9 ms·

IL-2 Sturmovik and Oculus Rift

93 points by javanix 13y ago

fry_the_guy 13y ago
The more I read about the Oculus Rift, the more I want to try one. When the first generation of a technology looks this good, it really makes you excited for the 2nd and 3rd generation.
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  When the first generation of a technology looks this good, and John Carmack is going to help make the future versions (as CTO), holy crap does it make you excited.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  I've had my doubts about the Rift, but most of those were centered around problems I see with using the Rift in games like FPSes. The author of the article has totally sold me on the Rift for simulator games though. I want one.
  - 83457 13y ago
    Check out the Rift game/demo called Crashland. It uses the Sixense Hydra controllers for 1-to-1 aiming and works surprisingly well. You turn the reference orientation of your body/view but otherwise you are looking around and aiming with your arms. I really hope all FPS games for the Rift make this an available control scheme. Also helps that the game mechanics are fun and giant spiders are nasty.
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      I've seen demos with the controller that straps across your chest so you can move with your torso, and those look pretty cool, but you're still left with the problem of wanting to walk around but not being able to (because you'd step on your cat 'in meatspace'). There are solutions to that too, but they aren't great, take up space, are expensive, etc. In a game where you are strapped into a seat, you don't have that problem. You remain seated in your chair at home and remain seated in game, so everything works great. The Sixense Hydra controllers, or similar, could probably be great for manipulating switches and leavers in your cockpit.
      - makepanic 13y ago
        Here's a link to the mentioned controller, the Virtuix Omni: http://www.virtuix.com/ http://www.virtuix.com/
  - javanix 13y ago
    I think it could be usable for an FPS but it needs something ... more. This article hit the nail on the head when he stated that the Rift is already a perfect fit for simulator games.
  - vladimirralev 13y ago
    I can't understand how are you going to reach for the controls though. In all simulators you need use the keyboard extensively - power up the engines, flaps, landing gear. Then you need to remember weird hotkeys for radios, autopilot or rarely used functions. You need to type in a lot of numbers when doing routes or changing frequencies. I don't know how can you type with this thing on your head. And then you will need to find you mouse/stick to resume flying normally. Something is still missing here.
    - Pxtl 13y ago
      Realistically serious full-sims are going to be facing a lot of problems. Light-sims that can play on an XBox gamepad and thus won't require the full keyboard should fare much better, and likewise sims that fit nicely onto a standard flightstick+throttle controller.
      - throwaway5m 13y ago
        (Sorry, replying here because comments are closed to new accounts in the other thread.) >Was it always like this and I just need to "check my privilege" as a dude or has the 4chanification of geek culture invaded real life? Here's a crazy idea. Maybe it's because many geeks are simply growing tired of being shamed by females and their "allies" for being "awkward creeps" and they're starting to fight back? Honestly, what did you expect? That you could tell socially inept male geeks, which make up most of the group, that they're bad persons for making you uncomfortable with their mere presence, and that they'd turn into well-adjusted gentlemen overnight? Bah.
    - muttnik 13y ago
      Some of the current generation of sims (FSX, DCS) focus on "clickable cockpits" where you can operate basically the entire thing via a HOTAS and your mouse, flipping switches and turning knobs. While playing DCS I actually rarely touch the keyboard and move it completely out of the way. The current head tracking solutions like TrackIR actually make it pretty hard to flip switches on the sides of the cockpit because they drastically exaggerate your head movements. So I could see Oculus Rift working pretty okay for these. For the ones where I'd still need a keyboard, I could probably hit the right key most of the time without looking, or so I'd like to think.
- atonse 13y ago
  I'm dying to race Formula 1 Cars with this thing. It's going to be a ton of fun.
  - tlrobinson 13y ago
    iRacing.com already supports Oculus Rift. I believe it has Formula 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf65VGDs8OA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf65VGDs8OA
    - Shorel 13y ago
      Yes, it has the cars of one scuderia, Williams F1. And Euro Truck Simulator 2 has Rift support! The whole spectrum of wheeled vehicles is covered by the Rift.
- Shivetya 13y ago
  Well there are more than a few distressing music videos done with this device in mind, essentially porn paradise, if not shuts in fun. While it can have some great gaming,if not medical benefits, people tend to their darker impulses first. Tame video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bytIGCeGxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bytIGCeGxo but I would not call it SFW. Search youtube for Hydradeck oculus rift for a large collection of vids, most are very safe for work.
- Pxtl 13y ago
  In a certain sense this isn't first-generation. This is really a long-delayed second generation. Most of the gotchas of VR were examined over a decade ago, and this new kick at the can has come out of cellphone technology making the old systems viable.
  - vacri 13y ago
    I remember a guy around '97-'98 who was trying to get me involved in his research around giving the impression of movement in VR systems. Electrodes would be applied to the base of your skull and they'd be used to stimulate your cerebellum (or somesuch, I can't recall) which would give you a sense of movement. This was amplified by standing on a gel mat. Talking with other people, they said that a side effect of this process was that the electrodes kind've hurt, and none of them would do it again.
  - arrrg 13y ago
    Right time, right place. To me that seems like a pretty standard way (some) tech breaks into the mainstream. Tablets also existed at the beginning of the last decade (maybe even earlier in some form, I don’t know) but they never broke out of their niche. It took the right technology (low-power SoCs that are nevertheless fast enough for desktop PC level UI performance, better batteries, compact capacitive touch screens, SSDs – and all that together at the price of a budget PC) plus the right software (not just a desktop OS) to make it work. It seems and I hope we are at a similar point with VR. The tech is finally good and cheap enough, plus the software mature enough to allow developers easy integration. Hopefully it will work out. (Also relevant: The Hype Cycle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle But I’m never sure how much confirmation bias is in that way of seeing the world – but it seems to apply to a great many things.)
- baddox 13y ago
  We've got one in the office. The tech is obviously really solid, but the resolution of the dev model is abysmal and no one has really figured out a great control scheme for "on foot" first-person shooters. For first-person driving/flying games, where the direction you move and the direction you are looking are orthogonal, the experience is seamless.
the_french 13y ago
I'd like a dev environment to be made in oculus rift. Why simply limit ourselves to games (though very cool and fun)? To me it seems like the oculus allows for an entirely separate reality to be created. Imagine putting on the rift and instead of your desktop you can have a wall with 100 monitors in it? Move you editor to the side have a build above you etc...
- untog 13y ago
  Virtual desktops do that quite admirably today, though.
  - witras 13y ago
    I am a virtual desktop fan as well, I even prefer it to the two+ monitors approach, but just moving your head to look at any other open window seems superior. Plus maybe shake it a bit to move it to the center position, that sounds awesome to me. To bad Rift for now is focused on Windows for now, I'd love to see a Compiz DE make use of this.
    - tlrobinson 13y ago
      You know there are SDKs for Linux and OS X, right? It's just the 3rd party developers who are focusing on Windows, as usual with gaming.
  - tlrobinson 13y ago
    I've never been able to effectively use virtual desktops. I guess I tend to forget where I put windows. With one huge virtual display I'd be able to see where things are out of the corner of my eye or with a quick glance.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  It is a great idea, but I think the Rift will need to get a wildly better resolution. A 1920x1080 real screen isn't going to be able to show you a very good virtual screen in 3d space.
azernik 13y ago
When playing the old IL-2, I remember looking around with a joystick hat taking me out of immersion right away (and being a really hard way to get situational awareness, too). As soon as I heard descriptions of Oculus Rift, I knew I'd want to play similar games with it, but I didn't realize IL-2 itself was getting a remake. Very cool.
- zokier 13y ago
  In the meanwhile I've heard that TrackIR works really well with sims (some saying it being almost as essential as a joystick)
  - leoc 13y ago
    Yes, flight sims have always been the core base of support for TrackIR. Mind you, it seems that's partly because TrackIR's manufacturers NaturalPoint had trouble attracting support from FPS developers. From the guy who was apparently product manager for NaturalPoint http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/385-oculus-rift-headtracker-detailed/?p=9104 http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/385-oculus-rift-headtrac... : > Thanks for the kind words. My larger point is that they have already won the battle, whereas NP and TrackIR only conquered one genre - flight-sim. OR doesn't really need the sim community, unless it completely flops with shooters. We make up less than 1% of gamers. I'm more sensitive to this stuff because I was in charge of TrackIR business development while I was at NP and I mainly left because I could not crack the shooter genre. It was really frustrating and I remember all these shooter devs and engine devs (including Gabe Newell when I showed him our mod for HL2 with head tracking)) laughing at me when I explained how cool TrackIR was and what it could do. They ALL told me it was a cheat and they would never take the time to implement special code to support a 3rd party device outside of a mouse and keyboard. Drives me nuts. What made them change their mind? The stupid screen? Weird.
  - azernik 13y ago
    Interesting. Never heard of that before. Looking at a video, the only thing I can see that might be a problem is the motion scaling (where rotations are scaled up, so that a normal monitor will stay in your field of vision even while you look "behind" you). For people who've tried it - is that something that's easy to adjust to, or does your brain nag that things aren't quite right?
marknutter 13y ago
As a Rift owner, the most immersive demos I've tried by far have been ones where you are sitting in the cockpit of a ship or car. It's much easier for my brain to "believe" those demos, probably because it's not getting psyched out by the lack of 3 dimensional spacial tracking or the 'floating head' feeling you get when playing FPS's.
- venomsnake 13y ago
  The moments I saw what the rift was capable of I was thinking of simulations Renaissance. Mechwarriors, Descents, Freelancers - anything where your in game "avatar" isn't tied to the camera can benefit immensely from the technology.
  - randall 13y ago
    Wow. Can we please have a mechwarrior / descent renaissance?
    - witras 13y ago
      Retrovirus was okay-ish, and despite 6DOF very nice to use with a mouse. I hope they make a sequel and include Rift support. The Descent1/2 source is freely available, so some brave soul will probably add Rift support.
      - nsxwolf 13y ago
        The first experience I ever had with a stereoscopic head tracking display was with the original D1 in '96 or so, so some sort of stereoscopic support must already be in the code. Coincidentally the second game I tried with it that day was Mechwarrior 2.
    - lotharbot 13y ago
      Descent is undergoing a renaissance. You can buy the original games from gog.com and then download the updated clients for D1/D2 from http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ or find the patches for D3 via the links at http://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4953 http://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4953 . There's a game tracker at http://www.descent-servers.net/ http://www.descent-servers.net/ and built-in trackers in D1 and D2. Some groups that are still active include http://descentrangers.com/Home/Index http://descentrangers.com/Home/Index (primarily D2 and D1 team play), http://rbb.ripteam.com/ http://rbb.ripteam.com/ (D3 teams), and http://descentchampions.org/ http://descentchampions.org/ (a 1v1 ladder for mostly D1). You can find other Descent pilots on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/descentpilots/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/descentpilots/ , https://www.facebook.com/groups/kalikahn/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/kalikahn/ , and https://www.facebook.com/groups/583400181716926/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/583400181716926/ . Disclosure: I am one of the founders/administrators of the Descent Champions Ladder.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
gfodor 13y ago
The fact that simulators work so well lead me to believe that there has to be some semantic hack to get an FPS-like game feeling right. What sits between MechWarrior and Quake? How about Adventures of Professor X? That said, regardless, space sims are going to be insanely awesome. I'm looking at you, Star Citizen.
- bobbles 13y ago
  Could it just be that in mechwarrior / car sims your avatar is 'sitting' and so your brain expects your body to be sitting at the same time?
  - TeMPOraL 13y ago
    Easy to test. Someone needs to make an FPS mod in which players are moving in electric wheelchairs or something similar.
    - gfodor 13y ago
      On that note, I feel like the OculusVR could provide for a really illuminating experience as to what it's like to go through life in a wheelchair in the first place.
mentos 13y ago
Rift owner here as well, I haven't tried Sturmovik but I have been playing a similar game called Warthunder which I found to be really immersive. First 15 minutes of playing brought that child like wonder out of me that I haven't had since I stood in an aisle of 'Toys R Us' watching someone play Super Mario 64 (first 3D game I'd ever seen). The last few days I've been having an absolute blast playing Half Life 2. Hands down the best experience I've had in the Rift so far. While some say FPS are a difficult fit for head tracking I'm finding it to be very natural/immersive. And this is all with the first generation low-res dev kit so I'm really excited to see what next generations bring.
- malbs 13y ago
  It's pretty cheap to pick up IL2 on gog. I think I got it for around 10 bucks. Worthwhile!
  - leoc 13y ago
    That's an old version though, IL-2 1946, while the article is about the sequel, IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad, which is still in development http://il2sturmovik.com/ http://il2sturmovik.com/ . Fortunately it seems that someone has got both 1946 and WWI sim Rise of Flight working with the Rift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ConJqygVOqE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ConJqygVOqE .
losethos 13y ago
Friendly? I guess a prison camp with CERN people might not be pleasant. Hitler might think CERN was a weapon. (Lets assume no way to do more time travel.) Let's say butterfly wing ripples destroy all historic knowledge certainty. I guess, if this movie were to work, the good guys would have to be clever. A depressing movie would be destroying equipment -- that would be the smart thing. War is actually not fun and pleasant. God says... Virtual-Notary.Org hereby notes that on Date: Monday September 09, 2013 20:30.31 EDT (UTC-0400) a random drawing in the range [1, 100000], inclusive, based on a hardware source of true randomness, yielded the following decision. Random Value: 93843 our rule abundantly, 10:16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. 10:17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 10:18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. 11:1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. ----- Rome sweet Rome invented fog of "What just happened?" -- don't copy them, much. If CERN could contact allies, then stuff could happen. I guess it would be a race against time. meh.
ByronT 13y ago
This is the first time I've seen "rhubard" used as a verb.

93 points by javanix 13y ago

The more I read about the Oculus Rift, the more I want to try one. When the first generation of a technology looks this good, it really makes you excited for the 2nd and 3rd generation.

VikingCoder 13y ago
When the first generation of a technology looks this good, and John Carmack is going to help make the future versions (as CTO), holy crap does it make you excited.
jlgreco 13y ago
I've had my doubts about the Rift, but most of those were centered around problems I see with using the Rift in games like FPSes. The author of the article has totally sold me on the Rift for simulator games though. I want one.
- 83457 13y ago
  Check out the Rift game/demo called Crashland. It uses the Sixense Hydra controllers for 1-to-1 aiming and works surprisingly well. You turn the reference orientation of your body/view but otherwise you are looking around and aiming with your arms. I really hope all FPS games for the Rift make this an available control scheme. Also helps that the game mechanics are fun and giant spiders are nasty.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    I've seen demos with the controller that straps across your chest so you can move with your torso, and those look pretty cool, but you're still left with the problem of wanting to walk around but not being able to (because you'd step on your cat 'in meatspace'). There are solutions to that too, but they aren't great, take up space, are expensive, etc. In a game where you are strapped into a seat, you don't have that problem. You remain seated in your chair at home and remain seated in game, so everything works great. The Sixense Hydra controllers, or similar, could probably be great for manipulating switches and leavers in your cockpit.
    - makepanic 13y ago
      Here's a link to the mentioned controller, the Virtuix Omni: http://www.virtuix.com/ http://www.virtuix.com/
- javanix 13y ago
  I think it could be usable for an FPS but it needs something ... more. This article hit the nail on the head when he stated that the Rift is already a perfect fit for simulator games.
- vladimirralev 13y ago
  I can't understand how are you going to reach for the controls though. In all simulators you need use the keyboard extensively - power up the engines, flaps, landing gear. Then you need to remember weird hotkeys for radios, autopilot or rarely used functions. You need to type in a lot of numbers when doing routes or changing frequencies. I don't know how can you type with this thing on your head. And then you will need to find you mouse/stick to resume flying normally. Something is still missing here.
  - Pxtl 13y ago
    Realistically serious full-sims are going to be facing a lot of problems. Light-sims that can play on an XBox gamepad and thus won't require the full keyboard should fare much better, and likewise sims that fit nicely onto a standard flightstick+throttle controller.
    - throwaway5m 13y ago
      (Sorry, replying here because comments are closed to new accounts in the other thread.) >Was it always like this and I just need to "check my privilege" as a dude or has the 4chanification of geek culture invaded real life? Here's a crazy idea. Maybe it's because many geeks are simply growing tired of being shamed by females and their "allies" for being "awkward creeps" and they're starting to fight back? Honestly, what did you expect? That you could tell socially inept male geeks, which make up most of the group, that they're bad persons for making you uncomfortable with their mere presence, and that they'd turn into well-adjusted gentlemen overnight? Bah.
  - muttnik 13y ago
    Some of the current generation of sims (FSX, DCS) focus on "clickable cockpits" where you can operate basically the entire thing via a HOTAS and your mouse, flipping switches and turning knobs. While playing DCS I actually rarely touch the keyboard and move it completely out of the way. The current head tracking solutions like TrackIR actually make it pretty hard to flip switches on the sides of the cockpit because they drastically exaggerate your head movements. So I could see Oculus Rift working pretty okay for these. For the ones where I'd still need a keyboard, I could probably hit the right key most of the time without looking, or so I'd like to think.
atonse 13y ago
I'm dying to race Formula 1 Cars with this thing. It's going to be a ton of fun.
- tlrobinson 13y ago
  iRacing.com already supports Oculus Rift. I believe it has Formula 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf65VGDs8OA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf65VGDs8OA
  - Shorel 13y ago
    Yes, it has the cars of one scuderia, Williams F1. And Euro Truck Simulator 2 has Rift support! The whole spectrum of wheeled vehicles is covered by the Rift.
Shivetya 13y ago
Well there are more than a few distressing music videos done with this device in mind, essentially porn paradise, if not shuts in fun. While it can have some great gaming,if not medical benefits, people tend to their darker impulses first. Tame video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bytIGCeGxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bytIGCeGxo but I would not call it SFW. Search youtube for Hydradeck oculus rift for a large collection of vids, most are very safe for work.
Pxtl 13y ago
In a certain sense this isn't first-generation. This is really a long-delayed second generation. Most of the gotchas of VR were examined over a decade ago, and this new kick at the can has come out of cellphone technology making the old systems viable.
- vacri 13y ago
  I remember a guy around '97-'98 who was trying to get me involved in his research around giving the impression of movement in VR systems. Electrodes would be applied to the base of your skull and they'd be used to stimulate your cerebellum (or somesuch, I can't recall) which would give you a sense of movement. This was amplified by standing on a gel mat. Talking with other people, they said that a side effect of this process was that the electrodes kind've hurt, and none of them would do it again.
- arrrg 13y ago
  Right time, right place. To me that seems like a pretty standard way (some) tech breaks into the mainstream. Tablets also existed at the beginning of the last decade (maybe even earlier in some form, I don’t know) but they never broke out of their niche. It took the right technology (low-power SoCs that are nevertheless fast enough for desktop PC level UI performance, better batteries, compact capacitive touch screens, SSDs – and all that together at the price of a budget PC) plus the right software (not just a desktop OS) to make it work. It seems and I hope we are at a similar point with VR. The tech is finally good and cheap enough, plus the software mature enough to allow developers easy integration. Hopefully it will work out. (Also relevant: The Hype Cycle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle But I’m never sure how much confirmation bias is in that way of seeing the world – but it seems to apply to a great many things.)
baddox 13y ago
We've got one in the office. The tech is obviously really solid, but the resolution of the dev model is abysmal and no one has really figured out a great control scheme for "on foot" first-person shooters. For first-person driving/flying games, where the direction you move and the direction you are looking are orthogonal, the experience is seamless.

the_french 13y ago

I'd like a dev environment to be made in oculus rift. Why simply limit ourselves to games (though very cool and fun)? To me it seems like the oculus allows for an entirely separate reality to be created. Imagine putting on the rift and instead of your desktop you can have a wall with 100 monitors in it? Move you editor to the side have a build above you etc...

untog 13y ago
Virtual desktops do that quite admirably today, though.
- witras 13y ago
  I am a virtual desktop fan as well, I even prefer it to the two+ monitors approach, but just moving your head to look at any other open window seems superior. Plus maybe shake it a bit to move it to the center position, that sounds awesome to me. To bad Rift for now is focused on Windows for now, I'd love to see a Compiz DE make use of this.
  - tlrobinson 13y ago
    You know there are SDKs for Linux and OS X, right? It's just the 3rd party developers who are focusing on Windows, as usual with gaming.
- tlrobinson 13y ago
  I've never been able to effectively use virtual desktops. I guess I tend to forget where I put windows. With one huge virtual display I'd be able to see where things are out of the corner of my eye or with a quick glance.
jlgreco 13y ago
It is a great idea, but I think the Rift will need to get a wildly better resolution. A 1920x1080 real screen isn't going to be able to show you a very good virtual screen in 3d space.

azernik 13y ago

When playing the old IL-2, I remember looking around with a joystick hat taking me out of immersion right away (and being a really hard way to get situational awareness, too). As soon as I heard descriptions of Oculus Rift, I knew I'd want to play similar games with it, but I didn't realize IL-2 itself was getting a remake. Very cool.

zokier 13y ago
In the meanwhile I've heard that TrackIR works really well with sims (some saying it being almost as essential as a joystick)
- leoc 13y ago
  Yes, flight sims have always been the core base of support for TrackIR. Mind you, it seems that's partly because TrackIR's manufacturers NaturalPoint had trouble attracting support from FPS developers. From the guy who was apparently product manager for NaturalPoint http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/385-oculus-rift-headtracker-detailed/?p=9104 http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/385-oculus-rift-headtrac... : > Thanks for the kind words. My larger point is that they have already won the battle, whereas NP and TrackIR only conquered one genre - flight-sim. OR doesn't really need the sim community, unless it completely flops with shooters. We make up less than 1% of gamers. I'm more sensitive to this stuff because I was in charge of TrackIR business development while I was at NP and I mainly left because I could not crack the shooter genre. It was really frustrating and I remember all these shooter devs and engine devs (including Gabe Newell when I showed him our mod for HL2 with head tracking)) laughing at me when I explained how cool TrackIR was and what it could do. They ALL told me it was a cheat and they would never take the time to implement special code to support a 3rd party device outside of a mouse and keyboard. Drives me nuts. What made them change their mind? The stupid screen? Weird.
- azernik 13y ago
  Interesting. Never heard of that before. Looking at a video, the only thing I can see that might be a problem is the motion scaling (where rotations are scaled up, so that a normal monitor will stay in your field of vision even while you look "behind" you). For people who've tried it - is that something that's easy to adjust to, or does your brain nag that things aren't quite right?

marknutter 13y ago

As a Rift owner, the most immersive demos I've tried by far have been ones where you are sitting in the cockpit of a ship or car. It's much easier for my brain to "believe" those demos, probably because it's not getting psyched out by the lack of 3 dimensional spacial tracking or the 'floating head' feeling you get when playing FPS's.

venomsnake 13y ago
The moments I saw what the rift was capable of I was thinking of simulations Renaissance. Mechwarriors, Descents, Freelancers - anything where your in game "avatar" isn't tied to the camera can benefit immensely from the technology.
- randall 13y ago
  Wow. Can we please have a mechwarrior / descent renaissance?
  - witras 13y ago
    Retrovirus was okay-ish, and despite 6DOF very nice to use with a mouse. I hope they make a sequel and include Rift support. The Descent1/2 source is freely available, so some brave soul will probably add Rift support.
    - nsxwolf 13y ago
      The first experience I ever had with a stereoscopic head tracking display was with the original D1 in '96 or so, so some sort of stereoscopic support must already be in the code. Coincidentally the second game I tried with it that day was Mechwarrior 2.
  - lotharbot 13y ago
    Descent is undergoing a renaissance. You can buy the original games from gog.com and then download the updated clients for D1/D2 from http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ or find the patches for D3 via the links at http://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4953 http://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4953 . There's a game tracker at http://www.descent-servers.net/ http://www.descent-servers.net/ and built-in trackers in D1 and D2. Some groups that are still active include http://descentrangers.com/Home/Index http://descentrangers.com/Home/Index (primarily D2 and D1 team play), http://rbb.ripteam.com/ http://rbb.ripteam.com/ (D3 teams), and http://descentchampions.org/ http://descentchampions.org/ (a 1v1 ladder for mostly D1). You can find other Descent pilots on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/descentpilots/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/descentpilots/ , https://www.facebook.com/groups/kalikahn/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/kalikahn/ , and https://www.facebook.com/groups/583400181716926/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/583400181716926/ . Disclosure: I am one of the founders/administrators of the Descent Champions Ladder.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

gfodor 13y ago

The fact that simulators work so well lead me to believe that there has to be some semantic hack to get an FPS-like game feeling right. What sits between MechWarrior and Quake? How about Adventures of Professor X? That said, regardless, space sims are going to be insanely awesome. I'm looking at you, Star Citizen.

bobbles 13y ago
Could it just be that in mechwarrior / car sims your avatar is 'sitting' and so your brain expects your body to be sitting at the same time?
- TeMPOraL 13y ago
  Easy to test. Someone needs to make an FPS mod in which players are moving in electric wheelchairs or something similar.
  - gfodor 13y ago
    On that note, I feel like the OculusVR could provide for a really illuminating experience as to what it's like to go through life in a wheelchair in the first place.

mentos 13y ago

Rift owner here as well, I haven't tried Sturmovik but I have been playing a similar game called Warthunder which I found to be really immersive. First 15 minutes of playing brought that child like wonder out of me that I haven't had since I stood in an aisle of 'Toys R Us' watching someone play Super Mario 64 (first 3D game I'd ever seen). The last few days I've been having an absolute blast playing Half Life 2. Hands down the best experience I've had in the Rift so far. While some say FPS are a difficult fit for head tracking I'm finding it to be very natural/immersive. And this is all with the first generation low-res dev kit so I'm really excited to see what next generations bring.

malbs 13y ago
It's pretty cheap to pick up IL2 on gog. I think I got it for around 10 bucks. Worthwhile!
- leoc 13y ago
  That's an old version though, IL-2 1946, while the article is about the sequel, IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad, which is still in development http://il2sturmovik.com/ http://il2sturmovik.com/ . Fortunately it seems that someone has got both 1946 and WWI sim Rise of Flight working with the Rift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ConJqygVOqE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ConJqygVOqE .

losethos 13y ago

Friendly? I guess a prison camp with CERN people might not be pleasant. Hitler might think CERN was a weapon. (Lets assume no way to do more time travel.) Let's say butterfly wing ripples destroy all historic knowledge certainty. I guess, if this movie were to work, the good guys would have to be clever. A depressing movie would be destroying equipment -- that would be the smart thing. War is actually not fun and pleasant. God says... Virtual-Notary.Org hereby notes that on Date: Monday September 09, 2013 20:30.31 EDT (UTC-0400) a random drawing in the range [1, 100000], inclusive, based on a hardware source of true randomness, yielded the following decision. Random Value: 93843 our rule abundantly, 10:16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. 10:17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 10:18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. 11:1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. ----- Rome sweet Rome invented fog of "What just happened?" -- don't copy them, much. If CERN could contact allies, then stuff could happen. I guess it would be a race against time. meh.

ByronT 13y ago

This is the first time I've seen "rhubard" used as a verb.