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I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

blog.codinghorror.com

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Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#2
I agree with this article. We bought a Oculus DK2 for work[1]. It functions. It's cool for an hour or two. But no one's touched the DK2 since I wrote that article. There's simply nothing to do with it, and what you can do is better done with a monitor screen. The DK2 is incredibly low resolution. You can easily see the pixels. I was able to get a sense of presence once or twice, when driving down a straight in iRacing, otherwise it was always just a cool 3D effect strapped to my face.

[1] https://www.codeweavers.com/about/blogs/aeikum/2015/5/29/cod...

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#3
That's your opinion.

I do demos with a Alienware R18 laptop with a DK2 with demos different depts have made. I bring this oversized desktop in a laptop format to demos, and show them off.

I perhaps have 1 or 2 people out of 50+ each time that aren't wowed. And given that I've went through a 1000 people at semi-random, that I think its fair to say that this guy is in the ~3% minority who isn't impressed.

All I can say is to give it a shot. Try a roller coaster demo, or play different games in the Rift. It really is crazy awesome. The only bad thing is keyboard input is hard, and still an unsolved problem. I figure when haptic gloves get good, this will be the final answer.

Edit: Seriously? -1's over a valid comments from someone who has 4 DK2's and 2 DK1's ? So bashing VR on HN is in vogue now. Got it.

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#4
post #2

I agree with this article. We bought a Oculus DK2 for work[1]. It functions. It's cool for an hour or two. But no one's touched the DK2 since I wrote that article. There's simply nothing to do with it, and what you can do is better done with a monitor screen. The DK2 is incredibly low resolution. You can easily see the pixels. I was able to get a sense of presence once or twice, when driving down a straight in iRacin…

(Aside:

> Current generation consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS4 may be fine with (most) games running at 1080p, on the PS4 at least,

Ouch, that's gotta burn the XBone team.)

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#5
As a counterpoint, I used a DK1 and I thought it was brilliant. Can't wait to use a production model.

I also showed it to an architect friend of mine and he loved it and wants to use it to walk his clients around unrealized house designs.

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#6
I think this is where the adult industry can act as the "bridge" and can make use of VR as it is today until it is mature enough for gaming. The lack of input/feedback isn't that big of a deal since for adult entertainment your hands need to be free for a more fulfilling experience.

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#7
post #3

That's your opinion. I do demos with a Alienware R18 laptop with a DK2 with demos different depts have made. I bring this oversized desktop in a laptop format to demos, and show them off. I perhaps have 1 or 2 people out of 50+ each time that aren't wowed. And given that I've went through a 1000 people at semi-random, that I think its fair to say that this guy is in the ~3% minority who isn't impressed. All I can say…

If you aren't a gamer or technology person, it's way more impressive then if you already live in that world. Spending hours on the thing vs a demo is a very different experience as well.

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#8
post #3

That's your opinion. I do demos with a Alienware R18 laptop with a DK2 with demos different depts have made. I bring this oversized desktop in a laptop format to demos, and show them off. I perhaps have 1 or 2 people out of 50+ each time that aren't wowed. And given that I've went through a 1000 people at semi-random, that I think its fair to say that this guy is in the ~3% minority who isn't impressed. All I can say…

It's easy to be impressed with a 10 minute demo, but once you start trying to actually play games with it, it falls apart pretty quickly. The article is spot on: the display and rendering tech isn't there yet, and the input devices need figuring out.

Edit: I upvoted you. I also don't know why your comment is < 0.

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#9
Jeff compares the DK2 to Quake resolution (640x480), but I think that's quite misleading. Quake looks terrible, to modern eyes, but that has little to do with the resolution, and much more with the low polygon count, low quality textures and the lack of lighting effects.

Run Far Cry 4 at 640x480, and it'll look much better.

Re: I Tried VR and It Was Just OK

#10
My only disagreement is with the "gloves" idea. I thought we learned from the Wii that motion controls without force feedback is anti-immersion. Imagine "firing" a 12 gauge shotgun and seeing considerable recoil in VR while your hands stay still. Without haptic feedback I'll have to rely on imagination for the full experience, which I thought video games were supposed to skip.
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