Are we are going to be
terrible at virtual reality?
It's entirely possible.
Ah!
[THEME MUSIC]
If you remember,
a couple of weeks
ago, I was in Las Vegas
at the DICE Conference.
And while I was there, I got
to try out the new Crystal Cove
prototype of the Oculus Rift.
I played "Eve-- Valkyrie",
which originally
was an internal experiment at
the Icelandic developer, CCP.
Five Minutes in, and I was
doing cartwheels in outer space.
It was awesome.
But then I got a
little bit dizzy.
But not in a bad way.
It just felt like I was
actually in a spaceship
doing loop de loops.
And it's not just me.
When the project lead for "Black
Mesa" toured Valve's Virtual
Reality Cave, his account
read like a hallucination.
An 100-foot-tall Atlas,
things flying at his face,
a profound amount of cursing--
Whoa!
Oh my [BLEEP] god!
And a lot of
exclamation points.
Ah!
Basically-- --just look at all
the videos of people playing
the Oculus Rift.
This one's my favorite.
[LAUGHTER]
There's a reason why
people are freaking out.
[LAUGHTER]
Woo!
I'm gonna get that arrow!
Stanford University
researchers are reaching
a cyberpunky conclusion.
Our brains can't yet distinguish
between actual reality
and virtual reality.
Oh my god.
[LAUGHTER]
Let me say this again.
We can't distinguish
between actual reality
and virtual reality.
Though it's weird, it makes
sense when you think about it.
No matter how immersive a
traditional video game feels,
there's always a
physical separation
between you and the game world.
(SINGING) We're all
in this togeth-- Ah!
Yep!
I'm out!
I'm definitely out.
I'm not playing this.
Georgia Tech University
researcher, Michael Nege
refers to this as "the distance
between the mediated space
of what we see on the
screen and the play
space of our physical reality."
Your heart may race.
And your palms may
sweat from excitement.
But unconsciously, you
still know where you are.
So when your mom comes
to turn on the lights
because you're ruining
your eyesight-- which you
are-- you're going to notice.
Virtual reality eliminates
that distance completely.
When I was playing
"Eve-- Valkyrie",
all my visual and oral
inputs were telling my brain
that I was flying.
So then my brain told my
body, this is intense.
I'm feeling loopy, even
though I'm not moving.
The move to virtual
reality is not
going to be like
moving from the PS3
to the PS4, or the Xbox 360
to the Xbox One, if you will.
It's such a radically
different experience
that makes me wonder, are
we ready for virtual reality
gaming?
Are we going to
be any good at it?
Now, before we go
any further, I know
that there are some
of you who will
dedicate the rest of your
lives to playing well in VR.
So I'm not talking about
everyone, everyone.
But I think the answer for
a lot of people will be no.
We're not ready.
And I think that's
true for two reasons.
The first reason is that the
physical and mental skills that
will be required for
being a proficient gamer
will be a lot different.
When gamers think about
virtual reality games,
they think about applying VR to
the games that we already have.
But VR will change the
expectations of how we play.
Think about it.
If you're prone to
flight sickness,
a game like "Ace
Combat" is going
to be a much less
pleasant experience.
And doing a VR barrel
roll at the speed of sound
could quickly go from
awesome to nauseating.
Have you seen the first-person
version of "Flappy Bird"?
Ho ho!
Person person "Flappy Bird".
[LAUGHTER]
Or if you're a little
afraid of heights,
"Mirror's Edge" quickly
becomes terrifying.
It has the roller
coaster effect again.
It doesn't feel good.
JAMIE WARREN: What about
"Forza", or "Gran Turismo"?
Will you be willing to
drive 200 miles an hour
if it actually feels like
you're going to crash?
Oh man!
JAMIE WARREN: And "Dead
Space" or "Amnesia"?
I could barely play
those games now.
So I'm already peeing myself.
And that's just the mental game.
There's going to be new
physical demands as well.
The recommendations from Valve,
about playing "Team Fortress
2" while under the
influence of virtual reality
read like a disclaimer
from a Cialis ad.
"Start slow.
For the first few
sessions, Plan to play
for no more than
10 minutes in VR.
Stop if you feel unwell.
You cannot push through
motion sickness.
It just continues.
Side effects include--"
That idea of it's just a game
is going to go out the window.
Being able to control
your fears, your emotions,
and your body is going to be
dramatically more important.
But there's another reason why
I think that we'll be bad VR,
especially at the start.
It's going to push away from
keyboards and controllers
and towards a wildly
different input system.
Up until now, we've basically
defined playing video games
as being good with buttons.
It's a literacy.
And for the past 40 years,
your video game skill
was tied to your ability to
use a keyboard or a controller.
That's going to change.
In fact, Oculus Rift
founder, Palmer Luckey,
told me that "Team Fortress 2"
in virtual reality it's easier
for noobs than it is for pros.
VR is a lot more intuitive
than using a keyboard or mouse.
And new players don't have
the same muscle memory
or expectations on how to
perform specific game tasks.
Oculus Rift's CEO says
that ultimately, they
don't know what VR control
is going to look like.
But their goal is to literally
make a controller that
feels like your hand.
And that's just for Oculus.
There's a VR gun
controller that actually
changes its weight depending
on what weapon you're using.
And then there's the
omnidirectional treadmill
that uses Kinect to
track your movement.
Let's hope you're in good shape.
And I'm not saying
that all this stuff
isn't going to be awesome.
I'm as excited as anyone
to try these things out.
But there's a danger
that we could all
be old fogies, like
the people who couldn't
make the jump to 3D games.
3D games are just better.
Change is scary and unnecessary.
But the reality is that the
best experiences for the Oculus
Rift haven't been made yet.
When new tech comes
around, we tend
to think about old
ways of using it.
But maybe the
biggest games for VR
will be nothing like "Halo"
or "Team Fortress 2".
Maybe we'll see a rise in
stealth-based games, or purely
visual games.
Maybe cheesy
dinner-theater-style
murder-mystery games
will be a lot of fun.
Or slower-paced
atmospheric games,
like this prototype
for "Old City",
will thrive with the help of VR.
Or look at this demo
for "Ambient Flight".
You're just a bird.
That's it.
Flying around.
For some of you, it might be
hard to accept that this could
be a future game of the year.
Let's go explore.
This is awesome.
Because as VR godfather,
Jaron Lanier, has said,
"In virtual reality, there's
no need for a single metaphor.
Games can be whatever."
But right now, we're
radically underestimating
how it will change
the way we play games.
And I guess we'll
just have to adapt.
What do you think?
Will the skills that we use now
while gaming be totally useless
in the world of virtual reality?
Hash it out the comments.
And if you like what you
saw, please subscribe.
I will see you all next week.
Last week we talked about why
we get so attached to MPCs,
and featured 10 of my favorites.
Let's see what you had to say.
So it was great to
see so many of you
leave your favorite
MPCs in the comments.
Really appreciated
all the feedback.
But we wanted to highlight
three commenters who
thought that I had
some notable omissions,
and told us about
their favorites.
The first is
LionTheKingOfCojons,
who wishes that Sweet
from "GTA-- San Andreas"
was his brother.
Not sure how your mother
would feel about that.
The next is Aaron
Leather, who thought
that he was having a
love affair with Nozomi
Harasaki from "Shenmue".
Glad you worked that out.
And The last is
actionvolcano, who
noted that Elizabeth
from "BioShock Infinite"
was his favorite MPC.
Thank you so much for
all your feedback.
I really appreciated it.
Drew Miller didn't really
care at all for his Sims,
killing them in fantastic ways.
I did the same thing.
But when he played the "Legend
of Zelda", for example,
really cared when Link died, and
was curious about why that is.
So one possible theory
might be is that "The Sims"
is more open ended.
There isn't, like,
a story there.
There's no set
up, except for one
that you sort of
generate yourselves.
Whereas "The Legend of
Zelda" kind of creates
this sort of pattern, this
story, as we've noted.
And so that might be
part of the reason
why you feel more
connected to their death.
Or you're just, like, a really
sadistic kind of person,
don't care about anybody.
But it's probably
the other thing.
Like me, Axel Skellington
also loved the security bots.
Yeah, I was a super big fan.
And also makes the point
that in the "Portal" series,
it's suggested that perhaps
the companion cubes were humans
and test subjects themselves.
Which I didn't know.
So thanks for pointing that out.
Now I feel terrible
when I destroy them.
Matthew James and
others point out
that Clementine
from "The Walking
Dead" in an MPC in season
one-- she was my favorite--
but is not MPC-- she's a
playable character-- in season
two.
I'll be very curious
when season two ends,
whether people
feel like they have
the same sort of relationship,
since they've been able to play
her on both sides of the fence.
Huh, let me know.
89taklung wants to
know what someone
has to do to get their comment
featured in an episode?
I don't know, man.
If you figure it
out, let me know.
[THEME MUSIC]
Hey there, newcomers.
First of all, welcome.
Second of all, as many
of you have noticed,
I wear glasses without
any lenses in them.
And the reason why is because
I wear the exact same frames
but with lenses.
But there's lots of glare.
So that's super distracting.
And so when we're
filming, voila!
No glare.
No lenses.
So I'm not one of those
people who just, like, wears
glasses without any
lenses in them to be cool
or something like that.
That'd be pretty dumb.
So no need to say anything about
it in the comments, hopefully.
Anyway, thanks for watching.
