Oculus Rift has me more excited about tech than anyting

[SAWYER]

I havent been following it but after reading/watching/hearing nothing but glowing impressions from the beta developer kit, I cant wait to see what this tech does to the gaming and other industries.

Then I read the Verge best of ces and seethis

BEST IN SHOW: OCULUS RIFT
The Oculus Rift changed my life. No, seriously. My childhood (at least the formative years) was spent reading novels like Neuromancer and Snow Crash, and poring over stories about a future promised by Mondo 2000 and Wired. Virtual reality has long been the ultimate promise of technology — the magic mandala, a doorway to the infinite. But the thing is: it never happened. We got touchscreens, motion sensors, the tablet revolution, body-hacking… but we never got our cyberdecks. Until now. The Oculus Rift actually delivers on the promise, and then some. It’s really, really amazing. Truly and honestly a revelation, a trip, a rabbit hole. And I’m going in. Forever. Goodbye universe. Hello universe.
– Joshua Topolsky"



This is exciting if it pans out

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Just looks like a virtual boy with higher resolution. Expect it to do about as well : p (I'm just messing around although I'm not really interested in it either)

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

Likewise. Wake me up when this and the Steambox are available.

 

[Canbacon]

If the consumer version will have head tracking ability like the TrackIR system. I am sold. TrackIR is amazing for racing games.

 

[SAWYER]

Not sure exactly what you are referring to but from the impressions of this when using if you turn your head your see where you are looking, even if you turn all the way around you will see behind you

 

[dougp]

Hearing John Carmack speak about VR was one of the coolest things ever. I didn't understand 90% of what he said but he's a very passionate individual.

 

[vshah]

i am so excited for star citizen since they've said they'll support the rift. sitting in a cockpit and looking around is the PERFECT use case for this since you don't have to worry about walking around. i am so excited.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Looks cool, but is it going to be affordable? I have a hard time getting exciting about things that I probably won't be able to afford for a long time. This looks like it's gonna be expensive.

What probably most excited me from CES is Nvidia's Project Shield. I'm hoping it won't be anymore than $500. Being able to stream my PC games to this handheld is going to be really cool I hope.

 

[BladeVenom]

Hearing John Carmack speak about VR was one of the coolest things ever. I didn't understand 90% of what he said but he's a very passionate individual.

I love listening to John Carmack speak. A breath of fresh air after listening to half-wit reporters questioning politicians and spokesmen who never actually say anything.

 

[dougp]

Looks cool, but is it going to be affordable? I have a hard time getting exciting about things that I probably won't be able to afford for a long time. This looks like it's gonna be expensive.

What probably most excited me from CES is Nvidia's Project Shield. I'm hoping it won't be anymore than $500. Being able to stream my PC games to this handheld is going to be really cool I hope.

Yes, it is. Look at the Rift's KickStarter, you can see the unassembled version was $275 and from what Carmack said, that's primarily because they hadn't looked for an actual assembly factory because the final product hasn't been decided.

 

[Mopetar]

Just looks like a virtual boy with higher resolution. Expect it to do about as well : p (I'm just messing around although I'm not really interested in it either)

I think that much like the Wii (and motion controlled gaming) this will be criticized for causing neck cramps or soreness. I think that this actually has a decent chance to succeed, and maybe even get picked up by some larger company if only because there seems to be a lot of the biggest and most influential developers expressing a genuine interest in this project. This isn't something like Microsoft's SmartGlass or Nintendo's Wii-mote where a lot of developers are looking at it with a certain amount of disdain. This is something they're excited about and want to play around with.

 

[RockinZ28]

Not sure exactly what you are referring to but from the impressions of this when using if you turn your head your see where you are looking, even if you turn all the way around you will see behind you

Fuck this would be absolutely amazing for vehicle sims. Using it and sitting in my play seat with a G27 would have to be almost the real deal except for g force and bumps etc. Hopefully the consumer version will have at least 1080p or even retina display, although it will take some serious hardware to push 60fps for each eye.

Really want to see what this thing is like. Hard to justify $300 for a dev version tho if it's just to check it out. Anyone in the SoCal area want to do a group buy

 

[SAWYER]

From ign
"Experiencing virtual reality of this quality will change gaming. It will free gaming from the conventional wisdom that has governed it for decades. Even using aging tech like Unreal Engine 3, this castle landscape felt real, to the point I wanted to reach out and grab a falling snowflake, or try to touch the cold, stone pillars holding up a decaying building. This virtual world became more palpable, more real, more believable and instantly became more of a character than just about any other game world I had ever played through. And perhaps that’s the best way to phrase it. In the past, I simply played through worlds. I moved through them. This one made me feel like I was physically in that space. Living in it. Unable to look away, because it was all around me. It’s immersion on an entirely different level."

From dvice
Arguably the most important thing about the Oculus Rift is that the displays take up your entire field of view. All of it. You put the headset on, and the only thing you can see is the world that it's showing you. The effect of this is immediate and dramatic, because it fools your brain into thinking that you're somewhere else. Really. It's amazing. You can glance left and right and see more things just like you can in real life. You can also turn all the way around behind you, which is utterly bizarre, because we're so used to interacting with computers in front of us. Like, you could sort of pretend that Oculus is really just a giant 3D screen — until you look behind you and you're still in game."

 

[Canbacon]

Not sure exactly what you are referring to but from the impressions of this when using if you turn your head your see where you are looking, even if you turn all the way around you will see behind you

I meant having your head on a fixed point of space and if you can peer into an object.

For example, if you are in a cockpit you can look down and move your head closer (Z axis) to get a better close up look at the dials and other switches.

I know with the TrackIR, I can do that, but the system is needs my head to be in line with the IR camera and the monitor is at a fixed point. If there is any outside sources of IR it will go crazy. If the rift can do this with super low latency tracking and display. It will be a day 1 buy for me.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

I wonder at what point of immersion will we start seeing people being exposed to unhealthy levels of emotional stress?

 

[Barpanda]

The Rift can definitely do this, but they're still working on Z-axis incorporation. Because most games aren't written for VR uses, they've found that some z-axis functions need tweaking to really keep the player immersed. But it'll be available when they finally launch the first consumer version

They've worked very hard to keep latency levels extremely low. so no need to worry there... this problem has been solved.

 

[Mopetar]

I wonder at what point of immersion will we start seeing people being exposed to unhealthy levels of emotional stress?

I think that the potential this could have for rehabilitating people, as well as for training far outweigh the potential negative effects that could occur for some individuals.

 

[Fingolfin269]

The last starfighter better be a launch title.

 

[darkswordsman17]

While the head tracking I think will be a new dimension (hopefully it'll help with the overly stilted first person view we've had for so long) I honestly think that would be worth it for the display aspect alone, the guy really seems to get our interaction with displays and has basically made what should turn out to be a fairly affordable personal high quality display that likely will offer up the best 3D experience yet. That alone would be pretty great I think and worth the asking price.

I can't even imagine the crazy stuff they'd be able to do with this combined with say an improved Kinect system.

If they can keep improving the wearability this could really spur other uses too. Think augmented reality goggles/helmets.

Just imagine an astronaut broadcasting a feed of spacewalking where you can experience it like you're doing it (or jumping from a weather balloon at 120,000 feet). Or setting foot on Mars. Or any number of other uses (a super high quality one combined with say a surgical robot).

 

[Aganazer]

I can't even begin to imagine the applications of a device like this. Imagine combining this with the 360 degree camera also shown at CES? You could have a fully immersive real video, even live, no 3D though.

I also love the timing of this. Just as the world takes its eyes off of the PC in favor of mobile devices, along comes the holy grail of PC devices, finally, after 30 years of waiting.

 

[Red Storm]

I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these!

 

[Dumac]

Looks extremely interesting. I want to see what people do with it!

 

[dagamer34]

Looks cool, but is it going to be affordable? I have a hard time getting exciting about things that I probably won't be able to afford for a long time. This looks like it's gonna be expensive.

What probably most excited me from CES is Nvidia's Project Shield. I'm hoping it won't be anymore than $500. Being able to stream my PC games to this handheld is going to be really cool I hope.

Dev kit cost is $300, so I wouldn't expect the consumer version to cost much more. Assuming it's really as immersive as people make it out to be, it seems a lot cheaper than buying a 3D TV.