Article: On the Oculus Rift, Ouya, and Google Glass

I grew up a 90's kid.  I owned an NES and a Sega Genesis, and a Tandy computer.  I also watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I was fascinated by the Holodeck.

Even 400 years in the future, they can't make a solid likeness of Einstein.

I knew the Holodeck was impossible (well, at the time it was, but surprisingly, we're making leaps and bounds towards it), so the next best thing was Virtual Reality.  I was obsessed with the concept, and I didn't give up the idea without a fight.

A friend had a Virtual Boy, and I enjoyed Mario Tennis on it, but I knew that was not what was promised to 90's kids for VR.  VR was an all encompassing color, photorealistic experience, and if you could walk instead of use a controller, that would be even better.

I loved ReBoot, The Matrix, and even a straight-to-video movie called Arcade which probably stunk worse than The Lawnmower Man 2 (which I also loved).

I got to try out VR for real when I went to Disney Quest, a five-storey building chock full of VR games at Disney World.  But even those were disappointments compared to my imagination.

I wrote stories about VR.  When a Nintendo On spoof came out on Youtube with a VR headset, I believed.

My poor prediction skills told me VR would come any day and would replace TV-bound consoles.  Instead we got the increased popularity of handhelds and smartphones, and only twenty years after I was introduced to the idea, Oculus is picking up the slack with their new VR headset, Oculus Rift.

But does the idea still hold sway on me as it did twenty years ago?  To be honest, I am far more interested in Google Glass.  I had thought Augmented Reality would be an evolution of VR, but it turns out AR is beating it to the punch.

My expectations (and this may prove a second time that my prediction skills are non-existent) are that Oculus Rift and Google Glass will both be fairly niche markets for their first generation.  Oculus' second headset (perhaps called Oculus Chasm) will be more mainstream, and might challenge the consoles, finally.  But Google will pour far more money and research into Google Glass, and Augmented Reality will be far more commonplace in its second generation.  And it will have competitors.

And with AR becoming bigger, Augmented Reality Games will come in, and will offer games for both casual and hardcore gamers (as I discussed in a previous article).

Oculus Rift can only appeal to hardcore gamers.  No one will buy it that doesn't already keep up with the latest Playstation or Xbox console.  Oculus may take a bite out of the console market, but Google will devastate mobile.

Perhaps the next Xbox and Playstation will come out with a headset peripheral like the Kinect does for the Xbox 360.  Then the Playstation 5 will be entirely VR, and the TV will be an appendix to the system.

The TV will only be used for Ouya-like consoles, for gamers who want the "classic" experience.

Put these three new gaming avenues together and there is a very different landscape before us.  Will Oculus, Ouya, and Google become the Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo of the next generation?  Or will the older companies compete?  I expect they will, but only if they copy what's coming down the pipe.

Sony seems like the type to take on Oculus, and Microsoft will battle with Google, leaving Nintendo with Ouya as nemesis. 

Although I am unsure about Nintendo's stance.  They have always been the kind to care far more about interfaces, what with coming out with the Wii controller first, so they may try to sneak into the AR or VR space.  In that case, I think Nintendo will be in over their heads.  They tried VR once before, and it was a failure.  Granted, they won't make the same mistakes as before, but I don't see them leading the way in sales as they did with the Wii.

I am sure Nintendo wants to bury every one of these next to the Atari ET cartridges.

Somehow, I think in all the chaos, Nintendo may go the way of Sega and Atari.  They are the last of the old standard, a relic now, and I'm always surprised they lasted this long.

But, who knows, they may pull something amazing out to redirect the world of games, just like they did last time.  The Wii U isn't it, though.  Maybe the Wii V will come out and make us forget Nintendo's missteps, just like we forgot about the Virtual Boy.

In the end, though, I regard Oculus Rift with curiosity, rather than excitement.  I should be excited, since I've waited 20 years for such a system, but it's been like waiting for Duke Nukem Forever.  All the hype and disappointment for so long makes it not worth it.

I think I'd rather just play a retro indie platformer on the Ouya.