Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order • Hacker News Board

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#341

Post by ericjang » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:12 PM UTC

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #240

kamaal wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>$599 may seem like a perilously steep price to debut Just wondering if we would think the same way if Apple had launched this even for something as high as $1000. Perception matters. The apple watch is median $500. And its not even something novel. Watches have existed since hundreds of years. I think Apple will come to launch VR sometime in the future and it will be ~$1000, and people will buy without blinking, be…

Apple has made special efforts to distance itself from PC gaming, doesn't court publishers/devs, and is otherwise a troublesome platform for gaming entirely. Why would they get into gaming peripherals? What version of OpenGL does OSX ship with now anyway? What milquetoast videocard is shipping with the current gen of devices? Things like the Rift require something on the level, on a MINIMUM of the Nvidia 370, which i…

Upvoted for the following word choice: "milquetoast videocard"

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#342

Post by ssewell » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:14 PM UTC

mkozlows wrote: post #97

mortenjorck wrote: post #49

$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…

There is no expectation from anyone that the Rift is nausea-free.

Totally correct. As someone who has been using the Oculus DK2 since it's release, I can personally state that nausea can have many underlying sources, but the most frequent is the conflicting information your vestibular system is receiving: equilibrium vs. vision.

The Rift itself, in conjunction with good software, is excellent at tracking both rotation and translation motion and keeping the display in sync. More often than not, the nausea one experiences has to do with locomotion within the game. Spinning your character around with your mouse, for example, produces a spinning sensation with no corresponding input from your equilibrium, resulting in a sick feeling in some people.

The good news is: Many people are able to "get their VR legs" by starting with simple experiences and slowing introducing more complex ones.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#343

Post by joshschreuder » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:14 PM UTC

The price and hefty GPU requirements make this a no go for me.

I think PSVR, which is already rumoured to be cheaper will be far more successful, and the install base for the PS4 is already there.

Sony are in a unique position to use the PSVR as a loss leader to sell VR software, which Oculus can't (currently) compete with - hence the high price.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#344

Post by MCRed » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:16 PM UTC

kamaal wrote: post #206

mortenjorck wrote: post #49

$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…

>>$599 may seem like a perilously steep price to debut Just wondering if we would think the same way if Apple had launched this even for something as high as $1000. Perception matters. The apple watch is median $500. And its not even something novel. Watches have existed since hundreds of years. I think Apple will come to launch VR sometime in the future and it will be ~$1000, and people will buy without blinking, be…

People buy Apple products because they have a history of making great products, and so they don't mind that they are expensive.

You have to be really rich, and have the right attitude to think that just cause something is expensive it is good.

I spend a lot of money with Apple, but I'm always paying attention to cost-- I count every penny, and if I could get comparable quality elsewhere I would certainly consider it.

The thing is, nobody is making decent laptops, or mobile phones or watches to compete with Apple, certainly not at Apple's price points. Those who think Apple is expensive have a much lower threshold for what is "Good" -- which is fine, they are not using the items in the same way I am.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#345

Post by superfx » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:18 PM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #310

fapjacks wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 show…

If $105 million (and counting) in dev costs and hollywood actors is not AAA what is?

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#346

Post by joeevans1000 » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:21 PM UTC

I've tried both the Oculus and the HTC Vive in their latest dev kits, and the Vive is incredibly more awesome. My advice is to wait for the Vive. In addition to the way better technical experience I had, I think the HTC/Valve mashup is incredible (and it showed in the demo).

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#347

Post by bduerst » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:34 PM UTC

jfoutz wrote: post #297

Gaming will be neat and all, but how is reading? I'd really like the infinite space for terminals and docs. Maybe turning my head to look over at stackoverflow would suck, but my glasses are thick, so even through the lens vision is blurry at the edges. I can imagine a goofy hackers style 3d world would be amusing for a while. Even a really pedestrian window manager would be nice. terminals could be very tall, so i c…

There's a demo of VR Monitors here, and reading seems possible: http://www.vrdesktop.net/

But you're right, ideally your desktop becomes this pseudo 2D space in 3D, where you manage multiple windows at once all around you.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#348

Post by oe » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:38 PM UTC

rnernento wrote: post #257

bryanlarsen wrote: post #245

Earlier 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.

Bought PS3 to play Journey :) Worth it.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#349

Post by HCIdivision17 » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:40 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #318

It's been available as a "development version" for almost two years.[1] The price was $1000, and anyone could buy it on Amazon. This is a 40% price cut, which is nice, but not a mainstream price. Is there a killer app for this yet? The roller coaster simulators are fun for about ten minutes. Second Life now works with the Oculus Rift [3] but few people care. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGIIQf3krMM [2] http://…

Euro Truck Simulator 2 is pretty damn good. I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, but people are more than happy to put scores of hours on that game. And the VR really improves it.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#350

Post by Alupis » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:55 PM UTC

superfx wrote: post #345

Alupis wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 show…

If $105 million (and counting) in dev costs and hollywood actors is not AAA what is?

While budget does play into what makes a AAA title, it's not the only factor. Star Citizen is Cloud Imperium Games' first game... and it's still not a final release. They are an "indie" shop for all intents and purposes.

AAA status is usually reserved for big studios that produce many games of high quality(ish), and yes, with big budgets (GTA5 cost over $265 MM to create).

A parallel would be a big budget movie produced by Sony vs. Veronica Mars. Veronica Mars was produced by successful people within the film industry, but it's not on the same level as a full production.

> $105 million (and counting) in dev costs

Well, that's not in dev costs... that's money raised... and they're trying to bootstrap a company at the same time, so not all of that money will even go to the game development (unlike a big budget big studio development where literally every penny of their quoted budget is in development cost as the business is already established and earning on it's own).