Oculus Rift unboxing and article

When has virtual reality worked before? Is there an actual market for this besides enthusiasts? Will this get the support in years to come? If the device is so enticing why is an unknown company funded by kickstarter making this and not a tech giant with millions of R&D money?

These are just a few of the questions I keep asking myself when reading about the oculus. Maybe I am crazy for thinking these things but something in my head is telling me to hold off until the hypetrain and the pr bull has died down.

Because big companies sometimes can't see the obvious...also you know technology advance through time and what before was impossible now it's possible.
 
Tasty screen door effect on camera... hope it's not actually like this to the human eye.

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Yea that resolution is what is keeping me away from preordering.
 
Really wondering how this device will penetrate the mainstream market...
Looks insane, though.

Really depends on dev support, and as long as those that have already endorsed it end up coming through and really supporting it outlook is very good on wider adoption by big devs. If the consumer version ends up being ~$200, getting consumer support really shouldn't be a problem, especially if they have physical demo booths set up places. Even more so if Valve ends up being a primary partner and really pushes it with the steambox along with some sort of motion/haptic control system that they've been working on.
 
I'm so ready to break my panel shackles. No matter how hi-res the screen or how advanced the graphics, no monitor can compare to a decent VR experience in terms of immersion. This is what next gen needs to be.
 
I wouldn't really trust a camera looking through a warped lens to deliver the most accurate image quality we'll see.

If anything, I'd think that the screen door effect would be even more pronounced once you've actually got your face in there. We've known the dev kit rift would have SDE since the beginning of the kickstarter.
 
If anything, I'd think that the screen door effect would be even more pronounced once you've actually got your face in there. We've known the dev kit rift would have SDE since the beginning of the kickstarter.

I still think the camera is going to make it more pronounced. You get weird results when taking pictures of a monitor sometimes anyway.
 
The other bit that's weird from a development point of view is not releasing an updated dev unit with consumer level specs before actually launching the consumer unit. They may very well do that but it's hard to develop for a platform when you can't actually see the results on shippable hardware.
 
Do you have a time machine or something? How do you know that's not the plan exactly? The dev kits haven't even shipped, and you're already worried about how early access to the consumer version will be handled?

One thing at a time...
 
It's no biggie. If you feel any hesitation about ordering, (resolution, etc), just wait.

I'm encouraging my friends to just order the commercial version when it arrives.

They can just test drive mine.
 
Oh man. It is finaly happening. My lifelong dream.
I am kinda sad that I haven't ordered dev kit. I expect to be blown away when consumer version hits.
Can't wait to go through door.
 
How does this work for non FP-perspective games, like say RTS games for example?

Obviously it'll work but will it really be enhanced?
 
I think mine's coming in April. I'm excited. I'm very curious to see if I can sell the TF2 hat to make a little money back on the investment.

I'm also really hoping for a Source Engine update that allows mods to have Rift Support. I can think of a few applications I'd force myself to learn how to create.
 
How does this work for non FP-perspective games, like say RTS games for example?

Obviously it'll work but will it really be enhanced?

No one knows except the RTS developers - they can choose to make it work however they want. The rift hasn't been demoed with any third person or RTS style games.
 
How does this work for non FP-perspective games, like say RTS games for example?

Obviously it'll work but will it really be enhanced?

In theory any game where you can attach the ''camera'' function to head-movement should work in some fashion. The vomit scale factor may vary per genre though. :D
 
Well, for one, you can downsample and pile on the AA like crazy on PC at the resolution the Rift expects. That should at least take care of any aliasing.

which is something else Valve recommend in their wiki. I've just got done playing Crysis 3 in 3D on my HMZ. I'm sure the perceived pixel size will be larger with the oculus, but with Crysis 3 forcing my to use side by side mode, if I was still able to enjoy that, despite horrible IQ and screen door effect, I should be alright with the dev kit. It still wowed me in fact.

I'm also pretty sure that everyone here who bought the dev kit is hoping to upgrade to the consumer version in a year or two. Low resolution we've known about all along.

I'm really excited about the Tuscany villa. I want to put this on as many heads as possible and that sounds like a great demo to show those of my friends who aren't going to be able to cope with TF2.
 
It is. The consumer version won't be anything like that.

It'll still be pronounced. For comparison, I could see an obvious screen door effect on the Sony HMZ. The HMZ had 1280 X 720 per eye (roughly 920,000 pixels per eye).

At 1920 X 1080, you're getting 960 X 1080 per eye (roughly 1.03 million pixels per eye).

While it seems like the production model is roughly 10 percent denser than the HMZ, you have to remember the HMZ has an FOV of 45 degrees vs roughly 100 for the consumer Oculus.

That means a 1080p Rift will have 10368 pixels per FOV degree. The 720P HMZ, by contrast, has 20480 pixels per viewing degree.

In short, expect large screen doors for the foreseeable future. Even on the consumer. And no amount of center point clustering is going to make up that difference. No unless you want Atari 2600 sized pixels on the perimeter.
 
In short, expect large screen doors for the foreseeable future. Even on the consumer. And no amount of center point clustering is going to make up that difference. No unless you want Atari 2600 sized pixels on the perimeter.
If you could guarantee that people only look at the center "Atari 2600 sized pixels on the perimeter" wouldn't really be an issue, our eyes don't see much more than that off-center anyway. The problem is that you can't guarantee that of course.

I hope cell phone maker just completely abandon any sense of meaningfulness in their great spec wars and build 4k displays for 6" phone screens.
 
I just want to play the new 3D Mario with this thing but I know Nintendo's stubbornness will keep that from happening. :( It really is the next leap for games in my mind.
 
They need to release the consumer version asap. The prospect of iRacing + Oculus Rift is the only thing keeping me from building some ridiculous three screen racing cockpit.
 
I just want to play the new 3D Mario with this thing but I know Nintendo's stubbornness will keep that from happening. :( It really is the next leap for games in my mind.

Well.. they tried that first you know! Nintendo always try again and again until an idea works.
 
If you could guarantee that people only look at the center "Atari 2600 sized pixels on the perimeter" wouldn't really be an issue, our eyes don't see much more than that off-center anyway. The problem is that you can't guarantee that of course.

I hope cell phone maker just completely abandon any sense of meaningfulness in their great spec wars and build 4k displays for 6" phone screens.

HTC One has 4.7" 1080p screen with 468 PPI.

~6.5" 2640 x 1440 should be possible [462 ppi], but who knows if anyone is gonna make it, and how expensive will it be in the next few years.
 
How does this work for non FP-perspective games, like say RTS games for example?

Obviously it'll work but will it really be enhanced?
I imagine an RTS game where you're playing in a first-person persective, and your input is motion control such as Leap Motion (which really isn't that hypothetical as the Oculus guys mention Leap way too much to not be in serious talks with them).

You'd be the commander stationed in some sort of cutting-edge CentCom setup and would move troops on a large screen in front of you using gestures, a la Minority-Report. Your troop/building inventory menus can be other screens that you would look over to see. Bonus points - while the main view to the battle will still likely be a screen with a top-down view, other options like the aforementioned troop/building submenu can be 3D, Tony Stark-style.
 
Everyone is going to look like an idiot wearing this, but it will be so awesome no one is going to care. How looks is completely irrelevant. That dev kit package is slick as fuck.
 
Something that occurred to me -- the possibility of killing my vision with the rift might be there, maybe there's some horrible medical risk no one knows about, but I guess I'm not super concerned about that. We'll have to wait and see, keep it to limited play time, etc.

But what MIGHT be a problem for me is that seizure gifs/flickering images bother me. I've never had an actual seizure and I have no idea if I could, but it seems like the rift with its complete blocking of outside light, and focusing of everything right into your eyes, would be ideal for triggering people who would be bothered by that.

Also, I hope idiots on the internet don't try to make stuff to set people off in this fashion, I can just imagine someone making a real life Snow Crash program. So basically, if I stop posting after getting mine, assume I died or something. =P
 
I imagine an RTS game where you're playing in a first-person persective, and your input is motion control such as Leap Motion (which really isn't that hypothetical as the Oculus guys mention Leap way too much to not be in serious talks with them).

You'd be the commander stationed in some sort of cutting-edge CentCom setup and would move troops on a large screen in front of you using gestures, a la Minority-Report. Your troop/building inventory menus can be other screens that you would look over to see. Bonus points - while the main view to the battle will still likely be a screen with a top-down view, other options like the aforementioned troop/building submenu can be 3D, Tony Stark-style.

like Ruse?



Everyone is going to look like an idiot wearing this, but it will be so awesome no one is going to care. How looks is completely irrelevant. That dev kit package is slick as fuck.

more of an idiot than this?

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Only if they still offer the barebones kit. I have multiple headsets from gaming related to music recording, not to mention a decent home theater rig now. This way costs will be kept down. If they used quality components to match the immersion I wouldn't doubt seeing this thing's price double or more if they added audio.

Price of entry is one of the key points this thing has going for it.

Fair enough, but I am just trying to cut down on the amount of wires.
Being wired is in itself a major drawback for me, I understand the latency concerns but still....
 
Can someone explain the screen door effect to me?

Is it like you can see something that looks like a door frame?

Or does it mean it's a bit blurry like looking through the door window?
 
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