Got An Oculus Rift, Anyone?

[KaTsuO_O]

Anyone here got an Oculus Rift? I got one myself and I'm curious to see if there are other people as well, or even how many knows what it is. Would be great to have more people in this area working with it.

[Chameleon]

the future of gaming? you have this?

[QuizmasterBos]

Honestly, I wouldn't put one of those things on my head if you paid me. I find it really creepy how disconnected you get with the real world.
Plus, I don't need to be "in the game" to enjoy it. Same reason I play my 3DS with the 3D off.

I don't even know how safe this is. Do you think this could lead to eye problems? I have no idea.

[BlueLight]

Honestly, I wouldn't put one of those things on my head if you paid me. I find it really creepy how disconnected you get with the real world.
Plus, I don't need to be "in the game" to enjoy it. Same reason I play my 3DS with the 3D off.

I don't even know how safe this is. Do you think this could lead to eye problems? I have no idea.

Eye problems! What... no never! Have you been listening to the problems that Nintendo had?

[KaTsuO_O]

Yes, I do have the future of gaming. Not in the sense that it is mind blowing, at least not yet, but the fact that it is going to change how games are designed. It would take way too long to explain the different ways things would have to be designed differently, and frankly, I don't even know half of it. So I'll leave it at that, but there are other things I can talk about.

A lot of people mention the immersion and how it feels like you're in the game. But for me is not about that, I simply don't feel that games are immersive in the slightest, because I know it is not real. For the rest of the 99.9999% people (not including Egoraptor) that get immersed in games, it should enhance it in that way, as many have pointed out. For me, it is about how it enhances the gameplay. Proton pulse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOi8CQ5_ns) is a good example of this. The first thing is that if you just look at the video, you can see that it is a bit difficult to track where the ball is in 3D space, with the Rift on, it is a lot easier, which makes this kind of gameplay playable.

You might say that you could use 3D glasses then, well, it would help a bit, but it is not even close to the amount of depth you get in the Rift. The reason for that is because it is the closest to natural 3D that we have at this point. In a 3D movie, the two cameras making the separate images have a set distance apart, meaning that they most likely are not separated the same distance as your eyes are separated. Which is the reason why a lot of people get eyestrain or headache, your eyes and brain essentially tries to process data in a way that it is not used to. Not to mention ghosting, where you can get the wrong image in the wrong eye.

However in the headset you have a different image placed directly over each eye, and because it is a game, the cameras can be adjusted so that they fit the distance of your eyes, giving you the depth that looks natural. But another thing that's important, is that the headset allow you to move your head to look around in a game. That is another way we process 3D, which is why you still can get a bit of depth with one eye closed. So it is not only about two images, which is why traditional 3D is not as good.

Other than the 3D, it is also about the wide field of view combined with that you don't see anything outside the game. Almost all of your view is filled with the game, around that is just black. So not only is it like playing on a really big screen, but it also gives you a really good sense of scale. The reason why you don't get that from looking on a screen, even if it is large, is because the size of the screen and things around you is always going to be the reference for how big something appears. So when a lot of your vision is filled with the game, and there is black around it, the only reference of how big things are, are the objects in the game. One thing that you don't notice otherwise, is the height of the character that you are playing.

[Duplicity]

I really want to know does it look like you are a member of daft punk?
Or have you any urges to consume motor oil?

But seriously it sounds like a pretty cool thing for someone not like me. I like how I play games now, the immersion I have now on my TV in a small room, or leaning too close to my laptop and complaining later of a sore back, are cool.

Actually now I think about it. It sounds like a real back saver(damn I am only 20 odd and already think like an old man)
So I assume it is like the eye version of headphones?

[that man]

...ok, I think this is an odd reason to get one:
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/10/08/wanna-sleep-with-hatsune-miku-theres-an-app-for-that/

[axmanjack]

The Oculus Rift is new in and of itself, but I've seen different versions of the same software come and go since I was a kid.
The bad thing about shiny new technology like that is that it doesn't so much advance the field as expand it. Sure, you have a cool new way to experience games, but you're gonna have to generate an entire new game development philosophy to back up the new peripheral. Because the way the game is consumed has changed, production methods have to change as well.

Think about it like this.
When motion technology became popularized by the Wii, the word on the street was that move controls would eliminate the current two and fourteen controller model (a controller with two joysticks and fourteen buttons). But, Playstation has basically dropped its Move and six-axis control systems, the Kinekt has been the butt of jokes going on three years now, and the best games ever dropped on the Wii could have played just fine with a standard controller. Additionally, Wii's US sales suffered significantly overall due to lackluster support from third party vendors unwilling to modify finished games to work with an alien control interface.

My point is that while the Oculus Rift looks really cool (and I bet it would be freaking awesome to play flight sims in), the industry has a history of giving lackluster receptions to more... avant gard peripherals that deviate significantly from the way games are created and consumed in that era. Even if the Rift is really well received, it may fail just because developers won't take time to make games for it when they can make games for the xbone and ps4 without expending too much effort.

Also, there are apparently already video sunglasses with head buds if you're trying to shut out the world.
http://www.zetronix.com/product_info.ph ... GoogleBase