I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet • Hacker News Board

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#31

Post by whatshisface » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:00 AM UTC

MatthaeusHarris wrote: post #24

onewaystreet wrote: post #15

There's been a lot of fighting between Vive owners and Oculus owners over which HMD is the best, but they both miss the reality that the biggest challenge to getting the average person to adopt VR isn't room tracking or motion controllers, it's getting them to even want to put the things on. There is very little compelling software at this point that would make anyone but an enthusiast want to use either of them for…

Literally every person I've put into my Vive has been blown away by it. Sure, there's probably some selection bias, but I've been buttonholing anyone who sets foot in my house, including my 70-year-old in-laws. So far, of the 20+ people to whom I've shown it, one has taken it off voluntarily, and all had variations of, "Holy shit, this is really amazing."

That's the reaction that got it as far as manufacturing. What's there to keep people engaged once it becomes normal? Hopefully this will turn out more like 3D graphics than 3D movies.

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#32

Post by Animats » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:02 AM UTC

I still think VR headsets are the next 3D TV. Yes, they're cool, for a few days. Yes, some hardcore FPS gamers like them. There's a modest market for them. But it may not be that big.

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#33

Post by Taek » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:04 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #32

I still think VR headsets are the next 3D TV. Yes, they're cool, for a few days. Yes, some hardcore FPS gamers like them. There's a modest market for them. But it may not be that big.

Have you tried a Vive? It's much more significant when you can walk around and grab things.

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#34

Post by laichzeit0 » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:05 AM UTC

This is not surprising. VR is currently in the "peak of inflated expectations" in terms of the Hype Cycle [1]. Sit it out for another 2 years before taking another look at it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#35

Post by pvg » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:08 AM UTC

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #5

Apparently I can't read this article due to using adblock. Neither visiting the article nor the "web" workaround work. http://i.imgur.com/8LN6ec0r.png Fascinating. I wonder what the web will look like in a decade. On-topic: I was one of the original backers of Oculus, but missed the opportunity to get a free Rift. I guess it didn't matter much. It seems like what happened to the Oculus is what happened to many platfo…

https://github.com/reek/anti-adblock-killer does a decent job when used with uBlock on Chrome (without the whatevermonkey script). It gets past the Forbes nonsense, at least.

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#36

Post by ARCarr » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:11 AM UTC

jkelsey wrote: post #30

I did the Oculus demo at a Best Buy. The technology is incredibly impressive, but I found the experience annoying. Besides the face sweat, I just can't envision myself coming home and enjoying my time in a headset the same way I can enjoy myself in front of a TV or computer, and I think that's because you can't see around your physical space without taking the headset on and off. Maybe I'm just being a troglodyte abo…

The HTC Vive has a camera on the front you can turn on to see around your environment.

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#37

Post by ivansavz » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:12 AM UTC

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #5

Apparently I can't read this article due to using adblock. Neither visiting the article nor the "web" workaround work. http://i.imgur.com/8LN6ec0r.png Fascinating. I wonder what the web will look like in a decade. On-topic: I was one of the original backers of Oculus, but missed the opportunity to get a free Rift. I guess it didn't matter much. It seems like what happened to the Oculus is what happened to many platfo…

Something that I've found to work on a lot of the paywalls is to half-load the page and then hit the escape button to stop some of the media and js from loading. The payall script hasn't had time to load yet so you can see the full article... Note this might be harded to pull off if you have really fast Internet...

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#38

Post by [deleted] » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:17 AM UTC

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #5

Apparently I can't read this article due to using adblock. Neither visiting the article nor the "web" workaround work. http://i.imgur.com/8LN6ec0r.png Fascinating. I wonder what the web will look like in a decade. On-topic: I was one of the original backers of Oculus, but missed the opportunity to get a free Rift. I guess it didn't matter much. It seems like what happened to the Oculus is what happened to many platfo…

[deleted]

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#39

Post by Viper007Bond » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:17 AM UTC

Honestly the only reason I'm excited to get one is for racing simulators. Rather than trying to sit close to a big TV or having multiple displays, you can just use one of these for the immersion. Plus you can look around like you would in a real car.

Great example (with a bit of augmented reality via green screen mixed in): https://youtu.be/LlFKjWGxZqk

Re: I've Been Waiting For The Oculus Rift, But Now It's Sitting In My Closet

#40

Post by Taek » Sun, May 29, 2016, 5:18 AM UTC

TwoBit wrote: post #28

hesdeadjim wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Vive is an infinitely better experience currently. Hand controls and sub-millimeter tracking precision in a room up to 12x12 makes all the difference.

Vive is worse in most other ways. Worse clarity, worse comfort, worse app performance, worse microphine, worse audio experience. I don't see any practical tracking difference between the two.

Agreed on most points, but that's not the big one. The ability to move around, to reach out and grab things, to use hand-eye coordination to block a bullet with a shield, hugely sets the Vive apart. It's not even close.

The gameplay is innovative, exciting, and superior. Full room VR is the difference between need for speed on a PSP and a full arcade racing game with pedals, a wheel, and motors that jerk your body around as you drive.

The oculus may be better in a myriad of ways, but the Vive got the most important things correct. Everything else will clean up substantially in iteration two, which may be as soon as 24 months.