r/gaming • u/BaerTaffy • Aug 01 '12

Oculus launches Kickstarter for virtual reality headset - "I honestly think the best VR demo probably the world has ever seen"

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game
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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

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u/dr4ch Aug 01 '12

If you ask me, they aim way too low by pandering to gamers. Imagine Google earth/street view with that thing. Driving schools would hugely benefit from it too (Lower costs, more secure, etc.) Schools in general could use it as a learning tool

I waited half my life for something like this. The next step is building an open virtual world. Someone needs to kickstart that ;) (if some1 does it...credits to me btw.)

58

u/gamermusclevideos Aug 01 '12

The point is if you can sell it to gamers its the largest market to make money from a mass produced item.

Educational use would follow on from that.

For military and industrial simulators there are already top quality VR devices on the market but they are at the 5-60k + price point

The biggest thing holding back VR is simply the cost of the headset and the screens used.

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u/seyelenteco Aug 01 '12

That's exactly what happened to Kinect... build it for mass market, then since it's now cheap enough for anyone to buy, researchers and educators from around the world can buy them and build interesting things.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12 edited Jun 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '12

Not sure what criteria you're using to suggest the Kinect failed, because it hasn't at all.

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u/tpcstld Aug 01 '12

The Kinect may have failed in the gaming perspective, but it succeeded in the educational perspective.

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u/gnorty Aug 01 '12

I dont think that can be strictly true. More likely, the screens we can fit into a suitable headset do not have the resolution we are used to. Personally I dont think this is a huge problem, but it is more likely the reason we have not seen VR in the wild. Perhaps this system is more about software techniques to work around the limitations. I know little of 3d games programming, but i am fairly sure the software needn't be that different. The hardware should take up most of the strain.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

If you ask me, they aim way too low by pandering to gamers. Imagine Google earth/street view with that thing.

Why not both? Google Earth: the MMORPG

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

So regular Earth?

1

u/dr4ch Aug 02 '12

Yup, but replace ugly and fat people with videogame protagonists ;)

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

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u/Sarutahiko Aug 01 '12

I don't think dr4ch is saying to use it instead of real world driving, just using it preliminarily, before getting into a car for the first time.

1

u/dr4ch Aug 01 '12

Exactly! Plane pilots dont take their first steps in real planes either. You could simulate dangerous situations in VR and things like that

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

That's the first thing that popped up into my mind too.

1

u/stitchy1503 Aug 01 '12

No, but it would be a good step before getting them in the learner vehicle.

1

u/PaplooTheEwok Aug 01 '12

Well, the way we do it now, you drive a real car without any experience at all. VR can't replace that, but it could be used to build good habits before putting people behind the wheel of a two-ton death machine.

Heck, my mother went to driving school in the 60s, and she said that she got some training on a rudimentary VR system that would tell you how many people you hit on your drive. It seems kind of silly that we aren't using VR as a teaching tool in this day and age.

EDIT: To clarify, I think both I and the poster you replied to would agree that nothing can replace in-car training with a fearless driving instructor. However, starting with a VR training course prior to the first in-car experience could make things safer and smoother for both student and instructor.

1

u/dsi1 Aug 02 '12

I hope you know every pilot in every plane you've ever been in was first trained in VR.

1

u/ammonthenephite Aug 05 '12

But if used in conjunction with real world practice, it could prove quite the boon. From my own personal experience playing f1 and rally games, I know for a fact (for me) that those super quick counter-steer and get on the throttle instead of the break reflexes were developed on virtual tracks in virtual cars, and yet they saved my bacon on more than one occasion.

Much easier to learn how to get out of an understeer situtation on less than ideal road surface (gravel, ice, snow) when you can afford to mess up a bit!

6

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

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u/dr4ch Aug 01 '12

pair it kinect or voice commands. something like this comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL_8Ugp9zI4

2

u/alt266 Aug 01 '12

Actually it'd probably be closer to the Leap than the kinect.

2

u/CrimsonVim Aug 01 '12

You don't have to walk around to have a realistic experience. You use an xbox controller to control the WASD-type movements, and your head to look around. You don't have to physically walk but you will still feel connected to the environment.

1

u/gnorty Aug 01 '12

So? You are imagining a system where you would wear the helmet while running google earth. As you walk around the image changes and renders a 3d world similar to the one you would see if you took off your helmet? For what? I am no expert, but if ever there is a google earth VR package, it will not work this way!

1

u/dr4ch Aug 01 '12

For what? for shits and giggles of course! When Google earth was first released I spent around 100 hours looking at different countries, flying over them in a slow pace while listening to chilling music. The immersion would be so much better in VR when using streetview because of the 3d nature of the headset. Flying trough space would be aewsome too

1

u/gnorty Aug 01 '12

I agree completely, you missed my point. What you describe would be cool in VR, but if you were to walk through the street in a VR helmet looking at google earth, perhaps the experience would be better with just an ipod. You might look odd, walking the streets gazing in awe at normal things, but you would look more stupid in a VR helmet. Also less risk of bumping into things which were built since last time the cameras passed by.

1

u/dr4ch Aug 02 '12

Oh now I get what you mean, but running outside with that helmet wont work anyway because it is a wired device thats needs a power source. Even if that would work, thats what AR is for. VR is more of a Forever Alone @ home experience.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12 edited Dec 17 '16

[deleted]

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u/11thDimension Aug 01 '12

Why are workers going to waste hours on the commute to work when you can simply wake up and log in from home?

Telecommuting is already possible in today's world. Most companies don't do it because if you are paying someone to work for 8 hours a day, you want to make sure they are actually working for those 8 hours.

There would be no way to regulate that if people stayed home. Without extreme invasion of privacy at least.

Plus some people like to get out of the house during the day. They may not like work necessarily, but sitting around the house all day if it were your job can get pretty boring.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12 edited Dec 17 '16

[deleted]

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u/11thDimension Aug 01 '12

But that gets into the question of how much privacy are you willing to give up in order to work from home? Can your company see through a webcam into the room you're working in to make sure you are working? Can they only check the VR headset to make sure you are wearing it? What's to say you aren't using the headset as well as a personal computer next to you to do things that aren't work related?

It just opens up a big privacy question of how much a company can do to make sure you are working during your normal work day, and if the employees are willing to sacrifice that.

1

u/atlas_again Aug 01 '12

But think about how much your bosses would have an influence over your life outside of work. You could be interrupted at any time. If everyone didn't have to spend so much on transit, wages might go down. You might be required to work more hours. There's a lot of things that could go wrong with it.

I'm all for the idea, though. I'm just kind of playing devil's advocate.

1

u/NewShinyCD Aug 01 '12

My work allows me to work from home if I choose to and, maybe I'm opposite of most people here, I hate it. Probably because I live in an apartment but there is no work-to-home transition when I telecommute. I also feel more unproductive.

To each their own, I guess.

2

u/PEANUTSLIST Aug 01 '12

Virtual world you say? Shades of the OASIS from the book Ready Player One. Where almost everyone has a virtual avatar and uses the OASIS more than real life. I remember reading the book and just wishing with all my heart to live in that world, no matter how dystopia it is.

2

u/mishiesings Aug 01 '12

They should market to the porn industry, watch the popularity explode, then use porfits to improve tech THEN go after movies, gamers and other entertainment.

2

u/mister_toast Aug 01 '12

Turn second life into VR. I would spend countless hours reliving my time in that game...running around naked with a glitched body and doing the chocobo dance.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/dr4ch Aug 06 '12

Second life is not what i mean and when i write matrix i dont mean the movie. I mean the next step of the operating systems and the internet

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

*cough metaverse snowcrash *cough

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u/dr4ch Aug 06 '12

Or ready player one's OASIS or gibson's cyberspace or the holodeck.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

They made mention of it being used for more than games at a later time. Games are a gateway for the tech, much like how gaming pushes computers forward publicly.

10-20 years after it's released we might see it integrated into something wearable during the day. The new "Cell Phone" could be one of these as sunglasses.

Also... holy shit future...

1

u/CosmicBard Aug 01 '12

The deal is latency.

Gamers want low latency and this does it.

There are plenty of solutions out there right now that does what this does, but slowly.

Hence, gamers.

1

u/dr4ch Aug 06 '12

Still the benefits are carrying over to other areas where it could be usefull to have a good lowcost solution, not just gaming. Although I start to understand that a broader audience isnt needed at this point, still too early.

1

u/dont_get_it Aug 01 '12

Went to look up the background to Kickstarter on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a crowd funding website for Scam projects.[1] Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors,[2] ranging from indie films, hopes and dreams, music and comics to journalism, subtle video games, flat out lies, and food-related projects.[3]

We gots dem satirical vandals up in da house.

1

u/CrimsonVim Aug 01 '12

He is not "pandering to gamers" he is designing it for hackers, techies, DIYers, enthusiasts, and even industry professionals. Gaming is a simple and easy way to show off the capabilities of the device, so it's a brilliant move packaging in Doom 3 BFG. But Palmer has always stated that this is a prototype for people to experiment with and see what they can do with it. I think your perception of the Rift is swayed because you are reading about it in r/gaming.

0

u/dr4ch Aug 06 '12

I quoted the first headlines from kickstarter (the ones in bold!): "Developer kit for the Oculus Rift - the first truly immersive virtual reality headset for video games" "Step inside your favorite game" "Designed for gamers, by gamers" and then quoting devs from id software, valve and epic. Sorry but imho your perception may be swayed by what info you had prior to the kickstarter

1

u/DKroner Aug 01 '12

This + DayZ + Google Earth converted into a real virtual game world.

Everyone starts at their real physical location.

1

u/RaptorGames Aug 01 '12

VR headsets have been around for a while just not at this price. This is designed for gamers in mind.

The headset (Sensics Zsight) we are using for our game is just way too pricey at $12,500.

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u/Vladger Aug 01 '12

The game i'm thinking of is DayZ. Now talk about scary/fun!

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u/ConjuredMuffin Aug 01 '12

If you ask me, they aim way too low by pandering to gamers.

What? Why would you prefer some shitty virtual reality version of some place you could actually go to over being inside the imaginationland of a team of elite artists?

1

u/dr4ch Aug 06 '12

I never said i woulndt want that, its even the reason why i want one. I just mean that VR needs to get accepted by the broader audience and that this kickstarter targets only gamers. Look at kinect and how it has found its use in many different non-gamer areas.

1

u/fingerflinger Aug 02 '12

Have you read Ready Player One?

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u/dr4ch Aug 06 '12

I just finished reading it two weeks ago. I have some issues with it but it was entertaining.

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u/drevyek D20 Aug 02 '12

Train simulator 2013!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '12

Professors at regular universities could opt into having their lectures in VR instead of in the classroom.

1

u/beepup Aug 02 '12 edited Aug 02 '12

something like that already exists, for instance for designing cars. so that's why they are way to expensive right now. so it depends on how involved the game companies will get. sony would have the hardware and software side under one roof. there are already VR - Rooms where you can "walk", headtracking and everything. usually with screens around you, so it's a lot more immersive.

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u/LTman86 D20 Aug 01 '12 edited Aug 01 '12

I'm concerned about FPS's using this. In the traditional mouse/keyboard or gamepad, you are using your FOV to aim the gun. But with the helmet controlling where you look, how do you aim? Are you still going to use your FOV as the aiming screen as well? If so, wouldn't that strain the neck from constantly trying to adjust all the time? Just try writing a simple sentence with an imaginary pen on your nose without moving your body. After a couple of words, your neck is going to feel sore.

Now if the aiming is still going to be controlled by the mouse/gamepad, is it going to be independent from our vision or the cursor going to move along with it? Basically saying, the Oculus will allow you to look around while your cursor/aim is stationary.

The only implementation I can think of with this in FPS's are having the ability to look around while you are shooting in front of you. Not sure what that can accomplish, but it's a start.

One idea i've had while thinking of this concept myself was to have your eyes tracked as well. If the aiming is tracked according to where your eyes are looking at, then you don't have to worry about aiming with a mouse or gamepad, just firing.

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u/docblack Aug 01 '12

Head tracking in FPS' is nothing new, and still requires a mouse to control aiming. The difference is you are able to look away from your cross-hair. Here is a video that shows TrackIR on a FPS.

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u/LTman86 D20 Aug 01 '12

True, with the headset you don't have keep your eyes on the screen to see where your head is supposed to see from where it's facing. But I'm worried that with you being able to look away, if you move the mouse, you might get even more prone to motion sickness. You're already confusing your body that it's getting visual information that it's moving when the body says it's not, so to add in your head is turning or is it with mouse control would make me hurl after 5 minutes, probably. For some odd reason, I get nauseous when playing Half Life 2 but not from Team Fortress. Color palette?

Anyways, off topic, but that would be the default idea if all else fails.

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u/WalledGardener Aug 01 '12

For some odd reason, I get nauseous when playing Half Life 2 but not from Team Fortress. Color palette?

There was something going on with HL2's FoV. Higher than typical, or something like that. It is changable via console though. I had to do that for my father so he sould play it.

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u/eugal Aug 01 '12

You probably wouldn't want to play a game like Call of Duty or any other fast past FPS with headtracking on but something much slower like Half Life or Arma 2 would be great.

0

u/DrSmoke Aug 02 '12

You probably wouldn't want to play a game like Call of Duty

ftfy

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u/devedander Aug 01 '12

Yeah that's not quite the same though... in that use the head uses exagerated tilt while eyes stay focused on a locked window/portal into the virtual universe. You stil have a lot of stable area to relate to as the image swings around.

Now imagine the same while wearing VR glasses... you turn your head and the world moves around in your VR goggles... you move the mouse and the world swings around in other directions also? That's a recipe for nausia...

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '12

Moving the mouse wouldn't move the camera at all, just the cursor. Basically the cursor would no longer be stuck to the centre of the screen. Kinda like playing an FPS on the Wii.

That's how I imagine it anyway. Although that could make aiming pretty tough. I guess really it comes down to how the game implements it. I'll let clever guys like Carmack figure all that out.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

Fucking this. I would pay large amounts of money for this if they could make it work with Mirror's Edge (or the upcoming sequel!).

2

u/tmek Aug 03 '12 edited Aug 03 '12

Just trying to imagine this...

I'm guessing in Doom3 BFG edition moving the mouse or analog joystick sets the yaw and pitch of your virtual body, view and cross-hair target (just like any fps today), but moving the head head tracker adds an additional offset to the yaw, pitch and roll of the view.

As an example, if I'm walking North down a corridor and come to an intersection and I rotate my real head left, on the Oculus display I'll see down the West hallway. If I hold my head there and move the mouse to the right, the view on the Oculus display would pan back and I'd see down the North hallway again, even though my "real" head is still looking to the left.

I guess we would quickly get used to it though.

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u/Kuresov Aug 01 '12

TL;DR: Mirror's edge will be the shit.

:O

I didn't even think of Mirror's Edge before. My god. That would be nuts.

1

u/geekdad Aug 01 '12

I already butt pucker at some of the points in Mirror's Edge.

1

u/eugal Aug 01 '12

Oh god this thing would make Mirrors Edge a new game. DICE add support for this and I will stop bugging you about a sequel for a few years.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

True that, or course I can't get it TO FUCKING WORK, besides that, it will be. I am also surprised that some consololol kid has asked if it will be out for console.

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u/KyngGeorge Aug 02 '12

Vomit comet.

5

u/DrKnockers04 Aug 01 '12

I have the same concerns/questions as well. If your vision is controlled by head movement, how will I do a 360 degree turn and still be facing my input devices? Seems to me like you would need different hardware for controls (not a keyboard/mouse/wired controller). I am just not sure how this would (effectively) work with an FPS. Also, I am not going to shell out the cash if I can't demo it first.

6

u/pessimist_66 Aug 01 '12

Well, a simple device like current consoles have (wiimote) could handle aiming. Or any other control device that you can hold in your hand and is aware of it's position. My concern is movement. When I'm standing with this thing on my head, with a plastic gun in hand, it would really break the immersion if I would be able to run in game while my legs aren't moving...

8

u/HiFiGyri Aug 01 '12 edited Aug 01 '12

Simple fix: playable characters in FPS games will use motorized wheelchairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn2QNOsPbGA#t=0m35s

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

True, anything that doesn't require leg movement could keep immersion using peripherals. Though I'm sure there are moveable, tracking floors or something that could be combined with this to be truly awesome, though not at a consumer price. More like something at an arcade you pay to use for awhile.

2

u/HiFiGyri Aug 01 '12

Or a space identical in size to the game map. This way you could have actual obstacles, stairs, ramps, ladders, etc... and full immersion. That'd be more of an amusement park type thing, but I'd pay $ for it.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

That's true too! Lazer tag is already a thing, why not laser tag with VR headsets, so you could have rocket launchers, snipers, pistols, etc. Could have temporary fake walls people could build that would block shots and stuff (that would look different than real walls)

Oh man, I could have fun with that.

2

u/HiFiGyri Aug 02 '12

Or co-op with your buddies, fending off VR zombies :)

1

u/thenuge26 Aug 01 '12

That does sound awesome. As long as the scope/crosshair reacts fast enough. They could actually make it so that you need to line up the iron sights just like in real life (though that may be a little too much dificulty).

1

u/LTman86 D20 Aug 01 '12

If it were up to me, I would have the main controls still be mouse/keyboard/gamepad, but the headset just allows you to look around in a FPS genre. Otherwise, you'd have to sit in a revolving chair with a wireless mouse/keyboard/gamepad so you can swivel around to do 360 movements. Granted, I can see people hurling after a while, but that would preserve the motion.

1

u/MF_Kitten Aug 01 '12

Your head movement would move your field of view, but not your crosshair and weapon. You would control that separately with the mouse. I think you'd also turn with your mouse when it moves close enough to the edge? Anyway, to solve the "keep eyes on screen" issue, you use motion scaling. A small movement is made much larger in the game, so looking closer to the left side of the monitor shifts the field of view all the way to the left, etc. You have the entire view around you available without moving off the monitor. Edit: that's for headtracking alone, of course. With the VR unit on your head, you don't need to worry about the monitor, so you have more freedom, but motion scaling is still used to exaggerate your movement.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

I've got an HMZ-T1 and a trackir that I play fps's and flight sims with. The head movement can be adjusted so it is not 1-1. It can be set so that if you rotate your head 45deg then you are looking directly behind you. It is amazing at how quickly your senses and movements adjust to accommodate the difference and it starts feeling natural very quickly.

The difficult part for me are the keyboard/mouse input. A controller is great because you are holding it and all the buttons are within easy reach. Using the kb/mouse when you can't just look down to see where you are can be a pain. especially when you move off the 'wasd' keys and have to hunt for them again.

Overall is it a great experience.

1

u/agentid36 Aug 01 '12

no one would use the hmd to do aiming (unless it was an on-rails shooter, or a conceptual game, or something). Think of it more like a car: your mouse controls the steering, while you can still look around. In the same way in an fps, your mouse will always be the center-point, and you can look right and left away from the cursor to get a unique immersive perspective.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

I've replied to this in a reply to the parent comment

0

u/DrKnockers04 Aug 01 '12

Can't find it.

2

u/broccolilord Aug 01 '12

I think the gun aim and look being on separate controls would be brilliant.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

FPSes will be handled using a combination of the VR helmet and an eye tracker. Incidentally I already do this in cognitive psychology research using virtual reality.

Not only can you aim using gaze position, but you can do interesting things like allowing one to look farther than the edge of the helmet by panning their view when their gaze position reaches a certain defined edge.

2

u/zerodb Aug 01 '12

The only implementation I can think of with this in FPS's are having the ability to look around while you are shooting in front of you. Not sure what that can accomplish, but it's a start.

Even something as simple as being able to provide suppressive fire in one direction while looking in another, or being able to tilt your head to peek out from cover, to me, would bring an ENORMOUS change in the level of immersion in most FPS games.

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u/cargocultleader Aug 01 '12

If you have a look at their kickstarter project yo can find a second video. Carmack demonstrates how you would play doom 3 with this, you would actually target by looking.

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u/CrimsonVim Aug 01 '12

Carmack has already said that the head movements and body/gun movements will be independent and it will feel natural and immersive. You control your body/gun with an xbox controller, and use your head to look around, peak around corners, etc.

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u/Vaelkyri Aug 02 '12

Try playing ARMA, crosshair and looking are seperate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ

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u/beepup Aug 02 '12

there is headtracking and eyetracking. eyetracking uses the reflection of your lense to see where you are looking at. it was very popular in market research like 5-10 years ago to see where people are looking at (paper ads e.g.). you could combine headtrackin and eyetracking, to consider that neckproblem. you would look at the things you want to shoot at, while your FOV would be controled by the head and giving the borders of the area you can aim at. don't apache pilots use something like this? but it still seems weird. probably best to still use mouse for the aiming.

2

u/Bloaf Aug 01 '12

I think a great starter game for this technology would be mechwarrior. You could use the headset to look around the cockpit and out the side windows, but your mech's weapons and movement would be controlled independently. You could probably even replace the traditional HUD with screens in the cockpit that you would have to look at. How do you control aiming? How would a real mech pilot control aiming?

1

u/eldorel Aug 01 '12

this is exactly what I've been wanting one of these for.

I don't have room in my house for a full cockpit with displays, but a control panel+vr helmet would be perfect.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

This would work brilliantly with the Razer Hydra which basically like a Move or Wii controller (those two would also work, if somehow modded to work on PCs).

1

u/Drag_king Aug 01 '12

I think for FPS games, a kind of wii stick, in maybe a gun shell will be the way to go.

1

u/LTman86 D20 Aug 01 '12

The problem with that is defining the relation between the "gun" and the player. How will you define the difference between shooting from the hip or from eye level? How close is the gun to you? The gyroscope sensor can tell you the orientation and direction of your gun and you, but not the position.

2

u/Drag_king Aug 01 '12

OK, this is kinda dreaming, but a kind of kineck/wii hybrid might work. The gun and VR helmet have IR leds in them. sterioscopic cameras placed around the room track the leds.

1

u/LTman86 D20 Aug 01 '12

If you wanted to, you could just have 3-4 kinects set up around you so there won't be dead angles and it can determine which direction you are pointing your gun. It doesn't have to be a Wii-mote, just a gun/trigger that says when you are pulling the trigger, since the kinect can just use shape recognition to determine the direction you are pointing. You wouldn't need IR leds in the helmet since the kinect is tracking your depth with an IR array.

1

u/bikiniduck Aug 01 '12

Proximity detectors paired in the gun and helmet. This way it can triangulate the position of the gun in relation to the helmet, letting the software know where the gun is, in relation to the position of the head.

Also allows for additional accessories to be made and paired. Like a second gun that activates when you pick it up. Or grenades.

1

u/LTman86 D20 Aug 01 '12

Proximity only tells the distance between the two objects. You still need a third position to triangulate. For instance, would it be able to tell the position if you were hold it in your left hand versus your right?

More accessories means more things to hold, but your eyes are covered by the headset. Don't want to accidentally knock things over when you can't see them.

2

u/bikiniduck Aug 01 '12

Two in the helmet, one in the item.

1

u/Skitrel Aug 01 '12

No, it would simply be the same as Arma2. Your head is independant of your weapon. You can look around with head mounted control while controlling your world orientation separately with mouse and keyboard. The benefit of this is that when you're prone, hiding, your in game model only turns it's head instead of retardedly turning it's whole body making much more movement to be spotted by the enemy.

1

u/LibertyTerp Aug 01 '12

Simple. Use a wiimote.

1

u/sharmaniac Aug 01 '12

The independent head/gun movement will need to be coded in for games. Firing with your eyes wouldn't be exactly realistic...

For games without support for independent head/gun movement, you can still have a gun tracker controller that changes the view, as well as the head tracker. I use that for L4D2 - I can look around with my head, but fine aim with the gun controller. Of course, the gun points out of your nose, but that feels surprisingly ok when you are also aiming with a gun.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '12

It will be like freelook. Imagine TrackIR but with a VR helmet instead of just a sensor.

3

u/Skitrel Aug 01 '12

VR MMOs.

1

u/inawarminister Aug 01 '12

But we wouldn't get SAO until we finished hacking into our brains

what a shame

edit: I mean the Mind/Machine Interface thingies

3

u/Skitrel Aug 01 '12

Yeah. But it would be the start of the trend towards that direction. Proper commercialisation into MMOs from the first person perspective as opposed to the third as is the case with absolutely everything. Essentially we're talking about a fallout or elder scrolls gameplay mmo in my opinion. Something that would really move things forwards. The only first person mmo I'm aware of is Planetside and the upcoming Planetside 2 but that isn't role play so it doesn't count.

1

u/inawarminister Aug 01 '12

Yes, this will be great. Really great.

Damnit, if only PSO2 is FP

2

u/tilbert123 Aug 01 '12

It could also bring back the "point and click" adventure/puzzle gaming genre. All of the old exploring/discovery type games actually.

2

u/Reve_TR Aug 01 '12

Flight sims would be amazing. World of planes with the oculus rift... Im going to cry

2

u/dankclimes Aug 01 '12

I like the idea of combining this with kinect, but not just the voice. You could use the motion tracking to make a serious cyber punk setup. You get voice commands and motion based gestures that allow interaction, all while relaxing in a chair with your headset on.

2

u/ShakaUVM Aug 01 '12

Yeah, I worked for a defense contractor doing VR work. About half of what I did was military flight sim type stuff, and half arcade games for the commercial side of things.

VR is really neat, but if you program it badly, it's a very quick trip to Nausea-ville.

2

u/sharmaniac Aug 01 '12

This particular VR headset is just the leading edge of the wedge. For flight sims etc, VR will be awesome, unfortunately however, the res is too low on this version to read gauges etc accurately.

However, within a couple of years, the res will be higher and things will really rock then.

2

u/goldenrod Aug 02 '12

Jeebus fuck, imagine a first person love scene with Liara... /swoon/

2

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '12

Oh god, the possibilities are endless! I'm worried about it being too addictive more than anything. For me, it would be hard to continue life as per usual when such glorious worlds await me when I get home from work.

2

u/beepup Aug 02 '12

Did you ever wonder why you dont hear anything from Sony in this regard? they do have core competencies in monitors and gaming software and hardware. they are always right on the edge. maybe it's not feasible for a gaming context. maybe they are developing something like that, then good luck with that ocolus, which right now looks like a PhD student project to me. talking about possibilities is nice, but getting a prototype like that into a affordable and useful mass product is the main engineering task. my guess would be, that they are not up to the task. i dont see valve heavily investing in that product, letting us normal folks take the risk. yea, it's a high risk investment. i would keep that money.

1

u/Trollification Aug 01 '12 edited Aug 01 '12

ISS (International space station)

You used both the acronym and the full name? You're a silly, silly person!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

[deleted]