[saturdaysaint]

"what are you going to experience on VR, that needs VR so bad? Who is going to pay/develop and what is this content going to be... can it actually deliver, making good immersive software is incredibly hard."

The real problem with this question is that it's like asking someone in 1990 what the point of 3d graphics are. Beyond what's been announced, there's no definite timeline for anything - who besides John Carmack would even imagine the genre (FPS) that would popularize 3d graphics cards? Who could predict that Castlevania would suck in 3d but Mario would find an amazing niche?

I trust that most people reading this thread are alive and well, so clearly we don't "need" VR, but I can imagine some incredibly engaging experiences that will make today's best entertainment options look second best at best. Imagine playing a competitive game of ping pong with a friend that lives a few states away. Imagine watching a sporting event from the best seats in the stadium. Imagine being able to golf at a luxurious seaside resort... after work in the middle of winter, in your apartment. Imagine watching movies on a movie screen sized virtual screen. All of these are necessarily limited by being based on existing analogues, some or all of which could be completely off the mark, but I for one believe we'll see some breakthrough experiences rather quickly.

[Jtsummers]

The "unique" experiences of something like having the best seats in the stadium or more immersive experience with a golf simulator would be awesome. But for movies, it takes a commonly social experience and makes it strictly solo. You cannot use a shared VR headset. You may experience the same thing at the same time (or similar since you'd be looking in different directions, most likely), but it wouldn't be common. Would you really want a date night where you sit on your couch and each put on headsets blocking the other out? A family night in, everyone trapped in their own VR headset. What do you do for guests?

Let's not even address cleanliness (honestly, one reason I have no interest in most of the 3D TV tech that came out, even if it offered cheap, passive glasses).

It's useful, and cool, but really only applicable when you're physically alone or wiling to be deliberately isolated from others in your physical proximity.

[saturdaysaint]

"For movies, it takes a commonly social experience and makes it strictly solo."

Well, not if Netflix can make a "watch together" mode and you find yourself sitting with 3 college buddies' avatars who could be anywhere in the country. Facebook, for one, will have a strong interest in shoving "social" into everything - they certainly have the social graph, VOIP technology, infrastructure, etc. to make this easy to imagine.