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Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

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Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#111

Post by yathern »

vlunkr wrote: post #95
aresant wrote: post #51

I am truly surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on this thread. The Oculus is the FIRST high-fidelity consumer VR experience. And they've got the horsepower of Facebook's cash-machine as their bankroll. Zuck gets this to the degree that I suspect he believes Facebook & VR will be synonymous within a decade (1) Do I wish that Oculus was owned by some benevolent billionaire trickster like OASIS in Ready Player One? Sure…

Am I the only one that's still a little skeptical? I'm sure that it's a great technology and we will see interesting things come out of it, but statements like this > Oculus + 3D audio + input + eventual tactical is going to completely blur the lines of reality in ways we can't yet imagine. kind of just make me roll my eyes. We've been hearing things like that for decades. Is it really going to blur the lines of real…

This sounds like the opinion of someone who hasn't tried VR in any measure. I could be wrong, and maybe you have.

I agree that there is a ceiling of how much VR as a technology can 'blur the lines' of reality, but as someone who has a DK2 - I fully believe that VR is going to be huge in the future. It doesn't feel like you're 'sitting in a chair with a machine strapped to your face'.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#112

Post by ZenoArrow »

shpx wrote: post #92
dshankar wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"3rd to market"? The first consumer VR hardware on the market was the GearVR, made by Samsung AND Oculus. The second consumer VR hardware on the market is likely to be the Oculus Rift (Q1 Jan-Mar shipping) and the Vive is likely to be the third to market (est. April shipping) This is nothing like the developer previews from years ago. You should read up on the major differences from the DK1->DK2->CV1. Each was a mass…

As much as VR purists love to hate it, Google Cardboard was the first to market.

Durovis Dive was out before Google Cardboard (consumer version of Dive released in November 2013, Google Cardboard was announced in June 2014). Furthermore, there were VR headsets before the Oculus Kickstarter, VR is not a new field, it's just never truly been mainstream before (though it looks likely that it'll breakthrough to the mainstream in 2016).

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#113

Post by serge2k »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #44

Probably the better link is to the announcement of the pre-orders itself: https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-to-... I'm confused though; why do a pre-announcement for an announcement about pre-purchasing a product that's only two days away? They should have simply opened up pre-orders immediately. That being said I can't imagine they expect to sell much. It requires such a beefy PC (of which few…

> but until I can get one for at most $200 and use without a beefy PC I'll pass.

200 dollars I could see, but you will need a powerful machine to drive the resolution and frame rate required (or get sick, up to you).

and the reason is likely because they expect backorders and announcing preorders means it's fair for everyone.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#114

Post by saganus »

Alupis wrote: post #36
freehunter wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they say they didn't care, or did they say they needed to focus development? There is a big difference between the two. If they were making a game in Unity and didn't release a Linux version, that's one thing. If they're making a brand new specialized piece of hardware and have had numerous delays and just need to get a product out the door... well it's a little more understandable that they would focus on one pl…

The worry is, as time goes on, it will become harder and harder to "bolt on" Linux (or OSX) support. Being cross-platform is a design decision, and it effects how you go about developing your platform (what technologies you use, etc...). So the fear is, they'll go down the Microsoft path and find it difficult to bring in other platforms down the road.

I'm guessing it's much more safe (business-wise) to deploy for a "standard" platform like Windows and test the waters so to speak, in terms of consumer reception, games developed, etc, and then jump on to other platforms.

Of course, the end result is that you keep strengthening the "standard" platform and thus there's never critical mass for "alternative" platforms (for different values of "standard" and "alternative" depending on product), and so the cycle repeats itself.

But in the end Oculus is there to make money and making new hardware is very hard, let alone a whole new type of hardware.

This, I agree, is unfortunate, but I can't imagine how hard it must be to develop something like this for Linux, with the myriad of 3d drivers, sound drivers, etc. If you end up developing for say, Ubuntu Desktop only, then probably a lot of people would still complain and say "hey, Ubuntu is not the only Linux out there you know!".

Maybe Steam will take advantage of this and develop for Linux as well, thus putting pressure (and opening the market a bit) on competitors to move into this "alternative" market.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#115

Post by aresant »

mkozlows wrote: post #80
aresant wrote: post #51

I am truly surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on this thread. The Oculus is the FIRST high-fidelity consumer VR experience. And they've got the horsepower of Facebook's cash-machine as their bankroll. Zuck gets this to the degree that I suspect he believes Facebook & VR will be synonymous within a decade (1) Do I wish that Oculus was owned by some benevolent billionaire trickster like OASIS in Ready Player One? Sure…

I've played with a DK2. It was cool. But reasons not to be super-excited are: 1. Hardware requirements are steep (GTX 970 minimum), so plenty of hardware -- including plenty of hardware that's good for high-end gaming today -- won't be good enough for this. 2. Only Windows support. No compatibility with Linux, SteamOS, or even OSX means that the techie enthusiasts who'd play with it as a tech toy are going to be less…

1) Yep. But not bad for a first generation product. Already plenty of guides about building a VR ready computer for 2) Only windows. Agreed. But I'm glad they did so they could get one platform dialed in instead of chasing multiple rabbits. For now.

3) Games - copying part of this - do yourself a favor and try with Elite Dangerous or Assetto Corsa. And gaming doesn't scratch the service in terms of application - training, social interaction, SEX, therapy, etc, etc.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#116

Post by harpastum »

rdtsc wrote: post #86
aresant wrote: post #51

I am truly surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on this thread. The Oculus is the FIRST high-fidelity consumer VR experience. And they've got the horsepower of Facebook's cash-machine as their bankroll. Zuck gets this to the degree that I suspect he believes Facebook & VR will be synonymous within a decade (1) Do I wish that Oculus was owned by some benevolent billionaire trickster like OASIS in Ready Player One? Sure…

Played with prototype -- found it was still not as high fidelity to be usable for what we were doing. I am afraid it was hyped enough that we had higher expectations. The roller-coaster demo was cool but it was still like looking through a screen-door (through mosquito net), the square pixels were too distracting.

Which prototype? It sounds like you used a DK1, where the SDE (screen door effect) was very pronounced. The DK1's resolution is 1280×800@60hz.

The DK2 is 1920x1080@75hz, and the CV1 (subject of OP) is 2160×1200@90hz. I'm sure the SDE is still perceptible in the CV1 if you look closely enough, but most reports say it is no longer an issue.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#117

Post by rdtsc »

harpastum wrote: post #116
rdtsc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Played with prototype -- found it was still not as high fidelity to be usable for what we were doing. I am afraid it was hyped enough that we had higher expectations. The roller-coaster demo was cool but it was still like looking through a screen-door (through mosquito net), the square pixels were too distracting.

Which prototype? It sounds like you used a DK1, where the SDE (screen door effect) was very pronounced. The DK1's resolution is 1280×800@60hz. The DK2 is 1920x1080@75hz, and the CV1 (subject of OP) is 2160×1200@90hz. I'm sure the SDE is still perceptible in the CV1 if you look closely enough, but most reports say it is no longer an issue.

Yap it was DK1. Well, that's good to know. I didn't follow u after that much. We moved on from that project, and now I am at a different company altogether. But they'll probably revisit it next year or so. It was just an experimental "let's see what we can do with this" thing and we decided to wait till next generation.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#118

Post by mkozlows »

aresant wrote: post #115
mkozlows wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've played with a DK2. It was cool. But reasons not to be super-excited are: 1. Hardware requirements are steep (GTX 970 minimum), so plenty of hardware -- including plenty of hardware that's good for high-end gaming today -- won't be good enough for this. 2. Only Windows support. No compatibility with Linux, SteamOS, or even OSX means that the techie enthusiasts who'd play with it as a tech toy are going to be less…

1) Yep. But not bad for a first generation product. Already plenty of guides about building a VR ready computer for 2) Only windows. Agreed. But I'm glad they did so they could get one platform dialed in instead of chasing multiple rabbits. For now. 3) Games - copying part of this - do yourself a favor and try with Elite Dangerous or Assetto Corsa. And gaming doesn't scratch the service in terms of application - trai…

So part of what I'm saying is that 1 & 2 cancel themselves out. The people who would drop $1500 ($1K computer plus maybe $500 VR headset) on a first-gen thing are more likely to be the early-adopter types who are less interested in a Windows-only device.

As for 3: I played Elite for a bit. And then quit when I got motion-sick. I'm not particularly motion-sensitive, but DK2 got me there pretty quickly.

Maybe the retail one is better in ways that wouldn't make me sick in that case, but from what Valve people have been saying, the only reliable way to get rid of the sickness is to remove the disconnect between not-moving and seeming-to-move, aka make games that involve only your real-world motion.

If that's the case, it implies that what we need are radically different games than what we have. So I'd either want to see those games, or see some proof that you can do Elite-style gaming with no motion sickness even when playing for hours.

Re: Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6

#119

Post by swang »

glynjackson wrote: post #60

I'm more looking forward to seeing the Sony VR. It's rumoured to be around the $250-$350 price mark. Sony have a history of getting traction despite not having the best spec/product, for example, remember HD DVD vs Blu Ray?

Eh, uh, I mean Blu-ray wasn't a better product/spec than HD-DVD? I don't know about that...
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