If the future of video games is VR, it needs to stop making us feel sick

E3 2016 saw a range of virtual reality demos, from Resident Evil to Star Trek. But with problems from motion sickness to uncertainty over formats, is the industry floundering?

One of the big stories to come out of this year's E3 video games conference was that virtual reality was definitely there. Not hiding in little booths at the peripheral of the main halls, but there, front and centre, with big publishers and big franchises on board.

We saw demos of Resident Evil 7 (RE7) and Fallout 4 running in VR, we saw standalone VR experiences in the form of Star Trek: Bridge Crew and Batman: Arkham VR and we had the promise of virtual reality modes for major releases such as Final Fantasy XV and Star Wars: Battlefront. Meanwhile, Sony promised that 50 titles would be available for its PlayStation VR headset by the end of the year, showing that its (comparatively) accessible, wallet-friendly device had major developer support. Suddenly, over the course of four hot June days in Los Angeles, we seemed to have the killer apps that every consumer technology needs and that VR had arguably been missing.