Probably the reason why Control VR didn't do as well as they could was because the preriferal is kind of big and clumsy (as in needing to wear too much stuff around you), and I think that from the looks of it, the industry is clearly aiming for more minimalistic and simpler products, even if that sacrifices some precision and usability.
Control VR seemed to be great for finely tracking your arm and finger movements without any jerkiness, but as I said, while these products can be much more precise in putting you in the virtual world, and while I and many gamers wouldnt mind having to have something like this in their homes, they are aiming for the bigger, more generic and casual group wich is not so prone to wearing and purchasing so much stuff wich might end up looking or feeling like this

They want the sensors to come from outside (kind of like what the kinect did), and thats one of the reasons for the rings in the controllers, so while they cant track your arms that well they should track precisely where are your hands (thats why many of the VR demos shown only show the floating hands of the player, which is a pitty that we dont get full body integration, but better than no hands!)

Partially true, except the tech wasn't developed in-house. It was actually Control VR acquiring the prototype from the tech company Synertial. Synertial originally does business with the commercial sector (namely animation studios who want cheap motion capture technology), and Control VR approached them in the interests of rebranding some of their stuff to market to the consumer level (namely us gamers). As Synertial has little experience selling to consumers in general, let alone gamers, they happily supplied them with what they have in terms of smaller-scaled technology that still provides a near 1:1 control down to the finger joints level. And that's why they have the Iron Man vest. It's a prototype and not at all in a state ready to sell to the public, as it's still more designed for animation studios.

Synertial was also there to provide all sorts of tech support to Control VR, and things were falling into place, until the Kickstarter success. Once Control VR got the money, in a couple of months, StressLevelZero was immediately fired with no compensation for anything they've done for Control VR (which is why we don't see Brandon associated with any Control VR product anymore), and Synertial was also abandoned, and SOMEHOW Control VR made Synertial relinquish their rights to their patent applications at the US patent office, so the prototype tech is legally Control VR's. Control VR actually managed to legally steal from Synertial!

And the worst part is what I already said before. The website is outdated, and the staff page still shows Synertial employees, and contact information on Synertial's office. So Synertial is taking the flak (and StressLevelZero to a much lesser extent) while the ones who are actually from Control VR (as in the ones responsible) are nowhere to be found, and are next to impossible to contact. Heck Synertial is VERY interested in contacting Control VR, because they owe Synertial at least $40K. And again, that's ignoring the part about having their tech (legally) stolen.

With all that said... You're right to say the prototype isn't suited for gamers at this time. It was StressLevelZero's job to help market it to gamers, by developing software that would require something that precise and show appealing it can be (though they were also the PR guys for places like E3). It was also supposed to be reworked to be better suited for gamers, though it's marketed for ANYBODY to use, including outside of games, given its universal versatility.

wow, one hell of a story. I think it will just take sometime untill VR products and periferals will stabilize and mainstreamize just like the keyboard and mice did. For a while games will be separated in supporting different vr headsets and different periferals, but I think in some years we will finally get to that main combination of products, or just product that will work the best for puting our body inside the virtual world, and that everybody will have

Couldn't agree more. I feel it'll be as shaky as motion controls and 3D TV, where everyone wants a cut of the pie, but have very little reference material/experience to know what works and what doesn't for the majority of customers (with varying needs for VR). Heck it can be a repeat of motion controls, since in many cases, it literally uses them. So in terms of what we'll use to interact with VR, I honestly don't expect the answer to show up until next year or the year after. Until then, the early adopters will have their fun and weed out the crap. Heck, if I save up enough money, maybe I'll do it for the sake of fun and education. Try everything and complain about everything. Then next year see what VR is supposed to be once the actual refinements and other improvements happen as the hype and fad dies down to a reasonable level, instead of a bandwagon that everyone MUST dive into.

For the record, I do think VR will succeed. I just don't think the success will be what we're going to get this year though. It'll be in a different and more improved form, and that's when the adoption of such technology will be similar to a Smart TV or a smartphone.

Heck, I want to know what progress Augmentive Reality has gone. I've been following that since the early 2000s, when they had a physically simulated sports car driving on solid objects in the real world without clipping issues. And I don't just mean Microsoft's Hololens (where their POV is so small, it breaks immersion very quickly, and the novelty eventually wears off, so I'm thinking that's more suited for commercial use). I'm also talking about CastAR, but their requirement to project it on a specific material (either fabric, or as lens covers to give you a VR alternative), makes their product even more impractical than say Control VR's peripheral. I can see CastVR be appealing to gamers who play board games, but holy crap is that an expensive board game, where each player forks out hundreds of dollars just to play. And then there's the issue of lighting.

So yeah, these next two years will be interesting as we hit the transition phase seeing what was previously in movies and TV, become reality. But before it hits reality, things will suck really really bad.

I still remember reading the Choose Your Own Adventure book, "Cyberspace Warrior" where it talks about a video game console with a pre-loaded game, where your actions have permanent consequences to the game. The kicker? The console has a camcorder built-in and it's pointed at you, the player. Sound familiar? Apparently the fantasy world of the mid-90s consists of Kinect, PlayStation Eye, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Witcher 3, and Undertale apparently. Funny how the story involves a first-person shooter though, as the author grasped the appeal of making YOU the protagonist of both the book story, and the video game story within the book story.

Another fun fact about that book? It talks about an upcoming VR system for arcades, back when arcades were taken for granted since they're everywhere. Well $#!+... We're living in a world where VR hits consumer markets, and YouTubers are already playing with devkits, disarming bombs and watching Netflix. So to the people of the mid-90s (including little me), the fantasy world you dreamed of in books... It kind of happened and it's not as glorious as it sounds. We're kind of taking it for granted already. Also get used to the word memes... We have some weird addiction to that. It's sad really.

(Oh and jimykx, my offer on Takedown still stands. Also Epsilon is currently out on Early Access. Includes rudimentary planning phase, comic-style story cinematics, and two missions. Ongoing development and completely independent this time! No publisher deadlines and other bullcrap. No multiplayer at this time, only because of its early development state. They want good AI first. Then the rest will fall into place.)

I do think that Virtual Reality is a great pretext for ressurecting Arcades. Not everyone will be able to afford all of these headsets and great VR preriferals from the beggining, and going to an arcade to try all of these different experiences for a small renting price would be something many people would be interested in. Specially little and isolated experiences in something like this, where individual consumers definitely wouldnt buy a skyfalling/bird flying simulator just to play these specific games at home, but the experience itself could pobably be cool enough that people want to try it. Or this, poses exactly the same problem, where it is something that I want to do, but Im not going to buy that bike just to have at home to play a specific game.
Maybe it will be just like back in the Arcade age, where developers create and sell a VR game with its own periferal.
Or maybe arcades will try to create their own experieces, by taking already existing casual games but building their own machines and tech so they can add their own twists to it, like smell, heat, wind, etc etc... things you cant easily have at home in the next few years.
Some of these would/could take it to the next level and even be sort of like a new modern cinema. you pay a ticket, you go on the ride! Im sure youve seen The Void
before! There are quite a lot of different videos from it on different channels, and Im sure this wont be the only type of its kind to show up.



(I understand, but Im right now on my last bachelors year, having internship and I barely manage to fork out leftover time for what I want to do. I wish to play some BF4 but I barely have the time for it already . I Do have some time in the end of the day to play, but gaming makes my brain active and wont let me fall asleep so easily, and here I always need to wake up pretty early so I'd rather get my fix by surfing the forums here and some reddit. I do realy miss some nice gaming sessions )