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I've played with an Oculus VR, and I think they're amazing. But I'm not convinced that they're ready for the mass market yet. Not because of any failing on th

I've played with an Oculus VR, and I think they're amazing. But I'm not convinced that they're ready for the mass market yet. Not because of any failing on their part, but because I think that they need games, and controllers, specifically designed to work with VR. You can't use mouse/keyboard well if you can't see the mouse/keyboard. UIs that float at the bottom of the screen feel very odd when you move your head around and they stay at the bottom of your vision. We're going to need a year or two of people producing iterations of new interfaces before we have something that feels really smooth to the average user. (In the meantime they're great fun to play with.)

btbuildem 13y ago
Leap Motion?
- mlbmlb 13y ago
  Omni would be even better.
  - pixie_ 13y ago
    Omni is smell-o-vision. Neat, but a bit too gimmicky.
    - Nobedy 13y ago
      Agreed. http://www.virtusphere.com/ http://www.virtusphere.com/ This is more like it, but they've totally failed to get on the recent hype train and they don't even seem to realise it needs to be powered. It needs to start the instant you lean forward and stop on a dime to work properly. Plus, you need to be fully portable with the entire computer on your back to reduce latency.
- sp332 13y ago
  Razer's Hydra project, which you have to hold onto but gives you a much larger play area, is already being used in some Rift games.
thenomad 13y ago
Try Minecraft with the mouse and keyboard, and the HUD off. It's a spectacularly immersive experience with the Rift - the first "holy shit, I totally lost track of time there" experience I've had with the technology.
Wintamute 13y ago
What makes you think Oculus are convinced they're ready for the mass market? They haven't even mentioned a vague release date and are still openly iterating and researching hardware and software ...
ssewell 13y ago
The Razer Hydra is a great game controller for the Oculus Rift. An outstanding example of its usage can be seen in "The Gallery: Six Elements", which is currently under development and will take full advantage of the Rift used in conjunction with Hydra: https://www.thegallerygame.com/ https://www.thegallerygame.com/
jasonwatkinspdx 13y ago
> UIs that float at the bottom of the screen feel very odd when you move your head around and they stay at the bottom of your vision. I haven't used an Oculus, but just thinking about it I suspect the solution is going to be to locate HUD elements in world space locked to the player's position.
- nivloc 13y ago
  That's what CCP did with the EVE-VR demo, and it makes sense in the context of a flight sim. It'll be interesting to see what developers come up with for FPSes. http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/eve-vr-an-experiment-in-bringing-virtual-reality-to-the-eve-universe/ http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/eve-vr-an-expe...
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    "Wrist-watches" with bullet and health readouts. Just look down at any point in the game and your virtual arm will come up, showing everything that you need to know on the back of it.
    - dyselon 13y ago
      Well, hopefully not for health or ammo. The whole point of a heads up display is so that you can literally keep your head up. A "look down for info" mechanic might be neat for stats you'd normally put on a pause screen or things like your inventory, though.
      - jlgreco 13y ago
        For health it might not be best, but I think for ammo it would work well. I mean, in the real world you don't even get a HUD for ammo, unless you're in an airplane or tank I suppose. A HUD for health is necessary just because the game isn't real life, but the ammo HUD is just a convenience; you can be more creative with it. Maybe gun models that give a visual indication of remaining ammo will become more popular. Perhaps adding blur/color saturation filters to your entire field of view might take off as a primary indication of remaining health.
sxp 13y ago
A better UI would be something like the Hydra. There was a cool hack where someone used one Hydra controller to track the user's body while the other was used as a gun: http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/6/4595062/new-oculus-rift-cover-shooter-fps-ulta-realistic http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/6/4595062/new-oculus-rift-cov...
AUmrysh 13y ago
I had no trouble using the mouse+kb with the rift. Also, the Razer Hydra seems to be the controller people are converging on. I believe Carmack will have a huge impact on getting other developers to adopt the Oculus VR tech. It's one thing for Palmer Luckey to get the support of Valve, Carmack, and others, but it's a whole different world when Carmack can spend his productive time improving the product, getting other developers to adopt it, and bringing it to market.
coldpie 13y ago
I agree with you, but what I found really encouraging was how apparently easy it is to get your 3D game working on the Oculus. I play iRacing.com, and they released official support for the Oculus in their shipped product less than a month after receiving their devkit. That kind of turnaround is really impressive to me. I'm really excited to see what Oculus decides to release as their final product.
JoshTriplett 13y ago
> You can't use mouse/keyboard well if you can't see the mouse/keyboard. Uh, what? Even if you don't touch-type, you shouldn't need to look at the keyboard and mouse to play a game. All the keys you need should be under your fingers or in easy reach, and a mouse especially should be easy to use without watching your hand and fingers. I do agree with your comments about HUDs; VR games lose a lot of immersion if you have UI elements present (unless your character is supposed to have a HUD in-game). However, many games do fix that, by eliminating the HUD entirely.
- frio 13y ago
  Sure, but the instant you take your hands off the keys (or the mouse), you're groping and flailing wildly to find them again. I didn't think it'd be an issue until I got my Rift, and it turned out it was :). I'm sure there'll eventually be a clever solution though.
  - fudged71 13y ago
    Sounds like Rift needs a reverse version of Google Glasses inside of it! A camera on the front would show a small screen of what's in front of you IRL.
Goronmon 13y ago
You can't use mouse/keyboard well if you can't see the mouse/keyboard. I can't imagine being able to properly play PC games while also having to constantly look at your mouse/keyboard.
- dkersten 13y ago
  I can touchtype, so I don't need to see my hands or the keyboard. But when I play a game, I never ever ever look at my hands - my eyes are clearly glued to the screen. I know this is definitely the case when I play games on my laptop but with an external screen that is to the side of the laptop because I sit in a way that I look right at the screen and to see the keyboard would mean I'd have to look to the side. In many fast paced game (FPS, MOBA etc) glancing at the keyboard means death...
  - VintageCool 13y ago
    I can touchtype with my WASD hand, but not with my right hand.
thenomad 13y ago
It may be noted that one of my medium-term projects is a Rift word processor. RenderToTexture and a webcam pointing at the keyboard is a lofi but possible way of solving the "can't see the keyboard" problem.

btbuildem 13y ago

Leap Motion?

mlbmlb 13y ago
Omni would be even better.
- pixie_ 13y ago
  Omni is smell-o-vision. Neat, but a bit too gimmicky.
  - Nobedy 13y ago
    Agreed. http://www.virtusphere.com/ http://www.virtusphere.com/ This is more like it, but they've totally failed to get on the recent hype train and they don't even seem to realise it needs to be powered. It needs to start the instant you lean forward and stop on a dime to work properly. Plus, you need to be fully portable with the entire computer on your back to reduce latency.
sp332 13y ago
Razer's Hydra project, which you have to hold onto but gives you a much larger play area, is already being used in some Rift games.

thenomad 13y ago

Try Minecraft with the mouse and keyboard, and the HUD off. It's a spectacularly immersive experience with the Rift - the first "holy shit, I totally lost track of time there" experience I've had with the technology.

Wintamute 13y ago

What makes you think Oculus are convinced they're ready for the mass market? They haven't even mentioned a vague release date and are still openly iterating and researching hardware and software ...

ssewell 13y ago

The Razer Hydra is a great game controller for the Oculus Rift. An outstanding example of its usage can be seen in "The Gallery: Six Elements", which is currently under development and will take full advantage of the Rift used in conjunction with Hydra: https://www.thegallerygame.com/ https://www.thegallerygame.com/

jasonwatkinspdx 13y ago

> UIs that float at the bottom of the screen feel very odd when you move your head around and they stay at the bottom of your vision. I haven't used an Oculus, but just thinking about it I suspect the solution is going to be to locate HUD elements in world space locked to the player's position.

nivloc 13y ago
That's what CCP did with the EVE-VR demo, and it makes sense in the context of a flight sim. It'll be interesting to see what developers come up with for FPSes. http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/eve-vr-an-experiment-in-bringing-virtual-reality-to-the-eve-universe/ http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/eve-vr-an-expe...
- jlgreco 13y ago
  "Wrist-watches" with bullet and health readouts. Just look down at any point in the game and your virtual arm will come up, showing everything that you need to know on the back of it.
  - dyselon 13y ago
    Well, hopefully not for health or ammo. The whole point of a heads up display is so that you can literally keep your head up. A "look down for info" mechanic might be neat for stats you'd normally put on a pause screen or things like your inventory, though.
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      For health it might not be best, but I think for ammo it would work well. I mean, in the real world you don't even get a HUD for ammo, unless you're in an airplane or tank I suppose. A HUD for health is necessary just because the game isn't real life, but the ammo HUD is just a convenience; you can be more creative with it. Maybe gun models that give a visual indication of remaining ammo will become more popular. Perhaps adding blur/color saturation filters to your entire field of view might take off as a primary indication of remaining health.

sxp 13y ago

A better UI would be something like the Hydra. There was a cool hack where someone used one Hydra controller to track the user's body while the other was used as a gun: http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/6/4595062/new-oculus-rift-cover-shooter-fps-ulta-realistic http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/6/4595062/new-oculus-rift-cov...

AUmrysh 13y ago

I had no trouble using the mouse+kb with the rift. Also, the Razer Hydra seems to be the controller people are converging on. I believe Carmack will have a huge impact on getting other developers to adopt the Oculus VR tech. It's one thing for Palmer Luckey to get the support of Valve, Carmack, and others, but it's a whole different world when Carmack can spend his productive time improving the product, getting other developers to adopt it, and bringing it to market.

coldpie 13y ago

I agree with you, but what I found really encouraging was how apparently easy it is to get your 3D game working on the Oculus. I play iRacing.com, and they released official support for the Oculus in their shipped product less than a month after receiving their devkit. That kind of turnaround is really impressive to me. I'm really excited to see what Oculus decides to release as their final product.

JoshTriplett 13y ago

> You can't use mouse/keyboard well if you can't see the mouse/keyboard. Uh, what? Even if you don't touch-type, you shouldn't need to look at the keyboard and mouse to play a game. All the keys you need should be under your fingers or in easy reach, and a mouse especially should be easy to use without watching your hand and fingers. I do agree with your comments about HUDs; VR games lose a lot of immersion if you have UI elements present (unless your character is supposed to have a HUD in-game). However, many games do fix that, by eliminating the HUD entirely.

frio 13y ago
Sure, but the instant you take your hands off the keys (or the mouse), you're groping and flailing wildly to find them again. I didn't think it'd be an issue until I got my Rift, and it turned out it was :). I'm sure there'll eventually be a clever solution though.
- fudged71 13y ago
  Sounds like Rift needs a reverse version of Google Glasses inside of it! A camera on the front would show a small screen of what's in front of you IRL.

Goronmon 13y ago

You can't use mouse/keyboard well if you can't see the mouse/keyboard. I can't imagine being able to properly play PC games while also having to constantly look at your mouse/keyboard.

dkersten 13y ago
I can touchtype, so I don't need to see my hands or the keyboard. But when I play a game, I never ever ever look at my hands - my eyes are clearly glued to the screen. I know this is definitely the case when I play games on my laptop but with an external screen that is to the side of the laptop because I sit in a way that I look right at the screen and to see the keyboard would mean I'd have to look to the side. In many fast paced game (FPS, MOBA etc) glancing at the keyboard means death...
- VintageCool 13y ago
  I can touchtype with my WASD hand, but not with my right hand.

thenomad 13y ago

It may be noted that one of my medium-term projects is a Rift word processor. RenderToTexture and a webcam pointing at the keyboard is a lofi but possible way of solving the "can't see the keyboard" problem.