Oculus Rift Discussion

[ElkinFencer10]

it kind of sucks, because I'm interested in exploring the tech but there's a ($) wall. I mean, I could afford to buy a Rift or Vive right now if I wanted. But I just can't seem to justify that price. On the flip, there's lower cost alternatives (OSVR being the prime one it seems), but there's at least some indication that I won't really be getting the same experience. So I don't know... I go back and forth on the whole thing. But I think it just annoys me because it's kind of something going on in the gaming industry that is being talked about everywhere (especially if you're into PC gaming) and I can't even have a first-hand opinion. :\

#givethebabyhisbottle, I know. And I also know that prices will fall as tech gets improved upon. But as a nerd I can't help but be curious what I'm missing. I knew I shouldn't have re-watched The Lawnmower man...

I'm letting PS VR be my entry into Virtual Reality. It's cheaper, has much wider compatibility with games that I own or plan to get (I can justify to myself splurging on a physical console game way easier than I can for a digital PC game), and I KNOW that my hardware will be able to run it the way it's meant to be run. I mean, my PC is beefy, so I realistically have nothing to worry about there, but I'm paranoid.

[Krejlooc]

it kind of sucks, because I'm interested in exploring the tech but there's a ($) wall. I mean, I could afford to buy a Rift or Vive right now if I wanted. But I just can't seem to justify that price. On the flip, there's lower cost alternatives (OSVR being the prime one it seems), but there's at least some indication that I won't really be getting the same experience. So I don't know... I go back and forth on the whole thing. But I think it just annoys me because it's kind of something going on in the gaming industry that is being talked about everywhere (especially if you're into PC gaming) and I can't even have a first-hand opinion. :\

#givethebabyhisbottle, I know. And I also know that prices will fall as tech gets improved upon. But as a nerd I can't help but be curious what I'm missing. I knew I shouldn't have re-watched The Lawnmower man...

Well, if you're dying to try these headsets out but don't want to commit, you could buy one, try it for a while, then sell it (likely for a profit depending on how quickly you can get your hands on one). If you're one of the lucky few who can find a rift CV1 at retail at the microsoft store on may 6th at 9 am (the moment they go on sale at retail) you could easily turn around and sell it for double the cost, then order a new one and basically get a rift or vive for free plus profit.

That might feel scummy to you, but hey, it's a market and there is demand. You'll likely have to be waiting at the microsoft store at 9 am, though.

If nothing else, the same microsoft stores has demo kiosks for both the vive and the rift.

I think best buy is getting them, too.

[noiseredux]

meh, that's more work than I'm willing to do haha. The closest MS store isn't terribly close and is kind of a pain to get to. I already checked my local BB's and none of them will be having Rift kiosks.

[noiseredux]

I've dabbled some

so which games have you played on the Rift so far?

[isiolia]

Not a whole lot of them, since my system is still under the suggested spec. So while I've tried playing EVE: Valykrie and Adr1ft, they can't maintain a framerate sufficient enough to prevent motion sickness. They are playable to a point, just not for all that long. I'm holding off on actually paying for more games until I get a new GPU (as mentioned, GTX 670 still right now).

Other bundled Oculus stuff....actually runs fairly well. The Dream Deck demos all seem to run nicely, and Farlands does decently (though you can only really warp around from point to point in that, not move...I think the Rift-ized version of the Vanishing of Ethan Carter does the same).

While I've only fired up Lucky's Tale a couple times, it does seem to maintain a good framerate. Third person is...actually surprisingly good in VR. FPS type stuff can be a very quick recipe disorientation or motion sickness.. whereas third person becomes more augmented reality...ish. Like playing with a room-sized diorama.

Virtual Desktop works fairly well. It can be zoomed at the right level to be readable, but I think the overall clarity isn't there yet to replace monitors with it. Virtual theater type movie players are better - you still don't have the clarity, but you can get the sense of watching something in a theater. 3D/VR video can be good, but requires -very- high resolution to not look like crap. Even then, it's often easy to hit the boundaries of it relative to real-time stuff.

Still, I think cheap-er headsets are easily going to find a place as personal theater/screen type devices, if nothing else. There are already efforts to make virtual shared spaces like that to boot.

Tried some other little demo stuff that was on Steam.

Also, of course, have tried less...all audience type stuff. Mocu Mocu Dance is kinda neat, basically lets you view Miku Miku Dance resources in real time. This, in theory, could mean watching clothed anime girls do dance routines. That...isn't the only thing people are using it for. It does support Leap Motion, but it's kinda clunky.
On a basic level though, it does what a lot of other little demos are doing, in that you can load basic 3D assets and navigate them. You can even do that straight from the Unreal Engine (and Unity too I imagine). Like, you can place 3D assets in UE, and do a VR preview and run around 'em.


The Leap Motion Blocks demo is cool too, though it seems to neglect what might happen if you have, say, a desk in the way

[noiseredux]

Not a whole lot of them, since my system is still under the suggested spec. So while I've tried playing EVE: Valykrie and Adr1ft, they can't maintain a framerate sufficient enough to prevent motion sickness. They are playable to a point, just not for all that long. I'm holding off on actually paying for more games until I get a new GPU (as mentioned, GTX 670 still right now).

ah right. I knew you needed an upgrade, but forgot you were on a 670.

While I've only fired up Lucky's Tale a couple times, it does seem to maintain a good framerate. Third person is...actually surprisingly good in VR. FPS type stuff can be a very quick recipe disorientation or motion sickness.. whereas third person becomes more augmented reality...ish. Like playing with a room-sized diorama.

I have to admit, I was pretty curious about Lucky's Tale. It looks pretty fun.

Also, of course, have tried less...all audience type stuff.

This made me LOL.

So, I got antsy and placed a lowball bid on a Razer OSVR set. We'll see what happens. If it falls through, I might actually head out to BB on the 6th in the off chance they have a Rift in stock. If they do, I'm going to have to just see how strong my impulse buying strength is...

[Fragems]

I'm kind of ticked I don't have a Rift, but I was still interested in Adr1ft so I preordered a physical copy through Amazon since it was only $15.99 Now that it's released my Amazon copy still has the filler release date of December 31st so I'm left wondering wtf. The physical version is still restricted to steam/oculus activation so it's kind of ticking me off that there is no explanation as of yet for why it's being delayed.

[noiseredux]

I'm kind of ticked I don't have a Rift, but I was still interested in Adr1ft so I preordered a physical copy through Amazon since it was only $15.99 Now that it's released my Amazon copy still has the filler release date of December 31st so I'm left wondering wtf. The physical version is still restricted to steam/oculus activation so it's kind of ticking me off that there is no explanation as of yet for why it's being delayed.

I didn't even know there was a physical PC version of Adr1ft.


Anyway, after sleeping on it, I think it'd be smart to stick to my guns about the Oculus. It's easy to get wrapped up in the allure of the new hotness, but like I've been saying since the retail price was announced: $600 feels too much for me to early adopt.

I've said the whole time that $200-$300 (or even $350) seems like the price range where I'd be ok w/ checking out the tech. My thought being that I get to experience it now, and if it seems something really worth spending serious money on later then at least I'd know. Or of course there's the possibility of price drops later anyway.

So I'll just continue to keep an eye out for an Oculus DK2 in my price range, else consider the OSVR HDK.

Yo, SonicR - you must have like a dozen DK2's lying around, haha. Hook a dood up!

EDIT: Or maybe I just found an OSVR HDK for $240 and couldn't resist.

[Pulsar_t]

[noiseredux]

so my wife and I tried the Samsung GearVR demo at BB today. She was blown away. I was like "oh good. Cuz I ordered a VR headset. Should be here Tuesday." She's excited to try it out.