Galeotte were Spain and France. No: we are not referring to a love escape in two of the most romantic places in the world, we are talking about the debut of Horizon Worlds, Meta’s virtual reality social network, in Paris and Madrid. A landing in Europe announced by a post by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of the Menlo Park companybut it has been around the world for the wrong reason.
As seen below, the image quality shared by Zuckerberg stands out: big eyes, flat light, stylized monuments, all elements that have contributed to weaken the impact of the debut in Europe of the company’s first social network in virtual reality. After that post, everyone online started talking about one thing: but how is it possible that this much-acclaimed metaverse is still so bad to see?
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Zuckerberg’s criticism and response
Contributing to the discussion was Kevin Roose, a reporter for the New York Times, who wrote in a tweet as follows: “It really is disconcerting that Meta has spent more than 10 billion dollars in virtual reality last year and its main application looks even worse than a 2008 WII game ”. Or even worse than Second Liferetorted another user, referring to the platform that many thought of when Zuckerberg, in July 2021, announced the first projects on the metaverse.
The criticisms did not go unnoticed by the parts of Menlo Park: Zuckerberg stepped in a few hours later with a new postwith improved graphics and the promise to definitely raise the bar, because “we can do much more, and we will grow soon”.
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What’s the problem with the metaverse?
In the hours following the publication of Zuckerberg’s post, in many have wondered why the graphics are still so minimal. Someone said that it is difficult for screenshots of virtual reality objects and avatars to be rendered effectively, others, like Paul Tassi on Forbeswrote that, even in the world of VR, Meta’s offer is of a low level.
Most of the analyzes, however, seem to agree on one point: it is still very early. In an article on Slate, we read how, due to the current characteristics of Meta Quest 2 viewers, it is not possible to combine high-level graphics with the fluidity of movements required by a virtual reality world. Greg Lavallee, vice president of technology of the American magazine, explained that “at the moment you can’t wear a PS5 on your face”. In other words, the paradox is that, to date, it is better for users that the graphics are ugly: the stylization of the characters and scenarios and (for example) the lack of legs, guarantees greater fluidity, and therefore a better diving chance.
A situation, however, that Meta intends to change. In January of this year, a Business Insider investigation revealed the company’s patents on the metaverse: in the intentions of Menlo Park, at the center of this immersive world there will be hyper-realism, the rendering of what people do and see in physical space within a virtual place.
In June, then, Zuckerberg himself had told to a dozen international newspapers (Italian Tech included) the challenges to overcome, from the power of VR access devices to the comfort of wearing them. In this sense, a step forward could be represented by the now famous Project Cambria, a new viewer in virtual reality (better: mixed reality)with technical characteristics superior to those of the current Quest 2 and, however, also a price that could exceed 1000 dollars: the debut should take place in the second half of 2022.