Oculus Rift Discussion

[Pulsar_t]

Cardboard is a nice idea, coupled with headtracking for games that support TrackIR, but I grew tired of it within days. If you want to try it, best results can be achieved on 1080p phones, as for streaming games from PC to the phone, use either Moonlight (Geforce 6XX and above) if you have an Nvidia card or Kainy for other cards. You'll also need a 3D app to make games run in 3D for the phone to display correctly, and those aren't cheap (around $40), e.g. TriDef 3D Ignition, and only modern DirectX games are supported (though I did get Doom running on it, via a source port)

Using your head as a mouse cursor is just too much trouble.. I wish I could emulate the Rift using Android hardware so that I can play horror games and such.

[noiseredux]

yeah that does sound interesting to me. And I do have GTX 970.

[Pulsar_t]

yeah that does sound interesting to me. And I do have GTX 970.

https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/ ... ,-opendive

I used this page as a starting point.

[noiseredux]

very interesting. Thank you. I don't know why, but I have a sudden fascination with this. Maybe to see if it's worth spending real money on?

[Pulsar_t]

very interesting. Thank you. I don't know why, but I have a sudden fascination with this. Maybe to see if it's worth spending real money on?

I find it to be a nice introduction to VR mechanics. Of course the real thing is much better.. You can start simple by trying the VR apps and games on the Play store.

[noiseredux]

now this is maybe interesting...

http://www.pcgamer.com/playstation-vr-p ... ing-to-pc/

Apparently there's some rumors that PlayStation VR will actually be compatible with PC.

I'm not entirely sure what that means - I mean, will there just be "virtual reality" games on PC, or will you need a Rift to play all the Rift VR games, and a Vive to play all the Vive VR games, etc? Like, if you buy a Rift will you not be able to play Vive games?

At any rate, what makes this interesting of course is price-point. Apparently the PSVR is much more powerful than like Google Cardboard et al (natch), but less powerful than the Rift/Vive. But here's the thing: it's MSRP is $400. Which means that it's in that window of price that makes point-of-entry more appealing to those who are just curious. Especially if we can expect a sale at some point. A VR device that can deliver an experience greater than putting a phone in a headset and costs $300-$400 is something I could see myself looking into. The current Rift ($600) and Vive ($800) prices are prohibitive.

The PSVR is kind of ugly... but there's a certain appeal to the blue lights on it for me. It'll match my PC rig haha.

EDIT: So I guess there's yet another VR headset I wasn't aware of. This one is made by Razer... the OSVR it's called, and you can order a dev kit version for $300 right now.

http://www.razerzone.com/store/osvr-hdk

Again, I'm not sure if having so many headsets is good or bad. Obviously competition is good for pushing prices and trying to make the better product. But if each is aiming for exclusives then you've got a market that people aren't sold on yet (and flopped in the 90's) that could potentially be screwed up even further by market fragmentation.

Now if all the headsets pretty much opened the same doors, then this Razer OSVR could be interesting if it stays in that $300 price-point.

[isiolia]

Apparently there's some rumors that PlayStation VR will actually be compatible with PC.

I'm not entirely sure what that means - I mean, will there just be "virtual reality" games on PC, or will you need a Rift to play all the Rift VR games, and a Vive to play all the Vive VR games, etc? Like, if you buy a Rift will you not be able to play Vive games?

My assumption is that the hardware itself will be able to interface with a PC. Figure, modern consoles are - for the most part - using the same HDMI, USB, Bluetooth, and so on that other devices are. The catch has usually been a compatible driver, since Sony and Nintendo haven't really provided those

There are multiple standards being put up for PC VR. Oculus has theirs, Valve has theirs, and so on. It's really a two-part deal. The software will need to support the particular SDK/API, and likewise, the hardware/drivers will also need to support it. Think of it like XInput support - it's Microsoft's standard, but it's not exactly limited to Microsoft branded controllers and games in the Windows store.

As such, there aren't exactly "Rift games" or "Vive games" per se. There are Oculus SDK and SteamVR/OpenVR games. In the short term, yeah, it'll probably mean the specific headsets. Over time though, I think lines will get blurrier. If devs aren't rolling support for both in, then some level of compatibility will come around (technically, OpenVR already supports the Rift, just not very well apparently).

In any case, the Playstation VR could wind up being supported by one (or both) of those standards, and become a viable option. If it's yet another standard, I'm not so sure.


Another consideration is that the $399 price is just the headset, which at least requires the Playstation camera in addition. Sony's actual "starter bundle" that's comparable to what the Rift package includes is $499.

[noiseredux]

is OpenVR what Razer is doing with their OSVR set? I feel like if the final product ends up being $300-ish and supports a lot of games, then there's a viable option there to check out "real" VR on the cheaper end. Heck, I'm even slightly tempted in the 'hacker development kit' at that price.

[isiolia]

OpenVR is essentially SteamVR, just without the Steam part. OSVR is a different thing, though Valve said they'd be working with them.

The price will eventually go down on any of them. Support and the quality of the experience is what'll count for a lot more.

[Krejlooc]

not quite oculus rift but who the hell cares: