It’s not that I don’t believe in what VR can achieve (and in fact, I secretly hope that it’s our path towards holodeck), but I’m also not convinced by the current crop of products that are out there or that will be coming, including PlayStation VR. Yes I’ve already pre-ordered mine but that’s not saying much. I’m also the person who has two full sets of Move controllers and gun attachments sitting aside collecting dust. As it stands, we’re in the infancy stages of meaningful VR (I say meaningful because much like 3D, this isn’t the first time VR has tried to gain traction) and we finally have powerful enough hardware and software that can drive a good VR experience.

Like PlayStation Move, the question becomes long term viability. Is this something we’ll do for 15 minutes at a time or can we bunker down and game in VR for hours like you would while playing Destiny or Uncharted? Even if it’s the latter, will VR be a fad or will it actually last this time and provide an experience that’s truly different that warrants us looking like a Borg or as if we came from a dystopian sci-fi novel?

Those are questions that only time will tell but if VR is truly here to stay, experience is going to be its number one seller. Some things are inherently easy to understand when they’ve been around for some time. Here is the new iPhone and these are the extra things it does. Consumers can easily understand that in a commercial and gauge their interest accordingly. With VR, especially in its early days, consumers will have to not only be educated about it, but also experience it for themselves in order to have the feeling of being transported somewhere else – and that will be one of the biggest challenges facing Sony/Oculus/HTC, etc.

Any company involved with VR will need to ensure that every first experience is a great first experience because perception and early sentiment will go a long way towards determining the future of the new medium. If too many early experiences and retail demos have nauseating affects or are simply lackluster, it won’t be long before those words become engraved to VR and trying to build from a negative state is always much harder.

The second challenge and one that most of the companies have failed till now is showing the wonders of VR in a video. When we do see VR video, it’s either from the perspective of the person with the headset and in turn is almost no different than your typical trailer which then fails to deliver on why VR is different or is us looking at the person with a VR headset on which then creates a disconnect for the audience watching as they cannot see what that person is experiencing.

Luckily, somebody has finally nailed a video that actually delivers on what VR can do. More after the jump.

First we have a video from Sony. It’s the typical thing I described above. A cool looking trailer with the person in middle of the game but it fails to deliver on the wonder of VR. It’s frankly almost no different than a ‘live action’ trailer we see for Call of Duty or Destiny. Sure it looks slick but I don’t think we as the audience ever feel as if that person is in middle of the game or could imagine ourselves taking his place.

The second video is for the HTC Vive. Though not a trailer like the above piece from Sony, the video does a truly wonderful job at showing both the ‘real world,’ the ‘VR world,’ and how the two mesh together and transport the players.

And that’s what companies like Sony and others must latch on to: To make us believe but not in a hyper tech way, but in a transformative way that helps us cross from one reality to the next. To be able to capture the girl’s experience with the robot dog and get that genuine feeling that she sees herself transported to this world is the promise of VR and one that’s been missed in most materials presented thus far. For once, I’m actually excited about VR.

Discuss:

Do you think most material for VR has failed to translate the wonders the new medium can provide?