Multiple virtual reality (VR) headsets are coming to market in 2016, and first up is HTC Corporation’s Vive headset.

I had the opportunity to test the Vive Developer Edition on Saturday at a demonstration at my local coworking space with fellow SiliconANGLE writer James Austin Farrell, and I walked away seriously underwhelmed.

If virtual reality is the future, we might be in trouble.

Even before having a turn, the scene was set as one of the people trying the headset before us said after finishing that “this isn’t the future.”

At first glance the set is rather clunky, complete with a cord back to the computer; the final consumer release will undoubtedly offer something that’s not quite as clunky to look at, as the last virtual reality set I’d used in the mid-1990’s, but the cord is set to remain.

Wearing it isn’t burdensome, but beyond that is where the issues began.

The first demo, and one provided to developers by HTC, was an underwater scene with fish swimming by, a whale, and a sunken ship.

Even given that it was an underwater scene, visually it was ever so slightly blurry; I do wear reading glasses but with a very mild magnification for one eye, and I actually can read without them, but the whole experience just wasn’t crisp. Whether this was a headset flaw, software flaw, or an eyesight flaw I can’t be sure, but if it was the latter then you’d hope that the headsets are adjustable for those with visual issues.

The second demonstration, and perhaps the one that finally convinced me that I too wasn’t seeing the future, was a game where you used a controller as a sword to cut flying fruit; this game, complete with more traditional arcade-style graphics, was more than easy enough to view, but also underwhelming.

Games

To be fair, two demonstrations don’t make a final offering, and ultimately it will come down to the quality of the games or experiences within the headset that will make the difference.

One obvious flaw though is a lack of haptic feedback: waving a controller around like a sword felt more like the experience with a Nintendo Wii; sure, it could be fun but like the Wii the novelty would wear off quickly; there are a number of haptic controllers under development for virtual reality headsets but they’re unlikely to be available when sets like the HTC Vive are released.

Haptic feedback may seem a little thing, but it’s the most obvious part of what my experience lacked: proper immersion, and that’s an issue VR Oculus Chief Scientist Michael Abrash agrees on, saying back in September:

While VR is often considered from a solely visual perspective, Abrash notes that truly immersive experiences must take advantage of all human perceptual senses, which include taste, smell, vestibular sense (motion), hearing, vision, and haptic sense (touch).

Abrash himself notes that while taste and smell are difficult with current technologies, the others are achievable, but seemingly none are seriously being pursued yet, at least with the first releases among the second coming of virtual reality.

Market

The last remaining consideration is exactly what the market is for the HTC Vive, given its limitations.

SiliconANGLE Enterprise writer Mike Wheatley shared his thoughts with me on Facebook, noting that “VR is just overrated hype, the only people who’re interested in it are hardcore gamers, and even then only some of it,” before noting that “However, if someone can invent a full-blown holodeck like they have in Star Trek, I’ll change my mind.”

He’s mostly right in that the core market will be hardcore gamers, not helped by the fact that the headsets are also going to be fairly expensive, but I’d throw in another prediction as well: they’re going to repeat history and become the mainstay of 21st century game arcades, as the first generation of VR headsets were in the 1990s, and possibly they may even spur a second generation of the gaming cafes that were all the rage 10 or so years ago, although naturally with a new label of “Virtual Reality Cafe.”

I really wish I had walked away wowed by the demonstration because I want to believe, not least because I’ve grown up on years of speculative fiction that includes a world where everyone uses VR, but despite the hype, a future powered by virtual reality is still a long way away from ever happening.

Image credits: Duncan Riley/ James Austin Farrell