Some more questions for Egosoft

[Tomonor]

Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.

Without VR something is lost by having to click around on a dashboard or a giant ipad display (this is the future after all ) in order to operate the ship.

It IS definitely something that would be really immersive and interesting on VR though, so personally I'm all for cockpits being made more functional but only for a VR interface where we can physically move our hands around to interact.

I will be honest: I don't believe in VR. I see it as a fad that will slowly die a painful death. Not because it doesn't have potential and immersion that can take players into an awesome, new realm; but because as a 'not so hardcore gamer', I don't see myself ever investing in such expensive technology.

Make no mistake, I know I have criticised the cockpit+joystick immersion just a post ago, but VR takes gaming to a whole new level. And that level is pretty much out of bounds for someone, who just wants to start a game, play it for some hours and get back to life. This is what consoles get right, you sit in front of the television, put the disk in, and play the game. Nothing hard in them.

This is what Egosoft strived for lately- simplify all the menus and gameplay elements, so the game is available for a broader audience on EVERY level, not just the hardcore simulator veterans. This was why the reception for Reibrth was so poor, but also this is what we sort of need, while not actually needing it. There's a goldilock zone here that is really hard to reach, especially since every player/customer has a different opinion on things.

[Vandragorax]

I would have agreed with you a couple of years ago, but now VR is getting cheaper and more mass-market. This year alone has seen the release of a handful of new VR options to retail as manufacturers are finally surpassing the quality of the original Rift and Vive.

Prices are coming down and will continue dropping over the next couple of years as this year's models get updated with newer releases again, by which point I imagine they will be a lot more commonplace amongst 'casual' gaming households as the quality is now high enough that the latest generation of VR is much more accessible.

It just needs a couple more years to become the 'norm' that VR is supported out of the box by more games, as it can still be an unsupported mess of user hacks and tweaks to get it working correctly in a lot of cases

As for the issue of the X series complexity, I think you're right there is definitely a "sweet spot" whereby newer players can get stuck in and not feel overwhelmed, and hardcore simulator nuts can go crazy with all of their peripherals and macros etc.

I think Egosoft have been doing a great job in that regard though, their base games are always very enjoyable even putting small numbers of hours in, but they are easily playable for thousands of hours with people wanting to play every day. They also allow for enough third-party mod support so that veterans can add complexity to their game to any degree they wish, without it affecting players who don't want it.

[Solflame]

Honestly the biggest issue w/ VR right now is the fact that no one is driving the Vive Pro's ridiculous price down. Hoping the LG headset is still in development and will do that.

I mean, considering the cost of the computer necessary to run a game at VR quality, the VR equipment itself isn't that expensive relative to a lot of the stuff you've bought already (it's about the same as a 1070 if you're talking about the Vive), it's more that running a high-end gaming rig isn't cheap period. Adding a VR headset is the equivalent of adding a second graphics card or a 4k monitor.

That being said, even if we had VR I would mainly be using the HOTAS and Keyboard to control things unless I was walking around a station. Just because VR can be more realistic doesn't mean it has to be. Heck, just think about the reaction a lot of people had to the idea of walking around on stations period! Though I liked it a lot...

[spankahontis]

Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.

Without VR something is lost by having to click around on a dashboard or a giant ipad display (this is the future after all ) in order to operate the ship.

It IS definitely something that would be really immersive and interesting on VR though, so personally I'm all for cockpits being made more functional but only for a VR interface where we can physically move our hands around to interact.

I will be honest: I don't believe in VR. I see it as a fad that will slowly die a painful death. Not because it doesn't have potential and immersion that can take players into an awesome, new realm; but because as a 'not so hardcore gamer', I don't see myself ever investing in such expensive technology.

Make no mistake, I know I have criticised the cockpit+joystick immersion just a post ago, but VR takes gaming to a whole new level. And that level is pretty much out of bounds for someone, who just wants to start a game, play it for some hours and get back to life. This is what consoles get right, you sit in front of the television, put the disk in, and play the game. Nothing hard in them.

This is what Egosoft strived for lately- simplify all the menus and gameplay elements, so the game is available for a broader audience on EVERY level, not just the hardcore simulator veterans. This was why the reception for Reibrth was so poor, but also this is what we sort of need, while not actually needing it. There's a goldilock zone here that is really hard to reach, especially since every player/customer has a different opinion on things.

Have to disagree, VR is getting better, saw a particular one Microsoft is working on that's completely wireless.
It's still a small fortune to buy, but this will push down the prices of the current models to a great deal, only a small percentage of the gaming community has VR, so price is still an issue as well as availability of VR Friendly Titles.
It'll only get better in time and cheaper.

[Honved]

My suspicion is that the current implementation of VR will be obsoleted by a better one, and the current equipment (and software) to implement it will end up as expensive white elephants.

VR in some form is the future. We just haven't gotten a look at its real face yet. It's probably too soon to try jumping on the current bandwagon, because the REAL bandwagon is very likely still a couple of years down the road.

[spankahontis]

My suspicion is that the current implementation of VR will be obsoleted by a better one, and the current equipment (and software) to implement it will end up as expensive white elephants.

VR in some form is the future. We just haven't gotten a look at its real face yet. It's probably too soon to try jumping on the current bandwagon, because the REAL bandwagon is very likely still a couple of years down the road.

I just remember showing my dad of 72 year old Playstation VR for the First time.
He was in awe, a total technophobe, was really taken away by it.

[Ikkyu]

Will modules on a ship be all maxxed researched or will we have to balance?