VR製造商發力爭奪親民市場(下)

You are essentially trying to balance what has been a year of intense media interest and obviously one hopes consumer interest in VR as a category . . . with the fact that this is a very new kind of product interaction, Mr House says.

一年來媒體對VR技術非常感興趣，顯然我們也希望消費者對VR這類產品感興趣……然而這也是一類非常新的互動產品，所以基本上你得努力綜合考慮這兩方面的因素。

This is actually something you wear on your head in order to have these experiences.

豪斯表示，這種產品是你得真的戴到頭上才能體驗的。

Much of the industry’s focus so far has been on making sure headsets are comfortable and accessible enough for normal consumers, not just video game enthusiasts.

到目前爲止，該行業的關注點在很大程度上是確保頭盔佩戴起來足夠舒適、足夠易於上手——不僅是對視頻遊戲愛好者、對普通消費者而言也是如此。谷歌79美元的Daydream View主要由紡織面料製成，這讓它的重量比Gear VR輕近三分之一。

It’s one of those things that maybe in retrospect seems kind of obvious, says Clay Bavor, Google’s head of VR.

谷歌VR主管克萊•巴沃爾(Clay Bavor)表示：這一點我們以後回過頭來看或許會覺得是明擺着的。

It is how comfortable sleep masks and ski masks are built.

佩戴舒適的睡眠眼罩和滑雪面罩就是用的這種面料。

You don’t start with the same stuff that your VCR is made out of.

用VCR的那種材質來造VR頭盔根本行不通。

He adds that fabric design, alongside tuning the Android software and display in its new Pixel smartphone for VR, will enable people to spend longer in VR than in Google’s previous effort, the low-cost Cardboard viewer.

他補充稱，採用紡織面料的設計，再加上在谷歌最新的Pixel智能手機中對安卓軟件以及顯示進行調整以適配VR，將讓人們在VR世界中逗留的時間能夠超過谷歌之前的一款低價產品——Cardboard頭盔。

Yet Mr Bavor warns: It’s going to take years and years and years for the technology to fully mature and for the content to get there.

然而，巴沃爾警告稱：要想這項技術完全成熟、可用的內容完全跟上，還需要很多很多年。

Analysts agree that any company involved in VR is likely to be in an investment phase for some time.

分析師們同意這一觀點：任何一家涉足VR的公司都可能在較長一段時間裏處於投入階段。

It’s just not a mainstream technology at the moment, says Ben Wood of CCS Insight. It doesn’t look right, the experience isn’t good enough, it’s expensive.

簡單說，就目前而言這還不是一項主流技術，CCS Insight的本•伍德(Ben Wood)表示，它的外觀看起來不順眼，體驗也不夠好，而且價格昂貴。

But the potential is unlimited, which is why so many people are chasing the rainbow.

但它潛力無限，這就是爲什麼這麼多人在不顧一切地進入該領域的原因。

Even some people working in the VR industry worry that it may be seen as a novelty, rather than something that becomes as widespread as a games console or smartphone.

甚至一些VR業內人士也擔心，它可能被視爲一種新奇玩意，而不是一種會像遊戲機或智能手機那樣普及開來的產品。

Maureen Fan, chief executive of Baobab Studios, the developer behind VR animation Invasion!, predicts a long bumpy ride.

開發VR動畫短片《入侵》(Invasion!)的Baobab Studios的首席執行官Maureen Fan預測，VR將經歷漫長而崎嶇的發展歷程。

There needs to be more content out there for VR to become really huge.

VR要想真正成功，需要有更多內容製作出來。

We are trying to fulfil that need as quickly as possible, she says. When the novelty wears off, the thing that still matters is story and characters.

我們正努力盡快滿足這種要求，她表示，一旦新鮮感消退，仍然重要的因素還是故事和角色。

At this week’s developer event, Oculus showed off social networking inside VR as a way to attract more consumers.

在本週的開發者大會上，Oculus展示了VR內的社交網絡互動，作爲吸引更多消費者的一種方式。

Mr Zuckerberg took a selfie of his avatar with a 360-degree photo of his dog, alongside a video call from his wife, to illustrate what social experiences might look like in VR.

爲展示VR中的社交互動體驗可能是什麼樣的，扎克伯格爲自己的虛擬化身(avatar)、實景中他的狗、以及他妻子打來的視頻電話窗口拍了一張自拍照。

Facebook’s existing apps can also help build awareness of VR.

Facebook現有的應用也能幫助人們建立對VR的認識。

Nate Mitchell, vice-president of product for Oculus, says he hopes being able to plug directly into the Facebook news feed, which has 1.7bn monthly active users, will help bring virtual reality to a wider audience.

Oculus產品副總裁納特•米切爾(Nate Mitchell)表示，他希望直接接入Facebook的新聞推送（擁有17億月度活躍用戶）將有助於讓更多人認識VR。

One of the things that is challenging is showing people ‘what is VR?’ This will help kindle that enthusiasm, he says.

一個具有挑戰性的問題是向人們展示‘什麼是VR’？這將幫助激起人們的熱情。他表示。

Mr Mitchell adds Oculus apps have expanded beyond blockbuster games full of explosions to display content that appeals to a far more diverse audience, from education and art to karaoke.

米切爾補充稱，Oculus應用已不侷限於滿是爆炸場面的火爆遊戲，開始展示吸引不同類型觀衆的內容——從教育、藝術到卡拉OK。

Oculus is investing $500m in content developers to ensure a steady pipeline of new VR games and apps.

Oculus將在內容開發者身上投入5億美元，以確保有新的VR遊戲和應用源源不斷地推出。

Overall we are still investing more than we are generating profit, at a high level.

他表示：總的來說，我們的投資仍大大超過利潤。

It’s still early days.

現在還處於初期階段。

There are still a lot of hardware and software innovations that have to happen, he says.

未來還需要出現大量硬件和軟件創新。

Given the huge scale of Facebook’s internet business, it’s going to be a while before we get to the place where we are this massive profit generator for Oculus’s parent, Mr Mitchell says, while adding: This Christmas is by no means make or break for Rift.

米切爾表示，鑑於Facebook互聯網業務的龐大規模，Oculus要爲母公司創造巨大利潤尚需時日，同時他補充道，今年的聖誕節絕不是一個決定Rift成敗的時刻。

But we are set up to have an incredible holiday season.

但我們已做好準備迎接一個火熱的假日季。