Grim Views

I heard about the Oculus Rift VR gaming headset some time ago, but didn't think much about it. We've all heard of Virtual Reality headsets in movies or maybe even seen crappy versions of them in our lifetimes, so I figured this was just the latest mediocre product that would never really live up to our expectations.

Well, there's a podcast I've been listening to since about 2004, and the host is a big gamer and has been talking for years about wishing someone would create a true virtual reality experience. About three weeks ago, he ordered the Oculus Rift (still under development) and received it over the holiday weekend. He recorded a show a couple of days ago while using the headset with various games and demos, and described it as a life changing experience. He said it was even better than what he's been dreaming of for all these years. Here's the episode if anyone wants to hear a first hand review:

The Overnightscape 1027: VR

So, I'm strongly considering getting this. Right now it's still under development and has not been released as a consumer product yet, so the developers kit is only $300. I'm not sure how far out the actual release date is, but I'm afraid once the full product is available, it'll be $500 or more. That would be way out of my price range, so I'm thinking I might be ahead to jump on this while it's somewhat affordable. I've been doing a lot of research into this since yesterday and it seems like I'm seeing nothing but positive reviews. I believe it even works in WoW, as well as some other games like Team Fortress 2, Slender, Minecraft, Skyrim etc. Here's the actual website:

http://www.oculusvr.com/

I've also been watching reaction videos on youtube, some of which are pretty funny.

Anyway, has anyone else heard much about this? Thoughts? It's a little scary to invest $300 on a product still under development, but it helps that I'm hearing firsthand from someone I actually know and can talk to. I emailed Frank from The Overnightscape yesterday morning with a few more questions and he said he's still blown away, and it's a game changer.

Sounds exciting. Xmas gift mayhap.

I think the original Kickstarter goal was to make affordable VR technology, so I hope they're still trying to target going cheaper rather than expensive.

Also, you should follow along what Carmack has said about it, and I'm sure CryEngine3 will support it fully, since Chris Roberts is pushing it as well...

I'm very hopeful for the rift. When it was first announced I assumed that it would bomb like the other 100 VR technologies that preceded it. Then Carmack got on board and they got my attention. After seeing a few videos I now realize that the technology has a LOT of potential.

As for compatibility I think a lot of the hype is misleading. When people say OR compatible they mean that all of the features of the OR are compatible with the game including motion/head tracking. Any game that has Direct3D will output to the OR just fine but it may or may not support all of the features of the OR.

So in other words we can play thousands of games on the OR but most of them will only give us the same output and integration that you get from a standard monitor. There are only 2 types of games that I'm interested in playing the OR with: FPS and Simulation.

In many space simulation games you have to use mouselook to look around your cockpit in order to have full situational awareness. The same goes for other simulations that are non-space such as Mechwarrior 4. Then we have FPS games. ARMA III is a prime example of why using mouselook on a head pivot really increases your situational awareness. Linking that pivot to the OR would be phenomenal for gameplay.

As for the price point I wouldn't be concerned. The 300$ models that are being pushed out right now are DEV models. I believe they said that their target on release will be 99$ but that was before Carmack came on board and started programming the visual correction software. I will say this though: As an amatuer rocket scientist Carmack was forced to work within both funding and weight restrictions so you should feel confident that he can easily work with a price restriction.

One last thing to mention is that it's very possible that they will sell the base model for 99$ that will basically put a 3D screen on your face. Then if you want head/motion tracking you're paying 200$. Even if they don't tier the core features on different price tiers you can still expect to see non-core functionality effecting price. Ie- a pink version costs 20$ more. A version with a larger screen area costs 100$ more. This is all purely speculation.

I've still been watching this closely, and doing a lot of research. CES is going to be in a few weeks and I know they're going to be demonstrating the Developer Kit 2. I could go if I really wanted, and did give it some serious thought, but I'd have to take off work and put some people out of their way, so I decided to pass. After really looking into it, I decided to wait for the consumer model which is hopefully going to be released in 2014.

But here is a bit of very interesting (and encouraging!) news:

Oculus Rift funded 75 Million Dollars

Yeah, you read that right. $75 million.

I've always wanted a "big screen" that can be worn on the head. Always since I can remember first using machines for computing. Didn't even need it to be 3d, just having it on would be great, though not being able to press a button and see through it if needed is a bit of a drag. Looking forward to it.

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