It Was a Rough Time for VR at CES, With a Virtually Boring Outcome
The virtual reality industry has been on the cutting edge of technology for years, but the VR at CES this year was a total let-down. The announcements made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas were underwhelming, and that’s not the place to bring out your least-exciting material.
Lenovo brought out their VR headset only to make statements about the set being cheaper than its competitors, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, with no real discussion about what the price of the headset will actually be… along with a non-functioning prototype. So basically what they gave people was a cheap idea. Even Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, gave a presentation using outdated Oculus devices.
Osterhout Design Group’s new pair of smart glasses were also a bit of a bust. Priced at $1,500, the glasses, powered by the Google Android phone software and the newest chips from Qualcomm, looked more-or-less like last year’s model. The augmented reality glasses that are aimed at placing you into the virtual world at your whim, and without the weight of a clunky headset, promised better performance and visuals, and is set to launch midyear.
Adult entertainment company Naughty America chief information officer, Ian Paul, even expressed concern. Aside from his competitors and content creators in the video game industry, there’s a serious lack of compelling content in the industry.
Now that VR has hit the shelves, companies are focusing on more consumer-related ideas and less on the creative advancement of technology. But it is the Consumer Electronics Show, after all.