You are essentially trying to balance what has been a year of intense media interest and obviously one hopes consumer interest in VR as a category . . . with the fact that this is a very new kind of product interaction, Mr House says.

一年来媒体对VR技术非常感兴趣，显然我们也希望消费者对VR这类产品感兴趣……然而这也是一类非常新的互动产品，所以基本上你得努力综合考虑这两方面的因素。

This is actually something you wear on your head in order to have these experiences.

豪斯表示，这种产品是你得真的戴到头上才能体验的。

Much of the industry’s focus so far has been on making sure headsets are comfortable and accessible enough for normal consumers, not just video game enthusiasts.

到目前为止，该行业的关注点在很大程度上是确保头盔佩戴起来足够舒适、足够易于上手——不仅是对视频游戏爱好者、对普通消费者而言也是如此。谷歌79美元的Daydream View主要由纺织面料制成，这让它的重量比Gear VR轻近三分之一。

It’s one of those things that maybe in retrospect seems kind of obvious, says Clay Bavor, Google’s head of VR.

谷歌VR主管克莱•巴沃尔(Clay Bavor)表示：这一点我们以后回过头来看或许会觉得是明摆着的。

It is how comfortable sleep masks and ski masks are built.

佩戴舒适的睡眠眼罩和滑雪面罩就是用的这种面料。

You don’t start with the same stuff that your VCR is made out of.

用VCR的那种材质来造VR头盔根本行不通。

He adds that fabric design, alongside tuning the Android software and display in its new Pixel smartphone for VR, will enable people to spend longer in VR than in Google’s previous effort, the low-cost Cardboard viewer.

他补充称，采用纺织面料的设计，再加上在谷歌最新的Pixel智能手机中对安卓软件以及显示进行调整以适配VR，将让人们在VR世界中逗留的时间能够超过谷歌之前的一款低价产品——Cardboard头盔。

Yet Mr Bavor warns: It’s going to take years and years and years for the technology to fully mature and for the content to get there.

然而，巴沃尔警告称：要想这项技术完全成熟、可用的内容完全跟上，还需要很多很多年。

Analysts agree that any company involved in VR is likely to be in an investment phase for some time.

分析师们同意这一观点：任何一家涉足VR的公司都可能在较长一段时间里处于投入阶段。

It’s just not a mainstream technology at the moment, says Ben Wood of CCS Insight. It doesn’t look right, the experience isn’t good enough, it’s expensive.

简单说，就目前而言这还不是一项主流技术，CCS Insight的本•伍德(Ben Wood)表示，它的外观看起来不顺眼，体验也不够好，而且价格昂贵。

But the potential is unlimited, which is why so many people are chasing the rainbow.

但它潜力无限，这就是为什么这么多人在不顾一切地进入该领域的原因。

Even some people working in the VR industry worry that it may be seen as a novelty, rather than something that becomes as widespread as a games console or smartphone.

甚至一些VR业内人士也担心，它可能被视为一种新奇玩意，而不是一种会像游戏机或智能手机那样普及开来的产品。

Maureen Fan, chief executive of Baobab Studios, the developer behind VR animation Invasion!, predicts a long bumpy ride.

开发VR动画短片《入侵》(Invasion!)的Baobab Studios的首席执行官Maureen Fan预测，VR将经历漫长而崎岖的发展历程。

There needs to be more content out there for VR to become really huge.

VR要想真正成功，需要有更多内容制作出来。

We are trying to fulfil that need as quickly as possible, she says. When the novelty wears off, the thing that still matters is story and characters.

我们正努力尽快满足这种要求，她表示，一旦新鲜感消退，仍然重要的因素还是故事和角色。

At this week’s developer event, Oculus showed off social networking inside VR as a way to attract more consumers.

在本周的开发者大会上，Oculus展示了VR内的社交网络互动，作为吸引更多消费者的一种方式。

Mr Zuckerberg took a selfie of his avatar with a 360-degree photo of his dog, alongside a video call from his wife, to illustrate what social experiences might look like in VR.

为展示VR中的社交互动体验可能是什么样的，扎克伯格为自己的虚拟化身(avatar)、实景中他的狗、以及他妻子打来的视频电话窗口拍了一张自拍照。

Facebook’s existing apps can also help build awareness of VR.

Facebook现有的应用也能帮助人们建立对VR的认识。

Nate Mitchell, vice-president of product for Oculus, says he hopes being able to plug directly into the Facebook news feed, which has 1.7bn monthly active users, will help bring virtual reality to a wider audience.

Oculus产品副总裁纳特•米切尔(Nate Mitchell)表示，他希望直接接入Facebook的新闻推送（拥有17亿月度活跃用户）将有助于让更多人认识VR。

One of the things that is challenging is showing people ‘what is VR?’ This will help kindle that enthusiasm, he says.

一个具有挑战性的问题是向人们展示‘什么是VR’？这将帮助激起人们的热情。他表示。

Mr Mitchell adds Oculus apps have expanded beyond blockbuster games full of explosions to display content that appeals to a far more diverse audience, from education and art to karaoke.

米切尔补充称，Oculus应用已不局限于满是爆炸场面的火爆游戏，开始展示吸引不同类型观众的内容——从教育、艺术到卡拉OK。

Oculus is investing $500m in content developers to ensure a steady pipeline of new VR games and apps.

Oculus将在内容开发者身上投入5亿美元，以确保有新的VR游戏和应用源源不断地推出。

Overall we are still investing more than we are generating profit, at a high level.

他表示：总的来说，我们的投资仍大大超过利润。

It’s still early days.

现在还处于初期阶段。

There are still a lot of hardware and software innovations that have to happen, he says.

未来还需要出现大量硬件和软件创新。

Given the huge scale of Facebook’s internet business, it’s going to be a while before we get to the place where we are this massive profit generator for Oculus’s parent, Mr Mitchell says, while adding: This Christmas is by no means make or break for Rift.

米切尔表示，鉴于Facebook互联网业务的庞大规模，Oculus要为母公司创造巨大利润尚需时日，同时他补充道，今年的圣诞节绝不是一个决定Rift成败的时刻。

But we are set up to have an incredible holiday season.

但我们已做好准备迎接一个火热的假日季。