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John Carmack believes in the tech, and I believe in John Carmack, so I will be getting one. He has basically been with them since the beginning in some capacit

John Carmack believes in the tech, and I believe in John Carmack, so I will be getting one. He has basically been with them since the beginning in some capacity, here is a video of him demoing a unit at E3 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-DlWwlXHo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-DlWwlXHo You can see that one is still a very early prototype held together with duct tape. It's not specifically stated, but it sounds like he will be leaving id for this. I'm fine with that since there is only so much you can do in the game engine world these days. Seeing him try to advance gaming and immersion in a different way seems like it will fit him very well. Congrats to everyone at Oculus.

aaronblohowiak 13y ago
The dev kit is not yet consumer ready, but it does show a glimpse of the future. The (low) resolution of the screen on the dev kit is really distracting, but more importantly we are still learning about the control schemes. Right now, it is very hard/disorienting to play FPSs on the rift (IMNSHO).
- swax 13y ago
  I've done work to translate familiar 2d fps aim views to 3d and it feels very natural. I had tons of people at QuakeCon jumping right in a fragging just as well as they do in 2d. If you have a rift you can try it - https://github.com/swax/Quakespasm-Rift https://github.com/swax/Quakespasm-Rift
  - frio 13y ago
    Thanks for this; I look forward to giving it a go tonight!
- thenomad 13y ago
  The solutions to this problem might be really odd. Personally, I've been testing the Wii Balance Board as a useful input device for the Rift - and it's showing some promise. One tester did describe my test game as "Dungeon Segway Challenge", but we're getting there slowly...
  - venomsnake 13y ago
    Put a gun, sword into the hands of the player. Just think of the Neal Stephenson kickstarter with Rift VR.
    - thenomad 13y ago
      That's waaaaaaaaay harder than it looks. The big problem with swords in VR is physical feedback. If I strike at you with a saber, the saber will stop moving, sooner or later - either because you parry, or because the resistance of your bones and muscle eventually slows the thing down. Either way, it's a key component of a realistic swordfight. And it's bloody difficult to do in VR. You're not just talking about force feedback, you're talking about enough force to stop a 3 foot long piece of metal being swung with intent by a 200lb man, with the same speed and solidity of collision with another piece of metal - without interfering with the movement of that metal at any other time, risking injuring the person moving the metal, or generally screwing up. Guns, on the other hand, are much more doable.
      - malandrew 13y ago
        Can you use gyroscopes to provide resistive force. Keep a heavy one running at low speed in the sword in a gimble. when you are about to hit something predictively rotate it to the correct orientation and accelerate it to high speed. Not totally sure this would work but if there is anything that can provide counteracting force without physical contact, a gyroscope is it. You don't even have to make a heavy sword, the gyroscope itself could simulate the force required to overcome the momentum of a heavy broadsword.
        sbierwagen 13y ago
        You'd have to apply a couple hundred newton metres of torque, which would probably require a 50kg gyroscope, (expensive, heavy!) and if you want it to be at all compact you'd have to make the reaction wheel out of tungsten. (even more expensive!)
        thenomad 13y ago
- frio 13y ago
  While the control schemes can be a little jarring, I've not had a major issue with them. For me, it's games that have you accelerate at an incredible pace -- I tried playing HL2 Episode 1, for instance, and have found that to be the most jarring/motion-sickness inducing experience so far. So much so that I went out and got a Razer Hydra to give myself manual control of the acceleration (well, this was a convenient excuse, anyway!).
teach 13y ago
He's not leaving id. A recent tweet: "My time division is now Oculus over Id over Armadillo. Busy busy busy!" https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824
green7ea 13y ago
I've had the chance to try an oculus dev kit at work and it is VERY impressive. It's so immersive that the only problem I can see with it are with people who suffer from motion sickness. I can also see pixels if I pay attention but that should be fixed in the 1080p version. If you don't want to do any dev on it, I recommend you wait until there is a killer app that comes out to get one (so far there's half life 2, portal, etc.). By that time, the 1080p version will probably be out. I plan to do some dev so I will be ordering one for personal use soon. It's some really awesome tech.
- e12e 13y ago
  I seem to recall the US Air Force did a study that indicated that 20% of their pilots suffered from motion sickness, and that the level in the general population is higher... has anything changed, that would let the Rift have higher acceptance than the old VR stuff from the 90s?

aaronblohowiak 13y ago

The dev kit is not yet consumer ready, but it does show a glimpse of the future. The (low) resolution of the screen on the dev kit is really distracting, but more importantly we are still learning about the control schemes. Right now, it is very hard/disorienting to play FPSs on the rift (IMNSHO).

swax 13y ago
I've done work to translate familiar 2d fps aim views to 3d and it feels very natural. I had tons of people at QuakeCon jumping right in a fragging just as well as they do in 2d. If you have a rift you can try it - https://github.com/swax/Quakespasm-Rift https://github.com/swax/Quakespasm-Rift
- frio 13y ago
  Thanks for this; I look forward to giving it a go tonight!
thenomad 13y ago
The solutions to this problem might be really odd. Personally, I've been testing the Wii Balance Board as a useful input device for the Rift - and it's showing some promise. One tester did describe my test game as "Dungeon Segway Challenge", but we're getting there slowly...
- venomsnake 13y ago
  Put a gun, sword into the hands of the player. Just think of the Neal Stephenson kickstarter with Rift VR.
  - thenomad 13y ago
    That's waaaaaaaaay harder than it looks. The big problem with swords in VR is physical feedback. If I strike at you with a saber, the saber will stop moving, sooner or later - either because you parry, or because the resistance of your bones and muscle eventually slows the thing down. Either way, it's a key component of a realistic swordfight. And it's bloody difficult to do in VR. You're not just talking about force feedback, you're talking about enough force to stop a 3 foot long piece of metal being swung with intent by a 200lb man, with the same speed and solidity of collision with another piece of metal - without interfering with the movement of that metal at any other time, risking injuring the person moving the metal, or generally screwing up. Guns, on the other hand, are much more doable.
    - malandrew 13y ago
      Can you use gyroscopes to provide resistive force. Keep a heavy one running at low speed in the sword in a gimble. when you are about to hit something predictively rotate it to the correct orientation and accelerate it to high speed. Not totally sure this would work but if there is anything that can provide counteracting force without physical contact, a gyroscope is it. You don't even have to make a heavy sword, the gyroscope itself could simulate the force required to overcome the momentum of a heavy broadsword.
      - sbierwagen 13y ago
        You'd have to apply a couple hundred newton metres of torque, which would probably require a 50kg gyroscope, (expensive, heavy!) and if you want it to be at all compact you'd have to make the reaction wheel out of tungsten. (even more expensive!)
      - thenomad 13y ago
frio 13y ago
While the control schemes can be a little jarring, I've not had a major issue with them. For me, it's games that have you accelerate at an incredible pace -- I tried playing HL2 Episode 1, for instance, and have found that to be the most jarring/motion-sickness inducing experience so far. So much so that I went out and got a Razer Hydra to give myself manual control of the acceleration (well, this was a convenient excuse, anyway!).

teach 13y ago

He's not leaving id. A recent tweet: "My time division is now Oculus over Id over Armadillo. Busy busy busy!" https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824

green7ea 13y ago

I've had the chance to try an oculus dev kit at work and it is VERY impressive. It's so immersive that the only problem I can see with it are with people who suffer from motion sickness. I can also see pixels if I pay attention but that should be fixed in the 1080p version. If you don't want to do any dev on it, I recommend you wait until there is a killer app that comes out to get one (so far there's half life 2, portal, etc.). By that time, the 1080p version will probably be out. I plan to do some dev so I will be ordering one for personal use soon. It's some really awesome tech.

e12e 13y ago
I seem to recall the US Air Force did a study that indicated that 20% of their pilots suffered from motion sickness, and that the level in the general population is higher... has anything changed, that would let the Rift have higher acceptance than the old VR stuff from the 90s?