like the Wii have greater freedom to use when it comes to combining movement with gaming as while both require the person to move out a large amount of open room for use, the Wii allows multiple people to use the same device and doesn’t make your surroundings a hassle to walk around unlike the VR device since it blindfolds you to everything else in the world. While a few people may enjoy this, it seems far too overbearing for the average customer to even purchase or use in a practical or useful way. As it stands now, the Oculus Rift to me has a lot that needs to be fixed and fine-tuned before it can become the next big thing.

Article URL: 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/oculus-rift-review-vrs-rising-star-isnt-ready-for-the-mainstream-1459173888