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A comment on Oculus Rift Review: VR’s Rising Star Isn’t Ready for the Mainstream. Parent comment

Re:Oculus Rift Review: VR’s Rising Star Isn’t Ready for the ... by wlesieutre on Monday March 28, 2016 @01:54PM (#11375960)
> The point is that for someone who wants to dip their toes and had a recent Samsung phone the Gear is DRASTICALLY cheaper. If you have a PS4 (or even if you don't) then the PS VR is cheaper too.

And on the other end of that, I have a GTX 970 but my phone is from Sony and I don't own a console. If I want to get into VR, the Rift is my cheapest option.

Different target markets - the Gear is aimed at the general public with Samsung phones, the Rift is aimed at PC gamers with gaming PCs. Sure, some people will buy a slightly better rig or upgrade sooner than they would have otherwise, but fundamentally it's targeting people who are going to own a gaming computer anyway.

I'd guess that the people buying a Rift + PC bundle as their first PC gaming setup will be doing it after trying one on in person to evaluate it. It'll happen, but it'll be a slower push driven by word of mouth.

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Re:Oculus Rift Review: VR’s Rising Star Isn’t Ready for the ... by MBCook on Monday March 28, 2016 @02:19PM (#11376154)
> the Gear is aimed at the general public with Samsung phones, the Rift is aimed at PC gamers with gaming PCs

And the article is aimed at the general public, not gamers. That's why there is nothing wrong with Fowler's analysis.

I'm not arguing that the Gear is going to give the best experience of all solutions, I was defending Fowler's point.

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Re:Oculus Rift Review: VR’s Rising Star Isn’t Ready for the ... by wlesieutre on Monday March 28, 2016 @02:45PM (#11376336)
> And the article is aimed at the general public, not gamers. That's why there is nothing wrong with Fowler's analysis.

I think we agree, but it feels like he's writing an article proclaiming "Tesla Roadster Isn’t Ready for the Mainstream" just because Elon Musk said that electric cars are going to be a transformational technology.

If the big takeaway of the article is "Bleeding edge product that isn't intended for the general public isn't ready for the general public" then I'm right on board with him.

[ Parent | on HN ]