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Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 11th, 2023
  • averyminya@beehaw.orgtoSteam Deck@sopuli.xyz•When the Steam Deck was still just an idea, Valve says some staff were like, "I just want that for me" and "the point wasn't even to make a product out of it"
    4·
    14 days ago

    I mean there are, it’s all just extremely subjective.

    Pistol Whip is musical John wick simulator, with community made levels. This is pretty much the pinnacle, IMO it’s better than beatsaber which is a little more boring for me. Then there’s the story based and multiplayer based FPS games, alongside the rhythm ones. Arizona Sunshine, Superhot.

    There’s Vermillion, which is a VR painting simulator. It’s incredible as an artist with a small space and not having to clean up afterwards. There’s also SculptrVR for modeling, SynthVR for music (synthesizers) which IMO is actually a quintessential piece of software as an actual synthesis rig is thousands of dollars, rooms full of space, and in this game it’s all available to you. There are a number of other games depending on your hobby preferences.

    And then there’s space/relaxation simulators, on their own are great, but can be further enhanced with various software. For example, one of my favorite passtimes during lockdown was Elite Dangerous with my phone connected to my computer using SCRCPY, brought into VR as an overlay. So I was space trucking with Netflix and didn’t have to remove my headset to interact on my phone.

    And then there’s murder simulators like Gorn and Blade and Sorcery, which also is the best Star Wars simulator.

    So even your post doesn’t hit the problem on the head. There’s a few compounding issues.

    First and foremost - the cost of the device in tandem with the lack of publicity. It’s no question that Blade and Sorcery and Beatsaber are well known VR games, but neither of them are marketed very well by their teams. Understandably so, how much ad money is worth putting into a VR game. But it’s hardly marketed by the headset sellers themselves, which you would think would be something desirable.

    Second - the reality. Headsets are heavy. Moving is hot. Even if you do get your VR setup, really fun games translated to VR like Holoball (basically just racketball) can actually get you pretty sweaty. The other reality is space is a factor. Even though I have a smaller house I still got VR, but using it in a smaller house can be compromising.

    Third - back to marketing, but with subjectivity. I would argue that there is killer software out there worth making VR worth having, the issue is that no one knows about it. Know one knows that SynthVR exists and let’s you save hundreds of thousands of dollars if you want to play with synthesizers without having to purchase all the parts for racks. Vermillion is incredible for aspiring painters and regular artists who may be low on materials or space, or I’mOpenBrush if they’re looking for the 3D VR art side.

    Finally - VR has a really difficult time with multiplayer. Without it, longevity can be shortened. With it, there might be no longevity at all because the game cost $20 and the headset and the cost of the PC that can run it and no one has even heard of Revolv3r. So while some games like PavlovVR somewhat takeoff and are successful, other games might have you waiting in a lobby for forever. Additionally, after the Vive there was a bit of a falloff of developer interest, and so there’re a fair number of games from 2016-2017 which look promising but are entirely abandoned, or might not even work on modern headsets (not so much an issue anymore now that Microsoft is ending support for Reality Portal.) This makes it even harder to find games for VR since you’re effectively sorting through a graveyard with a mix between hardware compatibility and something actually worthwhile.

    There are a ton of fun VR games, fully fledged and arcade style, and there’s a lot of great software. I just don’t think people know about them, they’re hard to find, and they’re a bit locked behind a pretty significant price disparity.

  • averyminya@beehaw.orgtoWorld News@beehaw.org•West blasts China on rights, China responds: What about Gaza?
    8·
    16 days ago

    Yeah lol. I’m not usually one for whattaboutism but it is extremely hypocritical to be currently engaged in providing arms to and siding with an extermination and talk about a different human rights violation that isn’t ours. The tragic and indefensible actions from the past such as Tienanmen Square or the Tuskegee experiments can never be erased but should be used as references for things from our history to not repeat. Mao Zedong initiated the Great Leap Forward policy that lead to the death of 45 million people and their culture and heritage, some regard him as the best thing that could have happened to China by increasing the literacy and housing by a massive amount (which just happened to coincide with the 45 million deaths that are completely irrelevant), and now the U.S. is an aid in the same position Israel/Zionists razing Palestine.

    The amount of culture and heritage already lost is appalling and it really is a “look in the mirror” moment for the U.S.

    Relatedly unrelated: I think about the Uyghur and Syrian refugee’s often and am often saddened by how we did not give them refuge and some politicians like Ben Carson even insulting the refugees comparing them dogs.