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Oculus Rift Kickstarter [Ended, $2.4 million funded]

Mr.Green

Member
I don't think this was posted here...

A guy who has tried the Rift for 20 minutes playing Doom 3 answered a bunch of questions on reddit. It's a pretty interesting read. He answered some more in the comments.

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/zqffp/i_had_the_chance_to_play_with_the_oculus_rift/

One of the questions actually blew my mind. I guess it was obvious and you'll probably question my sanity but I simply hadn't thought of it from that angle. I was simply focusing on how cool it would be to look freely in the game world.

The scale.

We're used to look at inches tall enemies (or anything for that matter...) on a screen but when you put that thing on your head everything becomes life size. Can you imagine your first encounter with a Big Daddy using this? Or a game that shrinks you to the size of a mouse or something?

Well that blew my mind. Anyone else?
 

Mr.Green

Member
He means that since you don't have to deal with ambient light you can keep the Rift screen brightness (backlight level) rather low, hence deeper blacks.

Exactly! English isn't my native language so I sometimes have a hard time expressing my thoughts clearly. I know it isn't yours either TTP, but you're doing a much better job than me. :)
 

HoosTrax

Member
Well that blew my mind. Anyone else?
I'm more interested in whether this will make FPS melee combat less terrible. As it is, you sort of flail around hoping to hit something because you can't really tell the distance to the target and whether you have enough reach to hit it.
 

Mr.Green

Member
I'm more interested in whether this will make FPS melee combat less terrible. As it is, you sort of flail around hoping to hit something because you can't really tell the distance to the target and whether you have enough reach to hit it.

Well logically it should...
 

Mr.Green

Member
Other little tidbit of info coming from the MTBS3D forums:

PalmerTech said:
We do plan on doing a hand tracking API, but not from day one. The odds of hand and torso tracking being implemented in the consumer model are high.

This would be amazing.
 

Haint

Member
Even though I'm 95% certain he's referring to something like Kinect 2.0 or Leep, I'm also 5% concerned he's geeking out with ideas of Power Gloves and position tracking vests/backpacks.
 

Mr.Green

Member
I'm saying that him and Oculus are pretty much single handedly pushing the boundaries of good consumer VR. And that's fucking awesome.

Right on!

English isn't my first language and even though it's usually pretty good, it completely failed me this time. :)
 

Mr.Green

Member
It's now possible to order dev kits if you missed the Kickstarter.

Oculus said:
We're pleased to announce that we're now taking pre-orders for the Oculus Rift developer kits on our website. If you missed our Kickstarter, you can pre-order your developer kit now at oculusvr.com/preorder

The first 1,000 pre-orders through our website will also include a free copy of DOOM 3 BFG Edition, the first Oculus-ready game!

New Rift developer kit pre-orders taken through our website have an estimated delivery of January 2013, shortly after we've delivered all the Kickstarter rewards.

Source: Kickstarter

And for those who are already in, a little cock-tease.
Oculus said:
Sorry that we've been quieter than usual. The team's heads-down, making sure that we ship the best Rift developer kit and SDK possible. We have several exciting surprises for the developer community that we'll announce in the next few weeks, so stay tuned and thanks again for all your support and patience!
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Looking forward to http://www.nthusim.com/ this too. Seems to be a wrapper type app like trader but supporting hmds like the rift. No specific 3D support - either your game needs to output side by side 3D or perhaps use tridef? But it could be a good way to get basic coverage in different games, with the community updating profiles etc.
 

Zaptruder

Banned
Looking forward to http://www.nthusim.com/ this too. Seems to be a wrapper type app like trader but supporting hmds like the rift. No specific 3D support - either your game needs to output side by side 3D or perhaps use tridef? But it could be a good way to get basic coverage in different games, with the community updating profiles etc.

I'm not entirely clear on what the Nthusim will do...

I mean what does it normally do? It says something about a triple monitor, triple head... and the weird flight sim screens.

How is this going to relate to the Rift?

Does it change the field of view in a game and distort the output in a manner suitable for the rift?

Does it do that through a Direct X wrapper? What about head tracking?

And how will it work with the desktop if at all?
 

Durante

Member
The nthusim thing seems a bit suspect to me. From what I can decipher, they are asking you to pay for an interceptor that adds screen warping (and that's it, no stereo 3D, no aspect ratio adjustment). And they are taking "pre-orders" for it at $20 a piece.

Maybe I'm missing some cool/hard to implement thing they'll offer, but if it's really just screen warping then I assume a free tool will do the same thing within days of Rift availablity.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I'm not entirely clear on what the Nthusim will do...

I mean what does it normally do? It says something about a triple monitor, triple head... and the weird flight sim screens.

How is this going to relate to the Rift?

Does it change the field of view in a game and distort the output in a manner suitable for the rift?

Does it do that through a Direct X wrapper? What about head tracking?

And how will it work with the desktop if at all?


Currently their software distorts the video output so you can play games on large curved projection screens and get a straight image. The HMD version looks to be basically the same but using a different distortion profile suited for the rift.

Doesn't change the FoV, up to your software to do that. Says its compatible with direct x and OpenGL.

They've even tried with a desktop mode - see some test images here http://nthusim.com/forum-topic/hmd-prototype-screenshots


Durante, that does sound about it, although they talk about the possibility of handling inputs etc. but their main software is 'just' a warper for home simulator setups, and sells for $3-500 so this seems like a natural use of their tech, but as you say that might not be needed.

I'd definitely want something that works with tridef for instance, to at least add SbS stereo support
 

Zaptruder

Banned
I doubt IGN has much GAF cred but here it is anyway:

Virtual Reality, The Oculus Rift and Human Computer Interfaces - The Future of Gaming Ep 5

They go eyes on and they have a little chat with Palmer and Brendan.

Blargh. Overproduced tripe. I mean fine to get the info out to general public, but for the peeps following this thread, nothing we haven't heard before - just wrapped up with annoying editing and preceded by some crazy crap - you guys see the guy with the curly mustache? Was that Chris Kohler?
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Blargh. Overproduced tripe. I mean fine to get the info out to general public, but for the peeps following this thread, nothing we haven't heard before - just wrapped up with annoying editing and preceded by some crazy crap - you guys see the guy with the curly mustache? Was that Chris Kohler?

Definitely not Kohler. Never saw that guy in my life, which means he's probably IGN staff. WTF is with the awful music during the interview section? Talk about competing for attention.
 

Mr.Green

Member
Blargh. Overproduced tripe. I mean fine to get the info out to general public, but for the peeps following this thread, nothing we haven't heard before - just wrapped up with annoying editing and preceded by some crazy crap - you guys see the guy with the curly mustache? Was that Chris Kohler?

Yeah there was nothing new to anyone who's been following the Rift's development for a while. That beeing said, I think it's great to see the Rift slowly pulling VR away from alpha nerd land and starting to build serious hype in the mainstream gaming press.

I just don't get tired of seeing the amazement in people's face after trying it. You just can't fake that.

Is it December already?
 

Mr.Green

Member
Highly doubt it. 5" is too small. The prototype has a 5.6" screen and when I asked one of the Oculus guys (on the mtbs3d forums) what would be the "ideal" size, he said around 7".

Ideally, you want a large FOV and you don't want to see the edges of the screen even when moving your eyes. I'm not going to pretend being an expert but I'm pretty sure 5" (diagonal) is way too small for that. It's barely larger than your eyes...
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Just went back and looked at the prototype they were drooling at. 6.1 inches. So you're right. It was bigger

I was assuming 7 inches was too big. If that's really where they're aiming, it shouldn't be a big issue in the future. Barnes and noble is releasing a 7 inch tablet at 1440*900. So I'm sure the next round will be topped with 1080p. Wouldn't even be surprised if it was the next Nexus that did it. I was under the assumption 7 inches was off the table.
 

EVIL

Member
Just went back and looked at the prototype they were drooling at. 6.1 inches. So you're right. It was bigger

I was assuming 7 inches was too big. If that's really where they're aiming, it shouldn't be a big issue in the future. Barnes and noble is releasing a 7 inch tablet at 1440*900. So I'm sure the next round will be topped with 1080p. Wouldn't even be surprised if it was the next Nexus that did it. I was under the assumption 7 inches was off the table.

I do think you need a high refresh rate on those screens so you cant take any 7" LCD and stick it in there.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
I do think you need a high refresh rate on those screens so you cant take any 7" LCD and stick it in there.

???

I realize 120hz is the ideal (and worth waiting for if possible), but are they really shipping tablets that aren't 60hz? Didn't even realize this horror existed.
 

Mr.Green

Member
Too put a nail in the Sharp 5" coffin, Dykus posted this on reddit, of all places:

Dykus said:
Too bad 5" would be just barely too small. :( The 5.6" screens we're using in the prototype demo units are just small enough that you can see the edges if you look. 5" isn't really an option unless we can get custom, higher-mag lenses, which is pretty unlikely.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Yeah. I really should have checked before posting. Because I genuinely thought it was the prototype they were talking about.

Still, as I mentioned, if they really view 7 inches as the ideal, that's a really attainable goal in the future. There's already been spec wars in the 7 inch space, and once the ipad mini comes out, there's going to be outright war. I'm not sure it'll ever make sense to go above 1080p there, but the race to get to 1080p should be fairly quick.
 

Durante

Member
Is 7" not too big for this headset?
What is the current size Rift using atm?
The current size is slightly smaller, but as I understand it larger sizes up to ~7" are good since they allow a larger FoV.

I guess the ideal end-game would be something like a 4k 120 Hz 7" OLED.
 

iceatcs

Junior Member

Cheers, I haven't seen 7" in real life. But more eye view range is welcome if there is possible fit in.

5.6" hmm, that's made me up in the mind about two screens possibility. I was thinking about something like 720p in vertical each eye, 1280x1440p
 

Durante

Member
Having 2 individual screens doesn't seem like a good idea, it will make it harder to manufacture (screen alignment), harder to drive from software (2 separate outputs) and more expensive in hardware (2 screens, 2 display controllers). And I can't see any advantage compared to a single high-res screen.
 

shira

Member
Having 2 individual screens doesn't seem like a good idea, it will make it harder to manufacture (screen alignment), harder to drive from software (2 separate outputs) and more expensive in hardware (2 screens, 2 display controllers). And I can't see any advantage compared to a single high-res screen.

3d
 

iceatcs

Junior Member
Yeah. I was looking up the screen prices, realise there was not much difference from 3 to 7 inch at it highest resolution.
Understandably, they stick with one screen for those reasons.

I can't wait play with it and use it with my old Uni final project.

One screen can do 3D. The screen display separate in half for each eye. But I dunno how it compare to other 3D methods.
 

1-D_FTW

Member

It's not technically any different than what they're doing. The benefit, of course, is you're not cutting the resolution in half like the current method. But that's the only gain you get by going with two screens (and as durante mentioned, you're making everything else more difficult/expensive).
 

DieH@rd

Banned
hmd-lcd-panel-e1349114583916.jpg


Only fisheye effect is missing. :)
 
Kickstarter has recently started asking for shipping details for the rewards.

Which means we're on time for a december release, right?

Can't wait.
 

leca

Member
Kickstarter has recently started asking for shipping details for the rewards.

Nice! Just noticed that my self a few hours ago, can't say I received an email from kickstarter to "let me know" that I need to complete this. I'm pretty certain that a few people might miss this important step if that's the case :/.
 
Nice! Just noticed that my self a few hours ago, can't say I received an email from kickstarter to "let me know" that I need to complete this. I'm pretty certain that a few people might miss this important step if that's the case :/.

i'm wondering what the likelihood is that we get e-mailed Doom 3 codes in the next couple of days. i'm thinking it's unlikely, but plausible.
 
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