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Bloomberg interview: Ken Kutaragi, inventor of PlayStation, does not like the Metaverse and VR headsets
- Thread starter MauroNL
- Start date
I still don't really understand the metaverse to be honest. I saw part of that video with Zuckerberg and all I could think of was "This looks like Second Life/The Sims/Playstation Home" so I genuinely do not know what is so special about it. I'm obviously missing something.
That's what it is. Just in VR
It is a game that you do stuff with friends in. You just hang out and chill. Zuckerberg is trying to make it seem like something more but it really isn't anything special once you get over the VR aspect.
Word. Metaverse isn't there to ease communication and bring unity, it's there for brands to sell you virtual shit that costs nothing to produce.
every time I see it I'm like "this exists. this has existed. why are we acting like this is new or innovative"
It is definitely not the same as Zuckerberg claims.
But I disagree with his point. Something social can indeed be fun. I remember playing PS Home and it was a blast.
Metaverse is that concept taken and expanded so that he can sell mtx to whales and other people
I think VR is cool but not to the degree companies will use it for in the metaverse.
We need social interaction but there's nothing better than having a conversation with someone in the same room, or doing something together. Speaking from experience the more you isolate yourself from the real world, your life gets a whole lot shitter.
We need social interaction but there's nothing better than having a conversation with someone in the same room, or doing something together. Speaking from experience the more you isolate yourself from the real world, your life gets a whole lot shitter.
OK boomer etc.
"What's the point of isolating yourself from the real world" is such an idiotic sentence in the context of video games it baffles me that an inventor of a gaming console could unironically say this and not immediately realise how stupid that sounds.
This. Playing Walkabout Minigolf with your usual friends is 180 degree opposite to being isolated. Presence is so good sometimes in VR it feels like you are with them. Way, WAY, more social than playing in front of a TV with voice chat in headset.
This screams to me like when people say just go outside to play or do something.
Not even talking about passthrough, which adds gaming elements to your usual environment. Playing Blaston against my friends while literally seeing my living room is the future.
I agree, but maybe I'm old.
If putting on a headset to meet up virtually was something people were really aching to do, I feel the past few years we would've seen it happen.
If putting on a headset to meet up virtually was something people were really aching to do, I feel the past few years we would've seen it happen.
Thanks for the PS1 Mr.Kuturagi. It was a highly performant yet pragmatic and developer friendly machine, very much the template for modern hardware like the PS5 & Series X, that brought 1st gen 3D graphics and CD-ROM economics that changed the entire industry. We will be forever thankful.
You are completely wrong about VR though so I'm glad you are not the systems architect or the like these days.
You are completely wrong about VR though so I'm glad you are not the systems architect or the like these days.
y'all are going to age shame ken fucking kutaragi on today of all days.
i stand with ken, i stand with playstation.
i stand with ken, i stand with playstation.
The Metaverse is nothing special, so I agree.
VR though as a whole? There's still so much potential there...
VR though as a whole? There's still so much potential there...
He's not wrong.
VR gaming could improve and change my mind, but honestly, I just don't find turning everything into FPV particularly enjoyable, and the non-FPV experiences are pointless.
The metaverse, though, that's just straight up bullshit that no one needs or should want. And I don't know why tech-companies all have a hard-on for that lame ass garbage.
It along with crypto and NFTs need to burn.
VR gaming could improve and change my mind, but honestly, I just don't find turning everything into FPV particularly enjoyable, and the non-FPV experiences are pointless.
The metaverse, though, that's just straight up bullshit that no one needs or should want. And I don't know why tech-companies all have a hard-on for that lame ass garbage.
It along with crypto and NFTs need to burn.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with him in both cases.
VR - Not a PC owner, very glasses unfriendly (I have -10+ eyesight in one eye so contacts are out of the question). Headsets stil too bulky and likely to generate motion sickness for extended periods.
Metaverse - it's Second Life on steroids. Nuff said.
Mind you, I write this as someone who doesn't own a smart-speaker/IOT gadget and switches off Siri because using voice commands makes me uncomfortable...
VR - Not a PC owner, very glasses unfriendly (I have -10+ eyesight in one eye so contacts are out of the question). Headsets stil too bulky and likely to generate motion sickness for extended periods.
Metaverse - it's Second Life on steroids. Nuff said.
Mind you, I write this as someone who doesn't own a smart-speaker/IOT gadget and switches off Siri because using voice commands makes me uncomfortable...
Nike can sell you limited edition digital shoes you can wear in the metaverse that are stored on the blockchain or something. It is brilliant, people will buy into it, and it really needs to not happen.
I don't think he's shrugging of VR as a whole, he's just saying VR in its current form isn't the endgame. Headsets are annoying, VR is not ideal, he's not wrong.
But these are really just the prototypes for the end tech. A mixed reality future, able to flick between AR and VR is the real objective; headsets will shrink down to glasses, contacts and maybe even BCIs.
More now than ever, this seems like an area where PlayStation and Sony in general can really compete for the future, and carve themselves out a niche, where their competitors are a stretch behind.
If the metaverse takes off, then you'll not only need to be involved in VR / AR, but also games - that's the content that will bring people in, and keep them there. Having a film division doesn't hurt either.
Unlike Meta, Sony has a firm foot in both camps. Even Microsoft doesn't.
Sony would be mad to back away from it.
But these are really just the prototypes for the end tech. A mixed reality future, able to flick between AR and VR is the real objective; headsets will shrink down to glasses, contacts and maybe even BCIs.
More now than ever, this seems like an area where PlayStation and Sony in general can really compete for the future, and carve themselves out a niche, where their competitors are a stretch behind.
If the metaverse takes off, then you'll not only need to be involved in VR / AR, but also games - that's the content that will bring people in, and keep them there. Having a film division doesn't hurt either.
Unlike Meta, Sony has a firm foot in both camps. Even Microsoft doesn't.
Sony would be mad to back away from it.
PS Home... a thing that is equally fondly remembered and completely pointless.
At one poont it had been planned to act like a launcher to meet friends, thsn dive into games... then it lacked that, so basically became ?
While the concepts might sound cool, stuff like Metaverses and VR are still probably decades away from becoming mainstream, the tech is simply not there yet.
VR headsets are rudimentary as fuck, they're big, heavy and extremely uncomfortable if you wear glasses. If they want VR to catch on they still have a lot of work to do, they're mere proofs of concept at this point.
Metaverses haven't been implemented yet in any form so they're just buzzwords, if I read about this it sounds like something out of Summerwars but that is not happening any time soon with current technology, so if it was to happen right now it'll be like an MMO but without a game behind it, a glorified PS Home if you will.
Will all of this happen sometime in the future? Maybe, but it is probably decades away from becoming what they say it is.
VR headsets are rudimentary as fuck, they're big, heavy and extremely uncomfortable if you wear glasses. If they want VR to catch on they still have a lot of work to do, they're mere proofs of concept at this point.
Metaverses haven't been implemented yet in any form so they're just buzzwords, if I read about this it sounds like something out of Summerwars but that is not happening any time soon with current technology, so if it was to happen right now it'll be like an MMO but without a game behind it, a glorified PS Home if you will.
Will all of this happen sometime in the future? Maybe, but it is probably decades away from becoming what they say it is.
A grim future.
We're already struggling with the negatives of all of us having smart phones. Stuff like anxiety from being "always available," addiction to social media doomscrolling, mass disinformation campaigns, bullying and harassment and getting people's self-esteem destroyed, etc etc
Who really wants this? It's just a dumb thing from early sci-fi to mark how advanced technology is in the future. We don't actually need any of it ffs :/
Yup, those are all completely legit concerns that will only get exacerbated.
But it's definitely the future and as a business Sony is, I think, in a good position to pursue it. (And if they agree, they will).
I think that the Quest 2 becoming popular last year and selling like 5 Million+ shows that VR is becoming mainstream faster than most people think/want.
But of course, we'll have to see how fast the Quest 3 sells when it comes out in 1+ year's time.
I don't have any VR-experience, but I remember Jeff Cannata recently mentioning in his podcast 'DLC' that interacting with other people in VR is a transformative experience. If so, then calling this 'like Playstation Home/The Sims/Second life...but in VR' is selling it a bit short. Still though, it doesn't sound like a future i'm interested in in any way.
I tend to agree with that opinion. VR is interesting, but I can't shake the idea it's a white whale absurdly chased by large corporations in a retail market that's mostly indifferent to it. I think Sony/PlayStation are wasting a lot of money and time in that line of work (rendered more questionable after they released little to nothing for the first device).
I think the problem with the metaverse concept is that nobody has yet been able to articulate what it really means or how it will have a positive impact on my life, hence people assuming it's just PS Home 2.0. I work for a company that is big on the metaverse and I'm still not 100% sure what it actually is or why I should care. I hear lots of buzzwords about interconnected experiences etc, but I've yet to have the "oh shit. I need this" moment. It often sounds like a big matrix-inspired nerd fantasy.
Metaverse is just VR chat with fucking paid items and VR chat is just VR Second life. Second life I'm sure is from something else, but whatever.
I can get behind VR though.
I can get behind VR though.
Positive take: VR experiences change the coach potatoes scenario envisioned in Wall-e. It gets people fit, active. It allows you to mute anyone just clicking on their avatar. You can instantly change instance of a world if people there don't suit you. It's easy and efficient. And it's the closest thing to human social interactions one can have with technology. You are not looking at a screen anymore. You are interacting with real people, you can high five them. It doesn't replace a night with friends, beers and pizzas. But we can't always have these nights. VR is there for all these times when you would be alone, and still want to be with friends or make new ones.
I really think that we'll see way more in person things take off.
I never want to metaverse. It reminds me of zoom quizzes and being forced to communicate only online.
Even in five years I think it will simply have too many connotations with the times we're living in. I won't want to be reminded of 2021 in 5 years!
I never want to metaverse. It reminds me of zoom quizzes and being forced to communicate only online.
Even in five years I think it will simply have too many connotations with the times we're living in. I won't want to be reminded of 2021 in 5 years!
I was going to post that why he doesn't like VR if you can see the Giant Enemy Crab in all its glory, and then saw GiantEnemyCrab posting ITT and I was laughing my ass off all alone in my home.
Could be. I am mostly looking at it from a design perspective.
I don't have much experience in VR aside from some stuff but it could be interesting to see how it works there. Half Life Alyx in VR opened a lot of possibilities after all so I have no doubt MP with similar interactions or better could be interesting.
Yes console maker, tell me why would anyone play games on a TV when you can just play real games outside with real people. What a dumb comment lol.
