Photography VR game

After the release of the movie Ready Player One, many people think that VR products will be very popular in the future and will become a common digital consumer product among mass consumers. But in reality, many users bought VR headsets and played for a short time. Few people will play such a device at high frequency. Why is VR not hot? What are its obvious shortcomings? What new trends can be found in the development of VR industry from some recent new VR products? This time, let's analyze VR in depth.

Audio-visual games with limited space are limited in content.

Let's talk about VR first. The application scenarios of VR devices are mainly at home, but VR is different from mobile phones and laptops. It needs an open environment to play comfortably, but not all users have enough space in their homes. The small bedroom in the apartment simply can't give users enough space to move, and the beds, sofas and wardrobes in some big rooms also occupy many positions, so for many apartment users, the space utilization rate of playing games with VR is not high, which fundamentally limits the purchase desire of many users. The feasible solution can only be to develop as many games as possible without moving positions. Or you can refer to the design of the arcade game hall now, and it would be a good idea to build a VR game hall with broad space and guidance.

The lack of games and audio-visual content is also a common problem in VR. The number of VR games has increased, but compared with the number of console games of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, the number of games developed by SteamVR platform alone cannot match these console games, not to mention those VR all-in-one machines. Although the number of built-in games in some VR all-in-one machines is increasing, it is still a drop in the bucket. In addition, the real explosive masterpieces of the game are rare, such as Ares series, Final Fantasy series or Super Mario series, which are well-known classic games. There are also national games such as the glory of the king, Peace Elite and Genshin Impact in the mobile games. Now there is only one half-life: Alyx in VR game, which is called 3A masterpiece. Adding more 3A masterpieces to VR games can give real game lovers more motivation to play games.

In terms of audio and video content, most high-quality movies built in many VR devices are also 2D content, while 3D or panoramic movies are quite rare. Many 3D or panoramic movies are within 10 minutes, and the content is mostly empty, which can basically be seen in one day. Apart from being able to enjoy the content alone and avoid the outside world, watching 2D movies is not much different from watching movies on a tablet or computer. As for the immersive experience like a cinema, the current VR equipment can only be said to have achieved visual immersion, but not auditory experience. It is easy to play with a pair of headphones, but it is not easy to restore the echo of the cinema.

At the same time, the resolution of many VR devices on the market is not high, and some have not even reached the level of 4K. The display effect brought by low resolution must be obvious graininess, and some users may even feel dizzy. The experience of audio-visual games can only be said to be passable, the game played is clearing the field, and VR will eat it after watching the film.

The head display handle occupies a large volume and is inconvenient to use when going out.

After the home use scene is over, let's talk about the take-away use of VR. If you use VR all-in-one outdoors, you must first be accompanied by others to help you stand. Otherwise, walking with your head up is like a blind person. If you are not careful, you will easily bump into obstacles or fall. Playing VR games in some public places can also easily bump into other people, and in the eyes of others, you will be funny when playing games, and you will inevitably feel shy. Therefore, it seems that the only scene suitable for take-out is a friend's house.

However, even this kind of take-away use has portable short boards. Smart phones can be put in underwear pockets, and a slightly larger phablet or notebook can also carry a handbag. If you bring a SLR camera, it is enough to bring a camera backpack, but it is difficult to bring a VR all-in-one machine. Many head displays and handles themselves need a backpack or suitcase with a lot of space to put down. It is estimated that most people don't want to take a big bag or suitcase in order to play a VR. If it is a business trip, more people will be willing to leave the precious space of their backpacks for tablets or notebooks, or even more clothes.

Therefore, from the usage scene, it is still as suitable for home use as Sony Microsoft's game console. However, the quantity and quality of its games can't compete with the game consoles, and its own advantages are also limited by the space environment at home. Audio-visual experience has no obvious advantages and is in an awkward position, so it is inevitable to enter the bottleneck period.

Development trend of VR industry: All-in-one machine is king, high-resolution brush, freehand control of killing handle, popularization of 6DoF, development of more content and improvement of VR ecology.

Then, can the future development of VR industry solve the dilemma of the above problems? Recently, Pico Neo 3, HTC VIVE Pro 2 and VIVE Focus 3 have been released, and a new generation of Sony PS VR headphones has also been released. These VR devices can be said to be mainstream VR devices at home and abroad. Let's take a look at what new changes these VR devices have brought.

The price of VIVE Focus 3, a VR all-in-one machine, is 9888 yuan, while the price of VIVE Pro 2, a PCVR, is only 6888 yuan, which is definitely due to the lack of accessories such as remote control. But judging from the price difference of 3000 yuan, it is obvious that accessories are not the only factor that affects the price. It also reflects that the VR all-in-one machine should gradually replace the traditional PCVR equipment in the future, and the all-in-one machine should take into account the functions of both the all-in-one machine and the wireless wired streaming media PC, making it a more multifunctional VR equipment.

An important reason for this change is naturally that the VR all-in-one machine is more convenient to use. PCVR has to connect a bunch of data lines, which really discourages most users. Another reason is related to the current hardware market. We can see that there is a serious shortage of chips in the global market. High-performance graphics cards are nicknamed air graphics cards because of the prevalence of mining in digital currency, and the price of solid-state hard disks is also rising. Users can't buy high-performance PCs themselves, let alone high-performance PCVR games. Moreover, the current market estimates that the shortage of analytical chips and graphics cards will continue until 2022, and it is not surprising that PCVR will go downhill under the combined effect of various factors.

The second major change is that the performance of VR devices has finally been comprehensively improved. Pico Neo 3 and HTC VIVE Focus 3 both use Qualcomm XR chips, and the resolution is improved to 4K and 5K respectively. The VIVE Pro 2 of PC VR also has a resolution of 5K, and Sony's next-generation PS VR head display is reported to have a resolution of 4K, and the image quality has been significantly improved. Moreover, both Pico Neo 3 and HTC VIVE Focus 3 support 90Hz high brush, which can be regarded as the popularization of screen high brush to VR all-in-one machine. The improvement of refresh rate will also significantly improve the dizziness when users use VR. As a PC VR, VIVE Pro 2 has achieved a high-brush experience of 120Hz, and the official news from Pico said that the subsequent firmware upgrade of Pico Neo 3 will also bring a high-brush of 120Hz, so the problem that users feedback VR devices are prone to dizziness should be less and less in the future.

The third change is not now, but in the future. Both Pico and HTC have announced that they will realize the operation mode of freehand recognition in the future, which means that in the future, users can throw away the remote control and just put on the head display to play, which not only further facilitates the operation experience of VR, but also makes VR devices more portable. If the head display itself is relatively small, it is indeed more motivated to bring VR equipment to other places for use at this time. Of course, the experience of unarmed manipulation still needs to be done.

The fourth change is that 6DoF technology has been popularized in VR. In addition to simple shooting, holding or throwing can make the game more diversified. In fact, strictly speaking, VR games can bring more interesting manipulation than game consoles. Unfortunately, masterpieces are still too scarce.

The fifth change is that the development of VR ecology has finally begun to gradually improve. VR education, VR conference, VR socialization and VR museum have all been launched, and even some manufacturers have started the industry of virtual idols, and some companies have started to cooperate with game manufacturers, which is also a good sign. The cooperation between HTC and Bandai Nanmeng Palace is a typical case. In the future, we may see high-quality Gundam games on the VR platform, which is for many Gundam fans.

From this point of view, the recently released VR devices and the blueprint plans displayed by VR manufacturers really want to solve the pain point of the rise of VR, but there are still many problems, such as the problem of too few 3D or panoramic video resources, which are still widespread. The solution to this problem lies in the number of works by professional panorama camera, which cannot be solved by VR manufacturers themselves. Compared with ordinary video shooting, the more complicated post-workflow itself restricts the development of 3D and full-motion video. Only when panoramic photography really rises will the 3D panoramic content of VR be truly enriched.

In addition, the use of VR to broadcast sports events and concerts is also a major advantage of VR, but this vision has not yet been realized. In addition to the immature commercialization of 5G, the issue of content copyright and broadcasting rights is also an obstacle. Originally, this was a good opportunity to promote the development of VR live broadcast due to the epidemic, but it had to be somewhat regrettable. If the live broadcast can solve the problems of network delay, copyright and payment, I believe this will also give VR a broader development route.

End of movement

All in all, the current VR industry is indeed developing and progressing, which is gratifying, but the future is still bumpy. There are still many difficulties for VR to truly enter the homes of ordinary people. The more users there are, the virtual socialization of VR can really flourish, otherwise everyone can only roam alone in their fragmented virtual world. I hope that the VR industry will get better and better, so that the fantasy world of the number one player will come soon.