I also think the controls for VR can be kinda limiting. Many kinds of games can’t really work with a the VR headset
As a VR-liker there's a lot of arguments flying around that I don't want to dissect but this is one that is completely baffling to me. Yeah yeah yeah "VR is uncomfortable I'm not wearing a 10 pound helmet, I don't have an extra empty garage that i'd need to give me the space to play VR games, VR is antisocial and I'll eventually forget what my children look like if I start using it, I tried VR during the Eisenhower administration and I wasn't hip to it then and I won't be hip to it in the future" yeah sure fine whatever.
But how do you come to the conclusion that there's any possible limitation to the types of games you could play in a VR/AR/XR HMD? Sure, there's VR games along the lines of Half Life: Alyx (hall of fame video game by the way 10/10) that fully implant you into the player character, require hand tracked controls and are at their best played while standing. But I've got games like Astro Bot, Rez Infinite, Tetris Effect and Polybius among my VR top 10 and each of those are played seated with a traditional controller and belong to genres that have been around at least as long as console gaming has. All genres and control methods are on the table.
This kind of gets to the core of why I'm so interested in Nintendo putting forth an earnest effort into VR/AR eventually. So much of the conventional wisdom on the VR software side of things points toward an idea that every VR game
needs to be first person resulting in so many "you're a dude with a gun (and maybe motion sickness)" games. From this comes so many of the concerns about comfort, space requirements, isolation etc. If there's any gaming company out there that wouldn't fall into that trap, it's Nintendo.
When I think of a Nintendo VR/AR future, I don't think of embodying Samus in a VR-exclusive Metroid Prime 5 or first person Mario Kart. I think of playing Wind Waker but instead of looking at a tablet or a TV, I'm looking at a 10'+ window hovering in my living room with a stereoscopic 3D effect that gives the impression that I could just walk on through into Hyrule. A Nintendo Land follow up where the headset takes the place of the tablet and when I look around the room at my friends playing these asymmetrical multiplayer games VS me on the TV their heads are replaced by Nintendo characters VTuber style. I wanna lord over a Fire Emblem battlefield or a diorama-style Link's Awakening. I want an Eternal Darkness reboot with the same gameplay style but in 3D with the type of sanity effects you could only possibly get from AR.
But the thing I think is essential for Nintendo to differentiate themselves: I want all this stuff to Switch
. Grind levels in handheld mode, then Switch to the headset for a big boss battle in 3D with spatial audio right in your ears. Play on your TV, then continue the game laid back in bed toward your ceiling at a movie theater sized display. Sure, I'd like to see a ground-up VR exclusive every now and then but I'd be completely satisfied if a
significant majority of the value of Switch AR ended up being found in its ability to massively enhance their flat gaming experience.
If the tech moves forward to a point where they can hit the right combination of price and comfort to where buying a Switch and a Switch AR HMD is comparable to a contemporary Quest (we're still a ways off, imo) then I think that approach could be a big value add to the Switch ecosystem. Not a replacement for the flagship device, but a new third pillar that's completely tethered to the flagship. If it flops, oh well, keep chugging along. If it succeeds, then Nintendo's a big player in an emerging tech market/entertainment medium and they didn't have to completely abandon their comfort zone to do it.
I feel like this should be doable with a bit of tinkering, a zero latency capture card, and a Raspberry Pi..png)
