Gadgetory

the 359 is sponsored by USB technology the USB implementers forum reminds consumers that USB if' logos are displayed on certified USB products so the next time you're shopping for a reliable USB charger cable or device look for the logos get the whole story at enabling USB org welcome and good morning all live from the scene at studios in New York City it's a 3:59 podcast my name is BVG episode 449 your host today are Roger Cheng and Alfred a warning happy Monday everyone what up we've got a busy busy day for you we'd be talking about our Smith's scoop on the what could have been with the X bar X Box VR headset this is a scoop from Ian sure about sir what happened and the fact that they were actually in active development even though they've been pretty cagey about that I wasn't that we'll talk about will offer preview of the ephah trade show this is going on in Berlin our own bedbugs Reubens actually there we'll share some details but we want to see from the show and then lastly we'll touch upon the the tragedy of this weekend the shooting at the Med 19 tournament down in Jacksonville so without further ado if you have any questions leave them in the comments section Brian will pick out the best and we'll get them in 3 minutes and 59 seconds see you all back in the chat and 3 minutes and 59 seconds from 3 - welcome to the 359 I'm dr. Chen I'm out for dang don't hold your breath for the Xbox VR headset well Microsoft hasn't said much about it but rumors of a VR had said had been floating around for years you know they basically Nix the plans but Aronian sure had the scoop on actually the fact that they were in active development for a headset to the point where they were actually asking partners to create specific content for them and really been looking at the the kind of device build and the screen quality I mean I think it's a good thing I got next I mean I've seen like games for the PlayStation 4 VR I don't really think we're there yet as far as like good games in VR and I know a lot of people that play a lot of your games tell me I'm completely wrong and I probably am but my I just like I don't know if the market is really there for them right now yeah it was interesting that they decided to pull back on that you know given the fact that VR there was a lot of hype around VR over the last few years Playstations been investing in it oculus has been investing it you know HTC obviously and so you know the fact that VR the hype has doubt died down a bit you kind of look back at all right all right it's a smart call but just sort of given that initial appetite for VR it's surprising that Microsoft didn't rule anything out yeah I'm curious if they're like holding back so they can like put out something you know more high-end that like once a demand is there or if they are you know more so relying on like hololens for Microsoft if they want to do more like AR gaming with right with their consoles because I I know that they were kind of like all in with like Kinect for a while yeah so I mean I feel like that might fit in really well if they are I had a Kinect and I found it worthless and I'm still pretty angry about it you would probably be saying the same thing about Xbox VR if had it come out that is a really good point one of the one of the details that Ian poured on was the fact that they were they are waiting for better screen quality things like a wireless adapter which right now is is an accessory that's available with HTC vive for several hundred dollars on top of the you know the small fortune you're spending on a VR headset so we'll have to wait around and see if if VR of Xbox embraces VR down the line next up the ephah trade show kicks off this week in our own Ben Fox Rubin is in Berlin for the conference and this show is largely known for big appliances TVs but we've got some cool stuff there the the robot pants that LG teased you know this is a Khloe robot that we saw out in a at CES we're imagining LG to talk vision LG will talk more about robotics and AI and really Google Amazon and their assistants should have a big role there whether or not they'll actually be there in person I think you'll see a lexan Google Assistant pretty much everywhere yeah I mean when we were at CES what we saw them in like a bathroom and in a mirror and in like a fridge fridges like the least while example fridges like it's almost standard yeah an assistant fridge I'm just you know honestly we should have a whole conference just for robot clothes though that the pants that was cool idea in robot pants robot hat maybe it's I just hope that they don't you know fall flat on their face like the one that we had seen at CES right the old Chloe robot which we actually had on for our show SES our 3:59 show and just sort of fail to respond to any of our commands it's come sad I'm looking forward to all the news coming from Aoife though just to see all the great technology that I know I can't afford there you go lastly tragedy struck a madden 19 tournament yesterday in Jacksonville's gunmen opened fire to the event three people have died eleven were injured you know you're tad more into the gaming community we're some the reactions that you saw so this is spurred like a major conversation around security and you know tournaments like these a lot of people come to these and you know now you know there's been a lot more concerns about you know we don't really do bag checks or security or anything like that so the organizer behind Evo which is the largest fighting game tournament basically said in a tweet yesterday that you know we're going to be you know requiring metal detectors for all of our events starting in 2019 or so and like that's like there's this whole conversation around like what we should do to ensure security for people to come to our tournaments now right that's because a lot of these tournaments like this one in particular was in sort of a low budget yeah there right yeah it's not like a big stadium that yeah vision some of those bigger eSports events all right so our deepest sympathies go out to everyone involved for more of these stories check us out and see net I'm Roger Chang I'm Alfred Aang thanks for listening all right welcome back everybody thanks for joining us for the recording of the audio podcast that will publish a little bit later will tell you where to download it until then go ahead and submit questions and comments will even take your feelings over the tragedy and how this affects your community for all of us here and tech world and gaming it's always rough to hear stuff like this but in the meantime let's try to keep things a little more upbeat I want to hear more about robot hats Alfred um yeah it could be like copy from Super Mario Odyssey where you just throw it on stuff and then you don't know you maybe it fixes your hair I want you to commute you wear the hat on your commute and when you take it off your hair is already made up so is Aoife essentially just becoming the Jetsons yeah pretty much although you could have make that argument for all all these text ratios right CES shows off the the latest and greatest and things that we're seeing it we will see over the next few years know if it's kind of like that although it's like I said it's traditionally been slated or been heavily towards appliances washers dryers you're starting to see a kind of a fuller breadth of products and technology out there I think we're gonna see more stuff on foldable screens as well a little displays that'll be interesting we're we're supposedly gonna see foldable phones next year so it'd be kind of nice to see some of the everybody work this is foldable like like the clamshell way or is this foldable like paper where's like roll yeah yeah I would I would imagine like clamshell okay that's a ripoff and I'm not interested in that really the Nintendo already came out though 50s no but that's not one continuous screen I mean there's a hint yeah sure one I'm not I yeah I'm not that interested in it no if it was a if it was a giant screen that sold out and it was continuous screen there's no hinge in the middle that's the point I think I'd have to see it to like like when it's folded like how thick is it still you know I don't know yeah that's to me really good question that's why I like the rollable one and you can just just how would that be better if you rolled it cuz it's like it's it'd be like a ten yeah scroll yeah fix grow yeah how is that better it's definitely better I'm sure look up at on the whole time I want a hole like a baton but like you'd definitely be easier to put in your in your pocket and he just wants it so I can do like Monty Python stuff just I mean a scroll phone scroll phone ooh no it's controllable phones that's no no one's gonna buy that phone I'll buy it let's go ahead and jump into the chat take some questions from Ryan Williams I just bought an S 9 plus and have the VR heads or and the VR headset is supposed to be a good accessory for it does anyone own it and know if it's actually worth it and wants thoughts specifically from Roger or Alfred so they should just leave me out Wow Brian get out yeah man I have tried it I mean it's it's not as it's not that different from the the older version of the gear VR headset which I'm assuming you're talking about that that accessory it's fine I mean I feel like there's still a lack of content most of the content that you you'll find is you know like two or three minutes long it's fairly disposable I found it to be an interesting gimmick the truth perfectly frank like I have a gear VR I have I have the what's the Google one the pixel dream catcher or something yeah that a dream a dream yeah thank you daydream I have three VR headsets and they all collect us now so I usually kind of dust them off and show them around when when folks come to visit like hey check out this VR experience they think it's really cool and then and then we move on my favorite is still that Samsung gear VR commercial that was airing like all the time last year when it was like would they show a family member or something like it's like a senior like member with like a grandmother or something like that and then she like she like lets out a single tear because it's so beautiful what she's saying but they never show like what she's actually watching or anything like that Oh same ones like the Olympic one we're like the woman knows that the rehab that we had that was a different one but you actually was kind of like you know you be cool I don't know if there's ever been anything as beautiful in VR to drive people to tears no but I'm very nice for all the traffic a Harry Potter one those kind of cool I was like in the wasn't her about as fantastic beasts I was in the briefcase yeah I think it's because they're all missing the point of like why we go online and it like consume content and so of cuz like it's more like a social thing like if I see you like a good video I send it to a friend after you know it's not like and I feel like with VR that's you can't really do that because like how many of your friends like own VR headsets so it's kinda like this is really cool and it's only for me and I can't talk to anybody back so look I sort of a glimpse into I think how entertainment might evolve over the next few years it's it's kind of cool to have I wouldn't spend that much money on it if if there's some sort of bundle offer where it comes for free that's great I don't think I'd spend money on a VR headset I feel like you're gonna use it for a little bit just to check out some of the content and then you're gonna get tired of it it's kind of a pain to like put your phone in there slap it in get you know actually strapping your head and actually use it cuz it's like a three-minute experience and it takes about a minute two minutes to put together so yeah and I have Google cardboard that I stole from Scott Stein's office nice I take it you don't use that either nope yeah next question from Jacob Lombardo what do you think about the rumored Xbox all past subscription where you pay twenty two bucks a month for an xbox one s and Xbox Live Gold and the game pass it's technically a good deal but only if you stick with it yeah I'm not aware of this but I've been an Xbox Live subscriber for why I think III think I still am too even though I haven't played a game I mean I think like all companies are really going in this direction of like hey we'll charge you more per month to up like our servers but we'll give you these games that I'm inclined to say that you would not have bought these games like on their own if they were at that price right to begin with so like Xbox I remember this one time I was like yo we'll give you like you got assassin's creed 4 free this month only I never wanted to play Assassin's Creed but so like they always just say like it's like an additional bonus kind of thing but it's just like oh yeah this is a bonus something I never want I'm always alone wary of those kinds of monthly subscription plans because there are you go I go through long stretches where I don't spend any money in video games and so the committee of that yeah I think to your point like if you stick with it and you're playing games every month and you're playing the new games that you get it's worth it otherwise you know you can't do the math when you're in your head about whether or not yeah I mean I know what you're already spending on games and what you would continue to spend on gaming if it's there it's there I don't think I'd sign up for that though I barely use the live past anymore I got it for the Netflix and all that but then it took away the group watch and now you don't need it anymore to use streaming apps so I don't know why I still have it oh because they have a bunch of saved games that are up in the cloud I don't want to lose those that's yeah that's the thing too like you're tearing bad your console is like pretty much useless unless you're like in on like one of these plans you know like like I had a like an Xbox 360 for a while but I don't I don't want to pay for the online stuff right so he's basically like it's just here like I don't know I do anything 60 there's still enough like single-player games and yeah you didn't have to be on live yeah it was early on but at the same time though anything now you buy the device and then you subscribe to a service there's no there's no single pain you know even you do anymore find that really annoying what the video game industry having to buy like some sort of online package or whatever to keep the game updating with with new over-the-air content or whatever just I don't know I miss the days where I lost the console I got it I bought the game and I'm good to go like it's not like a complete game unless you have this whatever Jacob does point out that the subscription includes the hardware so essentially it's it's doing what are you talking about with and taking out a step ahead of buying the console then subscribing it's just like I mean it's an Xbox one s not X right that's what he said again I'm not familiar with this program so any would make X the lower that's the lower end yeah yeah but I also think that's pretty interesting I guess they're going for like what the car dealership model now where you pacing yeah like you pay this one do you they'll be testing the water with you know the more attainable or accessible console that they expect to sell more of so do you do you own the console eventually or like are you like basically renting it so is it like the modem at Time Warner yeah yeah I feel like that's what it is right like once you're done with playing you you the back that would be awful I would I would not want to do that because you're gonna you don't not paying more for it by like the end of right like it's more like a lease program though once you paid it off you paid it oh yeah I'm reading the article now at the end of the 24 month turn players own the console oh god yeah I would sign up for that if you had to send it back people do that have cars all the time cars yeah that's true I mean you could just take it back to GameSpot and get three dollar coupon or whatever no it is I mean I do enjoy that I think that's something I definitely would have done like as a kid or something like that it did no no like lease like a console because like I remember back then it would just be like you know this thing is you know $300 or something like that and I can't like really get it now unless like it's like Christmas time or something like that so if like oh we can just do the five dollars a month for 24 months if you do the math on that so that 35 is for the Xbox one X though Oh s so yeah but my point is like I think I would be into that just like you know at a time when like I as a kid like you you're not able to just get the console flat out like I think I do I do appreciate them like considering like accessibility like price wise for other yeah yeah yeah you see in with obviously you see with cars you see with smart phones yeah it makes sense that they would try this model I just I don't know yeah but that's also along with the like the game pass stuff yeah the service you'd get anyways probably it does pay itself out I just wonder like what kind of penalties are there if you opt out early yeah that's the thing because like I remember having this like debate with myself about the Nintendo switch when it came out was like should I buy it or not and if they had a program like this where like you paid 20 bucks a month until like for like a year or two until like I could have like done that and figure out whether or not I actually want this console instead of like shelling out like all that money and pretending that I like it do you guys remember that I just I'm having flashbacks to the 90s when my neighbors and I they had a Sega Genesis I had an NES known had an SNES so we'd go down to the local rental store and you'd rent the console you have to beg your parents to pay whatever the hell it was to rent it for the weekend a weekend deal was a console to games to controllers so we'd get the SNES we get turtles in time we'd wallop it like 4 or 5 times over and never turn the console and then do it again next weekend no I mean if we didn't have a console we just didn't play I didn't remember renting games though and basically we had to because some blockbuster know from like mom-and-pop rental stores I'm a blockbuster and I remember her bass I mean I still remember renting like Nintendo games and back then we didn't know what was a good game or what wasn't right it was all based off the box art we didn't have Jeff Bakalar to tell us exactly so most the games is terrible I mean renting a game was one thing I just remembered my whole world changed like you can rent the whole console I actually did not know that yeah I've never been to a place where you can like rent the whole week you can do that blockbuster right those were more monsters right I mean I don't I never had a blockbuster where I was growing up I only had the momma pops right so and only a couple of them did consoles a lot of them didn't do consoles because I didn't think they really had the space to stash and when they did yeah yeah imagine that that's kind of a pricey business model yeah yeah anyway it's moving on ramos at a time here's one from priority one are there games in VR and facilities where you can actually walk around in the game without bumping in the walls think of like a four way treadmill we have seen this yeah we have I mean there I mean I've seen them open up here in New York in Long Island where I live or in Queens that there are these treadmills I mean a lot of them I don't see the treadmill so much I do see like five setups with like a wide space that you can walk around in mm-hmm hear from Scott where he did this treadmill Scott called the Omni Omni well bless God who is our VR guinea pig and just will do anything in VR well almost almost anything er careful but yeah we we the omnidirectional thing I saw it at CES I didn't get a chance to try it but I don't see it anywhere like commercially so I don't I don't know how successful those are I do see like VR arcades opening up or there they do have a dedicated kind like four foot by four foot spot for you to walk around and you've got a vibe system it tracks you or foot by four foot that's it's not that big that's like a closet I mean it's not you can't even on the vibe you can't really move around yeah I wonder how long until we see something like an arena open up with almost like a paintball arena but for VR like widespread I know that they exist in little pockets and stuff and we've seen him test it out well we tried that at CES remember that uh zombie zombie game I mean a core player would be a new breath into the concept of the the arcade right cuz the Arkham what we tried though the facility was fairly large how big was that room I just like the size of the studio it's probably bigger it felt like it was big like know like the entire play like up to where like Brian is right I felt like it was even bigger Holly bigger yeah it was just this massive empty spot it was four of us backpacks we can see each other in the VR world as we're killing zombies but there are also parts were like they divided us into teams of two yeah and created virtual walls or we can only see the yeah two of us yeah so those those experiences have definitely popped up a lot it's another one price you know that one was like a $50 experience I think yeah there's like a half hour long game but it was pretty pricey yeah I I'm just careful about like the whole like oh this might be a resurgence of like the arcade kind of thought yeah I feel like the folks like you they probably learned lessons from arcades and why they like all failed once everyone got home consoles right and I think they understand that like people are proud like V ours like not accessible now in the same way that like games weren't back then but like most likely they'll be able to go be like home consoles within a few years too and like all these like the origin why you're seeing some of these arcade experiences offer come unique things whether it's like obstacle physical obstacles in large large rooms like the one we tried and really experiences that you couldn't duplicate at home even if you yeah VR headset yeah I mean we'll see I'm like why skeptical that you know about the longevity of these experiences but like I see them pop up in like movie theaters like in the lobbies so where where there's already sort of an existing business I think it makes sense to kind of complement it with a VR option only baby steps away from ready player one am i right there we go we are out of time we got to wrap it up for the day but thanks everybody for joining us fantastic questions still rolling in and we never have enough time to do it so we'll see you guys tomorrow thanks again to USB who are our sponsor and Rodger you want to take us on out yeah 3:59 is available in iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner and google play music google podcasts the amazon echo of course cnet.com we'll see you all tomorrow bye folks you