Is VR dead?

[wajdi]

My Crystal Pimax was returned to me today after Pimax had not released it from China customs. I had already my full refund from PayPal and now I’m having a free Crystal Pimax headset.
The return trip was very very long.. almost 3 months because it was returned via sea mailing . I thought it was even lost and I said who cares I already got my full refund but yesterday I got the notification from my local post office that o have a package from China .
I picked it up and I was surprised that the package was intact.
Today I gave it a try … I’m surprised that the installation went so smooth even the firmware update was smooth.
I calibrated auto IPD and eye tracking. Back in July it was pain in the ass setting the software and updating the firmware for 5 times because every time it was freezing. You can see that Pimax has improved a lot the software side .
I fired up rf2 and just wowww..
The image quality and clarity of the Crystal so just another level compared to the quest 3. … the colors to are very vibrant. It runs even very smooth at 90fps at full setting and SS-110%.
Too bad the comfort is still really awful. with my comfort Apache strap it’s better but I can’t use this headset more than 30 min.
It’s really a shame that all this image beauty and clarity is ruined but this Bulky case .
I’m selling it tomorrow with a big discount . I’m keeping my quest 3 waiting to the next Index 2 .

 

[metalnwood]

Well you got your refund, you returned it and they didn't want it and sent it back. Not much more you can do, they have said you keep it in actions if not words. Lucky for you!

It reminds me of a guy in aus that bought a camera off me for about 5k usd but would not give me his address because he was going to arrange for it to get picked up.. he went silent.. I found him a year later and he said he would arrange it, he didnt. I tried more contact... after 5 years I resold the camera for about 2k.... oh well, sometimes we get lucky.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Well you got your refund, you returned it and they didn't want it and sent it back. Not much more you can do, they have said you keep it in actions if not words. Lucky for you!

It reminds me of a guy in aus that bought a camera off me for about 5k usd but would not give me his address because he was going to arrange for it to get picked up.. he went silent.. I found him a year later and he said he would arrange it, he didnt. I tried more contact... after 5 years I resold the camera for about 2k.... oh well, sometimes we get lucky.

10 years later, loud door banging.
"Kid, where is my camera?".

 

[ltnordb]

I guess this thread title just became more relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualrea...crosoft_deprecates_windows_mixed_reality_wmr/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1737706736365011007

 

[R8pilot]

Good riddance to WMR!

The incompetence of WMR is way up there on reasons I've rarely used VR. Every time I - randomly / accidentally / who the hell knows how (certainly never chose that deliberately) - wound up in that fatally-awkward penalty box "cliff house" I wanted to scream and throw the headset across the room.

But what replaces it!?

 

[mechsicko]

That's a real bummer for anyone with G1/2 headsets then if their hmd are turned into paperweights over this decision

 

[Deleted member 197115]

It gave the world inside out tracking, and opened the door for budget HMDs from all those manufacturers who jumped on the WMR bandwagon.
And G2 is still relevant even today, wondering if OpenXR can be used as a full substitution.
Other than that, just another sign of VR decay.

 

[gamma123152]

It gave the world inside out tracking, and opened the door for budget HMDs from all those manufacturers who jumped on the WMR bandwagon.
And G2 is still relevant even today, wondering if OpenXR can be used as a full substitution.
Other than that, just another sign of VR decay.

Microsoft Windows Phone also failed, but almost everyone in the world has a smartphone. WMR is a failure and we all saw this coming.

 

[R8pilot]

And G2 is still relevant even today, wondering if OpenXR can be used as a full substitution.
Other than that, just another sign of VR decay.

Indeed. My headset is a G2. Although I rarely use it, I hope it remains functional. One day I might even finish HL Alex (very impressive visuals and immersion, but slow paced), or do I need to rush to do so?

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Indeed. My headset is a G2. Although I rarely use it, I hope it remains functional. One day I might even finish HL Alex (very impressive visuals and immersion, but slow paced), or do I need to rush to do so?

It looks breath taking in G2, runs great too, but movements are so clunky as with any not meant for VR game forced into it, wish Valve released monitor version. I am actually having much more fun and more traditional FPS experience running it with this mod, almost done with the campaign, just few glitches getting stuck here and there, but other than that triple A experience. Super easy to install, just download launcher and click Play.

Half-Life Alyx NoVR - Launcher (December 18th, 2023) file

We have pushed new updates that add Alyx's pockets back into the game, fixing the previous issues, along with various other updates including fixes to the launcher. Thanks to all who voted for us and don't forget to vote for us in the top 100 ranking!

www.moddb.com

 

[gamma123152]

I never tried the G2 controllers because I read bad things about them; but Alyx played amazing with the Index Controllers in mixed reality with the G2.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Don't know but I play lots of shooters, pretty much anything more or less decent that comes out ends up in my library, but I could never got satisfying FPS experience with VR titles. Sitting in a cockpit, driving or flying is fine, but when you start moving around, all that teleporting or vomit inducing hovering, just breaks the experience even though the visuals are stunning.
And yes, you can laugh (of course, you wouldn't be you if you didn't) but playing Half-Life Alyx on monitor was more satisfying experience as a shooter to me personally.

Speaking of shooters in VR, some funny video.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Found this regarding WMR deprecation.

UploadVR reached out to Microsoft officially for answers. A company representative provided the following statement:

"As of Nov. 1, 2026 for consumers and Nov. 1, 2027 for commercial customers, Windows Mixed Reality will no longer be available for download via the Mixed Reality Portal app, Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, and Steam VR beta, and we will discontinue support.

[...]

Existing Windows Mixed Reality devices will continue to work with Steam until users upgrade to a version of Windows that does not include Windows Mixed Reality."

 

[mechsicko]

Found this regarding WMR deprecation.

Sucks they're losing interest and pulling out of VR instead of making something that actually competes with Valve or Facebook but at least that's a solid run for WMr hmd to still be useful. By that point newer tech will have already likely made them obsolete

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Sucks they're losing interest and pulling out of VR instead of making something that actually competes with Valve or Facebook but at least that's a solid run for WMr hmd to still be useful. By that point newer tech will have already likely made them obsolete

Facebook is losing money on their boss Metaverse dream. Valve does not show any activity in the space either, seems like focus shifted to new revenue source from handhelds.
We need some serious market disruptor before it all goes down like 3D TVs in the past.
Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Makes me wonder why Apple trying to get into market with their ridiculously overpriced useless for PC gaming contraption.

 

[gamma123152]

Facebook is losing money on their boss Metaverse dream. Valve does not show any activity in the space either, seems like focus shifted to new revenue source from handhelds.
We need some serious market disruptor before it all goes down like 3D TVs in the past.
Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant

Nah, surely not going to happen, it will always stay a niche for simmers at least.

And if that's the case then you'll be the most happy man in the world, but we are still unsure why you want VR dead but your daily focus still seems to lay on that subject, it's almost what keeps you going in life it seems

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Great fresh off the press article on the current market situation. Quite sobering view.

Meta's Billions Fail: VR Market Shrinks Despite Massive Investments

Despite Meta's billions for the metaverse, VR market still shrinks. Dive into the latest on Meta's massive investments and the persistent downturn in virtual reality

millmentor.com

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Nah, surely not going to happen, it will always stay a niche for simmers at least.

And if that's the case then you'll be the most happy man in the world, but we are still unsure why you want VR dead but your daily focus still seems to lay on that subject, it's almost what keeps you going in life it seems

Being critical of something does not mean you want it dead, not sure where you get it from.
I am very much looking forward new and improved VR, it's just not happening after all these years of nonstop uphill struggle. And the current market situation looks quite grim.

 

[gamma123152]

Being critical of something does not mean you want it dead, not sure where you get it from.
I am very much looking forward new and improved VR, it's just not happening after all these years of nonstop uphill struggle. And market situation looks quite grim.

How many times you want to keep convincing people to move away from VR and to try games on an widescreen/flatscreen. I've seen you doing that so many times on this website. To me about ACC already 3+ times at least(WRC too) this while you know that I'm an VR enthousiast. When people complain about an VR implementation, the first thing you do is trying to convince them that the widescreen experience is so much better, when the G2 is dying, the first thing you do is suggesting to play even Alyx on a monitor.

When there's something negative about VR or about market decline, you get excited for whatever reason and you post pics like you just did. So yes, that's my interpretation of your behaviour on this website.

And I think that you got it all wrong, every single time you think that VR is going to die because the mass market isn't picking it up massively. Yes true, I can confirm that and probably everybody else too, it's clear to everyone, why repeat that every day?

This while RaceDepartment is a sim racing/racing game website. It's already clear for yearssss that mass adoption of VR isn't going to happen and that it will stay a niche. And within the sim racing/flight simming/pinball community VR is more alive then ever before. That's what you're missing here, you have no idea how far it came the last years because you never tried a new GPU+VR hmd with sim racing. It's an insanely big difference then what you're used to(3080/G2). People that experienced this know that VR is going the right direction and that it's, within the sim niche, more alive then ever. But somehow you seem to shut your eyes for these great developments but you keep hoping that it's dying.