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VR headset Oculus Rift

Gaming is the secondary appeal, IMO. Light field recordings of real places are going to be the BIG THING that drives VR. Imagine a completely photorealistic (ie. it's actually a very complicated 4 dimensional photo) reproduction of: St. Peter's, Rome. Dawn at Machu Picchu. The great barrier reef. Ringside at the heavyweight champiosnhip fight. On stage with U2 ( :D )
 
Global Stoner said:
Sure, that would be nice, but I'm not sure there is enough stuff I want to look round to spend that much on a VR headset. Great for places where you go and use it, like the Alton Towers ride, not for the home.

I want to kill things.
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I hear you *cocks shotgun*

could be a platform for a new kind of Second Life type thing I suppose, far more immersive and potentially impressive than the original. Oh and it blatantly going to be used for grot. Theres already 3 geeks (one who does porn for a lving) working on VR filth
 
Crispy said:
Gaming is the secondary appeal, IMO. Light field recordings of real places are going to be the BIG THING that drives VR. Imagine a completely photorealistic (ie. it's actually a very complicated 4 dimensional photo) reproduction of: St. Peter's, Rome. Dawn at Machu Picchu. The great barrier reef. Ringside at the heavyweight champiosnhip fight. On stage with U2 ( :D )
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Posh wildlife documentaries. I won't be buying one for that alone, but it would be a nice touch, but that's the kind of thing I watch on the sofa with somebody. It will have to be bloody impressive for me to put on the headset.

Gaming is already a solitary activity for me, so it's the most logical. That I want complete control of virtual worlds, rather then just being a spectator.
 
DotCommunist said:
I hear you *cocks shotgun*

could be a platform for a new kind of Second Life type thing I suppose, far more immersive and potentially impressive than the original. Oh and it blatantly going to be used for grot. Theres already 3 geeks (one who does porn for a lving) working on VR filth
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A quick google suggests it's already there. I'm sure it would be cheap enough to test with one of those cardboard things that you put your smartphone in.

The concept of Second Life always struck me as pointless. I want to kill things or at least be entertained. First Life is already complex enough at times.
 
Crispy said:
I have a hunch that it will be fucking impressive and will make instant converts of the technology on first contact.
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I'm looking forward to trying it for myself and I suppose the Gear can run with cheaper hardware. I imagine getting one of the other ones for gaming will still allow you to do so.

My last experience trying it was in the 90s on one of the insane expensive arcade machines with 3d with no textures. Frankly the Afterburner machine that turned you upside was more fun.
 
This article from The Register is interesting. Speculative, but does make sense given what we were talking about. He suggests that the sensors in phones in the next few years are going to get a whole load better, which will mean that Google Cardboard like devices will become good enough for lots of VR applications.

Personally I've no problem buying a dedicated device for gaming, but less so for other applications. I suspect many people would be hesitant to buy a dedicated unit, but if they already have most of the hardware may be more willing to try it.

Sensors, not CPUs, are the tech that swings the smartphone market
 
I got to have a go on the Gear VR and the Oculus Rift on Wednesday, first time ever. I also got given one of the those cardboard VR things but I haven't tried it out yet.

I was quite impressed with the Gear VR - the demonstration was an African safari-type thing, not really interactive beyond being able to look in any direction. I was a little startled when I turned around and saw a large lion right next to me! I also liked the fact that I could use it while wearing my glasses. With a decent set of headphones plugged into the smartphone component I could easily see this rivalling the Oculus Rift if it isn't too expensive. The lack of wires to get tangled up in is a nice bonus too.

As for the Oculus Rift, the demonstration I saw wasn't as impressive, but I could tell as I looked at the false-colour 3D diagram of mouse brain cells that the Rift gave better looks, even if it was difficult on account of the fact that I couldn't wear my glasses while using it. I suppose it makes sense in a way, but I could see things more clearly the "closer" they got to me. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to have a go on an Oculus Rift setup with a more impressive demonstration and with which I can keep wearing my glasses.

I'm gonna try assembling that cardboard VR thing now...

beesonthewhatnow said:
It all just seems so... I dunno. Antisocial. Hiding away in a stupid looking headset.
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You could say similar kinds of things about all the millions of people sitting alone with their glazed eyes fixed on little glowing screens across the world... Who honestly gives a fuck if it looks stupid? It's not a fashion accessory, it's an interface. If you showed an ancient Greek a glimpse of what a lot of contemporary people in developed countries do for entertainment, they'd probably find it utterly hilarious, assuming they didn't think we'd somehow been hypnotised by our own creations.

Yes I know, you can sit and watch TV with friends. But you can also play video games with other people online, while actually talking with them in real time. My mother has met people in real life through World of Warcraft. There's no reason why there can't be a more social aspect to devices like the Oculus Rift. Not just games either, but also those VR tour thingies that Crispy seems to think will be the hottest thing about this tech; just add a microphone to the ensemble and now you can talk with your fellow tourists (or a relative who's joined you from the other side of the world) about how amazing the place is that you're not actually visiting.
 
NoXion said:
Yes I know, you can sit and watch TV with friends. But you can also play video games with other people online, while actually talking with them in real time. My mother has met people in real life through World of Warcraft. There's no reason why there can't be a more social aspect to devices like the Oculus Rift. Not just games either, but also those VR tour thingies that Crispy seems to think will be the hottest thing about this tech; just add a microphone to the ensemble and now you can talk with your fellow tourists (or a relative who's joined you from the other side of the world) about how amazing the place is that you're not actually visiting.
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I spend a decent amount of my leisure time sitting at home in front of a monitor wearing a headset - playing games and talking to people from across the other side of the world and being social with them whilst we play a game together. The only difference with VR is that I would also be wearing some sort of daft contraption over my eyes, it wouldn't make me less social.
 
The cardboard VR thing has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment; once I'd worked out how to assemble it and downloaded the app for it, I encountered the same "can't use it while wearing glasses" problem I had with the Oculus Rift, with the added issue that I couldn't get my phone's display to line up properly with the lenses in the cardboard VR.

I suppose if I ever get the money to shell out for such a device, it'll have to be one that fits glasses or I'll have to consider wearing contacts while using it.
 
elbows said:
Do you know which version of the Oculus Rift it was that you got to try?

I don't wear glasses so haven't got any personal experience, but the consumer version is supposed to be better for this and there is older info to be found about what can be done with older versions of the Oculus such as the DK2 - some glasses do apparently work.

eg:

I have glasses. Is Oculus Rift glasses friendly? • /r/oculus
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I think it was DK2. Not sure though.
 
I'm leaning to the idea of getting a Gear VR rather than any of the devices requiring tethering to a powerful computer/device.

The main reason is, I want to be able to move around with a VR headset. take it from the living room, to the bedroom, in my travel bag elsewhere etc. It would be harder to do that with a rift, even though it would be a superior device in terms of specs.

Also, I'm not particularly into gaming. I'm more into the idea of watching movies in virtual cinemas, and exploring virtual worlds through dedicated apps. And after all that, I can take the phone and use it as, a phone.

Does anyone else agree this is the logical choice for my needs, or should I hold out for something else?
 
ffsear said:
Yea, i'll be trying it out first before making a decision. It should be good for simulation games such as Gran Turismo and Warthunder
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I suspect stuff will have to be coded with it mind to work well, but I'd like to play Fallout on it.

I'll also want to try one, but am keen on the idea and I have a PS4, but can't justify over a grand on a decent PC.
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
I suspect stuff will have to be coded with it mind to work well, but I'd like to play Fallout on it.
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You don't.

Traditional First-Person controls and games are terrible in VR. Any acceleration (ie change of speed or direction) can cause motion sickness. Constant speed movement in a straight line is ok, but rotating the view or changing your speed leads straight to barf city.

The best VR experiences will be built for it.
 
Crispy said:
You don't.

Traditional First-Person controls and games are terrible in VR. Any acceleration (ie change of speed or direction) can cause motion sickness. Constant speed movement in a straight line is ok, but rotating the view or changing your speed leads straight to barf city.

The best VR experiences will be built for it.
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Fallout 5 maybe.

I suspect what will be an issue is that games publishers want want to make triple A games for something with a limited user base and people won't buy them in serious numbers until they are. :(
 
Checking around on eBay and Amazon, you could get a Gear VR for under £95 and a Samsung S6 for as low as around £250ish so a basic VR setup and decent phone for less than £350 all in.
 
I think AAA games are going to be pretty far down the list of compelling VR experiences. It's useful that the games industry has built up a big library of software for making VR, but those sorts of games won't sell headsets to the mainstream.
 
skyscraper101 said:
Does anyone else agree this is the logical choice for my needs, or should I hold out for something else?
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Your choice is logical. Whether to hold off or not is quite the decision - no doubt at all that so long as VR doesn't disappear up its own arse in 6 months, the subsequent generations of hardware will be better than wheat is around now/around soon.

The main problem with the likes of Gear VR are the more limited CPU & GPU power available, and the lack of positional tracking. The latter one should not be overlooked, its really essential to have this for a lot of experiences to reduce nausea and conflicts between how you are moving in real life and whats on the screen. One solution that may arrive to deal with this is if some of the sensors and techniques from Google's Project Tango make their way into mobile VR solutions.

If you could afford to just go with the Gear VR right now then I probably would, but if its a close call or I've introduced significant doubts then Google Cardboard should give a reasonable approximation of what the Gear VR experience will be like.
 
elbows said:
The main problem with the likes of Gear VR are the more limited CPU & GPU power available, and the lack of positional tracking. The latter one should not be overlooked, its really essential to have this for a lot of experiences to reduce nausea and conflicts between how you are moving in real life and whats on the screen.
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If you're watching movies and stuff though, the positional thing is a bit moot isn't it? All your doing is looking around a virtual cinema or big screen TV room?
 
skyscraper101 said:
If you're watching movies and stuff though, the positional thing is a bit moot isn't it? All your doing is looking around a virtual cinema or big screen TV room?
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It's less of an issue in that scenario, but that wasn't the only use case for it you expressed an interest in. And even with simply stuff like being in a virtual cinema, I don't ideally want head rotation to be the only thing taken account of. Even when simply sitting in a chair I am often moving my position in a number of ways, and the VR experience is a good deal more convincing and less nauseating when thats tracked properly.
 
Used my new gear VR to watch Better Call Saul on Netflix last night and the lack of positional tracking didn't detract at all...
 
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