Oculus Rift 600$$ Ridiculous.

Maybe eventually, I have a room in my finished basement that I think would be good for it if I'm willing to move my PC down there. However I think I'm more likely to stick with first person cockpit games like Eve Valkyrie and the sort.

The prototype I've worked on of my own with DK2 is also cockpit controlled so wireless isn't huge deal.

 

How much did you pay for your phone?

 

I had an idea for a game like that where your motion controller hands are just hands. And you can push buttons and pull levers... and you're piloting a tank! or a mech! or something else that'd be cool conceptually but really hard to control!!

 

Well, data gloves are expensive.

And if you make actual mech controls (like Flight Simulator fans tend to do)... that'll work fine with vr, but will probably cost more than the datagloves.

 

The new Orion software for the Leap Motion was quite a revelation for me when paired with an Oculus DK2. The leap motion was so useless that I'm sure most of them gathered dust, but the new software is a significant improvement and actually made the experience somewhat fun. The ergonomics of holding up your arms for periods of time will likely always be an issue, at least for a weakling like me, but having hand presence in VR was another big wow moment on the VR road. Much fun for me with Unity & this kit combo for a while, as I ponder the options that will be available this year.

 

Check this out, pretty cool:

 

I'm using the sixense stem for it. It's not quite "hands", but close enough. I can use them for position tracking and then use raw data from Myo if I really want a "hand". But it'll be immersive enough for me to hold a wireless hydra

@tiggus I've seen a few face-mounted leap motion games. It definitely is interesting that it can be used this way, but when I wanted to get one, I was shown the myo and went with that instead.

 

Lol i plead the 5th bahahaha.

 

Anyone try the new SteamVR Performance Test application yet? Mine is still downloading.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/323910/

 

Tried it, said pretty much same thing the Oculus configuration tool said(need to upgrade my gtx 780) but cpu and os is fine. The Oculus tool also tested my usb ports to make sure they were 3.0 so it was a bit more thorough.

 

People thought with facebook backing them they'd subsidize the cost and sell it a loss, but why bother unless they have any games for it. They should have used carmac to make a killer app

 

Maybe he was busy making cameo appearances and or voice acting in the new doom game.

 

Oculus doesn't require a phone to operate and it's the cheapest VR-vision in that category so far. If the battery is good then it could be the best user experience.

 

Do we know that they're not?

The thing is that unlike other loss-leading games hardware (ie: consoles) there are no support products or services to go with this to make money back on. People aren't buying an Oculus and 5 first party games, because there aren't any games yet. There's also not any subscription based services or similar from FB yet, and so on.

So I don't know, but maybe it is still a loss leader, but they can't stomach more loss to lower the cost until there's some way of making it back?

 

Nice rhymes.

It's true there won't be a lot of games. It's also true a lot of games are going to shoehorn oculus features in just for the Gabe of it. But I think the games that do it right will warrant the price (which we see from HTC Vive is actually quite competitive).

 

Someone made a compilation video but you can see giant bomb did over 20 hours of vr streams

 

Ha!
"F*** you... birds!"

 

10:11 is great.

A while ago steam tried flood my recommendation feed with VR games. Unfortunately most of them looked like junk.

I have a feeling that people don't really know what to do with the headset, gameplay wise.

 

Uhmm, you can trash pretty much anything if you try hard enough. Makes me think of the usual teenage bunch you might find at the movies mocking the plot of the film and repeating what actors say in funny voices.

Main critique there is that VR doesn't have a mind blowing VR specific game yet. And minor glitches like you'd find since the beginning of video games.

Most people seem to be enjoying VR.

 

I don't know. VR games steam kept offering me looked mostly like trash. I also don't know who those "most people" are, because the whole VR thing was very quiet lately.

However, this game seems to be going in the right direction:

This looks like it could actually be fun

 

I'd say that this video has an agenda of making VR look bad. The virtual desktop was just they didn't use it properly or it's an old version or something as I was trolled yesterday when someone controlled my PC with a Vive using the controllers.

The Vive and Oculus both have some great games, I would say that if you are looking at a Vive or Oculus make your purchasing decision based on the games you see, like if you want to play the Lab or Fantastic Contraption and are willing to buy a Vive for that experience then go for it, but if you don't see any games that you might like then wait for a few months and see what comes out.

Regarding pricing of games, it's pretty much that devs need to eat food and if the games only going to sell to a small group of people then the price needs to be high, Flight Control sold millions of copies at $0.99(I think, I could be off on either of those numbers but you get the idea) but on the Vive it's just a fraction of that so it needs to be higher.

 

Not having tried VR it kills me when people say it's really bad, because honestly there might be some truth in it and I can't prove myself they're wrong. In my guts I know VR is going to be a game changer for times to come.

I would like to see how bad motion sickness is. It may be an issue that could kill the whole experience.

Current content does look kind of basic. But see it in terms of potential. I think of the things that you could do with VR in the future. If current games were all of it, for ever, then yeah, I'd agree it can get boring fast. But the future, man, the future! :B

 

I tried DKII briefly in the past, and wasn't exactly astonished by the experience. With new price range of the kit, I won't be having oculus rift/vive/whatever any time soon.

However, there's that issue where I'm less affected by stereoscopic images compared to some people I saw. So maybe it has something to do with it.

Also, that wave of VR games on steam - it really looked bad. It resembled the wave of motion-based games which were pushed onto the market when Wii introduced their motion controller.

I would be interested in virtual desktop the most, by the way. It is shame that those guys.pretty much gave it one glance and closed it.

I see potential in that "job simulator" game. Most of the other content overviewed in that video looked like either an attempt to ride the hype or a desperate search for a decent movement scheme. (I gotta say that teleporting yourself around really isn't how it should be done).

Also, the video briefly displayed Valley of the Winds whcih I played. That game was gamepad controlled, that contorl scheme worked alright.

 

Yeah, saw that video in the morning. The games they play really do look like a Wii experience, which was quite boring for me when that was new and cool . I don't really care for tennis or similar stuff.

But, there's a few really cool looking games coming out from Insomniac (http://kotaku.com/insomniac-now-true-believers-in-vr-releasing-three-ocu-1771520824 ) and also EVE Valkyrie seems like it's a lot of fun (basically what vr was made for in my opinion).

Not gonna put out 600$ or 800$ for these though, I'll probably wait for a year or two before getting a headset.

 

Hey guys, i own a DK2, a Gear VR and a Vive. You have to try vr for yourself to make your own opinion.
I think that VR(/AR, mixed reality...) will be the next big thing. But no, it's not perfect.
Each platform has is pros and cons. The prices are mostly too high. But it is an exciting time for video game. It's not will it be adopted by the masses, but when. My lastest mind-blowing experiences were 'the Lab' and 'Job Simulator' on the Vive. Playing in room-scale there is no more motion sickness. Whole new gameplays and directions emerge, new challenges and constraints too. Is it not a game game developper dream ? A lot of potential customers will wait some times, but then will jump in. I'm totally ok with people being skeptical, not so much with the over-conservative / preconceived notions. And to stay on track, once again, yes the Rift CV1 is overpriced, and i say that as a dev in term of market.

 

Htc vive is definitely awesome with those controllers. Tried the space pirate game and it was a really fun experience. Also tried a project a friend is working on. Was holding a freaking huge sword in my right hand and could look at it as if I was holding it. This thing is amazing and has a lot of potential, totally unleash some creativity if you develop for it. You can really create experiences. Also tried the occulus rift, I would say it's pretty similar in terms of graphic quality but light years behind without the tracking and real controllers.
I can't wait for my phone upgrade and get the galaxy S7 with the gear VR. .. also tried it and was really surprised by the quality and the angle of vue, pretty much no vignetting or window effect, really great immersion.
So yeah if you,have the space and the money, and the rig .... then go for HTC or wait for occulus to have some comparable controllers.

 

Sure, but that "when" might be "when it's built into a normal pair of glasses that has the computer built in or in your pocket". I think that'll come, but I don't think I'd risk a business or a major project on it right at the moment.

To be honest I see it being far more useful in other areas. Games are cool, but they're used for leisure or relaxation. The tech has to be solid, reliable, feel good and be super easy to set up and use before it's usable there in the mainstream. Again, that's probably coming, but it feels like a fair way off.

For training and simulation, though? Potentially a different story. Comparing a good VR setup to, say, a cave display installation I can see some compelling arguments towards the VR, and the issues that make (current) VR less than compelling as a leisure time thing don't really apply there.

 

I currently have the DK2 after having tried the DK1 and enjoying the experience. Never got any of that motion sickness they talk about, guess that's a per-person kind of issue. I didn't play a lot of the "for VR" games, none of which I'm even remotely interested in playing.

I ended up using it on some FPS games, namely Alien: Isolation. I found the VR set to be a really fun and interesting way to play that. It was pretty cool being able to see things in "3D" and yea, it was scary as hell. Still, there are some subtleties that I'm not sure can be solved for yet, mainly:

Focusing on things in the distance is a tough one. How are you supposed to tell the goggles what the user's eyes are actually focusing on? So far I've at times gotten the sensation that my eyes are open under water. There's a weird blurriness to the peripherals and objects (especially when viewed close up) look as though they're made of tiny squares.

I haven't been exposed to it for more than maybe 15-30 minutes, so I can't really say what that experience is like when prolonged for more accurate play times.

It's cool, don't get me wrong and I could easily see this becoming something great. Of course, I'm terrible at predicting that stuff. I thought the Kinect was going to be a thing. It was for a while and then people moved on to something else. I see a very similar situation with the VIVE. It's got novelty, sure, but are you really going to go through that setup every time you want to play a game? Maybe it's not something you use regularly, okay, but now you have a large space that you've reserved for something you'll only use from time to time.

 

I experienced some motion sickness with my buddies DK2. Nothing major, but enough for me to say that's it - I'm done.
Being an ex-paratrooper who never ever experienced motion sickness in the back of planes and helos - even when others are pissing and puking there asses out, and have never had any type of motion sickness, even when reading in the back seat of the car while riding with Mr. Swervey McSwerveson, I think the motion sickness is solely due to bad output/design and not matching the correct refresh rate required.
I didn't get the feeling of total joy and excitement and control that I did when I brought home my first Nintendo, and later the same feeling when I bought PS1 and Final Fantasy 7. The feeling I had while experiencing vr was more similar to the video Aiusrage2k posted above, confusion - a real sense of fighting with controls nearly the entire time, and experiencing media I could be consuming in a different more comfortable way.

Until vr can deliver that feeling of excitement, joy and fun to the majority of users at a reasonable price range sub300 - I don't see it becoming the next gaming platform. When the experience is enjoyable, not confusing, exciting and affordable, it 'could' become a more widely used platform for gaming.

 

That is not even a consumer product and a lot of the software that ran on that was experimental stuff with little regard for motion sickness. Most devs have learned a lot since then.

I've gotten plenty sick with DK2 on certain content (Alien: Isolation especially), but the consumer hardware with more recent software is on a different level.

I've done several demos on the Vive with no hint of motion sickness. That's not to say it's not possible for someone to get sick with it, depending on what software they choose to run or that someone could be especially sensitive, but many people who got sick with DK1 and DK2 hardware + early content often do not experience that with the Vive.

I don't know about Rift CV1 yet, but my impression is that it's a similar experience from both the hardware and software side. I can say that the room-scale experience of the Vive felt very, very comfortable.

 

I tend to agree with you, but look at upcoming devices like Sulon or GameFace (mobile, unthetered, integrated hardware), using mixed reality, projects like magic leap, hololens and much more. We could be there sooner than expected (i mean few years).
Gear VR already does a fairly good job as a casual VR mobile device. Oculus Rift try to have a "wear and play", seated experience. The software has greatly evolved and the runtime switching and workaround period is over.
Vive is a more immersive and complete experience but at some convenience costs. I see that as new gaming alternatives. Nobody should invest years of development in this, but for little studios it looks like a promising market to evaluate. Oh and honestly as a gamer, i'm already totally sold, no way back to screen when i can play a good game in VR, but it's just my personal point of view.

 

Yes - very good point - I was hinting at - you cleared up nicely.

 

is there any other alternative than oculus that will show unity editor output in real time? if i buy samsung gear VR i have to build and deploy my game to my phone. is it right? do i know something wrong?

 

Yeah you need to build and deploy to get perfect real time

 

i need it for development. so near real time is enough for me. i can do it with oculus, can't i?

 

Yes Oculus Rift works real time when you hit play button. With mobile I think you can use Unity remote but the image quality can be poor and it can be laggy and cause nausea depending what type testing you are doing.

 

What do other devices support Editor Mode? I think HTC Vive supports too.

 

The Vive supports play mode in the editor.

 

I think it makes more sense to tart up something like Google Cardboard and be able to replace the tablet/phone periodically as that stuff is already on a pretty quick 2 year replacement cycle. $650 for a Android tablet with goggle adaptors is too much.

 

The thing is no one makes 90hz phones with a GTX 970 and high end processor.

 

Yes, I was wondering about that too but that after this post I read that Google is starting a new VR initiative as the successor to Google Cardboard. Given the progress of computer graphics to use less power and become smaller, eg the newest nVidia Pascal, I think in 2 years and this Occulus GTX 970 will look antiquated and even more overpriced than it already is by Google Daydream and competitors...

I think Occulus made a big mistake by trying to go after console gamers with their Occulus HW design choice, most of who wouldn't even buy a new game console at Occulus prices, instead of market share with affordable Occulus HW. They should not of listened to the 3D realism tech moaners that deride anything but the latest used by the big game companies on their big console games. VR has the uniqueness to be a self-sustaining niche on it's own.

 

When and how did they go after console gamers? their stuff is not any different from Vive when the Touch controller will be out.

 

$650 price point and GTX 970 is going for realism in 3D rendering that 'game console and high end PC gamer connoisseurs' insist on. They should have gone for mobile gamers first as those games translate more naturally to VR & AR.

 

They did.

https://vr.google.com/cardboard/index.html
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Gear-VR-Virtual-Reality/dp/B016OFYGXQ

 

Sadly I can't afford even cardboard because I need new phone / tablet to go with it too. I will wait for Daydream.

 

Doesn't Daydream require a phone too? At least that's what the image suggests.

 

Yep, it does or a tablet of the right size. I'm trying to avoid sticking a finger in every pie and just do good with what I've got for now. I do want to try it later though...

 

Same. I'm waiting for either one headset to be the leader, one API to be the leader and supported by most headsets, or one headset support the games I am primarily interested in.