Say hello to The Oculus Rift.

Seen at E3 and now supported by over 10'000 developers worldwide, showing great promise to solve many of the previous problems (including price tag) with head-mounted VR units, The Oculus Rift could quite possibly be the Next Step that so many developers and gaming enthusiats have been saying that Gamers are truly craving.

I'm looking forward to it, and honestly, I'm sad the Kickstarter time is over, or I'd have donated myself, absolutely.

As it is, I'll be watching for the company to go public, and I'll definitely pick up stock when it does.

 

I was looking at that when they were running some shit on Kickstarter. Asking for like .. $250k to finish, I think they managed something like $2.5m.

Asking price is a hell of a lot lower than I thought. Especially for a dev kit. I was thinking an easy grand for a dev and $400+ for consumer model...

 

There's many problems with Virtual Reality I think.

1) It's just a gimmick that people thought would be 'the next big thing' since the 80s and 90s 'futuristic' movies.
2) Headsets are going to be uncomfortable as fuck if you wear it for any amount of time
3) You look like an asshole when playing it
4) No reason to play it over traditional consoles.

I'd be astonished if this thing is successful. Then again, this millennium is the millennium of over-hype and bandwagoning hysteria.

Also, I do actual have one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_boy and the biggest problem is that most of the games could have been played just fine (or better) without the gimmicky shit. And, if people are thinking this is the next logical step up from Wii or Kinect or whatever, I think you're going to be disappointed.

 

The difference between console gaming and VR is that the latter is more immersive. Imagine, say, a survival horror game where you are for all intents and purposes the character. Think of how pants shittingly terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent would be if it looked as though you were inside it.

That is what I envision VR to be, and if this manages to produce even something similar to that, I'll be happy.

 

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but this thing just seems like a replacement for a TV. So it is no the Virtual Boy. This just seems like a new option for playing games on PC or Consoles that support it. So what I'm trying to say is that I think your 1) and 4) points could be wrong. 2) and 3) could still be completely true though.

 

True VR wouldn't be a gimmick. Fuck wii, fuck kinect, move, whatever. Where you look, the character looks. What the character hears, you hear. What the character feels, you feel. The character moves with you, the ultimate immersion experience.

This isn't true VR - not by far - but it's the first decent headset I've ever seen. It's a step in the right direction. Doesn't mean I'll go out and get one right away, but it seems pretty cool. And this seems to be just a TV/Speaker replacement, not a system relying on bullshit to get sales.

If it's uncomfortable, so be it - wouldn't be the first time I've put up with mild irritation for the greater good. But I've got to ask, just how does 'looking like an asshole' factor into something I'd be doing in my bedroom, living room, or at the very least, my own house? I look like a total prick for a lot of reasons, a nifty video helmet seems pretty low on the list.

 

No, I get the looking like an asshole sentiment. It's like walking around with a Bluetooth headset.

But as you said, it's a non-factor because you're playing in private.

 

I like the degree of separation between the character and you in current games, actually. Feeling like you are the character in the way VR alludes to seems like it could be a bit uncomfortable. But I suppose I'd have to try it out first.

As it stands, I'm perfectly fine with a controller or keyboard + mouse. Don't need to fix what isn't broken.

 

I applaud the enthusiasm and drive to create this thing, but it'll probably be an incredible amount of time before something similar goes to market, and even longer before I'd use it.

I mean hell, big development companies can't even get reliable detailed motion tracking for consoles, so the VR responding in the way I'd want it to sounds rather unlikely.

That's always what has frustrated me with the various gimmick control systems that pop up, they don't allow enough precision control to encourage me to use it with anything.

So, while I'd probably love to try out a functional version of this for single player games, I'd have to go back to controller or keyboard/mouse for anything multiplayer/competitive. And single player doesn't appeal to me enough to actually buy something like this.

 

Technology never moves at a steady pace - it stagnates for a time, then a breakthrough appears and an insanely rapid period of progress follows. The entire history of industry - any industry, or industry as a whole - proves that.

So I like to think there's a chance we could wake up one day with sci-fi style virtual reality gaming. Even if it's a tiny chance.

I'm pessimistic enough to say that this feels far more like a gimmick than what's promised. It's the next step up from a touch screen, and so gimmicky that I'm shocked Nintendo isn't involved. Oh, wait, they already dropped that ball. :3

 

The polished final product will probably be a lot better than what they've showcased so far. It will be lighter and smaller, for starters, and it'll have even better resolution and head-tracking.

This sort of thing is at least a big step in the right direction. Eventually images will just be projected onto our eyes directly, giving perfect visual immersion. After that the end goal is full sensory immersion, so the game or simulation feels completely real. But that's still very far off, since brain-computer interfacing isn't very advanced yet. It'll change the world when it does happen, though (and it will happen in our lifetimes, based on the pace of technological progress).

What this product represents is progress in the right direction, instead of stagnation. If they can miniaturise the head gear sufficiently so that you barely notice you're wearing it, while also improving head-tracking and resolution so that it feels seamless and lifelike, then it'll be worth buying. Miniaturisation is a staple of technological development, so eventually they'll get this thing down to the size of a pair of sunglasses, which will eliminate the problem of looking like an asshole, mostly.

The next couple of generations of Kinect and other motion-sensors coupled with this Rift will be just a very primitive beginning to what will eventually be full sensory immersion VR. It will take us a lot longer to get there, though, if companies don't invest in it. And they won't do that unless consumers support the early steps like this.

 

This is the first thing I saw, and all I could think was that sunglasses have only ever caused that problem.

 

Yeah, 'wearing sunglasses indoors while playing video games' is possibly last on the list of 'things that do not make you look like a douchebag.'

 

I didn't mean that the head gear would actually look like sunglasses - just that it could be miniaturised to around that size. It'd certainly look a lot less ridiculous than putting on a large, clunky device.

 

Here's a video with the guy involved with this. I forget offhand how much they showcase how the device itself works (and keep in mind this is from E3, the tech has probably improved quite a lot since then as it is John Carmack.) He is a crazy person with some bizarre connections.

This thing is actually going to be awesome.

 

Playing Amnesia with these on would cause the most epic flinching. All I can see myself doing is hitting my roommate in the face when something pops out.

 

1) People used to say the same thing about the kindle, and mp3 players..hmm, what happened to those, btw?

2) You know this how? Don't tell me... You've got an assload of experience with testing their hardware, right?

3) I could not give less of a shit, if it means that much more of an immersive gameplay experience. The fact that you care what you look like when gaming is... amusing.

4) ...you realize it's not a console unto itself, right? It's a peripheral. The SDK is in production still so that developers can develop their games with the the Oculus Rift in mind as well. Right now the SDK and hardware are all PC-focused, not a console unto itself at all. Nor has there even been any announcement that it's meant to be used with consoles.

LOL, are you really comparing this to the Virtual Boy? Really? That clunky, stationary, two-tone POS? The first time I saw one of those (I was 10) I knew even then it was going to be a fantastic failure.

tl;dr Basically, you don't know a thing about the topic at hand. I know some people here feel the need to be the first dissenting voice of pessimism so that they can prove how good they are at being jerkoffs, but try not to make yourself look like an idiot when doing it.

Carmack always makes me feel like a total gibbering moron, but conversely I enjoy the brain training that comes with trying to figure him out.

I look forward to youtube videos of epic gaming accidents just like the Wii. I've spent quite a fair amount of time laughing my ass off at those videos.

 

People also used to say the same thing about a whole fuck-ton of useless gadgets, and turned out to be completely accurate.

I don't know how it will turn out, and I have no knowledge to base a prediction on because I haven't used one. It could be clunky and slow and worthless, with the release failing miserably. It also could be quite good, with it turning out to be a regularly used device.

None of us have used it, nobody knows how it will go. I don't believe that picking out a successful device that people said would fail is a particularly good counter-argument.

I don't believe Lord Anarchy is correct, though. It might just be a gimmick, but it's one that people really would like to play. If the tradeoff for using a Virtual Reality headset is poor responsiveness, visual lag and other issues, then yes, I can't imagine it will be successful.

The idea, however, is quite good. Even if this fails, the idea will almost certainly be reused several years later. Eventually, a good VR helmet will probably be released. I can't make any predictions to it's popularity, but I feel as if the release of a well-executed VR helmet is inevitable.

I do not think that this can be written off because of the idea, just because it's a gimmicky "next big thing". The reason I could personally see this failing is if it doesn't live up to the promises of how responsive it will be.

...It does look rather uncomfortable, as is. That's probably not going to be what it looks like when/if it releases, however. Making the comfort/appearance complaints not applicable until the design is finalized and shown. In my opinion, at least.

 

I remember the first video about this, it showcased just how low cost these things are to make nowadays. Looking back on VR's first real boom into the mainstream (Like 20 years ago) and the awkward fucking contraptions they came up with to use it, it seems like we've come incredibly far. The truth is that we're finally gaining ground on our imaginations.

I wrote an article a couple of years ago on the worst gaming peripherals of all time, something to notice about most of these is that they all focused on immersion rather than simply an alternate control mechanism. Generally the ideas were great, but the technological side just wasn't up to the necessary levels yet.

20 years ago we didn't have the technological ability to mass produce a VR capable peripheral at low enough cost to be worthwhile. The idea was solid, but back then it was just a gimmick (And if you don't remember just how fucking gimmicky it was back then, just look up the show VR 5), now it's actually a viable product. But just because it's a viable product, doesn't necessarily mean its the right time for it to arrive on the scene.

When it comes to visual lag, you're always going to have problems with peripherals that are movement based. The Playstation Move is probably the closest to 1:1 tracking you're going to find, far outstripping that white piece of shit the Wii calls a controller, but there's still enough lag to make things like melee combat (or more accurately, the perfect star wars game) a joke.

Really, it all comes down to the tech. While we're closer than we were 20 years ago, things like motion controls and VR will never be embraced by the majority of gamers until they can match the responsiveness of a simple handheld controller.

I would really rather have had VR wait another 10-15 years before popping its head out again.

Meh.