John Carmack: Virtual Reality is “Coasting on Novelty”

More improvements have to be made with loading times.

Posted By | On 11th, Oct. 2016

Oculus Rift_01

There’s a strong push for VR gaming especially with PlayStation VR releasing on October 13th. However, other solutions like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have been around for a few months with minimal impact.

Oculus chief technology officer and former id Software founder John Carmack noted at the Oculus Connect event that the technology is currently “coasting on novelty.” As per Games Industry International, Carmack said, “The initial wonder of being something people have never seen before. But we need to start judging ourselves. Not on a curve, but in an absolute sense. Can you do something in VR that has the same value, or more value, than what these other [non-VR] things have done?”

One area that VR needs to improve in is loading times as players are taking as long as 30 seconds to get into a game. “That’s acceptable if you’re going to sit down and play for an hour…but [in VR] initial startup time really is poisonous. An analogy I like to say is, imagine if your phone took 30 seconds to unlock every time you wanted to use it. You’d use it a lot less.

“There are apps that I wanted to play, that I thought looked great, that I stopped playing because they had too long of a load time. I would say 20 seconds should be an absolute limit on load times, and even then I’m pushing people to get it much, much lower.”

Oculus is currently planning to launch its Touch controller on December 6th and dubs it the “hand trigger” for tracking different finger poses. Stay tuned for more information on the same soon.


Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

Star Wars: Hunters Launches for PC in Early Access on January 27

Star Wars: Hunters Launches for PC in Early Access on January 27

Zynga's free-to-play hero shooter originally launched for mobile devices and Nintendo Switch earlier this year...

Cyberpunk Live Action Project is Still in the Conceptual Stage

Cyberpunk Live Action Project is Still in the Conceptual Stage

"But we’re also not yet at the stage where we would be shopping around the concept to potential streamers or...

PS2 Has Sold 160 Million Units, Sony Officially Confirms

PS2 Has Sold 160 Million Units, Sony Officially Confirms

Former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan claimed the same earlier this year, and the figure has now been officially con...

The Witcher 4 Enters Full Production

The Witcher 4 Enters Full Production

Codenamed Project Polaris, the fantasy action RPG was in pre-production for over two years, and is confirmed t...

Towers of Aghasba Early Access Review – Towerfall

Towers of Aghasba Early Access Review – Towerfall

Moonlit Games' striking visuals and intriguing lore belies a frustrating survival sandbox experience with too ...

Cyberpunk 2077 Has Sold 30 Million Units, Phantom Liberty Crosses 8 Million

Cyberpunk 2077 Has Sold 30 Million Units, Phantom Liberty Crosses 8 Million

CD Projekt RED has shared new sales figures for the action RPG and its expansion, both of which have maintaine...