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Oculus Rift is Shipping

498 points by SXX 11y ago

hartator 11y ago
Still no updates concerning the touch controllers. VR is awesome to use and I've played a lot in it, but you need specific controllers to take fully advantage of it. IMHO, VR paint is still the best experience you can have, you need more than a xbox one controller to enjoy it though.
- Kiro 11y ago
  Have you tried Oculus + Leap Motion (attached to it)? It's really amazing and I don't know how a controller would be better.
  - nilkn 11y ago
    Leap Motion has a very limited FOV and has no buttons. Tracked controllers like the Vive's right now can be tracked anywhere around you, even if you're not looking at them.
- mklim 11y ago
  Seconded. I've been lucky enough to try the Vive Pre with the Trials of Tatooine demo, Rift Crescent Bay + Xbox controller on a seated experience, and Rift + Touch on a standing experience. Vive was far and away the most compelling for me. I don't know how to describe it other than being dropped into a fictional world. Being able to walk around R2D2, kneel and examine the landing strut of the Falcon, having to physically lunge forward a few feet to deflect a blaster bolt with my lightsaber, actually gripping said lightsaber hilt in my hand and being able to bring it up to my face and inspect it, it really felt like I was there. My only major complaint is that I couldn't stop grinning/laughing, and that pushed the headset up on my face enough to leak in light. Just having a headset and a controller does not at all compare, even with the limited walking space. It's the difference between looking through a porthole and scuba diving.
  - coldpie 11y ago
    What did you find more compelling about the Vive than the Rift+Touch?
    - mklim 11y ago
      Disclaimer: I'm definitely onboard with motion controllers in general, and would hesitate to definitively say that Vive > Rift+Touch without trying more things for both of them (that being said, I cancelled my Rift preorder and do have a Vive on hold right now). The subject matter of the Star Wars demo was much more compelling than the Rift+Touch demo I tried, which I'm sure influenced me subconsciously. But the main things that I consciously noted during both experiences: 1. Better tracking in the Vive. I dropped an arrow on the ground in the Touch demo (a longbow shooting game) and the controllers lost track of my hands when I crouched on the floor to grab it. It was really disorienting to be "grabbing" it and have the game have no idea where my hands were, sort of like when you're in a dream where your body just refuses to move how you tell it to. I had to just give it up and stand, wait for my "hands" to adjust to the right position, and then reach for another one at eye level. Similarly, I kept having to reach a little farther than I was expecting to to actually pick anything up despite being able to see my "hands" in the game. It was like all the distances were just a little off from reality. I'm a lot shorter than the average person (5'), I don't know if that contributed or what. In the Vive demo the controllers always felt 100% 1:1, even when I was whipping the lightsaber around, crouching on the ground examining R2, etc. Tracking did not even surface as a concern at all to me there, felt exactly like my body. 2. Freedom of movement in the Vive demo really made me feel like I was in the world. I could easily walk around, kneel, stand, and was encouraged by the experience to lunge and flail around, like I said. It felt like I was there in the desert 100%, free to do whatever I wanted. I did trigger the transparent Chaperone grid, and felt a little annoyed when it happened, but I trusted the grid to save me from hitting a wall, and the demo's layout encouraged my movement well enough that most of the time I forgot that I couldn't run off into the sunset if I really wanted to. Most of the interesting things were within six feet of me so in general I forgot about the limitation and just felt like I was there. In the Rift demo I felt very constrained and was concerned about hitting anything IRL. It was a longbow shooting game, with me stuck between two parapets. IRL there was a TV displaying what I was doing for the benefit of the people behind me in line. It was positioned in the space between parapets in the game world, and I was super concerned about headbutting it accidentally as I leaned forward to try and see over the wall. No Chaperone, so even though I was trying to be careful I almost did hit it and the woman giving the demo warned me to step back. In the game there was also a bow rack right next to me, and I felt nervous about tipping it over, too (this is silly, as it's not real--just goes to show how immersive the experience was).
xfactor973 11y ago
Windows 7 and above only? Ugh..
- spicyj 11y ago
  They've said they'll work on Linux support after launch and OS X if Apple manufactures a computer powerful enough (which they literally do not right now). But Windows-only seems par for the course for serious computer games.
- freeone3000 11y ago
  Windows 7 introduced the DX11 rendering pipeline, which the Rift uses. It's essentially required for no-delay rendering. (Which is even easier with DX12 - be glad it's not Windows 10 and up!)
  - thearn4 11y ago
    Is OpenGL really that far behind the curve now? I remember a long time ago it performed much better for me on some games (I'm talking Half Life 1 days here), but in the 15 or so years since then its pretty much fallen off of my radar.
    - SXX 11y ago
      > Is OpenGL really that far behind the curve now? Not at all, but it's not what was popular last 10 years for many reasons and with Vulkan it's already legacy API.
      - cookiecaper 11y ago
        My understanding is that Vulkan does NOT deprecate OpenGL, at least not for most use cases. Vulkan is a lower-level API that OpenGL can be implemented on top of, much like Gallium3D. As such, much development will continue in OGL, and only lower-level tuning will require the use of Vulkan. Here's a lengthier discussion about it: https://forums.khronos.org/showthread.php/9717-Will-Vulkan-effectively-quot-replace-quot-OpenGL-or-not https://forums.khronos.org/showthread.php/9717-Will-Vulkan-e...
jhspaybar 11y ago
"If you pre-ordered, you’ll get an email when your order is being prepped (1-3 weeks prior to shipping) and then another one when your payment method has been charged and your Rift is on its way." I ordered mine about 5 minutes after the order form opened on the first day of availability but haven't yet received this email, nor has my card been charged. At the time of order my ship date was still March...is this slipping now?
- berberous 11y ago
  Check your spam folder or promotions tab. If you ordered within 5 minutes you almost certainly got the "1-3 weeks" email. Based on recent tweets from Palmer, the first pre-orders are targeted to start shipping Wednesday, so I assume cards will start getting charged by Tuesday or Wednesday.
  - jhspaybar 11y ago
    I went through their forums, I have an order number of 26xxxxx, apparently some people in this range have received the emails, but most haven't from the looks of it. Oh well, I guess I'll get it in a couple weeks :(
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - Cyph0n 11y ago
      Are the order numbers serial? They can't have received 2.6 mil orders, right? :O
      - jhspaybar 11y ago
        They almost certainly aren't serial, for example, there seems to be a chunk of zeroes that are fixed removing at least a few digits.
      - berberous 11y ago
        The serials seem to have started at xxxxxxx23xxxxx. I'm not sure how serial they are after that, but that puts things on the high-end estimate at hundred of thousands, not millions.
chrisacky 11y ago
It says they ship to 20 countries. Any ideas what that list is? "This item does not ship to XXXXXX, United Kingdom. Please check other sellers who may ship internationally. "
- emilssolmanis 11y ago
  UK is definitely one of them, and there's a support page listing them. Preordered mine within some 20 mins of it opening and no problem shipping to a London address.
jmandzik 11y ago
Kickstarter back here; according to UPS, it should be delivered today.
shmerl 11y ago
Any ETA on Linux support?
- bognition 11y ago
  What is this Slashdot? ;-)
  - shmerl 11y ago
    Why Slashdot?
    - umeshunni 11y ago
      I think he was referring to the fact that on Slashdot, commenters always ask for Linux support for every newly released product.
      - shmerl 11y ago
        Why is it so specific to Slashdot though? If some product doesn't support Linux - you can expect such questions everywhere.
        blakeyrat 11y ago
        Only on forums with a Linux user population of over, say, 1%. Which is a very tiny number of forums.
        shmerl 11y ago
        We aren't talking about random forums. Most of them aren't focused on technology or gaming technology as an example. So it's not unexpected if they are (like here).
- exelius 11y ago
  Given that Linux gaming is perpetually 3-5 years behind Windows/console gaming, I'd say 3-5 years is probably a good bet for it running in any sort of usable capacity (i.e. more than a tech demo someone reverse engineered to prove it's possible). Before you down vote; I'm really not being snarky here -- games on Windows typically run 30-40% faster on the same hardware than they do on Linux [1] because there just isn't the market there to make it worth doing the optimization. [1] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/ars-benchmarks-show-significant-performance-hit-for-steamos-gaming/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/ars-benchmarks-show-si...
foobarbecue 11y ago
I work with pointclouds using active shutter glasses on an ASUS pg278q, which is gorgeous 3D at 2560x1440. I tried one of these and I found it a disappointing experience. I could see all of the pixels, and I didn't like having a thing on my head. VirtualBoy all over again.
- isaiahg 11y ago
  If you tried a prototype, the resolution was much much lower than the final hardware. The final resolution is 2160x1200, and while still not as good as your pg278q, it's much better than it was.
  - foobarbecue 11y ago
    I'm not sure what version it was. This was at NASA JPL earlier this month and someone was showing me their work. However my understanding is that the final version is 1080x1200 per eye. Your 2160x1200 is adding the two together. My monitor is 2560x1440 per eye, at 72hz each (144hz total). What I don't get is why the existing fantastic 3D technology is barely used at all.
- josephpmay 11y ago
  Was this DK1, DK2, CV1, or one of the internal prototypes. Because the experience of using the later ones vastly exceeds DK1 & 2. Also, you have to be doing the right experience. Many things suck in VR, but the right one (like TiltBrush or The Walk) is mindblowing
  - robterrell 11y ago
    I've tried the final hardware and thought the pixels were fine, but the engineer next to me (15 years my junior, with eyesight to match) thought the pixels were unacceptable. I think it'll be another hardware generation before everyone agrees the pixel size issue has been put to rest.
    - foobarbecue 11y ago
krick 11y ago
It was a hot topic a couple of years ago, when Oculus just started, but now when VR devices are everywhere (starting with simple cardboard and on to something more sophisticated) it's not really the time to be "selling a dream", is it? The real question is how exactly is it different from the competing products, and I'm not sure I've heard the answer. To be more exact, what exactly justifies a huge gap in prices between Oculus and something more, uh, Chinese.
- eterm 11y ago
  In some ways the oculus store could be that differentiator, but then that would lead to vendor lock / device wars which would be a shame more generally.
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    Except the Vive with steam has much better infrastructure/depth and existing userbase.
- nugga 11y ago
  Oculus are committed to high fps/low latency (the displays are 90 Hz with low persistence) experience and won't settle with anything less. You get stuff like timewarp [1] and other technical solutions that reduce latency and provide an accurate and smooth experience. Not to mention having some industry heavy hitters such as John Carmack and Michael Abrash on their payroll. [1] https://developer.oculus.com/blog/asynchronous-timewarp-on-oculus-rift/ https://developer.oculus.com/blog/asynchronous-timewarp-on-o...
- jimrandomh 11y ago
  Cheaper competition will surely come, but it hasn't yet. This is for early adopters.
- nilkn 11y ago
  I don't think Cardboard even really counts as a competitor. Its head tracking is extremely primitive and basically non-functional with severe drift, frame rates are bad, games are overwhelmingly simplistic, etc.
ArtDev 11y ago
I would buy one just so I could have virtually unlimited monitors for work: http://store.steampowered.com/app/382110/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/382110/
- shultays 11y ago
  Finally, I can play "world of world of warcraft"!
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  This is actually the best "available for everyone" (eg, not remote surgical assistance etc...) use case in my opinion. Especially for people working in open-floor plan offices.
  - berberous 11y ago
    Still too low res for work use. Next gen, maybe.
    - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
      Have you tried it on CV1? I mean actually you couldn't have cause it's not out. (edit: this reads snarky, sorry, was just a bad edit.) I haven't but from what I understand it's good enough quality and ergonomics for all day use.
      - berberous 11y ago
        I have not, but I have tried a DK2 and a Vive. Good enough quality for games, yes, but I think it's pretty clear that most will not want to be reading text on a virtual monitor for very long.
      - Karunamon 11y ago
        This is my main use case for VR right now, and having owned a DK2, the resolution being too poor to clearly read text is a dealbreaker, and that's before the screen door effect is brought in. The DK2 is 960 x 1080 per eye, CV1 is 1080x1200 - a modest increase at best. An extra 120 vertical and horizontal pixels just isn't enough.
baby 11y ago
I want it (an HTC vive actually but it doesn't change the point of my comment), but my big problem is the price. The thing is almost $1k (we still don't know the price for Oculus Touch), then you need to add the desktop that can run games on it, so let's say $2k now. Then since I had laptops for years now I need to buy a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, etc... That adds up. I wonder how much I need to pour into the setup to be able to run VR.
- meemoo 11y ago
  PS4 VR full setup looks like ~$850. If it were an open dev platform I'd be considering it.
  - djhworld 11y ago
    The advantage the PS4VR headset has is you don't have to buy or upgrade anything if you already own a PS4, you just need the headset, camera and (optional) move controllers.
  - baby 11y ago
    I would have considered it if I had a PS4 already, but I think I want the "real" experience if I need to buy the whole thing from scratch.
- cbhl 11y ago
  That's a pretty reasonable price point for early-adopter hardware (think "new Macbook with USB-C port"). Some people in the space I've talked to say that the Oculus isn't expensive enough -- the components don't "wow" enough to make the early adopters want to build stuff with it. If you want something cheaper, there's always Google Cardboard...
  - baby 11y ago
    I think you're missing my point. I want it. I'm the early adopter. I don't want Google Cardboard, I want HTC Vive. But the price of the full setup right now is going through the roof. I'd be interested to see how much people are spending on average.
balls187 11y ago
Congrats to the Rift team. Shipping is a huge milestone!
- simplemath 11y ago
  This really is a big day. Consumer VR interface? Man, it's cool living in the future.
EugeneOZ 11y ago
Is it MS only or can be used with PS4?
- TranquilMarmot 11y ago
  Windows only, PS4 will eventually have its own proprietary virtual reality setup.
middleclick 11y ago
> shipping to more than 20 countries and regions! It would have been good had they listed the countries they ship to. I can't seem to find the information anywhere.
- MrRadar 11y ago
  The best I can find is this support ticket[0] (Google Cache[1] since it's current redirecting me to a login page) linked from the initial pre-order announcement[2]. The countries are: * Austria (available as of February 2016) * Australia * Belgium * Canada * Denmark * Finland * France * Germany * Iceland * Ireland * Italy * Japan * Netherlands * New Zealand * Norway * Poland * Spain * Sweden * Switzerland (available as of February 2016) * Taiwan * United Kingdom * United States [0]: https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/216091397-Initial-Launch-Countries https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/216091397-Initi... [1]: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:IgifjzdwezcJ:https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/216091397-Initial-Launch-Countries-and-Regions+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Igifjz... [2]: https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-now-open-first-shipments-march-28/ https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-now...
albasha 11y ago
I wonder how this device affects the eyes health. We have been taught to to stay to close to electronics and this is... right in the face!
- alexbock 11y ago
  The lenses project the image plane such that your eyes focus as if they were looking at an object about a meter away. It doesn't cause the kind of eye strain you would get from trying to focus on something an inch in front of your face; most people's eyes can't focus that closely to begin with.
  - xigency 11y ago
    It does cause the kind of strain that looking into a light bulb might cause, not considering the focal point. But this is probably similar to using a desktop monitor.
- Reedx 11y ago
  Funny, hadn't thought about that. I wonder if VR will finally put a nail in that old wives' tale...
fallingfrog 11y ago
I love the technology behind it. But it's going to bomb. Here's why: Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? To me, the feeling I get is one of creeping anxiety and future shock. It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. And vulnerable too; unaware of their surroundings. If you want people to part with their money you have to make them feel engaged, optimistic and so forth. It's gonna bomb.
- Nadya 11y ago
  You severely underestimate the number of people who'd love to be one step closer to their waifu/husbando or at least one step further away from reality. It will succeed. Even if for what many people would consider "the wrong reasons".
- frooxie 11y ago
  > Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? Envious that I don't have one.
- frogpelt 11y ago
  Have you been to a restaurant lately and noticed the tables of people not looking at each other but at their phones?
- SXX 11y ago
  > It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. If only there was global network where we can participate isolated communities while most of people around us don't understand why we sucked into that so much... oh...
  - fallingfrog 11y ago
    Haha, yep
  - flashman 11y ago
    tbh that's what most people look like when using their phones
throwanem 11y ago
*(in June)
willholloway 11y ago
I'm really excited for VR, but I think what we need is a larger field of view to feel truly immersed. I'm anticipating StarVR and other higher FOV systems. When those drop, I predict VR will really take off, and people will start spending large amounts of time in virtual reality. http://www.roadtovr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/techspec-slider2alt-672x500.png http://www.roadtovr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/techspec-...
praveenhm 11y ago
I never wore one, don't you get a headache, after wearing it couple of hours and also the gadget is heavy.
- whatever_dude 11y ago
  The gadget is not that heavy, and the little weight that it has is well distributed. You don't get a headache, but depending on what kind of content you're playing, you can get nausea due to conflicting sensations in your body (your eye thinks you're moving, your body doesn't feel it, etc). Some people get it more than others. It's similar to being in a boat. But you can get used to it fast, and again, it depends on content.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
ChuckMcM 11y ago
Farlands looks a bit like "Spore for Rift" :-) I am glad to see they are shipping. And it definitely provides an example of a project I didn't think they would be able to ship from Kickstarter being shipped. Congrats to the Rift team!
toephu2 11y ago
Interesting that there is no mention of the weight of the headset. Has anyone used the Rift for more than an hour straight? Is there head/neck fatigue?
- thebakeshow 11y ago
  I have used the DK2 for 90 minute sessions with no issue. I would imagine this release is lighter
- aidenn0 11y ago
  In my experience the weight alone is not particularly useful for predicting head/neck fatigue. A lot of weight, properly distributed is far less fatiguing than much less weight poorly distributed.
- ssewell 11y ago
  I've used my DK2 for hours on end (perhaps to the tune of three hours or so? You lose track of time playing in VR.) will no noticeable neck fatigue. Some of the best times I've had is driving around Europe in Euro Truck Sim with my force feedback steering wheel.
  - theredsox 11y ago
    I've been eye'ing the truck sims myself (along with racing and flight) for when I get my Rift in May. Glad to hear someone mention good experience with a trunk sim!
  - flashman 11y ago
    One of my least favourite parts of Euro Truck Sim 2 is the difficulty of glancing left and right at a T-intersection. Far too often the game spawns a vehicle in the direction you just checked, and then you have a collision once you pull out. Quick head checks in goggles sounds like a big improvement, as well as the feeling of being inside an actual cabin.
- QuotedForTruth 11y ago
  The Rift CV1 weighs 470 grams (this includes headphones). The DK2 is 440 grams. The Vive is 555 grams. So the CV1 is very light compared to the other headsets. A pair of over the ear headphones will add 100-200 grams to the other ones. It is also said to be much better balanced and thus doesn't feel like its hanging off the front of your face like the DK2.
bronz 11y ago
Well, in accordance with tradition I will now lay my thoughts down and be down-voted into oblivion for it. VR will flounder. I was a VR evangelist from 2012 to around 2014. I owned a DK2 -- I followed every shred of VR news like a fanatic. And what I learned from being so involved with VR was that it is not ready for mass adoption and probably never will be. People in the VR community drastically underplay nausea and discomfort. The main flaw is that if you move in the virtual world but not in the real world, your body does not like it. Thanks to head tracking, you can move the camera wherever you can move your head without sickness because the movement in the real world and virtual world are the same. But if you want to move around in any greater capacity than that without making 50% of people sick immediately, and perhaps 80% sick after just a few hours, then you have to do full body tracking. We are talking about 3/4 of games, easily. Games where you are a character and you run around in virtual space. Even if you do full body tracking in your home, you are going to be extremely limited. You'll be running into the boundaries of your play space constantly. Those tricks of perception that allow you to walk along a curve instead of a straight line and thus never hit a boundary require very large amounts of space, especially if it is done in a way that is not detectable at all by the user. "What about omni-directional treadmills?" At this point I think we are getting crazy. Not only are you buying a hugely expensive VR headset, but you are setting aside a huge space in your home and buying a fucking gigantic omni-directional treadmill. Plus, the treadmill also does not provide the bodily acceleration required to prevent sickness because you are stationary relative to the earth while you use it. And all of this is assuming that VR headsets reach a place where we have full FOV, perfect resolution and extremely high refresh rates. And VR headsets that have all of that will never be affordable unless they become popular. And they probably won't because of the reasons that I have just explained to you. The one thing that I think has the potential to make VR popular is monitor replacement. Other than that, when I look at the future of this kind of technology I see AR. Not VR. I am sorry Rift fans, it was painful for me too.
- gpm 11y ago
  A lot of Vive games are solving movement by a combination of 1-1 mapped in the limited floorspace, combined with teleportation. It sounds like it is a pretty much nausea free solution.
kensai 11y ago
We even have an Angry Joe review... :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IJU1AtcAw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IJU1AtcAw
kensai 11y ago
I am honestly thrilled about VR. But it makes me wonder, if people are excited about the possibilities of VR, let's just wait for AR to mature and have things like Meta 2 (http://www.roadtovr.com/meta-2-development-kit-hands-on-could-do-for-augmented-reality-what-oculus-rift-dk1-did-for-virtual-reality/ http://www.roadtovr.com/meta-2-development-kit-hands-on-coul...) or HoloLens (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/holoportation/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/holoportation/) really working as advertised. I feel that AR has even more applications than VR, although honestly when both will be sufficiently advanced they will merge. VR will eventually be AR with the external (world) "signal" turned off.
- hbosch 11y ago
  I think VR and AR slot into the same use cases Mobile and Desktop currently occupy, with AR eventually being the lightweight, transportable solution and VR being the more capable but less mobile counterpart. At least for the foreseeable decade(?). For instance, I think input methods for (Desktop-powered) VR will advance much more quickly than input methods for AR and that will be a major factor.
- recursive 11y ago
  > AR with the external (world) "signal" turned off. That's a big step. How are you going to avoid running into stuff?
  - milesokeefe 11y ago
    The Vive has already solved that problem with its chaperone system[1]. [1]: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/05/htc-vive-virtual-reality-chaperone/ http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/05/htc-vive-virtual-reality-...
- matznerd 11y ago
  I agree with the merging in the future, but for the next few years consumer VR will be upfront. It will be 2+ years for consumer AR to really happen, even with meta and magicleap out there. The super small field-of-vision (FOV) on the hololens currently makes it dead in the water at the moment, and it looks nothing like the videos purport...
jeremy7600 11y ago
I still have a VFX1 from the 90s. It's now rotting in my basement. This will go the same route. (Forte Technologies VFX1, for those playing along at home.)
mark_l_watson 11y ago
Haptics makes VR real. In the 1990s I did VR systems for SAIC and later one also for Disney. At SAIC we had effective force feedback (haptics) and the effect was awesome.
kleer001 11y ago
I think it will be great for education and remote work. And that's about it. Education, scholarly or vocational. You could see the lines of force or the right kind of widget. If there's some good actuators and video stream thick bandwidth then you can get experts to work out in the sticks bringing medicine or education (see above). Imagine working on simulated patients that react far better than a donated corpse. Heck, it might even be good for treating PTSD or other psychological treatments.
rm999 11y ago
My biased opinion: VR is going to be huge, but it won't look that way for at least a few years while things mature (especially when 90% of the content is just improving games that could have existed on a 2D monitor). Just off the top of my head, it has the potential to disrupt: * Television and movies. Imagine an Imax theater in your house. VR is really the obvious solution here IMO. We just need to give it a few years while the screen resolution ramps up. * The office. Obvious one - virtual desktops. Less obvious - remote working. This hasn't worked as promised yet, I suspect because remote interactions aren't immersive and interactive enough. Skype calls are ok, but I'd love to just stand up and "draw" something on a virtual board with other people. I can see VR making this much more possible.
- wrsh07 11y ago
  Can you imagine a remote "open office" workspace where you can mute the background chatter when you actually want to work? Or sit next to whoever you want so you can bother them when they're not obviously busy?
- greggman 11y ago
  The iMax theater in my house isn't a draw for me. Things I do currently watching a movie that I can't do in VR * Grab my snacks on the table in front of me (can't see them in VR) * Take a drink (headset gets in the way of putting a half full class to your lips and drinking) * Interact with friends and family also watching at the same time
  - kristofferR 11y ago
    The HTC Vive has a camera in front. It's very limited right now, but it's very likely that future headsets will feature an AR-mode that'll enable you to still see the real environment around you.
  - flashman 11y ago
    > Interact with friends and family also watching at the same time A virtual cinema will let you do this with them, wherever they are. Once Netflix launches a VR app, they'll take care of the movie delivery and syncing, so you'll just pop on a headset and be sitting next to your Dad who's on the opposite coast. Hell, I can see that being a killer app for ESPN.
fnazeeri 11y ago
This makes sense as I installed Booking.com's app about the same time as I upgraded and now I have a brick-phone...
fsloth 11y ago
I think VR would be marvelous in bringing classical entertainment - opera, theatre - available to all. Call me silly but for me the most effective uses of 3D in movies have been single actor static shots where the 3D has emphasized their performance to lifelike qualities.
- wrsh07 11y ago
  VR could be a great new way to enjoy a whole bunch more than "high brow" entertainment, too. Everyone could see what it's like having "front row" seats at a basketball game. Or hovering above the action. Player perspectives and other "moving camera" tricks might not work, but that's not how we currently enjoy a lot of live experiences anyway. I'm also unbelievably excited to see what the geniuses at Disney / other major entertainment studios can accomplish. [NB I don't just think Disney will excel here, but if you don't find Disney World magical...]
  - flashman 11y ago
    > Everyone could see what it's like having "front row" seats at a basketball game. More realistically, you'll get nosebleed seats on a basic subscription, and courtside if you pay a premium. I don't see why businesses wouldn't apply typical pricing arrangements to VR, even if there's no scarcity involved.
    - wrsh07 11y ago
      While there's always an enticing option to make more money, I don't think it makes sense in this scenario: your cynicism seems unwarranted. For one, that doesn't match up with current media [you don't generally pay for better camera angles, you just pay to see the game]. For two, it's most likely going to be somewhat expensive [in space and technology] to set up a VR recording rig [see g.co/jump for a baseline]. Finally, media always capitalizes on advertising. "Sitting" in the front row seats doesn't mean you won't have ads during breaks, and they'll be even more convincing/all-consuming in VR land. [as a post from a16z says, in VR, your default state is belief.]
STRML 11y ago
Just got mine in the mail from the kickstarter promotion. Really cool thing that they sent this to all the DK1 buyers. First impressions are that it's certainly far more professional-looking and refined than the DK1, but that goes without saying. Clearly the QA guys have done well, the Oculus setup app is really nice and it appears they're trying to build a Steam clone of sorts. A bit delayed finding the latest NV drivers - "Geforce Experience" is a dog that takes 10 minutes to do anything (seriously, how did this pass QA?), and the main nvidia.com site just forwards to a broken akamai link on download. Ended up having to grab it from a guru3d link.
- haldean 11y ago
  Do all DK1 owners get them? I have a DK1 but haven't heard anything about getting one from this release.
  - MrRadar 11y ago
    Only if you backed the Kickstarter. If you bought it after the Kickstarter ended you don't get a free Rift.
atarian 11y ago
I got a chance to try out the Gear VR last week, and I was pretty sold on the whole VR thing. But I was really disappointed to find out the Rift required a $1000+ dedicated gaming rig to support it. IMO if Oculus Rift wants to really take off they need to figure out how to become a standalone piece of hardware.
dzaragozar 11y ago
Hooray! now 6 more months until the "VR flopped" articles and then no more about this nonsense.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
sillysaurus3 11y ago
Never mind.
- spicyj 11y ago
  What does Project Update #83 say? And based on https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/347607/#Comment_347607 https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/34760..., you're out of luck. :(
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
chenster 11y ago
VR makes me sick and nausea.
mattjwarren 11y ago
Vr will founder, but i think it will be due to augmented reality stepping into its shoes and taking over before vr really got a chance. AR can do everything vr can, and more.

498 points by SXX 11y ago

Still no updates concerning the touch controllers. VR is awesome to use and I've played a lot in it, but you need specific controllers to take fully advantage of it. IMHO, VR paint is still the best experience you can have, you need more than a xbox one controller to enjoy it though.

Kiro 11y ago
Have you tried Oculus + Leap Motion (attached to it)? It's really amazing and I don't know how a controller would be better.
- nilkn 11y ago
  Leap Motion has a very limited FOV and has no buttons. Tracked controllers like the Vive's right now can be tracked anywhere around you, even if you're not looking at them.
mklim 11y ago
Seconded. I've been lucky enough to try the Vive Pre with the Trials of Tatooine demo, Rift Crescent Bay + Xbox controller on a seated experience, and Rift + Touch on a standing experience. Vive was far and away the most compelling for me. I don't know how to describe it other than being dropped into a fictional world. Being able to walk around R2D2, kneel and examine the landing strut of the Falcon, having to physically lunge forward a few feet to deflect a blaster bolt with my lightsaber, actually gripping said lightsaber hilt in my hand and being able to bring it up to my face and inspect it, it really felt like I was there. My only major complaint is that I couldn't stop grinning/laughing, and that pushed the headset up on my face enough to leak in light. Just having a headset and a controller does not at all compare, even with the limited walking space. It's the difference between looking through a porthole and scuba diving.
- coldpie 11y ago
  What did you find more compelling about the Vive than the Rift+Touch?
  - mklim 11y ago
    Disclaimer: I'm definitely onboard with motion controllers in general, and would hesitate to definitively say that Vive > Rift+Touch without trying more things for both of them (that being said, I cancelled my Rift preorder and do have a Vive on hold right now). The subject matter of the Star Wars demo was much more compelling than the Rift+Touch demo I tried, which I'm sure influenced me subconsciously. But the main things that I consciously noted during both experiences: 1. Better tracking in the Vive. I dropped an arrow on the ground in the Touch demo (a longbow shooting game) and the controllers lost track of my hands when I crouched on the floor to grab it. It was really disorienting to be "grabbing" it and have the game have no idea where my hands were, sort of like when you're in a dream where your body just refuses to move how you tell it to. I had to just give it up and stand, wait for my "hands" to adjust to the right position, and then reach for another one at eye level. Similarly, I kept having to reach a little farther than I was expecting to to actually pick anything up despite being able to see my "hands" in the game. It was like all the distances were just a little off from reality. I'm a lot shorter than the average person (5'), I don't know if that contributed or what. In the Vive demo the controllers always felt 100% 1:1, even when I was whipping the lightsaber around, crouching on the ground examining R2, etc. Tracking did not even surface as a concern at all to me there, felt exactly like my body. 2. Freedom of movement in the Vive demo really made me feel like I was in the world. I could easily walk around, kneel, stand, and was encouraged by the experience to lunge and flail around, like I said. It felt like I was there in the desert 100%, free to do whatever I wanted. I did trigger the transparent Chaperone grid, and felt a little annoyed when it happened, but I trusted the grid to save me from hitting a wall, and the demo's layout encouraged my movement well enough that most of the time I forgot that I couldn't run off into the sunset if I really wanted to. Most of the interesting things were within six feet of me so in general I forgot about the limitation and just felt like I was there. In the Rift demo I felt very constrained and was concerned about hitting anything IRL. It was a longbow shooting game, with me stuck between two parapets. IRL there was a TV displaying what I was doing for the benefit of the people behind me in line. It was positioned in the space between parapets in the game world, and I was super concerned about headbutting it accidentally as I leaned forward to try and see over the wall. No Chaperone, so even though I was trying to be careful I almost did hit it and the woman giving the demo warned me to step back. In the game there was also a bow rack right next to me, and I felt nervous about tipping it over, too (this is silly, as it's not real--just goes to show how immersive the experience was).

xfactor973 11y ago

Windows 7 and above only? Ugh..

spicyj 11y ago
They've said they'll work on Linux support after launch and OS X if Apple manufactures a computer powerful enough (which they literally do not right now). But Windows-only seems par for the course for serious computer games.
freeone3000 11y ago
Windows 7 introduced the DX11 rendering pipeline, which the Rift uses. It's essentially required for no-delay rendering. (Which is even easier with DX12 - be glad it's not Windows 10 and up!)
- thearn4 11y ago
  Is OpenGL really that far behind the curve now? I remember a long time ago it performed much better for me on some games (I'm talking Half Life 1 days here), but in the 15 or so years since then its pretty much fallen off of my radar.
  - SXX 11y ago
    > Is OpenGL really that far behind the curve now? Not at all, but it's not what was popular last 10 years for many reasons and with Vulkan it's already legacy API.
    - cookiecaper 11y ago
      My understanding is that Vulkan does NOT deprecate OpenGL, at least not for most use cases. Vulkan is a lower-level API that OpenGL can be implemented on top of, much like Gallium3D. As such, much development will continue in OGL, and only lower-level tuning will require the use of Vulkan. Here's a lengthier discussion about it: https://forums.khronos.org/showthread.php/9717-Will-Vulkan-effectively-quot-replace-quot-OpenGL-or-not https://forums.khronos.org/showthread.php/9717-Will-Vulkan-e...

jhspaybar 11y ago

"If you pre-ordered, you’ll get an email when your order is being prepped (1-3 weeks prior to shipping) and then another one when your payment method has been charged and your Rift is on its way." I ordered mine about 5 minutes after the order form opened on the first day of availability but haven't yet received this email, nor has my card been charged. At the time of order my ship date was still March...is this slipping now?

berberous 11y ago
Check your spam folder or promotions tab. If you ordered within 5 minutes you almost certainly got the "1-3 weeks" email. Based on recent tweets from Palmer, the first pre-orders are targeted to start shipping Wednesday, so I assume cards will start getting charged by Tuesday or Wednesday.
- jhspaybar 11y ago
  I went through their forums, I have an order number of 26xxxxx, apparently some people in this range have received the emails, but most haven't from the looks of it. Oh well, I guess I'll get it in a couple weeks :(
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - Cyph0n 11y ago
    Are the order numbers serial? They can't have received 2.6 mil orders, right? :O
    - jhspaybar 11y ago
      They almost certainly aren't serial, for example, there seems to be a chunk of zeroes that are fixed removing at least a few digits.
    - berberous 11y ago
      The serials seem to have started at xxxxxxx23xxxxx. I'm not sure how serial they are after that, but that puts things on the high-end estimate at hundred of thousands, not millions.

chrisacky 11y ago

It says they ship to 20 countries. Any ideas what that list is? "This item does not ship to XXXXXX, United Kingdom. Please check other sellers who may ship internationally. "

emilssolmanis 11y ago
UK is definitely one of them, and there's a support page listing them. Preordered mine within some 20 mins of it opening and no problem shipping to a London address.

jmandzik 11y ago

Kickstarter back here; according to UPS, it should be delivered today.

shmerl 11y ago

Any ETA on Linux support?

bognition 11y ago
What is this Slashdot? ;-)
- shmerl 11y ago
  Why Slashdot?
  - umeshunni 11y ago
    I think he was referring to the fact that on Slashdot, commenters always ask for Linux support for every newly released product.
    - shmerl 11y ago
      Why is it so specific to Slashdot though? If some product doesn't support Linux - you can expect such questions everywhere.
      - blakeyrat 11y ago
        Only on forums with a Linux user population of over, say, 1%. Which is a very tiny number of forums.
        shmerl 11y ago
        We aren't talking about random forums. Most of them aren't focused on technology or gaming technology as an example. So it's not unexpected if they are (like here).
exelius 11y ago
Given that Linux gaming is perpetually 3-5 years behind Windows/console gaming, I'd say 3-5 years is probably a good bet for it running in any sort of usable capacity (i.e. more than a tech demo someone reverse engineered to prove it's possible). Before you down vote; I'm really not being snarky here -- games on Windows typically run 30-40% faster on the same hardware than they do on Linux [1] because there just isn't the market there to make it worth doing the optimization. [1] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/ars-benchmarks-show-significant-performance-hit-for-steamos-gaming/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/ars-benchmarks-show-si...

foobarbecue 11y ago

I work with pointclouds using active shutter glasses on an ASUS pg278q, which is gorgeous 3D at 2560x1440. I tried one of these and I found it a disappointing experience. I could see all of the pixels, and I didn't like having a thing on my head. VirtualBoy all over again.

isaiahg 11y ago
If you tried a prototype, the resolution was much much lower than the final hardware. The final resolution is 2160x1200, and while still not as good as your pg278q, it's much better than it was.
- foobarbecue 11y ago
  I'm not sure what version it was. This was at NASA JPL earlier this month and someone was showing me their work. However my understanding is that the final version is 1080x1200 per eye. Your 2160x1200 is adding the two together. My monitor is 2560x1440 per eye, at 72hz each (144hz total). What I don't get is why the existing fantastic 3D technology is barely used at all.
josephpmay 11y ago
Was this DK1, DK2, CV1, or one of the internal prototypes. Because the experience of using the later ones vastly exceeds DK1 & 2. Also, you have to be doing the right experience. Many things suck in VR, but the right one (like TiltBrush or The Walk) is mindblowing
- robterrell 11y ago
  I've tried the final hardware and thought the pixels were fine, but the engineer next to me (15 years my junior, with eyesight to match) thought the pixels were unacceptable. I think it'll be another hardware generation before everyone agrees the pixel size issue has been put to rest.
  - foobarbecue 11y ago

krick 11y ago

It was a hot topic a couple of years ago, when Oculus just started, but now when VR devices are everywhere (starting with simple cardboard and on to something more sophisticated) it's not really the time to be "selling a dream", is it? The real question is how exactly is it different from the competing products, and I'm not sure I've heard the answer. To be more exact, what exactly justifies a huge gap in prices between Oculus and something more, uh, Chinese.

eterm 11y ago
In some ways the oculus store could be that differentiator, but then that would lead to vendor lock / device wars which would be a shame more generally.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  Except the Vive with steam has much better infrastructure/depth and existing userbase.
nugga 11y ago
Oculus are committed to high fps/low latency (the displays are 90 Hz with low persistence) experience and won't settle with anything less. You get stuff like timewarp [1] and other technical solutions that reduce latency and provide an accurate and smooth experience. Not to mention having some industry heavy hitters such as John Carmack and Michael Abrash on their payroll. [1] https://developer.oculus.com/blog/asynchronous-timewarp-on-oculus-rift/ https://developer.oculus.com/blog/asynchronous-timewarp-on-o...
jimrandomh 11y ago
Cheaper competition will surely come, but it hasn't yet. This is for early adopters.
nilkn 11y ago
I don't think Cardboard even really counts as a competitor. Its head tracking is extremely primitive and basically non-functional with severe drift, frame rates are bad, games are overwhelmingly simplistic, etc.

ArtDev 11y ago

I would buy one just so I could have virtually unlimited monitors for work: http://store.steampowered.com/app/382110/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/382110/

shultays 11y ago
Finally, I can play "world of world of warcraft"!
AndrewKemendo 11y ago
This is actually the best "available for everyone" (eg, not remote surgical assistance etc...) use case in my opinion. Especially for people working in open-floor plan offices.
- berberous 11y ago
  Still too low res for work use. Next gen, maybe.
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    Have you tried it on CV1? I mean actually you couldn't have cause it's not out. (edit: this reads snarky, sorry, was just a bad edit.) I haven't but from what I understand it's good enough quality and ergonomics for all day use.
    - berberous 11y ago
      I have not, but I have tried a DK2 and a Vive. Good enough quality for games, yes, but I think it's pretty clear that most will not want to be reading text on a virtual monitor for very long.
    - Karunamon 11y ago
      This is my main use case for VR right now, and having owned a DK2, the resolution being too poor to clearly read text is a dealbreaker, and that's before the screen door effect is brought in. The DK2 is 960 x 1080 per eye, CV1 is 1080x1200 - a modest increase at best. An extra 120 vertical and horizontal pixels just isn't enough.

baby 11y ago

I want it (an HTC vive actually but it doesn't change the point of my comment), but my big problem is the price. The thing is almost $1k (we still don't know the price for Oculus Touch), then you need to add the desktop that can run games on it, so let's say $2k now. Then since I had laptops for years now I need to buy a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, etc... That adds up. I wonder how much I need to pour into the setup to be able to run VR.

meemoo 11y ago
PS4 VR full setup looks like ~$850. If it were an open dev platform I'd be considering it.
- djhworld 11y ago
  The advantage the PS4VR headset has is you don't have to buy or upgrade anything if you already own a PS4, you just need the headset, camera and (optional) move controllers.
- baby 11y ago
  I would have considered it if I had a PS4 already, but I think I want the "real" experience if I need to buy the whole thing from scratch.
cbhl 11y ago
That's a pretty reasonable price point for early-adopter hardware (think "new Macbook with USB-C port"). Some people in the space I've talked to say that the Oculus isn't expensive enough -- the components don't "wow" enough to make the early adopters want to build stuff with it. If you want something cheaper, there's always Google Cardboard...
- baby 11y ago
  I think you're missing my point. I want it. I'm the early adopter. I don't want Google Cardboard, I want HTC Vive. But the price of the full setup right now is going through the roof. I'd be interested to see how much people are spending on average.

balls187 11y ago

Congrats to the Rift team. Shipping is a huge milestone!

simplemath 11y ago
This really is a big day. Consumer VR interface? Man, it's cool living in the future.

EugeneOZ 11y ago

Is it MS only or can be used with PS4?

TranquilMarmot 11y ago
Windows only, PS4 will eventually have its own proprietary virtual reality setup.

middleclick 11y ago

> shipping to more than 20 countries and regions! It would have been good had they listed the countries they ship to. I can't seem to find the information anywhere.

MrRadar 11y ago
The best I can find is this support ticket[0] (Google Cache[1] since it's current redirecting me to a login page) linked from the initial pre-order announcement[2]. The countries are: * Austria (available as of February 2016) * Australia * Belgium * Canada * Denmark * Finland * France * Germany * Iceland * Ireland * Italy * Japan * Netherlands * New Zealand * Norway * Poland * Spain * Sweden * Switzerland (available as of February 2016) * Taiwan * United Kingdom * United States [0]: https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/216091397-Initial-Launch-Countries https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/216091397-Initi... [1]: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:IgifjzdwezcJ:https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/216091397-Initial-Launch-Countries-and-Regions+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Igifjz... [2]: https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-now-open-first-shipments-march-28/ https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-now...

albasha 11y ago

I wonder how this device affects the eyes health. We have been taught to to stay to close to electronics and this is... right in the face!

alexbock 11y ago
The lenses project the image plane such that your eyes focus as if they were looking at an object about a meter away. It doesn't cause the kind of eye strain you would get from trying to focus on something an inch in front of your face; most people's eyes can't focus that closely to begin with.
- xigency 11y ago
  It does cause the kind of strain that looking into a light bulb might cause, not considering the focal point. But this is probably similar to using a desktop monitor.
Reedx 11y ago
Funny, hadn't thought about that. I wonder if VR will finally put a nail in that old wives' tale...

fallingfrog 11y ago

I love the technology behind it. But it's going to bomb. Here's why: Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? To me, the feeling I get is one of creeping anxiety and future shock. It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. And vulnerable too; unaware of their surroundings. If you want people to part with their money you have to make them feel engaged, optimistic and so forth. It's gonna bomb.

Nadya 11y ago
You severely underestimate the number of people who'd love to be one step closer to their waifu/husbando or at least one step further away from reality. It will succeed. Even if for what many people would consider "the wrong reasons".
frooxie 11y ago
> Look at any picture of a person using the Oculus Rift. How does it make you feel? Envious that I don't have one.
frogpelt 11y ago
Have you been to a restaurant lately and noticed the tables of people not looking at each other but at their phones?
SXX 11y ago
> It looks like that person is withdrawn, isolated, sucked into a private world that we cannot access. If only there was global network where we can participate isolated communities while most of people around us don't understand why we sucked into that so much... oh...
- fallingfrog 11y ago
  Haha, yep
- flashman 11y ago
  tbh that's what most people look like when using their phones

throwanem 11y ago

*(in June)

willholloway 11y ago

I'm really excited for VR, but I think what we need is a larger field of view to feel truly immersed. I'm anticipating StarVR and other higher FOV systems. When those drop, I predict VR will really take off, and people will start spending large amounts of time in virtual reality. http://www.roadtovr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/techspec-slider2alt-672x500.png http://www.roadtovr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/techspec-...

praveenhm 11y ago

I never wore one, don't you get a headache, after wearing it couple of hours and also the gadget is heavy.

whatever_dude 11y ago
The gadget is not that heavy, and the little weight that it has is well distributed. You don't get a headache, but depending on what kind of content you're playing, you can get nausea due to conflicting sensations in your body (your eye thinks you're moving, your body doesn't feel it, etc). Some people get it more than others. It's similar to being in a boat. But you can get used to it fast, and again, it depends on content.
- deleted 11y ago
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ChuckMcM 11y ago

Farlands looks a bit like "Spore for Rift" :-) I am glad to see they are shipping. And it definitely provides an example of a project I didn't think they would be able to ship from Kickstarter being shipped. Congrats to the Rift team!

toephu2 11y ago

Interesting that there is no mention of the weight of the headset. Has anyone used the Rift for more than an hour straight? Is there head/neck fatigue?

thebakeshow 11y ago
I have used the DK2 for 90 minute sessions with no issue. I would imagine this release is lighter
aidenn0 11y ago
In my experience the weight alone is not particularly useful for predicting head/neck fatigue. A lot of weight, properly distributed is far less fatiguing than much less weight poorly distributed.
ssewell 11y ago
I've used my DK2 for hours on end (perhaps to the tune of three hours or so? You lose track of time playing in VR.) will no noticeable neck fatigue. Some of the best times I've had is driving around Europe in Euro Truck Sim with my force feedback steering wheel.
- theredsox 11y ago
  I've been eye'ing the truck sims myself (along with racing and flight) for when I get my Rift in May. Glad to hear someone mention good experience with a trunk sim!
- flashman 11y ago
  One of my least favourite parts of Euro Truck Sim 2 is the difficulty of glancing left and right at a T-intersection. Far too often the game spawns a vehicle in the direction you just checked, and then you have a collision once you pull out. Quick head checks in goggles sounds like a big improvement, as well as the feeling of being inside an actual cabin.
QuotedForTruth 11y ago
The Rift CV1 weighs 470 grams (this includes headphones). The DK2 is 440 grams. The Vive is 555 grams. So the CV1 is very light compared to the other headsets. A pair of over the ear headphones will add 100-200 grams to the other ones. It is also said to be much better balanced and thus doesn't feel like its hanging off the front of your face like the DK2.

bronz 11y ago

Well, in accordance with tradition I will now lay my thoughts down and be down-voted into oblivion for it. VR will flounder. I was a VR evangelist from 2012 to around 2014. I owned a DK2 -- I followed every shred of VR news like a fanatic. And what I learned from being so involved with VR was that it is not ready for mass adoption and probably never will be. People in the VR community drastically underplay nausea and discomfort. The main flaw is that if you move in the virtual world but not in the real world, your body does not like it. Thanks to head tracking, you can move the camera wherever you can move your head without sickness because the movement in the real world and virtual world are the same. But if you want to move around in any greater capacity than that without making 50% of people sick immediately, and perhaps 80% sick after just a few hours, then you have to do full body tracking. We are talking about 3/4 of games, easily. Games where you are a character and you run around in virtual space. Even if you do full body tracking in your home, you are going to be extremely limited. You'll be running into the boundaries of your play space constantly. Those tricks of perception that allow you to walk along a curve instead of a straight line and thus never hit a boundary require very large amounts of space, especially if it is done in a way that is not detectable at all by the user. "What about omni-directional treadmills?" At this point I think we are getting crazy. Not only are you buying a hugely expensive VR headset, but you are setting aside a huge space in your home and buying a fucking gigantic omni-directional treadmill. Plus, the treadmill also does not provide the bodily acceleration required to prevent sickness because you are stationary relative to the earth while you use it. And all of this is assuming that VR headsets reach a place where we have full FOV, perfect resolution and extremely high refresh rates. And VR headsets that have all of that will never be affordable unless they become popular. And they probably won't because of the reasons that I have just explained to you. The one thing that I think has the potential to make VR popular is monitor replacement. Other than that, when I look at the future of this kind of technology I see AR. Not VR. I am sorry Rift fans, it was painful for me too.

gpm 11y ago
A lot of Vive games are solving movement by a combination of 1-1 mapped in the limited floorspace, combined with teleportation. It sounds like it is a pretty much nausea free solution.

kensai 11y ago

We even have an Angry Joe review... :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IJU1AtcAw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IJU1AtcAw

kensai 11y ago

I am honestly thrilled about VR. But it makes me wonder, if people are excited about the possibilities of VR, let's just wait for AR to mature and have things like Meta 2 (http://www.roadtovr.com/meta-2-development-kit-hands-on-could-do-for-augmented-reality-what-oculus-rift-dk1-did-for-virtual-reality/ http://www.roadtovr.com/meta-2-development-kit-hands-on-coul...) or HoloLens (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/holoportation/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/holoportation/) really working as advertised. I feel that AR has even more applications than VR, although honestly when both will be sufficiently advanced they will merge. VR will eventually be AR with the external (world) "signal" turned off.

hbosch 11y ago
I think VR and AR slot into the same use cases Mobile and Desktop currently occupy, with AR eventually being the lightweight, transportable solution and VR being the more capable but less mobile counterpart. At least for the foreseeable decade(?). For instance, I think input methods for (Desktop-powered) VR will advance much more quickly than input methods for AR and that will be a major factor.
recursive 11y ago
> AR with the external (world) "signal" turned off. That's a big step. How are you going to avoid running into stuff?
- milesokeefe 11y ago
  The Vive has already solved that problem with its chaperone system[1]. [1]: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/05/htc-vive-virtual-reality-chaperone/ http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/05/htc-vive-virtual-reality-...
matznerd 11y ago
I agree with the merging in the future, but for the next few years consumer VR will be upfront. It will be 2+ years for consumer AR to really happen, even with meta and magicleap out there. The super small field-of-vision (FOV) on the hololens currently makes it dead in the water at the moment, and it looks nothing like the videos purport...

jeremy7600 11y ago

I still have a VFX1 from the 90s. It's now rotting in my basement. This will go the same route. (Forte Technologies VFX1, for those playing along at home.)

mark_l_watson 11y ago

Haptics makes VR real. In the 1990s I did VR systems for SAIC and later one also for Disney. At SAIC we had effective force feedback (haptics) and the effect was awesome.

kleer001 11y ago

I think it will be great for education and remote work. And that's about it. Education, scholarly or vocational. You could see the lines of force or the right kind of widget. If there's some good actuators and video stream thick bandwidth then you can get experts to work out in the sticks bringing medicine or education (see above). Imagine working on simulated patients that react far better than a donated corpse. Heck, it might even be good for treating PTSD or other psychological treatments.

rm999 11y ago

My biased opinion: VR is going to be huge, but it won't look that way for at least a few years while things mature (especially when 90% of the content is just improving games that could have existed on a 2D monitor). Just off the top of my head, it has the potential to disrupt: * Television and movies. Imagine an Imax theater in your house. VR is really the obvious solution here IMO. We just need to give it a few years while the screen resolution ramps up. * The office. Obvious one - virtual desktops. Less obvious - remote working. This hasn't worked as promised yet, I suspect because remote interactions aren't immersive and interactive enough. Skype calls are ok, but I'd love to just stand up and "draw" something on a virtual board with other people. I can see VR making this much more possible.

wrsh07 11y ago
Can you imagine a remote "open office" workspace where you can mute the background chatter when you actually want to work? Or sit next to whoever you want so you can bother them when they're not obviously busy?
greggman 11y ago
The iMax theater in my house isn't a draw for me. Things I do currently watching a movie that I can't do in VR * Grab my snacks on the table in front of me (can't see them in VR) * Take a drink (headset gets in the way of putting a half full class to your lips and drinking) * Interact with friends and family also watching at the same time
- kristofferR 11y ago
  The HTC Vive has a camera in front. It's very limited right now, but it's very likely that future headsets will feature an AR-mode that'll enable you to still see the real environment around you.
- flashman 11y ago
  > Interact with friends and family also watching at the same time A virtual cinema will let you do this with them, wherever they are. Once Netflix launches a VR app, they'll take care of the movie delivery and syncing, so you'll just pop on a headset and be sitting next to your Dad who's on the opposite coast. Hell, I can see that being a killer app for ESPN.

fnazeeri 11y ago

This makes sense as I installed Booking.com's app about the same time as I upgraded and now I have a brick-phone...

fsloth 11y ago

I think VR would be marvelous in bringing classical entertainment - opera, theatre - available to all. Call me silly but for me the most effective uses of 3D in movies have been single actor static shots where the 3D has emphasized their performance to lifelike qualities.

wrsh07 11y ago
VR could be a great new way to enjoy a whole bunch more than "high brow" entertainment, too. Everyone could see what it's like having "front row" seats at a basketball game. Or hovering above the action. Player perspectives and other "moving camera" tricks might not work, but that's not how we currently enjoy a lot of live experiences anyway. I'm also unbelievably excited to see what the geniuses at Disney / other major entertainment studios can accomplish. [NB I don't just think Disney will excel here, but if you don't find Disney World magical...]
- flashman 11y ago
  > Everyone could see what it's like having "front row" seats at a basketball game. More realistically, you'll get nosebleed seats on a basic subscription, and courtside if you pay a premium. I don't see why businesses wouldn't apply typical pricing arrangements to VR, even if there's no scarcity involved.
  - wrsh07 11y ago
    While there's always an enticing option to make more money, I don't think it makes sense in this scenario: your cynicism seems unwarranted. For one, that doesn't match up with current media [you don't generally pay for better camera angles, you just pay to see the game]. For two, it's most likely going to be somewhat expensive [in space and technology] to set up a VR recording rig [see g.co/jump for a baseline]. Finally, media always capitalizes on advertising. "Sitting" in the front row seats doesn't mean you won't have ads during breaks, and they'll be even more convincing/all-consuming in VR land. [as a post from a16z says, in VR, your default state is belief.]

STRML 11y ago

Just got mine in the mail from the kickstarter promotion. Really cool thing that they sent this to all the DK1 buyers. First impressions are that it's certainly far more professional-looking and refined than the DK1, but that goes without saying. Clearly the QA guys have done well, the Oculus setup app is really nice and it appears they're trying to build a Steam clone of sorts. A bit delayed finding the latest NV drivers - "Geforce Experience" is a dog that takes 10 minutes to do anything (seriously, how did this pass QA?), and the main nvidia.com site just forwards to a broken akamai link on download. Ended up having to grab it from a guru3d link.

haldean 11y ago
Do all DK1 owners get them? I have a DK1 but haven't heard anything about getting one from this release.
- MrRadar 11y ago
  Only if you backed the Kickstarter. If you bought it after the Kickstarter ended you don't get a free Rift.

atarian 11y ago

I got a chance to try out the Gear VR last week, and I was pretty sold on the whole VR thing. But I was really disappointed to find out the Rift required a $1000+ dedicated gaming rig to support it. IMO if Oculus Rift wants to really take off they need to figure out how to become a standalone piece of hardware.

dzaragozar 11y ago

Hooray! now 6 more months until the "VR flopped" articles and then no more about this nonsense.

deleted 11y ago
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sillysaurus3 11y ago

Never mind.

spicyj 11y ago
What does Project Update #83 say? And based on https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/347607/#Comment_347607 https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/34760..., you're out of luck. :(
- deleted 11y ago
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chenster 11y ago

VR makes me sick and nausea.

mattjwarren 11y ago

Vr will founder, but i think it will be due to augmented reality stepping into its shoes and taking over before vr really got a chance. AR can do everything vr can, and more.