Oculus Rift VR headset looks seriously cool

[Hinph]

www.oculusvr.com

It looks like the technology for high quality, affordable, and consumer friendly VR headsets is finally ready... and so am I.

As I have been reading up on this thing, I've of course been thinking about how awesome it would be to play TPA with it, and I think the benefits would be more than a gimmick. Pinball tables not only look great in 3D, but the headtracking features of this device would eliminate any and all issues with the camera in TPA, offering an even more realistic and immersive experience. Forget about cabinets!

Hopefully Farsight considers messing around with the developer kit (only $300!) and adding support in the PC version of TPA at some point...

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Have you seen the SONY HMZ-T2? I tried the HMZ-T1 and it looked 3D when 3D wasn't on.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=Ptf2UPv9K5LuqwGFmYCQDw&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAA

 

[Hinph]

Nope, first I heard of it. I'm glad that this technology seems to be taking off. Though it has become cool to hate on 3D, I've always really enjoyed it... and as nice as it is in movies, it is even better with games. Being able to perceive depth makes quite a difference.

 

[SilverBalls]

Got a third of the way through the video and was quite interested, until Valve showed up encouraging us to support it. It was time to switch off.

 

[Mark W**a]

The HMZ-T1 isn't virtual reality. It's stereoscopic 3D headset with high resolution and extremely high quality, it's amazing, but Oculus is totally different. HMZ doesn't do headtracking or anything like that.

This thing looks amazing. I'm not a big Kinect fan but imagine Kinect 2.0 and Oculus Rift and a controller and a big white room to play in. That could be amazing!

 

[Mark W**a]

Just watched the video.

Oh! This is awesome!

Silver: yeah, and Epic and Id and lots of other PC developers. Who cares if Valve is one of them.

 

[SilverBalls]

Ignore me. I am still bitter about the steam thing.

Actually is Epic the same people that did Epic Pinball many years ago ?

Actually it would be cool if you could jump onto the table as a person the size of a ball and take a walk around the table.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Actually is Epic the same people that did Epic Pinball many years ago ?

Same Epic. Epic Megagames was the publisher of Epic Pinball, later they changed thier name to Epic Games.

 

[Worf]

I was considering joining the kickstarter, however, the fact it doesn't work with glasses was the reason why I didn't.

The Sony one didn't work too well with glasses, either.

However, the final released version of the Oculus Rift is supposed to add support for glasses though.

 

[Craig Booth]

I was considering joining the kickstarter, however, the fact it doesn't work with glasses was the reason why I didn't.

The Sony one didn't work too well with glasses, either.

However, the final released version of the Oculus Rift is supposed to add support for glasses though.

There's a few videos from CES showing people using the rift wearing glasses without an issue.

 

[Hinph]

Yeah, I watched a round-table where they were discussing the issue with glasses. It is likely possible for them to implement something so that each person who uses it can adjust it to their eyes... if VR headsets are to take off, it is something that simply needs to be addressed at some time.

Wearing glasses is supposed to really hurt the effect, as it pushes the visor an inch further away from your eyes. No good.


In the meantime, I'd have no problem wearing contacts while I use it.

 

[superballs]

Yeah, I watched a round-table where they were discussing the issue with glasses. It is likely possible for them to implement something so that each person who uses it can adjust it to their eyes... if VR headsets are to take off, it is something that simply needs to be addressed at some time.

Wearing glasses is supposed to really hurt the effect, as it pushes the visor an inch further away from your eyes. No good.


In the meantime, I'd have no problem wearing contacts while I use it.

I don't think that it would be too difficult to set each eye on seperate focus. This would be ideal since a lot of people i know have issues with one eye, or different issues with each eye, and thus different prescriptions for each lens in their glasses.

This is pretty exciting though, i think the last huge VR thing i really read was this article in PC Gamer magazine in 1995 ( I think the demo disc included had Duke Nukem 3D for god sakes) and they tested 4 units (one was simply shutter glasses) with Star Wars Dark Forces.

The biggest drawbacks were the 320x240 resolution on each LCD and the fact that the only really competent unit cost over 900$

 

[Hinph]

Yeah, hopefully they can improve on that resolution before the launch of the consumer version. Give it 5 years and we should be golden.

Combine this with the motion technology and wow...

 

[Mark W**a]

I was considering joining the kickstarter, however, the fact it doesn't work with glasses was the reason why I didn't.

The Sony one didn't work too well with glasses, either.

However, the final released version of the Oculus Rift is supposed to add support for glasses though.

I wear glasses too, but there are these things called contact lenses you know!

Yeah, hopefully they can improve on that resolution before the launch of the consumer version. Give it 5 years and we should be golden.

Combine this with the motion technology and wow...

Exactly. I don't like Kinect but if Kinect 2.0 solves the latency issues and has better tracking, we're talking full on virtual reality actually realized. With todays tech. Right now.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

The SONY EYE TOY has motion tracking, GT5 uses it although I never got it to work smoothly, with a HMZ-T2 I would just sit in cars and look around

 

[Hinph]

Yeah, that's how I feel. The current Kinect is pretty much for dance games and such, but I have high hopes that the improvements of the next-gen version could help change all that. Even the motion controls in the recent Zelda game are pretty great, and it can only get better.


I hope Sony and/or Microsoft are paying attention. Talk about an opportunity to blow Nintendo out of the water on the innovation front for once.

 

[Clawhammer]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkai...s-to-the-oculus-rift-virtual-reality-headset/

This thing might just make my childhood dreams come true. Watch out Virtual Boy!