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Oculus Rift - 3D Head-Tracking Headset

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by wccrawford, Aug 1, 2012.

  1. wccrawford

    wccrawford

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    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game

    The main differences between the Oculus Rift and other headsets is field of view and latency. It's much, much better on both accounts, apparently.

    The video there has a *lot* of big names behind it already, including Unity.

    I'm already in, and I'm quite excited about this. Combined with a Razer Hydra (or other comparable motion controller) this could enable some really amazing games.
     
  2. Noisecrime

    Noisecrime

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    meh, its a big bulky opaque headset, its been done for decades and has never caught on. It may well be better than previous incarnations with fov and latency but its the physical product itself that is the problem. The only way VR/AR is going to catch on is via light-weight glasses.
     
  3. ProtonOne

    ProtonOne

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    I've really been looking forward to the Rift, just kickstarted it.

    So looking forward to this. It's so great to see technology finally catching upto the requirements of VR. And the consumer version of the Rift 2 will be even more amazing by the sounds of it.

    Now the hard part. Waiting until December when it gets delivered :)
     
  4. kenlem

    kenlem

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    Interesting... Gabe, John Carmack, Micheal Abrash and this guy...
     

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  5. Thomas-Pasieka

    Thomas-Pasieka

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    This guy looks strangely familiar!
     
  6. BSECaleb

    BSECaleb

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    Just put down my pledge for a devkit. Looking forward to it!
     
  7. Fenrisul

    Fenrisul

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    Well I'm not outright disagreeing with you - but I think the higher end virtual devices will still have a market, just not as large as the transparent "Can wear to the beach" models.

    The difference between an LCD screen with a box strapped around it, and these is immense when physical immersion is put into the equation - I've played a lot with VR (and AR) tracking gear and have hacked together a few highspeed tracking solutions; the feeling of being able to look around in complete freedom trumps the weight/bulkiness of the headset.
    my 2¢
     
  8. kablammyman

    kablammyman

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    carmack and abrash has me very interested! I may kick-start this, but i got my money tied into some other things first....hopefully i can get a kit before its to late.
     
  9. PrimeDerektive

    PrimeDerektive

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    Naturally, staying true to his title of king of popped collars.
     
  10. Discord

    Discord

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    It sounds like they are working on Unity and Unreal engine integration for this. I wonder what kind of Unity license will be required? And whether that would be something available in 3.x or 4.x versions.
     
  11. Morning

    Morning

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    I hope the unity integration will come free. That will increase the popularity of the device much more. It's very niche, at least for now. Who knows what will happen in the future.
     
  12. Noisecrime

    Noisecrime

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    Oh I complete agree with the results, VR is quite an amazing experience with a headset, unfortunately I just don't think this form has much market appeal outside of research labs or perhaps specific game events. The problem is the general public don't like wearing them for the reasons I gave above and when they do wear them they often don't understand them. Its just not funny the amount of times i've seen someone wearing one and they move their whole body to look around the VR environment, instead of you know just moving your head ;)
     
  13. Fenrisul

    Fenrisul

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    Hahah; true that. This is a 6DoF device though - you'll be able to do some cool side to side moves :)

    I'm a robotics person (animatronics, research grade, educational, buncha misc stuff) and am for one VERY happy someone is finally making a tightly integrated 6DoF + Stereo display like this with MODERN specs.

    I dunno... i see this one going further than the average VR device. Especially given that it has so much big-name support and is still *openly* drawing the eye of the hackerspace.

    One of my first thoughts was "Why do these guys even need a kickstarter?"
    I think it may just be publicity... and to get the devices out to more developer/hacker folk faster for tons of beta testing heh. Either way - I'm in :) Wish you would be too :p
     
  14. angrypenguin

    angrypenguin

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    Yeah, Kickstarter is now as much about publicity and/or market research as it is about the money. I mean, if thousands of people are willing to put money on the table just to see your product succeed, that's a pretty darn good indicator that there's a market out there - either widespread appeal or a dedicated niche. That validation might be what they're after, rather than the cash itself.

    This thing looks awesome, and I definitely want one. Even if it doesn't take off commercially, I'm willing to pay what they're asking just so I can play around with it myself.
     
  15. BrUnO-XaVIeR

    BrUnO-XaVIeR

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    I want one, but I will wait on more info about it.
     
  16. Noisecrime

    Noisecrime

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    Exactly my point. I didn't mean to say that this would fail or that it doesn't have a market, just that its quite niche. However complete understand with your line of work that it would excite you.

    Ha, well I would be (to a degree) if it was just for personal use, but business wise I just know its a dead-end for the type of clients I work with. Mainly as it can only be used by one person at a time (well per headset)
     
  17. lazalong

    lazalong

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    Years ago I was interested in this but I realised that dozens of patents exist making this technology only available for big cash/lawyers backed companies. Each time I saw such projects it was killed just before commercialisation because of those troll patents.

    Before losing time and money I hope they check with a patent expert.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2012
  18. taumel

    taumel

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    The first virtual reality display i ever put on was in Chicago and it sucked in so many ways. Then through the decades you used many different solutions but they either were extremely expensive or seriously lacked in various aspects like weight and being uncomfortable to wear, resolution, field of view, latency, limiting when it comes to natural movement being involved and so on.

    I like it for the fact that Carmack is involved, you get a copy of Doom 3 BFG, the name reminds me of Koronis Rift, they identified some of the problems such devices are suffering from and that in theory such devices have the potential to push the immersive experience a lot! Somehow i would love to see this combined with a proper light saber fighting scene. Depending on how smooth and affordable a consumer version will end up, this has a chance of stepping out of a niche market.

    The best games related kickstarter campaign since The Double Fine Adventure.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2012
  19. mgear

    mgear

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    ..almost 1mil : )
     
  20. angrypenguin

    angrypenguin

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    With the amount that they're asking for, I think that they could survive within the niche markets where these are already used along. For instance, the lowered cost and improved head tracking puts this straight in the realm of hardcore sim players, who are already happy to spend big and invest significant amounts of time into crazy, specialist hardware.

    I imagine that if it can be made compatible with mobile devices there'd be a lot of potential use there, too. Travel with your iPhone 4S and play games or watch movies on the big screen via your headset. Sweet. (Though the resolution might be a little low for the latter at this point.)
     
  21. taumel

    taumel

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    But you need to power the Rift as well. Over 1 million already, hurray!

    I'm tired but watching Carmack's Quakecon keynote was entertaining&interesting as every year.
     
  22. Paradigm-SW

    Paradigm-SW

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    Initiate secret plan: OUYA + Rift = backpack game console >.>
     
  23. ZeroByteDNA

    ZeroByteDNA

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    Project Glass + random Android phone...fighting obesity.
     
  24. Paradigm-SW

    Paradigm-SW

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    LOL
     
  25. taumel

    taumel

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    Kickstarter has a video update.
     
  26. GamesByJerry

    GamesByJerry

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    I've been tracking this for months, I'm so excited to be getting two units to play with :D I've been working on a game design to complement the limitations of the dev kit as well as keeping Palmer's guesstimated specs for the retail release in mind.

    I predict VR will be a bigger indie success compared to the big boys. We'll see many AAA studios repeat their wii and kinect efforts, the same crap ported poorly without any consideration to design around the interface and hardware of the target platform. For those waiting for Augmented Reality, you'll be waiting a long time as Abrash mentioned in the Virtual Insanity talk. His blog posts have been quite entertaining for those interested in the reality of AR and what it's like to work at valve. Bottom line: VR before AR before SR.

    So anyone else planning a game around it? Be great to get a small group discussing ideas and swapping notes/builds to test out when we get our hands on the kits!
     
  27. Ferazel

    Ferazel

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    I bought a kit. I hope that there will be a free Unity integration on launch. At the very least it will be interested to start testing some basic game design ideas with it. If there was a kinect strapped onto the front it would make it more interesting, but I'll start with baby steps. :)
     
  28. bug5532

    bug5532

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    just bought one! couldnt resist, looks AWESOME!
     
  29. SquiggleDome_2

    SquiggleDome_2

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    It would be awesome to play Slenderman with this. *turns head, ahh!*
     
  30. mgear

    mgear

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    Getting 1 also..although we use MiddleVR with proper tracking system stereo wall, still interested to try this. (as you need a whole room for the tracking cave..)
     
  31. lmbarns

    lmbarns

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    Wow looks interesting. I'm curious how you move, like you look with your head, so you move with a controller. But you can't see your hands?

    The price is for dev kits, and it looks like the point of the KS was to sell dev kits, thus planting the seeds for a large market.

    Either way it looks awesome. And honestly for hardcore gamers who already have a gaming keyboard/mouse/headset, this wouldn't be hard to swallow as long as the retail product is affordable and there are good games for it. And if you're already wearing a headset, goggles could add a lot to immersion, your window into the game, which happens to be responsive to your natural movement of your head. I still keep coming back to though, if I'm stairing in the sky, where are my hands, what are they doing?
     
  32. GamesByJerry

    GamesByJerry

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    From what I recall, Doom3 BFG is using the left stick to control movement (strafing not turning) and the right to control the position of the gun, the head tracking allows you to peak slightly around corners to give you an idea of it's freedom. Whether this is going to be good for a fast paced game like doom 3 is a little iffy, the best immersion with the devkit will be games that are are slow moving and keep the required reaction speed of the head tracking to a slow pace.

    One idea I've been toying with, but haven't the time to get into, is a god game that has you looking down on a planet and uses the upcoming leap to control the game by waving finger gestures in the air and nodding or shaking your head to answer questions. While that requires two very niche products at the moment, the immersion of such a game would be incredible!
     
  33. taumel

    taumel

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    The Leap sounds interesting, depending on how good the software is and if it will be supported.
     
  34. mgear

    mgear

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  35. mas

    mas

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    Pledged! Emersive VR is finaly here...
     
  36. GamesByJerry

    GamesByJerry

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    I don't really see how another opinion could sway anyone, there's easily over a dozen hands on experiences all over the web including from the most respectable names in 3d gaming. If that's not enough to convince you I'm not really sure what is!

    If you want it to play games then you're better off waiting for the commercial release planned for next year, from the words of Palmer (the creator) and Carmack (hopefully needs no introduction) getting this for content use will result in a huge disappointment.

    It's been theorized by Palmer that the retail edition could achieve 1080p, 120hz, wireless and come with a motion controller or inbuilt support for one while keeping a similar pricing range. Note this was mentioned around the time the devkit was expected to cost $500, and before the huge hype train started, so who knows what the plans are now.
     
  37. Jaimi

    Jaimi

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    I'm already a backer, but I'd still like to hear from someone at Unite how the Oculus is. The reason is that no one on the web is talking about how great it works with *unity*. Ie, what sort of things we might need to do, does it use a plugin, or is there a simple dual-camera setup that we would need to do, any integration issues, etc.
     
  38. KarelA

    KarelA

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    No one is talking about this because no one knows it yet. The sdk is still in the development and Palmer said that he does not know at the moment if it will support the indie version or not. They only did private demonstration to 30+ people and i met some of those people who assured that it is worth the hype. The Unity sdk is planned to be released a month before the development kits.

    I managed to talk with Palmer for 30 minutes and he is a great and modest guy who is really passionate about vr and i have no doubt in my mind that OR will be a success.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2012
  39. FVANtom

    FVANtom

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    Does anyone know if the Rift drivers and Unity SDK will support OSX?
     
  40. bambamyi

    bambamyi

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    Hey guys check out this article. It is about Oculus Rift and my boss Mark Long! :D

    http://tinyurl.com/8mrnyj5

    We love this thing. I am getting one for sure. Oh unity will be supported for sure.
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2012
  41. Morgan

    Morgan

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    Wondering this too! I kind of hope not, so I can talk myself out of pledging $300 before the deadline coming up :)
     
  42. Elecman

    Elecman

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    I got myself a dev kit too. Can't wait to toy with it!
    Don't mind the naysayers. This is going to be revolutionary.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2012
  43. mariobyb

    mariobyb

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    Will the Oculus Rift presentation at Unite 2012 be uploaded anytime soon?
     
  44. KarelA

    KarelA

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    I may be wrong here, but as far as i understood then there was no recodring in the room where Oculus Rift was presented. For first 10 minutes they had technical problems. After they got their presentation up they showed the kickstarter video and then introduced the Oculus Rift.

    Then they talked about the technical challenges and how they need developers to create the content. Then there were some questions at the end.
     
  45. mariobyb

    mariobyb

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    Thanks KareIA for the info!

    Wtf?! no video recording?! That for me was the most interesting presentation of the whole Unite show I was looking forward to. I would expect some official word about Rift support in Unity.
     
  46. _Petroz

    _Petroz

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    Any word on whether Oculus support will be included in the indie version of Unity?
     
  47. nuverian

    nuverian

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    Will ANY presentation be uploaded soon? :)
     
  48. landon912

    landon912

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    Haha, still rocking it
     
  49. KarelA

    KarelA

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    Someone asked that question and the answer was "we dont know yet". They would like it to get their plugin to work with indie, but there are some limitations. One of the problem was that indie does not have access to the post processing features that is needed for rendering.

    By the way. I wanted to film the entire thing on my phone, but thought it was pointless because of the recording. Only after the talk i found out that there was no recording. I did not see the camera anywhere.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2012
  50. mariobyb

    mariobyb

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    Wouldn't it be easy for them implement rift support through a DLL for the indie version?