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[Hoo-doo]

Honestly, as cool as the room-based tracking is according to demos, I feel it's likely going to be incredibly undersupported.

Seated experiences will remain king. People seriously aren't going to clear out their rooms everytime they want to play a game, and standing up and waving their hands even less so. A very awesome novelty, sure, but it'll remain a novelty none-the-less.

VR to me is 95% about the visuospatial immersion, i'm actually not even that interested in motion controls at all. Just put me in a virtual cockpit and let me pilot spacecraft or battle in a mech with a conventional controller. Most of the VR-room-based games have just been slightly expanded tech-demos that serve to show off the tech. But i'm not interested in actually playing any of the games they are showing.

 

[bj00rn_]

On my way out of the office I complained to my co-worker that I couldn't decide between the Rift and the Vive. ..He suggested out of the blue that I should pre-order both, test them, and then sell the one I liked the least.. So then I returned to my desk, took off my jacket, rolled up my sleeves and pre-ordered the Vive as well...

So now I've basically sunk 2000 dollars into this stuff (Norway, so I have to pay 25% tax on top of the euro price..) and still need to upgrade to a Pascal GPU, lol.

 

[Samus4145]

I know this is a vive thread, but one thing I'm curious about the OR - can you mount the camera anywhere or will I have to pull it out and put it in front of my monitor when I play? eg can I mount it on a shelf above my monitor looking down on me?

Steam has a great installation page that shows placement for the cameras.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2001-UXCM-4439

 

[artsi]

So I currently have a Rift on preorder (debating cancelled and sitting both out for a while, as a DK2 owner) but what makes you so convinced of #2? Online I get the sense the Vive is the more popular option amongst gamers which I'm sure will be a large percentage of the early adopters for both platforms.

Price, brand recognition, and the fact that there's already millions of Oculus branded HMD's (Gear VR) out there along with the Galaxy S6 and S7 purchases which helps the Rift too.
Samsung + Facebook are absolutely humongous, while HTC and Valve are both small players in relation.

I mean, either of those could buy HTC ten times if they wanted and I just don't think there's much competition in the long run. Vive is a fine piece of tech and that's why I'm getting it, but they're up against way larger players here.

And Google Trends agrees that Oculus brand is the stronger one right now.

If I would predict how it's 5 or 10 years from now, in the mainstream VR market it's:

Facebook vs Microsoft vs Google vs Apple

and Valve / Sony will have a smaller marketshare in the gaming space. HTC might be bankrupt (or bought by someone) by then.

 

[Monger]

Is there any reason I couldn't run a long hdmi cable and a usb cable (with active extension cables or hubs to extend the length) to another room and keep my PC in the room it is currently in? I really don't want to move my desktop from where its at and will probably be using the Oculus for most sit down experiences so having the Vive ready to go in another room would be ideal. I've been trying to think of reasons that it wouldn't work, but aside from some inconvenience initially launching games it seems like it would work fine.

I toyed with the idea of just building a separate desktop for the Vive, but that would be such a waste for use only with the Vive.

That's basically my plan except I'm going to route them in the wall to a wall plate. I already have my pc connected to a tv and projector in the same room. I used monoprice active hdmi cables, a 50' to the projector and 25' to the tv. I also ran one active usb extender to a hub behind the flat screen so I could connect wireless controllers, keyboards, Kinect, etc. I've never had any issues with it. As long as they're active I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

[YuShtink]

I know this is a vive thread, but one thing I'm curious about the OR - can you mount the camera anywhere or will I have to pull it out and put it in front of my monitor when I play? eg can I mount it on a shelf above my monitor looking down on me?

You can angle the Rift cameras pretty much however you'd like. Doesn't have to be level.

 

[mrklaw]

Steam has a great installation page that shows placement for the cameras.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2001-UXCM-4439

Surprised if the lighthouses only come with wall mounts. I'd think quite a lot of people will try them on shelves first, so a freestanding mount that lets you tilt the lighthouse down would have been useful.

And whats a 'standard 12v extension cable'?

 

[LaneDS]

I think I saw an actual graph somewhere that showed that the Rift was overwhelmingly more "popular" amongst potential buyers.

Interesting, didn't expect that but can also believe it.

Really? I thought the Rift was the more popular choice among gamers at this points. Who knows, though. All anecdotal.

That was 100% my anecdotal observation. Seemed like GAF was more into the Vive lately, but that's just my impression.

Price, brand recognition, and the fact that there's already millions of Oculus branded HMD's (Gear VR) out there along with the Galaxy S6 and S7 purchases which helps the Rift too.
Samsung + Facebook are absolutely humongous, while HTC and Valve are both small players in relation.

I mean, either of those could buy HTC ten times if they wanted and I just don't think there's much competition in the long run. Vive is a fine piece of tech and that's why I'm getting it, but they're up against way larger players here.

And Google Trends agrees that Oculus brand is the stronger one right now.

Fair points. Wasn't challenging your statement, just curious why you made it and that seems like a good justification.

I'm just excited for VR, but at little less excited about the coming war between Rift, Vive, and even PSVR. Gonna be a while before I feel a true frontrunner appears, which might make me hang onto the DK2 for a while longer until things play out. First wave of Rift CV1 orders though, so I also may mess with it for a while and see if I can sell it after checking it out.

 

[Turin Turambar]

I'm just excited for VR, but at little less excited about the coming war between Rift, Vive, and even PSVR. Gonna be a while before I feel a true frontrunner appears, which might make me hang onto the DK2 for a while longer until things play out. First wave of Rift CV1 orders though, so I also may mess with it for a while and see if I can sell it after checking it out.

It doesn't matter who was going to be the first to release a VR headset, if Oculus or another small company or any other... there was always going to be a war. Other tech companies would always try to get in the new market. And just wait until Google goes in a more serious mode, same with Apple.

That's what people don't understand of the Facebook's buyout of Oculus. Oculus was too small to compete against Sony or Samsung or Apple, after the first two year advantage the others would have catch up and then eaten the market. There was no future where Oculus could compete and be victorious without selling to a big company, it only would have been possible if the other big companies would have been so stupid as to not do anything for 5-6 years, letting them grow.

 

[murgo]

Holy fucking shit.. shipping is almost 61€ to Germany? Are these guys insane?

 

[mrklaw]

always wary of posting reddit links, but this one seems a level headed comparison of the tracking of OR and Vive. Thought it might be useful.

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/489kya/how_the_rift_vives_tracking_actually_workj/

tldr; seems that the positional tracking of the headset only, should be comparable between OR and Vive - providing you're in the vision of the Rift camera (slightly lower fov than the lighthouses, but if you're a few feet away that should be ok). Obviously oculus touch would risk occlusion with one camera but thats why they're shipping with two. So hopefully both systems should have good 'room scale' options when touch is finally out.

Still preordered both though. As have a bunch of us it seems - the 'comparing Vive and OR' thread will be interesting

 

[artsi]

Fair points. Wasn't challenging your statement, just curious why you made it and that seems like a good justification.

I'm just excited for VR, but at little less excited about the coming war between Rift, Vive, and even PSVR. Gonna be a while before I feel a true frontrunner appears, which might make me hang onto the DK2 for a while longer until things play out. First wave of Rift CV1 orders though, so I also may mess with it for a while and see if I can sell it after checking it out.

Yeah absolutely, the future of VR is exciting and while I have my theories of how it will go, in the end it's still a mystery what will exactly happen. The race to "VR domination" among top players will be brutal. Like we've seen with Facebook cashing exclusives, it's "dirty" but they really want that pole position before their real competitors (Google / Apple / Microsoft) enter the game. But in the end I hope there will be unified API's, many manufacturers doing R&D and a ton of software to entertain users.

I just know it's going to be awesome.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

I actually wish there would be more japanese projects out for PC VR? From what I can see the only projects that are out are from the DK1 phase and more like techdemos.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Holy fucking shit.. shipping is almost 61€ to Germany? Are these guys insane?

Lucky you, it's 89€ for Spain!

 

[Mihos]

I see no reason for me to get the Rift over Vive, I have the space for room scale and I have a feeling many of the 'exclusives' are just timed and will make their way over to the Vive at some point down the road.

It's on PC.... PC always finds a way.

 

[metareferential]

Still preordered both though. As have a bunch of us it seems - the 'comparing Vive and OR' thread will be interesting

Can't wait to have both here in my hands.

And thanks Oculus again for gifting me the Rift, best of both worlds at half the price!

 

[Ceadeus]

It's 1149$ here in Canada. Looks very good but I'm not sure it is worth it without a 980ti"

In a couple of words, It's freaking expenssive and just a small crowd are going to dive in.

At this entry price, I'm better off waiting.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Honestly, as cool as the room-based tracking is according to demos, I feel it's likely going to be incredibly undersupported.

Seated experiences will remain king. People seriously aren't going to clear out their rooms everytime they want to play a game, and standing up and waving their hands even less so. A very awesome novelty, sure, but it'll remain a novelty none-the-less.

VR to me is 95% about the visuospatial immersion, i'm actually not even that interested in motion controls at all. Just put me in a virtual cockpit and let me pilot spacecraft or battle in a mech with a conventional controller. Most of the VR-room-based games have just been slightly expanded tech-demos that serve to show off the tech. But i'm not interested in actually playing any of the games they are showing.

Man I am not sure, having had a dk2, the oddest part was using a controller for things in first person view. Having hand controllers built in is a huge plus. I think we are getting new uis that will work with these wonderfully. Look a tilt brush for example.

 

[KingSnake]

This demo video just came out today for AudioShield, which absolutely blew me away at SteamVR's late-January press event. Really cool mix of human movement and VR content, sells the concept very, very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSsdsu4yIk

That looks really cool.

 

[Super Rookie]

This demo video just came out today for AudioShield, which absolutely blew me away at SteamVR's late-January press event. Really cool mix of human movement and VR content, sells the concept very, very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSsdsu4yIk

OMG SEGA PLEASE RELEASE SAMBA DE AMIGO FOR VR!!!!

 

[x3sphere]

Vive site is saying May for new US orders now.

 

[artsi]

Vive site is saying May for new US orders now.

Still April for Finland, seems like they have X amount of units reserved per country (or continent).

 

[KingSnake]

Still April for Finland, seems like they have X amount of units reserved per country (or continent).

Still April for Austria too. Might be a batch reserved for EU in general. It makes sense to be like this seeing that all of them are delivered from Ireland.

 

[Jams775]

Vive site is saying May for new US orders now.

So I guess I'm in the April batch then. Good, because getting a VR headset sooner was one of the upsides. I don't know if I could wait like 6 months to finally get to use VR. (In regards to OR June/July shipping)

 

[LaneDS]

It doesn't matter who was going to be the first to release a VR headset, if Oculus or another small company or any other... there was always going to be a war. Other tech companies would always try to get in the new market. And just wait until Google goes in a more serious mode, same with Apple.

That's what people don't understand of the Facebook's buyout of Oculus. Oculus was too small to compete against Sony or Samsung or Apple, after the first two year advantage the others would have catch up and then eaten the market. There was no future where Oculus could compete and be victorious without selling to a big company, it only would have been possible if the other big companies would have been so stupid as to not do anything for 5-6 years, letting them grow.

While that's true, it was easier to support the Rift before HTC and Valve stepped forward as a competitor. In the long run, this 100% will make for a better VR experience for us, the consumers, and I'm all for it, but now as an early adopter there's just no clear "get this thing if you want VR" option. Long term it's a good "problem" to have and just a minor inconvenience, if that, in the short term.

Yeah absolutely, the future of VR is exciting and while I have my theories of how it will go, in the end it's still a mystery what will exactly happen. The race to "VR domination" among top players will be brutal but in the end I hope there will be unified API's, many manufacturers doing R&D and a ton of software to entertain users.

I just know it's going to be awesome.

I agree with all of that! Might take a little while to play out in a satisfactory way, but I definitely believe it'll be awesome for us in the end.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Man I am not sure, having had a dk2, the oddest part was using a controller for things in first person view. Having hand controllers built in is a huge plus. I think we are getting new uis that will work with these wonderfully. Look a tilt brush for example.

Agreed, with low persistence on dk2 especially there was always a big desire to be able to reach out physically and interact with the world. I'm not so interested in room scale as I am in just having good motion input, the question is do I have the patience to wait for Touch or sell my Rift for a Vive

 

[Chairmanchuck]

So I guess I'm in the April batch then. I don't know if I could wait like 6 months to finally get to use VR.

"We" waited for over 2 years already.

I remember the first consumer version was supposed to come out in Fall 2014, then Spring 2015.

 

[BigTnaples]

Fuck me. Got home from work ready to preorder and accidentally fell asleep until just now.


Just ordered one...how fucked am I on shipping dates?

 

[Vyse The Legend]

I see no reason for me to get the Rift over Vive, I have the space for room scale and I have a feeling many of the 'exclusives' are just timed and will make their way over to the Vive at some point down the road.

Most ARE timed exclusives. According to some folks "in the know," it's a 6-month delay in most cases.

I've had the DK2 for more than a year, and I went with Vive for a few reasons:

1. All-in-one package. Already have an Xbox One; don't need their remote, which comes with the Rift.

2. My PC is in my living room, so I actually have the space for room-scale VR.

3. Plus, lighthouse stations don't need to plug into the PC. The Rift requires one camera tethered to your PC out of the box, and will require a second separate one for the Touch remote when that comes out. I already have a Kinect, DK2 camera and PS Camera sitting on my TV. Getting rid of one of them would be nice.

3. No pass-through camera on the Rift! Having used a DK2 forever, it sucks having to take the thing on and off to find my mouse, keyboard, etc. Plus, I would not be surprised if we see AR applications using the camera.

4. Packed in stuff is way more compelling on the Vive side, for me. Fantastic Contraptions will be great for a group of friends. Tilt Brush will be excellent for drawing Mind Maps and visualizing information. Job Simulator just looks fun.

5. Oculus-exlusive content will eventually come to the Vive. Everything except the Oculus Studios games should come over with official support -- or someone will develop drivers to force support.

 

[Jams775]

"We" waited for over 2 years already.

I remember the first consumer version was supposed to come out in Fall 2014, then Spring 2015.

Well, I've been wanting one since around the kickstarter and DK1 but have been holding out. I just meant in relation to this year and pre-orders. Choosing between 2 months and 4 (was 6 months when I had the chance to pre-order the OR). I've been holding out for so long it's becoming a bit unbearable (without trying to sound hyperbolic).

edit: I can barely understand what I'm typing.

 

[Compsiox]

Anyone have a good way to keep the lighthouses up without wall damage?

I'm trying to find out what brand of 3M tape was used here:
https://twitter.com/OwlchemyLabs/status/689235996160856066

 

[Evo X]

I'm watching this video right now that was released today and it's doing a pretty good job of explaining the features and benefits of the Vive along with impressions on a bunch of demos. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWproPHhHd0

 

[CarbonFire]

Anyone have a good way to keep the lighthouses up without wall damage?

I'm trying to find out what brand of 3M tape was used here:
https://twitter.com/OwlchemyLabs/status/689235996160856066

Not sure how heavy the lighthouses are, but some of the stronger 3M command adhesive solutions can hold 3-4 pounds.

 

[Compsiox]

Not sure how heavy the lighthouses are, but some of the stronger 3M command adhesive solutions can hold 3-4 pounds.

People say to use VHB instead of command. I have no idea what to get. Ill look into command more.

 

[mrklaw]

Agreed, with low persistence on dk2 especially there was always a big desire to be able to reach out physically and interact with the world. I'm not so interested in room scale as I am in just having good motion input, the question is do I have the patience to wait for Touch or sell my Rift for a Vive

what games do you anticipate coming out in the next 6 months that you honestly can't wait for?

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

Anyone have a good way to keep the lighthouses up without wall damage?

I'm trying to find out what brand of 3M tape was used here:
https://twitter.com/OwlchemyLabs/status/689235996160856066

can get extendable tripods to connect them to would make them mobile so you can change the size of the experience or take them somewhere to show vr off to friends/family and you wouldnt have to worry about messing up your wall

 

[ScriptedReality]

This demo video just came out today for AudioShield, which absolutely blew me away at SteamVR's late-January press event. Really cool mix of human movement and VR content, sells the concept very, very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSsdsu4yIk

this is dope

 

[EVIL]

Surprised if the lighthouses only come with wall mounts. I'd think quite a lot of people will try them on shelves first, so a freestanding mount that lets you tilt the lighthouse down would have been useful.

And whats a 'standard 12v extension cable'?

You can attach them to any standard camera mount and I am pretty sure there are some compact camera mounts you can clip on a shelf.

 

[mrklaw]

Most ARE timed exclusives. According to some folks "in the know," it's a 6-month delay in most cases.

I've had the DK2 for more than a year, and I went with Vive for a few reasons:

1. All-in-one package. Already have an Xbox One; don't need their remote, which comes with the Rift.

2. My PC is in my living room, so I actually have the space for room-scale VR.

3. Plus, lighthouse stations don't need to plug into the PC. The Rift requires one camera tethered to your PC out of the box, and will require a second separate one for the Touch remote when that comes out. I already have a Kinect, DK2 camera and PS Camera sitting on my TV. Getting rid of one of them would be nice.

3. No pass-through camera on the Rift! Having used a DK2 forever, it sucks having to take the thing on and off to find my mouse, keyboard, etc. Plus, I would not be surprised if we see AR applications using the camera.

4. Packed in stuff is way more compelling on the Vive side, for me. Fantastic Contraptions will be great for a group of friends. Tilt Brush will be excellent for drawing Mind Maps and visualizing information. Job Simulator just looks fun.

5. Oculus-exlusive content will eventually come to the Vive. Everything except the Oculus Studios games should come over with official support -- or someone will develop drivers to force support.

The Vive stuff will probably also come to oculus touch too. I'd say this time next year the landscapes will be hopefully pretty level with games releasing cross platform and Oculus having a comparable room scale offering.

Only thing i'm unsure about is if oculus support an 'opposite corners' camera approach for best occlusion avoidance - how long can a USB camera cable be? Depending where your PC is, that might need to be 20-30ft long. And it'll have to cross the room without looking ugly somehow, so routed around the edge of the floor?

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

what games do you anticipate coming out in the next 6 months that you honestly can't wait for?

Exactly, it won't be that big a deal. Call of the Starseed is really the only room scale game (and its episodic at that) I'm interested in, and even then I'm more intrigued with things like Oculus Toybox for the social aspect. Now if the Superhot dev manages to whip up a compelling VR mode using Vive that could sway me, but that'll prob be cross platform anyways.

Also weren't you on the fence too about selling Rift CV1 for a Vive?

 

[T.O.P]

This demo video just came out today for AudioShield, which absolutely blew me away at SteamVR's late-January press event. Really cool mix of human movement and VR content, sells the concept very, very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSsdsu4yIk

D1 , god i already love the look of this

 

[Compsiox]

can get extendable tripods to connect them to would make them mobile so you can change the size of the experience or take them somewhere to show vr off to friends/family and you wouldnt have to worry about messing up your wall

6.5 FT high is recommended for the lighthouses though. This is a tough one.

Edit: Found a 10 foot light stand

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TM600U/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Lurch666]

OMG SEGA PLEASE RELEASE SAMBA DE AMIGO FOR VR!!!!

THIS!

 

[DOT DASH DOT]

Vive site is saying May for new US orders now.

Where are you seeing this? Is it desktop site only? Says nothing on the iPhone page.

 

[cakefoo]

Honestly, as cool as the room-based tracking is according to demos, I feel it's likely going to be incredibly undersupported.

Seated experiences will remain king. People seriously aren't going to clear out their rooms everytime they want to play a game, and standing up and waving their hands even less so. A very awesome novelty, sure, but it'll remain a novelty none-the-less.

VR to me is 95% about the visuospatial immersion, i'm actually not even that interested in motion controls at all. Just put me in a virtual cockpit and let me pilot spacecraft or battle in a mech with a conventional controller. Most of the VR-room-based games have just been slightly expanded tech-demos that serve to show off the tech. But i'm not interested in actually playing any of the games they are showing.

Well, personally, sitting in a chair with an Xbox controller doesn't meet my expectations for VR, so I would probably sell my headset if standing+handtracked game development is discontinued.

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

6.5 FT high is recommended for the lighthouses though. This is a tough one.

Edit: Found a 10 foot light stand

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TM600U/?tag=neogaf0e-20

yeah those will do the trick

 

[x3sphere]

Where are you seeing this? Is it desktop site only? Says nothing on the iPhone page.

Might be, I'm on desktop.

I just clicked through the pre order page and it says "Pre-orders will start shipping May 2016"

 

[mrklaw]

Exactly, it won't be that big a deal. Call of the Starseed is really the only room scale game (and its episodic at that) I'm interested in, and even then I'm more intrigued with things like Oculus Toybox for the social aspect. Now if the Superhot dev manages to whip up a compelling VR mode using Vive that could sway me, but that'll prob be cross platform anyways.

Also weren't you on the fence too about selling Rift CV1 for a Vive?

yes. Preordered a vive just in case. Getting my Rift for free so its less of a difficult situation, but that Vive money woudl buy a nice pascal GPU upgrade, or a nice HOTAS *and* steering wheel setup..

Still on the fence but that reddit thread I posted has me a little more positive on the potential of the Rift for room scale/motion tracking when touch comes out.

Not sure whether to cancel the vive and just stick it out with the OR, or get both, spend a couple of weeks with both and see which I prefer for comfort/ease of use etc, and then sell one.

I figure I'll cover my costs. I did the same with a Sony HMZ-t1 a few years ago. Bought it used, played with it for a few weeks, then sold it on for what I paid for it. That was an uncomfortable bastard

 

[BigTnaples]

Might be, I'm on desktop.

I just clicked through the pre order page and it says "Pre-orders will start shipping May 2016"

Accidentally fell asleep, just preordered, my confirmation email says May 2016 shipping.



Fuck.

 

[metareferential]

Might be, I'm on desktop.

I just clicked through the pre order page and it says "Pre-orders will start shipping May 2016"

In Europe it still says april (Switzerland).

Maybe it's just a cache thing since I pre-order earlier on?