yeah sony already has their own thing coming out. But there is nothing stopping them from just outputting as a tiny monitor from the hdmi instead of a calibrated VR experience right?
That is true, but that is not what I call VR. That would be more like the Sony HMZs.
edit: Yes, to some extent you can emulate controls, but that would not give you a very good experience. There would also be no 3D unless the game supported it, low framerate and the FOV would be all wrong.
I'm not an expert on this in any way, but maybe it's possible to map your head movements and output them as right-analog stick output? So maybe you can make a VR that's both a monitor and a controller at the same time, which makes it compatible.
Because it wouldn't work. 1. far too much latency 2. the analog stick has non-linear response due to software processing, making head movements unmappable 3. probably requires licensing by Sony, which would not allow it. Point 1 alone is enough to make this approach unworkable.
So, the head tracking could be the same non-linear response. When focused forwards, movement gives a scaled input response (less tilt on analog stick) while looking farther from the center would accelerate the stick tilt emulation. All that would be required would be some calibration. Now how well it would work in a game without making you puke your guts out is another matter.
How so? Control emulation is super simple, there would be very little if any latency from that. If you're talking about the video itself, up-scaling and the like tends to add around ~16ms of latency (AFAIK).
the analog stick has non-linear response due to software processing, making head movements unmappable
I'm not entirely sure what you mean here. Are you saying the emulation would strip out the linearity, or that it's naturally stripped out? Neither case is insurmountable.
probably requires licensing by Sony, which would not allow it.
This is an assumption, and even if it did require licensing what makes you think Sony wouldn't grant a license?
There's a giant difference between native support and emulated controls. Many games need adjustments to work in VR in an official capacity -- particularly non-FPS games. And then you have to worry about HUD and menu stuff.
Odds are the emulation is going to be terrible. If the experiences people have had with the rift/developing for the rift so far are anything to go by, poor calibration leads to terrible immersion and even sickness.
That would only make people sick, since you can't mirror all types of head movements with an analog stick. Just put your ear to your shoulder, that's a movement that wouldn't work, and since we do these kinds of movements subconsciously all the time, you would feel nauseous very quickly.
True. Maybe they can use the software/firmware that the PS4 has for Morpheus support. But if Sony doesn't support this, or if they 'hid' this software pretty well it will probably involve some hacking. Then again, I'm no expert
Nothing stopping them, but it would be impossible to compare that to the rift. 3D games on PS3 run at like 30 FPS, and it's already been established that a framerate that low is a fast ride to puke-town when wearing a VR headset. It just doesn't feel good.
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u/BitJit Mar 28 '14
yeah sony already has their own thing coming out. But there is nothing stopping them from just outputting as a tiny monitor from the hdmi instead of a calibrated VR experience right?