<div id="ooyalaplayer" style="width: 800px; height: 450px;"></div><div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div><div><div><script src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script><div class="g-ytsubscribe" data-channel="BusinessInsider" data-layout="full" data-count="default"></div></div></div><p class="embed-spacer"></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span>When Facebook's virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift, launches in early 2016, it'll come with an Xbox One gamepad: A standard game controller. But gamepads are a poor solution for interacting in virtual reality.</span></p><p>If you're "in" the game, you don't want to interact with the world by pushing buttons on a game controller. You want to reach out and touch the world, to push and grab and punch and whatever else you'd do if you were there in real life. And that's where motion controls come in.</p><p>Sony's got a set of wand-like controllers called PlayStation Move. HTC and Valve have a similar solution. And Facebook's Oculus VR unveiled its own solution during a San Francisco press event last Friday, dubbed "Oculus Touch." This is what they look like:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55831877eab8ea305a72f8b0-540-405/oculus-touch-4.png" border="0" alt="Oculus Touch"><p class="source"><span>Corey Protin / Business Insider</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>I spent some time with Oculus VR's motion controllers at E3 2015, the video game industry's annual trade show. To test them out,&#xa0;<span>Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey grabbed his own pair and headed into a room adjacent to my own. I was then handed a set of Oculus Touch controllers and put inside the latest version of the Oculus Rift VR headset.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>Looking across the void, I saw Palmer - only he wasn't himself. He was a floating virtual head and a set of hands, and he was able to communicate with me via a set of headphones connected to a mic near his own headset. I immediately felt like Keanu Reeves' memorable character Neo from "The Matrix" when he enters the staging area with Lawrence Fishburne's Morpheus character.</span></p><p><span>As he desired, Palmer was able to instantly transport us from a 3D white space to outer space, or under water, or a variety of other environments. Which environment he chose affected how objects behaved in the virtual world, which was absolutely unreal. At his whim, he could smash a virtual orb and we were suddenly somewhere totally different.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>Suddenly we were in space, and I was casually picking up and throwing virtual objects toward distant planets. Then we were in water.</span></p><p><span>Though it doesn't feel exactly like using your hands to pick something up in real life, using Oculus Touch to pick up virtual objects is intuitive. Buttons stand in for physical feedback; gripping your hand on the controller and thusly clicking in a button is satisfying close to the act of normally closing your hand around an object in real life.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>Is there a disconnect? Sure. Is it significantly better than the button-pushing of video games of the past? Yes!</span></p><p><span>There's no footage of Oculus' toy box environment available, but the video above helps explain the madness experienced. I cannot wait for other people to try this so that I sound less crazy, and you'll be able to sooner than later. Soon after the Oculus Rift headset launches in early 2016, the Oculus Touch controllers will become available. And then we'll all be casually slipping into "The Matrix" from the comfort of our own homes.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span></span></p><div><em>Video Produced By Corey Protin.</em></div><div><em>&#xa0;</em></div><div><strong>Follow BI Video:</strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsider.Video">On Facebook</a></div><p><span>&#xa0;</span></p>

Thanks to Facebook's virtual reality device, I've been to 'The Matrix' and all I want is to go back

<p>After years of waiting, Nintendo finally has a new video game console on the way: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-nintendo-switch-details-features-price-release-date-2017-1">the Nintendo Switch</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5879130eee14b6a27b8b525f-2400/screen shot 2017-01-13 at 115328 am.png" alt="nintendo switch" data-mce-source="Nintendo" /><p class="source"><span>Nintendo</span></p><p class="caption">The Nintendo Switch is both a home console (as seen here) and a portable game console.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>It's a hybrid console: You can play it at home on your living-room television, or you can take it on the go. Here are the basics:</p><ul><li>It's called Nintendo Switch.</li><li>It's scheduled to launch on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nintendo-switch-release-date-2017-1">March 3, 2017</a>.</li><li>It <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nintendo-switch-price-2017-1">starts at $299</a>.</li><li>Nintendo has a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nintendo-switch-launch-games-full-list-photos-2017-1">gaggle of games</a> starring its most popular characters in the works.</li></ul><p>There's of course <em>much</em> more to the Switch than that. </p><p>For instance, one major Nintendo game arrives alongside the console on March 3: "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." It's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-preview-2017-1">gorgeous and massive</a>:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/587924f1f10a9a6d008b8513-1920/nintendoswitchtlozbreathofthewildpresentation2017scrn15pngjpgcopy.jpg" alt="The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" data-mce-source="Nintendo" /><p class="source"><span>Nintendo</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Additionally, the console comes in two flavors - plain grey and neon red/blue:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/587936d2ee14b651008b8349-1920/titemplate2397 copy 0100135509still041.jpg" alt="Nintendo Switch" data-mce-source="Corey Protin" /><p class="source"><span>Corey Protin</span></p><p class="caption">Don't worry, there's only one price point for both versions of the Switch: $299.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And, most notably for this piece, Nintendo has a new way of handling online play with Switch - it's called the "Nintendo Switch Online Service." The new service kicks off at the launch of the Switch on March 3, but it won't fully blossom until some point later in 2017 - and when it does, it'll have a monthly subscription fee attached.</p><p>That's a first for Nintendo: The company has offered online services before, but <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nintendo-switch-online-service-paid-details-2017-1">it's never charged for them</a>. Nintendo's competition, Sony and Microsoft, have offered paid online services for years now.</p><p>Microsoft set the standard for console-based online services with Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 (which it continues to operate successfully on the Xbox One). Sony pushed forward that standard with PlayStation Plus on its PlayStation game consoles, starting with the PlayStation 3.</p><p>As such, there are certain expectations associated with paid online services on home game consoles. Sony and Microsoft charge $10/month for their services, and both offer similar benefits:</p><ul><li>The ability to play games online with and against other people.</li><li>The ability to save games "in the cloud" (meaning you can start a game at home, go to your friend Suzie's house, and continue playing wherever you left off).</li><li>Free games, every month, that you keep as long as you remain a paying member. There are also discounts on select titles, which change every month.</li></ul><p>But Nintendo is Nintendo, and Nintendo rarely acts according to expectation. The Nintendo Switch Online Service is a testament to that history, albeit not in a positive way. </p><p>Let's start with the services you get with a paid Nintendo Switch Online Service account:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/587fb0c0f10a9acc1c8b8a86-1377/screen shot 2017-01-18 at 124519 pm.png" alt="Nintendo Switch Online Service" data-mce-source="Nintendo" data-link="http://www.nintendo.com/switch/online-service/" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nintendo.com/switch/online-service/">Nintendo</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Sounds pretty similar, right? Paying members get access to online gameplay, an online lobby system/voice chat, monthly game downloads, and exclusive deals. </p><p>What's missing from the chart, posted by Nintendo, are asterisks. There are some <em>major</em> caveats in even the simplest claims above. Let's start with that "monthly game download" - Nintendo details it as such:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Subscribers will get to download and play a Nintendo Entertainment System™ (NES) or Super Nintendo Entertainment System™ (Super NES) game (with newly-added online play) for free for a month."</p><p>Sounds pretty good! Who doesn't want access to a free NES or SNES game every month? Here's the catch: You can play that game for a single month, at which point it's removed from your library and costs money once again. Here's how Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/01/reggie-fils-aime-nintendo-interview/">explained it to Wired</a> on January 13:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Essentially you've got access to that game for a period of time, and then after the month there's a new selection. You'll have the opportunity to buy it, but [after] that month we've moved on to another game."</p><p>So, to be clear, you <em>don't</em> get a free game every month. You get time-limited access to games that came out anywhere from 20 to 30 years ago. This is a <strong>demo</strong>, not a free game. If we're splitting hairs, it's not a "free" game even if you were able to keep it - we're talking about a paid online service, after all. But let's move on.</p><p>The next sell point for Nintendo's new online service: "online lobby &amp; voice chat." </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/587fdd3df10a9a98468b87d8-2400/xb1headsetresized.jpg" alt="Xbox One (headset)" data-mce-source="Microsoft" /><p class="source"><span>Microsoft</span></p><p class="caption">This is the Xbox One chat headset, which is how you communicate online with other players on the Xbox One. It's the easiest way to handle online voice chat on game consoles.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Like the "free" game, a caveat extends to this service as well. Rather than attach a headset/mic combo to the system, voice chat is handled through a smartphone app. More clearly: Voice chat is handled by your phone, not on the Switch itself. "Instead of having some sort of bulky gamer headset, you'll be able to do it right off your smartphone," <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/01/reggie-fils-aime-nintendo-interview/">Fils-Aime told Wired</a>. "Put in your earbuds that you use for your standard mobile device. We think that's a pretty sweet solution."</p><p>Say what you will about that solution (I think it's a bad solution) - the concept of paying a monthly fee to use my phone as a means of voice chat on a game console is illogical at best. Don't I already pay a monthly phone bill so I can use my phone for voice chat (AKA phone calls)? </p><p>In so many words, it doesn't feel like a value add.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/572a379edd08959e628b4684-1200" alt="broad city skype " data-mce-source="Viacom" /><p class="source"><span>Viacom</span></p><p class="caption">Skype is free, and it's the perfect way to comfort your drunk friend who's crying in the bathroom.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Worse, it sounds like a poor way to handle voice chat on a game console. If I'm reaching for my phone to handle group voice chat, why not reach to Skype or Google Hangouts or any other number of solutions that cost nothing? </p><p>Nintendo is also handling friends lists and other stuff like that through its app. That's all fine, but this stuff should be on the console <em>and</em> on an app (the same way that Microsoft and Sony already handle it).</p><p>Finally - most crucially - the service won't be ready in time for the Switch's March 3 launch.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58792743f10a9a1c008b8491-1280/nintendoswitchmariokart8deluxepresentation2017scrn10bmpjpgcopy.jpg" alt="Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)" data-mce-source="Nintendo" /><p class="source"><span>Nintendo</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Some games have online functionality, and that will work. When "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" launches in late April, that will presumably have online multiplayer. Moreover, it won't cost you anything to use this online functionality. But voice chat? Those "free" games? Even the concept of an online lobby? None of that arrives on the Switch at launch - it's planned for "fall 2017," including an unknown subscription fee.</p><p>In many ways, the Nintendo Switch is a step in the right direction for Nintendo. It's a mostly traditional game console with a relatively low price and a slate of good-looking games in the works. It's a simple concept that's easily explained. </p><p>But the way that Nintendo is handling online on Switch has more in common with Nintendo's contemporary blunders than its promising future. With another month-plus until the launch of the Switch, Nintendo has plenty of time to wow us with more information. Maybe all those NES and SNES classics we bought on the Wii and Wii U will continue forward as part of a persistent digital library? Here's hoping.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-pixel-xl-vs-iphone-7-plus-andriod-ios-phone-mobile-2017-1">5 things Google's Pixel phone can do that the iPhone can't</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VjNzRyODE6kTT2FCERTdEL0r0u8Xn8om" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'VjNzRyODE6kTT2FCERTdEL0r0u8Xn8om',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The Nintendo Switch comes with a new online service - but it sounds terrible

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56c6669add0895896d8b456c-2000/ted20160218161bh7781.jpg" alt="HoloLens" data-mce-source="TED" /><p class="source"><span>TED</span></p><p class="caption">Microsoft HoloLens, an augmented reality headset, is an early post-smartphone device. You interact with it by using its cameras and microphones instead of a touchscreen.</p></div><p></p></div></div>It's the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/death-of-the-smartphone-and-what-comes-after-2017-3">dawn of a new kind of computer</a>. And a new kind of computer requires a new way to get stuff done. </p><p>Each new era of computing has brought with it a big change to how we interact with our devices. PCs ditched the punch card and gave us the mouse and keyboard. Smartphones got rid of the mouse and physical keyboard in favor of multitouch screens. </p><p>Get ready for touchscreens to fall out of favor soon too, as we enter the post-smartphone era. This period is likely to be dominated by everyday gadgets like speakers, eyeglasses, and even toasters that have been made "smart" with powerful computing chips, wireless communications radios, and sensors. </p><p>You're not going to attach a mouse and keyboard to your connected toaster, and you're not going to poke around on a touchscreen while you're attempting to repair an elevator with the help of some smart glasses. </p><p>The good news is you may already be prepared for the change. If you've ever sent your significant other a picture to make sure that you picked up the right cereal or used Siri to answer a text while you were cooking, you've already taken some early steps into the post-smartphone world.</p><p>That's because the camera and microphones are likely to be the new mouse and keyboard. They'll be how we interact with these new smart computing devices, in large part because they too are getting smarter.</p><h2>Listening and talking</h2><p>Microphones and cameras have a lot of appeal as interfaces for computers, because they tap into the human brain's natural modes of communication, noted John Underkoffler, an award-winning computer interface designer who helped envision the iconic computing systems used in "Minority Report" and the "Iron Man" films. </p><p>When you have face-to-face meetings with people, you're not just listening to what they say; you're inferring meaning from their facial expressions, hand gestures, and overall body language. Communication is visual <em>and</em> verbal.</p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56376c62dd089562608b458a-1280/screen-shot-2015-01-14-at-43336-pm-1280x839.png" alt="Google Translate" data-mce-source="Google" /><p class="source"><span>Google</span></p><p class="caption">Using Google Translate to translate a street sign using the camera and your phone's screen.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>Smarter, cheaper microphones and cameras will allow us to have more natural interactions with more and more of our devices. And they'll allow us to do things that just weren't possible before.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Take </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-translate-neural-machine-translation-hindi-russian-vietnamese-2017-3">Google Translate</a> as example of what cameras and microphones can make possible. You can speak a phrase into your smartphone's mic and have Google Translate's app instantly translate it into another language. Or you can hold your phone's camera up to sign in a foreign country and the app will quickly show you what it means. </span></p><p>Microphones and cameras are "going to be part of a new wave of user interface that's going redefine what computing means," Underkoffler said. </p><h2>Smarter everything</h2><p>A great early example of how we'll be using cameras and microphones to interact with post-smartphone devices is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-echo-show-review-2017-6">Amazon's Echo Show</a>. Like other Echo devices, the Show is a smart speaker that's powered by Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant. What's most obviously different about the Show is that it has a screen; you'd be forgiven for thinking it looks a little like an iPad in a heavy case. </p><p>But what makes the Show particularly interesting is how you interact with it. Its display is a touchscreen, so you can, of course, tap on virtual buttons and commands. But that's not how you'll likely use it most of the time. </p><p>Instead, its primary interfaces are through its microphone and cameras. If you want to know the latest news, watch Amazon Prime videos, or find out the score in your team's game, you'll likely just talk to the Show. If you want to see if Amazon has your shampoo in stock, you can use the Show's camera to scan in an old bottle, identify it, and find it in the store.  </p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/594d6f15a3630f1d008b52e9-2400/image uploaded from ios 1.jpg" alt="amazon echo show" data-mce-source="Matt Weinberger/Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Matt Weinberger/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Using the Amazon Echo Show as a makeshift karaoke machine.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>You can also use the microphone and camera together. You can tell Alexa to take a selfie of you, for example, or have her initiate a video call to your mom. </p><p>Such features are especially popular with the elderly, particularly people who struggled to master a smartphone or a PC, said Miriam Daniel, Amazon's director of Echo devices and Alexa. For them, it's much easier to just ask Alexa to do something than to figure out which app to use.</p><p>Daniel said the Echo Show and similar devices are also proving popular in emerging markets like India, where PCs never really caught on widely and modern smartphones are only starting to gain significant traction. For consumers in such countries, post-smartphone devices like the Show could be the only computer they end up needing, she said.</p><p>But the Show offers only a taste of what's to come in terms of how we interact and what we'll be able to do with post-smartphone devices. A more sophisticated vision comes in the form of Microsoft's HoloLens. </p><p>The augmented reality headset uses a camera, mounted on its side, to "read" the world around you and help shape the digital images it displays. And, because it has a microphone, it will also respond to voice commands; you can tell it to check and display your email, for example.</p><p>Even though cameras and microphones are coming to the fore, touchscreens likely won't disappear. We'll still need them in some situations, just like we still use keyboards and mice today. Voice can't communicate everything, and cameras need some kind of screen to display the images and video they capture. </p><p>The camera and microphone do, however, offer users and new computing devices far more ways for communicating with each other. </p><p>"I think we're just scratching the surface of what we can do," Daniel said.</p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-tiny-camera-hole-apple-tech-2017-7">Here's why your iPhone has a tiny hole next to the camera</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/pFOeJEp6-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

You Searched For "gaming headset with mic" and got 3 results

Thanks to Facebook's virtual reality device, I've been to 'The Matrix' and all I want is to go back

Ben Gilbert,Corey Protin

The Nintendo Switch comes with a new online service - but it sounds terrible

Ben Gilbert

There's a new kind of computer coming - and the mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen won't be enough to use it

Matt Weinberger