It's always been my stance that you don't label something an "industry changer" lightly; the implication is that said thing will upheave videogames as we know them, presumably for the better, perhaps even triggering a new paradigm of "before said thing" and "after said thing." In this case "said thing" is the upcoming Fallout 4 VR experience, and AMD has some very strong and encouraging words to share on the matter.
The comments come from the company's corporate vice president Roy Taylor, who spoke at the VR World Congress recently. In addition to calling Fallout 4's VR offering the "Mario" or "Sonic the Hedgehog" of VR (bold claims no matter how you slice it), he also remarked that "it will change the way we think about VR" and "will be an industry changer." Taylor also added the following regarding VR's dependence on wires:
They're an inhibitor to what should be giving great freedom of movement. One of the most important things we do next is get rid of those pesky wires. I'm very pleased to tell you that AMD has come up with a solution.
It's important to note that Bethesda and AMD have entered a partnership, so while Taylor may in fact be genuinely impressed, there's also incentive to be. His excitement (especially regarding the destruction of wires) stems largely from AMD's upcoming products based on a partnership with the wireless VR chip manufacturer Nitero.
Whether or not we come to truly despise the days when our VR sets required wires as if we were cavemen remains to be seen, but hyperbole or not, I'd certainly like for Fallout 4 VR to be as good as Taylor says it is. It's probably tough to be the "Mario" of anything at this point, but perhaps a VR experience will eventually overhaul VR the way, say, Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time revamped 3D gaming. If that title happens to be Fallout 4, then more power to Bethesda.
