Miyamoto Not Totally Sold On VR

VR has become quite a trend in the game industry. With the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook and Sony doubling down with their own Project Morpheus (whose name alone may be telling of just what kind of plugged-in future they're envisioning), it seems like the future of gaming is headed towards the total blackout immersion of virtual reality. As it turns out, Nintendo, evidently doesn't quite agree with the majority assessment thus far.

Speaking recently with Time, Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that he isn't entirely sure about the prospect of virtual reality. Why? Simple: socialabilty and, by extension, fun.

"When you think about what virtual reality is, which is one person putting on some goggles and playing by themselves kind of over in a corner, or maybe they go into a separate room and they spend all their time alone playing in that virtual reality," he Miyamoto said in the interview. "That’s in direct contrast with what it is we’re trying to achieve with Wii U. And so I have a little bit of uneasiness with whether or not that’s the best way for people to play."

The Wii U is obviously designed to be a social system, where players crowd around the television and have gaming experiences together, Miyamoto said, explaining that Nintendo is always looking into hardware innovations. VR may have its place, but maybe it isn't in the living room.

"From Nintendo’s perspective, there’s interest in the technology, but we think it might be better suited to some sort of attraction style of entertainment, say something at a video game arcade or things like that, rather than something that one person plays alone," he said.

Is VR poised to be the next big flop, like 3D videogames? Or is it something more revolutionary? Time will tell. In the meantime, you can read Time's full interview with Miyamoto via the link below.

[Via Time]