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Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
301–310 of 395 posts
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that even AAA level models are good enough for VR. They have the "uncanny valley" effect -- they're close enough to looking good that they just creep you out and throw of that "presence" feel you're looking for. I think it's going to be a long time before you see human faces in VR. So everybody, even the AAA guys, are going to be putting you into environments like cartoons, space and buildings rather th…
In my opinion indie games don't sell platforms, AAA titles do.
Neither do. Good games sell platforms. Even better if they're exclusive and you can't find that experience any place else. Basically, you need a killer app. Who makes it is irrelevant.
I agree that AAA games have the marketing power to broaden appeal. However, indie gaming is becoming a powerhouse of sorts. Look at the Steam Top Sellers list at any time, and you'll usually see at least half the games listed there being indies. Currently, it looks to be a solid 50/50, although I'm sure the residual affects of the last Steam sale are there.
Something with the viral appeal of Minecraft, released for the Oculus, would be a massive draw.
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The Rift will not run on your laptop, this rule does not change! IMHO, this is the biggest issue. The computer landscape has shifted towards laptops/mobile and now this device requires a device whose marketshare is shrinking.
Yes, it feels like a big mistake. An external box containing the necessary graphics hardware should probably be a part of the Oculus package - it seems to be setting itself up for failure by pretending to be a display, rather than a graphics pipeline.
Lots of their target market already has suitable video cards, and don't want to pay $400 extra for a downgrade. And what would you plug the box into? I've read that there are specs for external PCIe x16 ports and enclosures but I've literally never seen one.
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#304This reminds me of the 3DFX Voodoo2 release and I think it will be as big a deal.
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you've got a nice enough Mac, just install Windows on it via BootCamp ( https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/ ).
No currently sold Mac meets Oculus minimum requirements, to the best of my knowledge.
Correct, even the GPUs used in the top end Mac Pro fall short of the minimum requirement. Both GPUs rendering an eye each would be fast enough but that configuration isn't widely supported by games yet.
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#306$599 may seem like a perilously steep price to debut at, but right now, Oculus faces a much bigger risk than low sales volume: Poor reception. If this was the MSRP required to ensure a comfortable, nausea-free experience, it's far better to have a killer product at a high price point than a "don't buy the first generation" product at the price point people were expecting. The former can lead to a cheaper gen 2, but t…
Well, the $599 price is close to double their "ballpark price" of $350. It also comes just days after they announced they're giving away ~7,000 free Rift units as a special thank-you to those who Kickstarted the devkits. Right now they have a serious expectation management problem with their price - they're turning off customers because they nearly doubled their asking price overnight. Those free units would translat…
> sizeable discount for their paying retail customers
I think you are wrong on that. I honestly doubt the 6500 free units they are giving out would actually affect the price at all. Think about this, what would have been worse, your 6500 most loyal and vocal customers being pissed because the price of an oculus rift was doubled overnight or goodwill from dropping the price of a rift 10 dollars?
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would argue that price (and this being a high one) could just as easily lead to ruin. The quality of a user's experience with the Oculus is going to be directly correlated to the quantity and quality of games/experiences available for the device. Even if it's silky smooth and you can use it for hours on end without issue if you run out of quality content in two hours there's a problem. Quantity/quality are even mor…
As someone that plays Star Citizen regularly with my Oculus Rift (that I got as a backer in the original Kickstarter, with an SDK), the one thing they won't need to worry about is the games/experiences available for the device.
Can you elaborate? Are you saying the Star Citizen experience alone is enough to sell the Rift? How is the Rift experience for the FPS segments?
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that price does include HiFi headphones with a built-in DAC, an Xbox One controller, a small hand-held controller, and two games. Retail prices on those bought separately? Easily 1/3rd the price.
I hate when marketing tries to add value or justify cost with bundles, add-ons or promotional items. None of those items appeal to me and I'd rather buy a barebones kit and save $50. I don't need a wireless xbox controller, I have 2 sitting right next to me. I have no interest in those two games, they'll be thrown on the stack of AOL floppies, Colin McRae: Dirt download codes, and McAfee CDs I have gathering dust in…
I wouldn't be so quick to toss the headphones.
One of the reasons I think Oculus went with an onboard DAC is to precisely sync audio, visuals, and head tracking. Using a non-Oculus audio pipeline could introduce unpredictable timing and a worse experience.
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#309Pricing and strategy of expensive desktop dependency now looks like a huge mistake. My guess here is that Apple or Google is going to come up with VR enhanced phones + cardboard like cheap device that has experience pretty close to Rift before the end of the year. If that happens, their VR devices would be under $200 which would be just accessories for the new phones. That would be far more acceptable to most people…
Samsung Gear VR already exists and the difference between the experiences is night and day. As for Google Cardboard, the experience is just bad.
Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would argue that price (and this being a high one) could just as easily lead to ruin. The quality of a user's experience with the Oculus is going to be directly correlated to the quantity and quality of games/experiences available for the device. Even if it's silky smooth and you can use it for hours on end without issue if you run out of quality content in two hours there's a problem. Quantity/quality are even mor…
As someone that plays Star Citizen regularly with my Oculus Rift (that I got as a backer in the original Kickstarter, with an SDK), the one thing they won't need to worry about is the games/experiences available for the device.
Star Citizen is of limited appeal, isn't a "AAA" title, and won't sell a platform.
Not to mention, it's only 1 game... for this to work, pretty much 99% of AAA titles need to be designed for VR (not just the "enable VR" checkbox).
Call of Duty Black Ops III was just released... no VR support. Battlefront was just released, same thing. These are the AAA titles that would bring support... but they aren't. (it also shows Facebook et al did a terrible job of convincing AAA studios to think towards VR... which could be a nail in the VR coffin in they don't come around on their own).
(and yes, I know there are ways to get both games to work with VR... but it's not native, and the game wasn't designed with VR in mind).
Given it can take 1-2 years to develop a AAA title, it could be a long while before we see it becoming the "norm". In the meantime, all of Oculus' competitors will be on the market, probably cheaper and better (due to learning from the first-to-market's mistakes).