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New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

polygon.com

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Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#81

Post by corysama »

dm2 wrote: post #3

Does the latest versions make people sick after prolonged use? How similar does it feel to looking at real far away objects? Is it easy to tell it's not 3D and the screen is flat? If I tied a passed out "friend" up and put on the Oculus Rift glasses and played a movie of them being thrown out of a helicopter from 1st person, would they be able to tell that it was fake or is there a perceived feeling of it being real?

The good news about sim sickness is that most people get over it with practice. Not only that, but there are many reports from Oculus DK1 users that warming up to the Rift cured their motion sickness outside of VR! As in "I can read in the car for the first time!"

The bad news is that while better tech in the DK2 and better design in new software can significantly reduce motion sickness, I doubt we will ever completely eliminate it.

The really bad news is that nausea is funny. It's great for catchy headlines and quippy comments. I'm really afraid that the Rift will get a reputation as a "vomit helmet" and that will lead the masses to dismiss it. That would be a tragedy.

It's really important PR for VR to get the word out: If you feel sick, stop. Don't try to push through, you'll make it really bad. Try again much later. With practice, it will get better and better. When you get over sim sickness, all kinds of awesomeness awaits!

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#83

Post by bambam12897 »

So is selling stuff before it actually exists the new norm?

I get it when you have a kick-starter, but when you're already established doesn't it come off as a bit shady and scummy?

Are they low on money and desperately need to cash-in asap? Are they worried their product will be poorly reviewed b/c they aren't confident in the quality - so they're trying to lock-in buyers?

EDIT: I'm just putting out the question "Why do they have a preorder system? What's the rational behind it? Why just announce it when it's available?"

Preorders are a way of locking in buyers. You can trick a few people into buying it, that may have otherwise not bought it when it was actually released (maybe due to negative reviews, or a change in their financial position). Except... why would you ever want to do that with developers? So why are they trying to do that? I don't get it

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#84

Post by corysama »

hydralist wrote: post #41

any particular languages that you should be good at to deal with this dev kit? my dad codes a lot in c/c++, i want to buy him this as a surprise gift

The Oculus SDK is C++, but I'm sure there are bindings for many languages. Probably the easiest way to get started is with C# in Unity. If anyone is feeling adventurous, you can even access it in JavaScript! https://github.com/DanAndersen/cupola

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#85

Post by 3lit3H4ck3r »

tibbon wrote: post #73
Crito wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that this "see through the vehicle" capability is built into at least some helmet-HUD/Helicopter combinations that the military has. If it suffices for an attack helicopter, I'd say that the idea probably has serious potential for automobiles as well. I wouldn't expect to see it come to standard consumer cars yet, but for commercial drivers (particularly truck drivers who have massive blindspots)…

Yep, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. It started all with thinking how terrible of an idea it would be to wear this while motorcycling... Someone at Google with access to one of the self driving cars should see what this would 'look like' from a passenger perspective with the data.

Feasible to cross dev with glass? Hmmm... I think I have a new project to work on!

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#87

Post by tibbon »

3lit3H4ck3r wrote: post #85
tibbon wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. It started all with thinking how terrible of an idea it would be to wear this while motorcycling... Someone at Google with access to one of the self driving cars should see what this would 'look like' from a passenger perspective with the data.

Feasible to cross dev with glass? Hmmm... I think I have a new project to work on!

I've joked that the ultimate tech hipsters need to use the Rift + Glass at the same time to look at a virtual Pebble watch on their arm...

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#88

Post by lutorm »

modeless wrote: post #10
dm2 wrote: post #3

Does the latest versions make people sick after prolonged use? How similar does it feel to looking at real far away objects? Is it easy to tell it's not 3D and the screen is flat? If I tied a passed out "friend" up and put on the Oculus Rift glasses and played a movie of them being thrown out of a helicopter from 1st person, would they be able to tell that it was fake or is there a perceived feeling of it being real?

1. According to media reports, the latest version almost eliminates motion sickness. You can still get motion sickness from e.g. going on a virtual roller coaster that would make you sick in the real world, but you won't get sick just sitting in place (which is why the new demos do just that). 2. Far away objects look pixelated, and very close objects look incorrect because the depth of field is wrong. However, the 3…

By (2), are you referring to the fact that you don't have to refocus your eyes when shifting your view between objects at different distances?

I've never tried one, but I'd assume the screen is projected at infinity or close to? This should only be an issue with objects that are closer than 1.5ft or something.

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#89

Post by doorhammer »

aculver wrote: post #58

I can't help but laugh with glee a little when watching the video at http://www.oculusvr.com/dk2/ , specifically at the part where John Carmack comes on. I'm still so excited that he joined Oculus VR. When I see him in a video like this, it's like a giant "100% Guaranteed" stamp that this whole thing is going to eventually be everything we could possibly hope for.

Any reservations I would have had about the rift are totally destroyed by the fact that Carmack is on the team.

I held off on the first Dev kit, mostly because I didn't have a decent gaming rig, and the lower resolutions, but I just bought a new machine, and I couldn't give them my money fast enough to get in on the Dev Kit 2

Re: New Oculus Rift dev kit goes on sale for $350 today, likely ships in July

#90

Post by catshirt »

tibbon wrote: post #87
3lit3H4ck3r wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feasible to cross dev with glass? Hmmm... I think I have a new project to work on!

I've joked that the ultimate tech hipsters need to use the Rift + Glass at the same time to look at a virtual Pebble watch on their arm...

what purpose does Glass serve?
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