Checks calendar. No, it’s not April 1st. Onwards. You may recall MSI showcasing a rather experimental looking VR backpack at Computex back in June. It’ll never actually happen was my internal monologue. Oh yes it is, MSI has said right back. Yep, MSI has officially revealed the VR One, a gaming PC in a backpack so you can carry it around while playing in VR.
Designed to remove the pesky tethers which trail along the floor from both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets, the VR One is a full blown gaming PC house on your back which plugs straight into the headset of your choice. Humanity, we are one step closer to actually being Robocop.
Inside the MSI VR One you’ll find a GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, Intel Core i7 CPU, and some other, undisclosed, components. Presumably they’re going to for energy efficiency here rather than pure performance, as despite coming in at roughly 8 pounds (3.6 kg), the VR One is totally battery powered.
Just as you’d expect it’s got all the ports, connections and doodads you’ll need for a variety of VR experiences, including HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3, USB Type-C and four USB 3.0 ports.
As for the image below, well, I have no idea. If you have the VR One you have 50% more of something than other backpacks. Presumably that means disposable income.
It’s powered by dual hot-swappable batteries which last roughly an hour of gaming. That’s not a great deal but you can charge one while using the other, so you’re looking at two hours plus of gaming time per session.
You too can look like this
There’s no pricing for the MSI VR One but it is, scarily, going into mass production next month. Quite who this is for I’m not sure, but there’s only a small segment of the market willing to spending $1000+ more after buying a VR headset and already having a VR capable PC, all to avoid cabling.
While demoing VR the cable stretching from the headset to the PC has always been a sore point for me however, and a definite thorn in the side of roomscale VR. Without someone there to help me with the cable and make sure I didn’t trip over, I’d have probably met my maker within a matter of minutes. Meanwhile issues with transmitting large amounts of data quickly and reliably means wireless isn’t an option. I have to believe the end goal is getting all of the necessary hardware housed in the VR headset itself, although we’re probably some way away from this being a viable solution for high-end game experiences.
Anyone here interested in the MSI VR One? Is this product far too niche, or can you see a market for cable free VR? Let us know!
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50% of something. This can be three things.
1: 50% more powerful than the current backpacks. Mine only contains a calculator at the moment which means this one could be right. :)
2: 50% bigger than other backpacks made for VR.
3: 50% more battery capacity compared to other backpacks for VR (yes this is the real one, check the site. It says it in huge letters).
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This is a really good development for vr-industry... it adds a level of mobility which is great
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forgot to mention that there is an a/c adapter for it also. that kind of kills the wireless sense of the whole thing but it does allow gaming alone beyond the 2 hours of the batteries.
plus from what i know there is no on-screen battery indicator. hopefully that can be fixed before release or updated after.
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does it come with sensory deprivation tank filled with amniotic fluid?
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One of the best articles i've seen on GD
And WTF is up with that picture?
50% more? Of what? Of what MSI?
This just goes to show how short people's attention spans are today (myself included).
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Idea: Know that weird wire-thing that PC microphones have? Flexible, but you bend it to any shape it stays that way? How about housing the VR cable inside something like that, so VR PC gamers can twist them over their heads with the end cable connecting to the headset? The cable comes in from overhead so no tripping! SOLVED.
Companies, get on it. I don't even want credit, just make it happen.
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It's not about liking the product anymore, it's about liking the article.
Well written, Sir. :D
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And if u fall on ur back while playing horror games then buy a new one it's just that simpld
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One step closer to Robocop :D
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It's nice. I suppose better than the concept I've seen LinusTechTips demonstrate, but I'm not gonna buy it.
I understand there can be an issue with tripping over cables, but I think I'll find some other single-cable solution.
Right now my "to-be-VR-space" is as far away from the PC as humanly possible, so it has to wait until my second PC rolls in anyway.
Guess I'll just take it easy and wait for the HTC Vive Mk II.
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LOL! Wait another 5 years, this thing gonna be a laugh stock.
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I've always said that, for VR to take off, you need to not be tethered to a stationary computer. I always assumed the way they'd deal with the issue was by making the headset wireless, not, you know, making the computer into a ridiculous backpack.
I sure hope that nobody ever tries to use a regular rotary HDD in that thing, is all I have to say.
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Screw this , I want my holodeck.
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This is gonna fail really hard
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The Ghostbusters called. They want the experimental Proton Pack back.
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naah... i don't like virtual reality man! it will be a thing when abstergo invents something like Animus :D feeling the pain, feeling the wind on your skin, feeling the life inside another world! that is what i call virtual reality! not this eyedestroyer! (and pocketdestroyer too :D )
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Well spoken! rep+
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Oh cmon after desmond leaves hes thing i dont remember how its called animus maybe he could do parkour. I want too.