I can think of about one good use for Samsung’s Gear VR

Get robbed on the train

The Crescent Bay model of the Oculus Rift is pretty neat. Going immediately after to try out the Samsung Gear VR, which lacks the positional tracking and cool set of demos, at Games Connection Europe was weird. 

There was one mock up game, a cutesy 3D action game starring a lil dude with a sword. This was a third person action game, though, and so the Gear VR put you in the position of the camera, which was weird. Definitely not something I’ve considered for virtual reality headsets. You, the camera, are in a fixed spot, and looking around would move the camera, which was only occasionally necessary to get all the parts of the dungeon rooms in view. 

Yeah, I don’t know why this is a thing. Even more than the Oculus itself, Samsung’s Gear VR, which is still meant to be released to consumers this year, seems like most of its applications are outside of games, 

For example, there’s the virtual theatre mode, which sits you in a red velvet seat and puts your video content up for you on a big screen. Show of hands, who has spent a strange amount of time watching Netflix on a cell phone in bed when there’s a TV right in front of you? Just me. I can see laying in bed with one of these over your head, rendering you dead to the world while you watch Adventure Time episodes. Or get real isolated on public transit and watch Gilmore Girls while people thieve everything off your person.