baka-dubbs

As someone who has used VR devices for years at this point, starting with the original PSVR to devices with full body tracking and even purchased the new PSVR, I still find my best use case is shorter, interactive games.  You will not want to work all day using a VR/AR headset, at least not with the current sizes/weights and the fact that it has to be tightly strapped to your head.  PlayStation currently has the most comfortable implementation, a halo that puts the weight on the top of your head vs compressing the device against your face.  Even with that, I generally don't want to wear it for any extended sessions.  I would not want to watch a movie, work all day, or walk around with this device on my head.  

That's not to say I don't see a benefit outside of gaming.  I think AR has massive potential in training, in 3d design, and other places.  What I see in the Vision Pro is implementing either the best or near best specs out of any headsets and combining it with the best ecosystem.  It is a first step, and I am excited about the display technology and the interoperability.  But I don't think the display, batteries and general tech are at a point where this is truly targeting a consumer market(outside of early adopters).  This is a VR headset with high quality/low latency  AR passthrough which is awesome, but I don't think its a big enough leap forward at this point to truly move the market.  Though I will be happy to be wrong, I will be sitting this one out until at least 2nd or 3rd gen.  

Draco said:

If carbon-neutral sources were more economical than "renewables" like wind and solar, we'd be using them already, and China wouldn't be building 7 new coal plants every week. The only way renewables can compete is if carbon taxes or other government "thumb on the scale" schemes are put in place to shift the economics of fossil fuels. "Climate change" is a false externality created by those who've been trying to get rid of fossil fuels for as long as I can remember--which is almost 60 years. 

So Draco, if you think "Climate Change" is false, sight your resources, or are you a "feelings over facts" person?  I would love to see some peer reviewed scientific studies showing this falsehood.  When oil companies own scientists showed the impact the fossil fuel economy had on the environment, they buried the research.  We know from core sampling that prior to 1911 the atmospheric carbon dioxide regularly fluctuated between 180-280 ppm, but was never greater than 300 parts per million.  We have been above that since the early 1900's and are now over 420 ppm.  We can measure the melting of the global ice sheets, the average temperature world wide, the ocean temperature, the migration of species farther north, etc.  So if you happen to have evidence refuting any of these, please do present it.  I would love to read it.  Otherwise, I am assuming your just burying your head in the sand and ignoring the obvious changes.  

freeassociate2 said:

(Shrugs) Nintendo seems to do just fine with their hardware choices. It’s a lack of commitment from devs and studios, not a lack hardware that’s bleeding edge.

Nintendo hasn't survived based on 3rd party support, its their 1st party games that have kept them going.  If you look at their top sellers, its almost exclusively Nintendo published games.  Apple does not have that.  That's why it needs to nurture 3rd parties, build an ecosystem/communication/developer support, etc.  Enabling Vulkan would be a quick way to make porting games much easier, vs forcing metal as your only option.  They really need their Xbox Live/Playstation Network type service if they want to truly compete. 

That being said, they will be perfectly fine not investing in gaming and raking in loads of cash from the App Store, so only Apple can say if its worth dedicating the resources to build that platform/support for 3rd party studio's, or buying a Studio like EA to have first party games.  

I don't think gaming is anyone's primary(or even secondary) reason for buying a Mac.  However, with the M1/M2 chips, I feel like this is where not supporting Vulkan/OpenGL is a lost opportunity.  Proton utilizing direct 3d to Vulkan conversion is enabling games on a fairly underpowered hand held in the steam deck.  It sounds like this is what Apple is attempting to with their Metal conversion tool, however Proton has the support of both Valve and the open source community.  There is no reason the M series chips couldn't run most triple a games at lower settings(or mid range settings on the higher end versions).

I still see the potential of a future AppleTV device where it would work as a game console if they make the game conversion easy, but Apple would need to be very aggressive in courting developers as well as building out communication and communities like Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live have.  I just haven't seen a long term commitment from Apple when it comes to gaming, outside of the Appstore and mobile games.    

I think people are missing the point of a "Hot Take".  A hot take sets out to be "deliberatively provocative or sensational".  IE, the whole thing is to get fanboys arguing one way or the other, which apparently mission accomplished...