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[bloodydrake]

I think chasing the "PC gamer" demographic would be too small for Facebook anyway. Steam is something 125 - 150M users?

Facebook has 1.5 - 2 billion counting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

I would think the end game is to reach that population with their social VR platforms, and maybe try to make Oculus the "App Store" for VR.
They might still cater to PC gamers with a high end Oculus HMD, but it's not what the whole business is about.

So IMO they're not really trying to compete with Valve / Steam, but are trying to take the pole position in the race against Amazon, Google and Apple who have the same "mainstream" goals and huge userbases like Facebook.

Ya but this whole thing requires a gaming rig on PC to function right?.Gamers are the ones that are gonna share the experience with their friends and family that don't have a gaming rig..which will be the catalyst for those non gamers buying a rig that can run VR.
Do we really think facebook users that aren't gamers are planning on buying a Gaming rig and an Oculus off the hop?

By ensuring that the Oculus store is where you shop,they guarantee their 30%(or whatever) cut of the software sales which I'm sure has been factored into their long term profitability. I want it to be Steam but I can't see that they aren't going to try and secure as much of that as they can.

 

[artsi]

Ya but this whole thing requires a gaming rig on PC to function right?.Gamers are the ones that are gonna share the experience with their friends and family that don't have a gaming rig..which will be the catalyst for those non gamers buying a rig that can run VR.
Do we really think facebook users that aren't gamers are planning on buying a Gaming rig and an Oculus off the hop?

By ensuring that the Oculus store is where you shop,they guarantee their 30%(or whatever) cut of the software sales which I'm sure has been factored into their long term profitability. I want it to be Steam but I can't see that they aren't going to try and secure as much of that as they can.

That's the current situation, but Zuckerberg said that he expects VR to "take off" in 10 years so this is still just a small venture in Facebook's eyes.
I think they just want to be in the game from the start and build their Oculus brand, so they have better chances of taking the market when the actual mainstream is ready. I mean hardware, prices, etc.

They also have Gear VR which is already something ready for the mass market.

 

[Qassim]

I think chasing the "PC gamer" demographic would be too small for Facebook anyway. Steam is something 125 - 150M users?

Facebook has 1.5 - 2 billion counting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

I would think the end game is to reach that population with their social VR platforms, and maybe try to make Oculus the "App Store" for VR.
They might still cater to PC gamers with a high end Oculus HMD, but it's not what the whole business is about.

So IMO they're not really trying to compete with Valve / Steam, but are trying to take the pole position in the race against Amazon, Google and Apple who have the same "mainstream" goals and huge userbases like Facebook.

Oculus never hide their thoughts on what it will take to make VR go mainstream, and that it's not consoles or PC, it's mobile. That's not to say console or PC VR will eventually fade away. Because for at least very long time to come, you'll have the TDP advantage on the consoles and PC, people will want to do higher and higher end things and there will probably be enough people to support that.

But Facebook and Oculus's long game is mobile, John Carmack has seemingly spent most of his time on GearVR in recent years and getting that out there seemed like a high priority for Oculus.

 

[DavidDesu]

Welcome to the platform wars, even in this early stages you see all the Oculus, PSVR and Steam/Vive fanboys. It's quite sad, I hoped VR would be an exception on that front.

I'm definitely a bit of a PSVR warrior on here, lol, but I certainly don't denigrate the other headsets or those who will be getting them. PSVR is the only one I can afford and I'm just over the moon that decent full on VR is within my reach. It's pretty staggering if you think about it. Nobody thought when PS4 was revealed that this generation of consoles we'd be seeing true VR available for it, and likely for a relatively affordable price.

If I had the money trust me I'd be getting the Vive as well (and PC to run it). I'd hope we can all get along but it's mostly the PC elitist types who come in and talk absolute rubbish about PSVR and make out like its in an entirely different league in terms of what it can do. From all accounts it's a very competitive experience and merely falls into the usual console vs PC realm of differences. Some of the best games of all time were console exclusive, regardless of competing specs of other devices. PSVR will have some of the greatest VR titles, up against all the other amazing ones that might be Rift or Vive exclusives too.

 

[artsi]

Oculus never hide their thoughts on what it will take to make VR go mainstream, and that it's not consoles or PC, it's mobile. That's not to say console or PC VR will eventually fade away. Because for at least very long time to come, you'll have the TDP advantage on the consoles and PC, people will want to do higher and higher end things and there will probably be enough people to support that.

But Facebook and Oculus's long game is mobile, John Carmack has seemingly spent most of his time on GearVR in recent years and getting that out there seemed like a high priority for Oculus.

Yeah exactly what I mean. Many non-gaming consumers don't even have a desktop PC anymore, they use phones, tablets and macbooks. And I think that's the market Facebook / Oculus wants to have.

Mobile is going to be huge, and we already see Gear VR overtaking both Rift and Vive in search traffic.

 

[Hellshy.]

Yeah exactly what I mean. Many non-gaming consumers don't even have a desktop PC anymore, they use phones, tablets and macbooks. And I think that's the market Facebook / Oculus wants to have.

Mobile is going to be huge, and we already see Gear VR overtaking both Rift and Vive in search traffic.

Isnt the reason Gear VR traffic spiked in the chart you posted bc that's when the Galaxy 7 pre-order bonus started popping up everywhere? Its just the mainstream being curious. I i know I dont see ads for other VR all over the mall. I just dont see mobile VR being huge at first due to tech limitations.

 

[Oppo]

Yeah exactly what I mean. Many non-gaming consumers don't even have a desktop PC anymore, they use phones, tablets and macbooks. And I think that's the market Facebook / Oculus wants to have.

Mobile is going to be huge, and we already see Gear VR overtaking both Rift and Vive in search traffic.

what country or area is this for?

 

[artsi]

Isnt the reason Gear VR traffic spiked in the chart you posted bc that's when the Galaxy 7 pre-order bonus started popping up everywhere? Its just the mainstream being curious. I i know I dont see ads for other VR all over the mall. I just dont see mobile VR being huge at first due to tech limitations.

Yeah but that's the point. Mobile VR has so much potential because it can reach the mainstream this easily, better tech will follow naturally sooner or later so no worries about that.

It's just a fact that mobile VR will be bigger than the enthusiast market, there's no denying raw numbers. Gear VR is already in the reach of tens of millions thanks to Samsung / Oculus, and HTC, Apple, Google etc. will follow with their own implementations soon.

what country or area is this for?

It's global.

 

[FlammableAce]

I'm really looking forward towards VR but my main concern is nearly every title I have seen so far (other than EVE) looks to be small ps-move like mini-games.

 

[metareferential]

I'm really looking forward towards VR but my main concern is nearly every title I have seen so far (other than EVE) looks to be small ps-move like mini-games.

Have a look at the other VR thread; there is a ton of full-fledged games coming to VR.

 

[Blanquito]

Yeah exactly what I mean. Many non-gaming consumers don't even have a desktop PC anymore, they use phones, tablets and macbooks. And I think that's the market Facebook / Oculus wants to have.

Mobile is going to be huge, and we already see Gear VR overtaking both Rift and Vive in search traffic.

I don't agree or disagree with any point you're trying to make, all I'm going to say is that those graphs are useless. Change the search terms to "Oculus" and "gear VR" (note the space) and you'll get wildly different results. Trying to use Google trends for showing how popular something is is pointless, as anyone who has actually worked in digital marketing or SEO can tell you

 

[pachura]

I understand that PSVR helmet will not include headphones, only a mic.
Any idea how will headphones be connected? Wirelessly? Wired? Optical? USB?
Will any pair of headphones do, or will everybody be forced to use Gold?

 

[Durante]

Could we please keep this thread free of insecurity about our respective VR platform choices?

 

[mrklaw]

Yeah exactly what I mean. Many non-gaming consumers don't even have a desktop PC anymore, they use phones, tablets and macbooks. And I think that's the market Facebook / Oculus wants to have.

Mobile is going to be huge, and we already see Gear VR overtaking both Rift and Vive in search traffic.

is it possible that is a temporary blip given Samsung's launch marketing for the Galaxy S7 is plastered all over stores giving away gear VR for initial customers?

 

[artsi]

I don't agree or disagree with any point you're trying to make, all I'm going to say is that those graphs are useless. Change the search terms to "Oculus" and "gear VR" (note the space) and you'll get wildly different results. Trying to use Google trends for showing how popular something is is pointless, as anyone who has actually worked in digital marketing or SEO can tell you

Well it's just a graph, what I'm saying is not based on it at all so no matter. You can do the math of mobile phones vs high-end PC's yourself and arrive at the same conclusion

is it possible that is a temporary blip given Samsung's launch marketing for the Galaxy S7 is plastered all over stores giving away gear VR for initial customers?

Yeah most probably, but it's just one indication of how popular VR can be when it hits those markets. It's pretty exciting how it can help the high-end market too by raising VR awareness.

 

[Durante]

Ah ok - you're talking about hw wrappers. I used to think that about NVidia's hw-exclusives too, and that never got any traction outside of NVidia chipsets. If it were just about redirecting inputs, I'd agree it will happen before long, but it's a fair bit more involved than that in latest SDKs.

I'd argue that for NV effects the implementation is actually a lot more difficult and the level of interest is far lower. I mean, the first Oculus API wrapper is already out.

A lot of uninformed around like I just read someone said PC VR have 2 screens display whereas PSVR only has one.

Erm, that's a fact.

It doesn't have a massive impact on the end-user experience, but it does have some. I guess the biggest one is that IPD adjustments are more effective.

 

[iceatcs]

Erm, that's a fact.

It doesn't have a massive impact on the end-user experience, but it does have some. I guess the biggest one is that IPD adjustments are more effective.

Really?
Ah, that could explain the FOV different on Vive EGX demo. The middle visual is more notice gap after tried with DK2.

Shame which I like original DK2 FOV because has slight cross-eyed.

 

[TTP]

Really?
Ah, that could explain the FOV different on Vive EGX demo. The middle visual is more notice gap after tried with DK2.

Shame which I like original DK2 FOV because have slight cross-eyed.

Yeah both Vive and Rift have two separated screens (mainly for IPD reasons).
PSVR is the only one with a single screen.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Yeah both Vive and Rift have two separated screens (mainly for IPD reasons).
PSVR is the only one with a single screen.

Not to sound too ignorant, what does IPD stand for?

 

[TTP]

Not to sound too ignorant, what does IPD stand for?

Interpupillary distance (distance between eyes basically)

Image of the Rift screen/optics adjustment mechanism:

Center of each lens always matches center of each screen ensuring the barrel distorted image displayed on the latter is perfectly corrected by pincushion distortion applied by the former no matter what your IPD is (provided you have adjusted the headset to match it).

 

[iceatcs]

Thanks for TIL.
Now I'm very very confident that PSVR will be a lot cheaper.

 

[Dinjooh]

Does anyone know if Adobe has been toying around with VR for their creative suite?

Or if anyone for that matter, have begun creating visual design applications for VR yet.

So far I'm really looking forward to Dreams for quick prototyping. If it works as well as I hope it'll be great as a storyboarding tool.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Interpupillary distance (distance between eyes basically)

Image of the Rift screen/optics adjustment mechanism:

Gotcha, thanks!

 

[UnrealEck]

So what makes it "not high-end" exactly?

It depends on where the cut off point is for calling it high end.
But the Rift and Vive are both a bit superior overall.
You've got to also look at the major factor in the equation and that is the hardware driving it. PS4 is by no means high end.

I'm not sure if I'd say PSVR isn't high end because it's hard to say where that cut off point is, but I would say it's fair to put it in its own category seperate from Rift and Vive overall from a tech/hardware/peripheral standpoint.

Put simply, Rift is a few notches above PSVR and Vive is probably a notch above Rift at least out of the box.
On top of that, Vive and Rift's driving machine is adaptive, much more open system and has much more room to evolve.

 

[plagiarize]

Could we please keep this thread free of insecurity about our respective VR platform choices?

Yep. Cosigned.

I've bought, so far, four headsets. I'm getting a Rift, and I wouldn't be surprised if I end the year with either the PSVR or the Vive. Platform wars don't really make sense at this stage. What matters is that this thing takes off which I'm confident it will, but the more people working on this problem, the more likely we end up somewhere really positive.

I think VR will get large enough that it'll happily support mobile, seated, and room scale experiences. I'm confident that for the time being the majority of software hitting one system will hit all of them in relatively short order.

A general purpose VR thread is much more interesting to me, than one that focusses on just one headset, and has people bashing others, or second guessing if they've pre-ordered the right one.

Gear VR is a great entry level VR headset. That it's as compelling as it is, makes me very confident that PSVR, the Rift and the Vive will all be excellent experiences.

When you pour water into the lake, all boats rise together. Or however that saying goes. Oculus funding exclusive content from top developers that otherwise wouldn't target VR yet, is good for VR. Sony putting their first party teams on VR games, is good for VR. Steam pushing the room scale experiences, is good for VR.

And that's what matters right now.

I can't believe after years of dev kit use, that we're just under a month away from the launch line ups of two major head sets releasing, and retail head sets shipping. It's finally here for those of us that can afford to and want to invest in it.

I've been using my Gear VR more and more than my DK2, and that's because it's just a much more polished end user experience with Oculus home. Steam VR and Oculus home on PC are going to make a major difference.

I plan on getting Touch to sample room scale, and if I can make it work in my space, I'll probably get a Vive at some point. I know people locally getting a Vive. I know people locally getting a Rift. All of them are excited about *VR*. Let's try to keep things that way here.

It depends on where the cut off point is for calling it high end.
But the Rift and Vive are both a bit superior overall.
You've got to also look at the major factor in the equation and that is the hardware driving it. PS4 is by no means high end.

I'm not sure if I'd say PSVR isn't high end because it's hard to say where that cut off point is, but I would say it's fair to put it in its own category seperate from Rift and Vive overall from a tech/hardware/peripheral standpoint.

Put simply, Rift is a few notches above PSVR and Vive is probably a notch above Rift at least out of the box.
On top of that, Vive and Rift's driving machine is adaptive, much more open system and has much more room to evolve.

You're thinking of it from the wrong perspective. It's not about the horse power of the system driving it. It's about the experience it offers. PSVR may not have quite as many pixels (thought it's not far behind) but it offers positional tracking and motion controllers. The type of games you'll be playing on PSVR will be the same type of games people are playing on Vive and the Rift, more than they'll be like Gear VR titles. Look, Gear VR has more raw pixels than the Vive or the Rift... but it's massively reductive just to look at things from that perspective. Sure it's a closed system, but one very friendly to indie developers. Most indie titles coming to the PC are also going to hit PSVR, and Sony putting their first party teams on PSVR games is going to lead to some very high quality experiences. They'll help solve some of the software problems.

You're going to see more overlap between software coming to PSVR, and Vive or the Rift than you will see between Gear VR and PSVR... and all hands on impressions indicate something close in quality to the PC headsets, no matter what the raw figures might tell you. PSVR's *capabilities* match up to the Rift and the Vive. It reportedly features a great display, quality optics, comfortable harness and good build quality.

 

[pj]

Are you sure? I thought it was standard VR practice? So Steam VR games running on Vive won't compensate for latency by updating the screen at the last moment? Is that an oculus SDK exclusive at the moment? Even if it is, surely Valve would be putting it in soon?

Valve is not doing time warp. They decided that prediction was good enough and that you get a 17% performance improvement by only drawing the exact pixels needed.

 

[plagiarize]

is it possible that is a temporary blip given Samsung's launch marketing for the Galaxy S7 is plastered all over stores giving away gear VR for initial customers?

I doubt it's a temporary blip. I mean, think about how many millions of people just got a Gear VR. The S7 edge is sold out in many places. It's going to be a while before anyone else catches up to the Gear VR install base, if indeed they ever do.

Valve is not doing time warp. They decided that prediction was good enough and that you get a 17% performance improvement by only drawing the exact pixels needed.

On mobile at least, the other huge benefit of time warp is smoothing over performance drops. However, the usefulness of using time warp for that is limited in a situation where you're doing positional tracking as well as rotational, since it doesn't really work for translation. What Oculus have done with their SDK on mobile is hugely impressive. I have a lot of faith in how the Rift is going to perform.

But I also have a lot of faith in Valve, and in Sony's first party software engineers too.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Yep. Cosigned.

I've bought, so far, four headsets. I'm getting a Rift, and I wouldn't be surprised if I end the year with either the PSVR or the Vive. Platform wars don't really make sense at this stage. What matters is that this thing takes off which I'm confident it will, but the more people working on this problem, the more likely we end up somewhere really positive.

I think VR will get large enough that it'll happily support mobile, seated, and room scale experiences. I'm confident that for the time being the majority of software hitting one system will hit all of them in relatively short order.

A general purpose VR thread is much more interesting to me, than one that focusses on just one headset, and has people bashing others, or second guessing if they've pre-ordered the right one.

Gear VR is a great entry level VR headset. That it's as compelling as it is, makes me very confident that PSVR, the Rift and the Vive will all be excellent experiences.

When you pour water into the lake, all boats rise together. Or however that saying goes. Oculus funding exclusive content from top developers that otherwise wouldn't target VR yet, is good for VR. Sony putting their first party teams on VR games, is good for VR. Steam pushing the room scale experiences, is good for VR.

And that's what matters right now.

I can't believe after years of dev kit use, that we're just under a month away from the launch line ups of two major head sets releasing, and retail head sets shipping. It's finally here for those of us that can afford to and want to invest in it.

I've been using my Gear VR more and more than my DK2, and that's because it's just a much more polished end user experience with Oculus home. Steam VR and Oculus home on PC are going to make a major difference.

I plan on getting Touch to sample room scale, and if I can make it work in my space, I'll probably get a Vive at some point. I know people locally getting a Vive. I know people locally getting a Rift. All of them are excited about *VR*. Let's try to keep things that way here.



You're thinking of it from the wrong perspective. It's not about the horse power of the system driving it. It's about the experience it offers. PSVR may not have quite as many pixels (thought it's not far behind) but it offers positional tracking and motion controllers. The type of games you'll be playing on PSVR will be the same type of games people are playing on Vive and the Rift, more than they'll be like Gear VR titles. Look, Gear VR has more raw pixels than the Vive or the Rift... but it's massively reductive just to look at things from that perspective. Sure it's a closed system, but one very friendly to indie developers. Most indie titles coming to the PC are also going to hit PSVR, and Sony putting their first party teams on PSVR games is going to lead to some very high quality experiences. They'll help solve some of the software problems.

You're going to see more overlap between software coming to PSVR, and Vive or the Rift than you will see between Gear VR and PSVR... and all hands on impressions indicate something close in quality to the PC headsets, no matter what the raw figures might tell you. PSVR's *capabilities* match up to the Rift and the Vive. It reportedly features a great display, quality optics, comfortable harness and good build quality.

Great post, thank you.

 

[Zaptruder]

I can't believe after years of dev kit use, that we're just under a month away from the launch line ups of two major head sets releasing, and retail head sets shipping. It's finally here for those of us that can afford to and want to invest in it.

Yeah buddy. Giddy stuff. Yo, VR true believers, add each other on Steam/Oculus friendslist so we can catch up and shoot the shit. Social VR stuff is great... did a bit of Oculus Trivia last night with strangers and had a ball, even though I knew no one, and that people were rotating in and out of the room.

 

[Hellshy.]

Yeah but that's the point. Mobile VR has so much potential because it can reach the mainstream this easily, better tech will follow naturally sooner or later so no worries about that.

It's just a fact that mobile VR will be bigger than the enthusiast market, there's no denying raw numbers. Gear VR is already in the reach of tens of millions thanks to Samsung / Oculus, and HTC, Apple, Google etc. will follow with their own implementations soon.



It's global.

I agree that its potential to reach mainstream users is far greater than PC VR and even PS VR but how will the experience be? Does the majority of the mobile market want to have there phone strapped to their heads? I guess that depends on how great the experiences are.
How does input work in Mobile VR? Do you need peripherals for most experiences b/c as far as I know those type of devices have not really taken off with mainstream mobile users.

 

[artsi]

I agree that its potential to reach mainstream users is far greater than PC VR and even PS VR but how will the experience be? Does the majority of the mobile market want to have there phone strapped to their heads? I guess that depends on how great the experiences are.
How does input work in Mobile VR? Do you need peripherals for most experiences b/c as far as I know those type of devices have not really taken off with mainstream mobile users.

Time will tell, but I'd think something like Leap Motion using the phone camera might be a valid input method for mobile.

It's certainly a challenge, but the user base is there, just needs some good software to keep them interested.

 

[jusufin]

Yep. Cosigned.

I've bought, so far, four headsets. I'm getting a Rift, and I wouldn't be surprised if I end the year with either the PSVR or the Vive. Platform wars don't really make sense at this stage. What matters is that this thing takes off which I'm confident it will, but the more people working on this problem, the more likely we end up somewhere really positive.

I think VR will get large enough that it'll happily support mobile, seated, and room scale experiences. I'm confident that for the time being the majority of software hitting one system will hit all of them in relatively short order.

A general purpose VR thread is much more interesting to me, than one that focusses on just one headset, and has people bashing others, or second guessing if they've pre-ordered the right one.

Gear VR is a great entry level VR headset. That it's as compelling as it is, makes me very confident that PSVR, the Rift and the Vive will all be excellent experiences.

When you pour water into the lake, all boats rise together. Or however that saying goes. Oculus funding exclusive content from top developers that otherwise wouldn't target VR yet, is good for VR. Sony putting their first party teams on VR games, is good for VR. Steam pushing the room scale experiences, is good for VR.

And that's what matters right now.

I can't believe after years of dev kit use, that we're just under a month away from the launch line ups of two major head sets releasing, and retail head sets shipping. It's finally here for those of us that can afford to and want to invest in it.

I've been using my Gear VR more and more than my DK2, and that's because it's just a much more polished end user experience with Oculus home. Steam VR and Oculus home on PC are going to make a major difference.

I plan on getting Touch to sample room scale, and if I can make it work in my space, I'll probably get a Vive at some point. I know people locally getting a Vive. I know people locally getting a Rift. All of them are excited about *VR*. Let's try to keep things that way here.



You're thinking of it from the wrong perspective. It's not about the horse power of the system driving it. It's about the experience it offers. PSVR may not have quite as many pixels (thought it's not far behind) but it offers positional tracking and motion controllers. The type of games you'll be playing on PSVR will be the same type of games people are playing on Vive and the Rift, more than they'll be like Gear VR titles. Look, Gear VR has more raw pixels than the Vive or the Rift... but it's massively reductive just to look at things from that perspective. Sure it's a closed system, but one very friendly to indie developers. Most indie titles coming to the PC are also going to hit PSVR, and Sony putting their first party teams on PSVR games is going to lead to some very high quality experiences. They'll help solve some of the software problems.

You're going to see more overlap between software coming to PSVR, and Vive or the Rift than you will see between Gear VR and PSVR... and all hands on impressions indicate something close in quality to the PC headsets, no matter what the raw figures might tell you. PSVR's *capabilities* match up to the Rift and the Vive. It reportedly features a great display, quality optics, comfortable harness and good build quality.

Well said

 

[Hellshy.]

Time will tell, but I'd think something like Leap Motion using the phone camera might be a valid input method for mobile.

It's certainly a challenge, but the user base is there, just needs some good software to keep them interested.

I have to look into Leap Motion more but my initial thought is that type of solution has too many limitations. I don't know how accurate it is but I know i don't want to have to hold my hands up in the air in view of camera. I feel like it only works if games are tailored for it like the demos on the site.

 

[Durante]

The type of games you'll be playing on PSVR will be the same type of games people are playing on Vive and the Rift, more than they'll be like Gear VR titles.

If we're talking about the "types of games" people will be playing in VR, I think useful categorization really comes down more to controls than anything else. There are a few options there:

• Casual, with headset tracking being the only input.
• Traditional controls, seated or standing. Where you use a gamepad, or flight stick, or wheel, or whatever to paly the game.
• Fully tracked VR controls, standing or room-scale.

I'm really most interested in the third one by far at this point (something I never expected 2 years ago!). The second is still useful, but primarily for cockpit games or adaptations of non-VR games.

 

[mrklaw]

I plan on getting Touch to sample room scale, and if I can make it work in my space, I'll probably get a Vive at some point. I know people locally getting a Vive. I know people locally getting a Rift. All of them are excited about *VR*. Let's try to keep things that way .

I'm almost certain that my convenient spaces near my PC are not suited to room scale (maybe standing but that's about it), and my living room would be a pita to move furniture and my PC to accommodate.

But I still can't *not* get a vive. Even if I only keep it a few weeks and sell it on, I have to taste some of that motion tracked goodness.

 

[MR ARCADE FOREVER]

I wish the the oculus or the psvr would work for pc and ps4, I really don't know which one I should get

 

[plagiarize]

If we're talking about the "types of games" people will be playing in VR, I think useful categorization really comes down more to controls than anything else. There are a few options there:

• Casual, with headset tracking being the only input.
• Traditional controls, seated or standing. Where you use a gamepad, or flight stick, or wheel, or whatever to paly the game.
• Fully tracked VR controls, standing or room-scale.

I'm really most interested in the third one by far at this point (something I never expected 2 years ago!). The second is still useful, but primarily for cockpit games or adaptations of non-VR games.

The second one I find really appealing on a portable system like with Gear VR, because I'm not going to sit and play something like Herobound for an extended period of time on a 5 inch screen. Slap it into the Gear VR though, and it's a far superior way to play than on a small screen. Heck, even something like Sonic in the VR cade is far superior in my eyes.

I've only had a small taste of the standing games with Possibly Archery and Surgery Simulator using my DK1 and Razer Hydras. Both were great experiences, held back by a lot of jank.

I still love playing regular games in VR though, and for me I think that's going to be a good chunk of the time I spend playing games with the headset. I mean, there's going to be times where you don't want to be physical, for one... and they're superior ways to play certain genres. 3D platformers work way better in VR where you can easily gauge all the distances. First person horror experiences are going to be more than a lot of people can handle, but third person could be a nice middle ground.

I can't wait to play Arizona Sunshine, Hover Junkers, Alien Surgery Simulator and Cloudlands Golf mind... but until I do I can't quite comprehend just how fun they'll be. Fortunately a friend of mine who lives ten minutes away has his Vive preordered and a room in his house already cleared and ready for it so it won't be long.

And social is going to be *huge*. Anyone who wants to play social trivia, add me on Oculus. plagiarize. It's incredibly compelling. Seated social experiences are going to be huge. Where you're all sitting around a table playing a game... that's kind of how Herobound Gladiators works. A lot of my gameplaying friends are spread across the world... playing with some of my friends back in England is the most like sitting together on the same couch I've felt since I last got to do that.

I know this is the high end VR thread, but if you haven't checked out Social Trivia or Herobound Gladiators both are free. Herobound isn't anything special, but it's fun for a totally free game without any microtransactions. Social Trivia doesn't sound like it'd be anything special, but it really is.

I can only begin to imagine the asynchronous fun people will have swapping the headset around, and the sort of multiplayer fun people will have in VR when you've got positional tracking added into the mix and a more powerful system. I remember being amazed playing Kinect Sports Table Tennis at being able to see someone on the other side of the world dancing and celebrating. I can't wait to see that translated into VR.

 

[Fafalada]

I'd argue that for NV effects the implementation is actually a lot more difficult and the level of interest is far lower. I mean, the first Oculus API wrapper is already out.

Apex/PhysX sure - but the various AA, AO and other postprocess techniques I'd argue rate pretty low on complexity scale to wrap. Amount of interest is a valid point though - I suppose people just don't really care that much about those to begin with.

Anyway - regarding VR wrappers, I have some reasons to doubt that can't really be discussed here. More importantly, unofficial wrappers in particular are questionable with VR - where even small/subtle errors dramatically compromise the experience. I'm sure attempts will happen but mileage may vary...
That said - both OSVR and OpenVR are promising all inclusive device support - question is if it can ever properly include the Rift without Oculus eventually cooperating with the standards.

 

[plagiarize]

Apex/PhysX sure - but the various AA, AO and other postprocess techniques I'd argue rate pretty low on complexity scale to wrap. Amount of interest is a valid point though - I suppose people just don't really care that much about those to begin with.

Anyway - regarding VR wrappers, I have some reasons to doubt that can't really be discussed here. More importantly, unofficial wrappers in particular are questionable with VR - where even small/subtle errors dramatically compromise the experience. I'm sure attempts will happen but mileage may vary...
That said - both OSVR and OpenVR are promising all inclusive device support - question is if it can ever properly include the Rift without Oculus eventually cooperating with the standards.

Well given that you can already play games like Elite Dangerous and use Steam VR on the DK2, I'd say the Rift is going to be supported out of the box. Valve want to sell VR games to Rift owners. They also want to get everyone on board with room scale, which is why they've partnered with HTC and why they're putting their focus their on the software side. If anything it's forcing Oculus to get motion controllers out sooner than they were originally planning.

Like I said, all three platforms are good for each other. Seated games designed with the rift in mind will work on the Vive. Standing games, and even some room scale games will work on the Rift once Touch is out. PSVR will at the very least be able to handle the sort of front facing standing VR games Touch is currently focused on. I'd bet we're going to get more cross platform games, than any single platform would have received had it launched by itself.

Anyways. Time for some Social Trivia. I really hope that's on Rift when it launches, and that it's cross platform.

 

[artsi]

Here's a photo from the Oculus developer showcase, embargoed until Wednesday but recognize anything new from the images?

I don't think I've seen "Tennis Online" before?
Also the one with three characters on the right seems new.

 

[Man]

I could swear that was happening on the 12th or 13th but I didn't see anyone tweet or slip anything about that event.

 

[Cartman86]

Interesting comment about moving the VR around to different rooms. If likely only do that for the vive, and was expecting to lug the PC back and forth.

What kind of length can you get with an active USB 2 cable? I've done long runs with HDMI so I'm less concerned with that.

Does the breakout box also feed HDMI back out to a Tv so people can spectate?

I have these HDMI and USB cables on order. I 'm hoping my contact will let me try these out on their Vive to confirm before I waste anymore money.

I understand that PSVR helmet will not include headphones, only a mic.
Any idea how will headphones be connected? Wirelessly? Wired? Optical? USB?
Will any pair of headphones do, or will everybody be forced to use Gold?

I was trying to figure this out yesterday, but couldn't find anything. I'm guessing you can use existing headphone (bluetooth, Astro setups etc.) and since the processing unit does 3D audio i'm guessing you can plug it into their as well? Really have no idea.

 

[taoofjord]

I can't believe we are only few weeks away now. I'm so frickin excited. And as excited as I am to try it I'm more excited to get my family over to play with it. I think early VR adopters are going to have a total blast demoing/introducing and letting others play with their VR headsets.

 

[Dodecagon]

God the hype is killing me, I feel like I'm 13 again waiting for a new console to release

 

[taoofjord]

Anyone thinking of using your garage as a secondary VR space?

I live in a townhouse and the first floor/basement where my gaming/entertainment set up is at is tiny but directly connected to the garage. Since I don't park in the garage I think it'd be awesome to set up a large space for VR there. I'd get that soft yoga mat-like material for the ground, and as long as I can get a decent sized cord I wouldn't even have to move my PC from where it's currently at. Hell, I could even get a little crazy and figure out a way to set up modular walls or platforms if any games come out that would warrant it.

 

[Blanquito]

I understand that PSVR helmet will not include headphones, only a mic.
Any idea how will headphones be connected? Wirelessly? Wired? Optical? USB?
Will any pair of headphones do, or will everybody be forced to use Gold?

I have these HDMI and USB cables on order. I 'm hoping my contact will let me try these out on their Vive to confirm before I waste anymore money.



I was trying to figure this out yesterday, but couldn't find anything. I'm guessing you can use existing headphone (bluetooth, Astro setups etc.) and since the processing unit does 3D audio i'm guessing you can plug it into their as well? Really have no idea.

I believe that the wire that connects the headset to the processing box (and thus to the PS4) has a place where you plug in your headset. I don't know if wireless headsets will be supported (since the external box does the 3D audio) but it is just a standard audio jack from what I've heard.

 

[DOT DASH DOT]

I can't believe we are only few weeks away now. I'm so frickin excited. And as excited as I am to try it I'm more excited to get my family family over to play with it. I think early VR adopters are going to have a total blast demoing/introducing and letting others play with their VR headsets.

It's one of the things I'm really looking forward too, I'm gonna make a video of all my friends and family trying VR for the first time, then cut it all together.

God the hype is killing me, I feel like I'm 13 again waiting for a new console to release

I know what you mean, I'm a 37 year old bloke with 1 child and another one on the way, and I just can't wait! Think it's because it goes beyond just a new console, it's a whole new experience.

 

[artsi]

I could swear that was happening on the 12th or 13th but I didn't see anyone tweet or slip anything about that event.

Yeah it started today, but press embargo is on until wednesday. I'm hoping leaks before that

These two caught my eye from the picture, hopefully some cool fantasy VR games.

 

[Qassim]

I actually just realised that now that I'm buying both the Rift and Vive, I'm really going to be struggling for USB ports. I should be fine with my display outputs with some rejigging and a mini DP to DP connector (Vive box has a miniDP output as well as HDMI).

The USB issue will have to be solved with a PCI-E expansion card, I suppose.

 

[harz-marz]

This 35 year old man hasn't been as excited for a new tech launch since I saw Mario 64 all them years ago!

My only VR experience has been through Google Cardboard, my mind is ready to be blown!