With just a few months to go before high-end virtual reality headsets start hitting the market, Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey has claimed that there’s going to be one thing that plagues these headsets for years to come, no matter how good they are: cables. Even though cables allow the headsets to be much more powerful, they’re an annoyance and a hindrance, as they limit the movement of users. According to Luckey, it’s for this reason that mobile virtual reality will be much more successful than its PC counterpart until a viable way to replace cables is found.
It might sound obvious, but if you’re hoping that mom will want to hop into virtual reality while you make her drag around a bunch of ugly ass (and dangerous) wires, it probably won’t happen. That’s why Oculus is doing projects like its partnership with Samsung on the Gear VR. It makes virtual reality mobile. When the latest iteration was announced, our own Josh Constine said: “The new Gear VR is 22% lighter, making it more comfortable to wear. The trackpad on the temple of the headset also now has a tactile directional pad on it so your finger will know where it’s touching.” Oculus founder Palmer Luckey shared his thoughts today on the state of PC vs. Mobile VR: This is something that I’ve discussed with virtual reality industry leaders and they agree. Also, it’s a reason why things like Google Cardboard and Gear VR are carrying the load of bringing virtual reality to the mainstream. Of course the PC tethered-with-cables version is way more powerful. However, the experiences that I’ve had with the Gear VR are pretty damn good, so I don’t find myself looking around for an Oculus devkit just yet.
