Oculus Rift/HTC Vive / VR in general?

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

VR promises a level of interactivity, but it will appeal to many, myself included for passive observation, and for the moment that is still lacking (at least imhio based on using the Gear VR everyday for a couple of hours daily, since sunday).

The content is lacking due to cameras still being bulky for 360 view... I'm sure that will change once the camera no longer needs to be in a big packpack or mounted.

With Vive, not many people actually have a 15x15 space they could dedicate to using it. That will be a highly limiting factor... 5x5 space is much easier to find.

I'll probably opt for the sedan once it falls in price a bit, although it's very very tempting to pre-order now. The next gen GPU's will hopefully drop during fall, hopefully, if not early next year. By then oculus will be even more refined.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Yeah, the Vive tracks a large area, but that don't stop you from using just 5x5 or whatever. The software developers are well aware of this and try to not exclude anyone. Just having the option to explore freely in a room is obviously a nice feature to have. It enables you to do more.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

It will be interesting to see which technology ends up being adopted more, laser tracking or cameras, both have their benefits.

The exclusion point will be price. Most people people, unless they have money to burn, opt for a decent sedan over a sports car in my experience. Personally I'm driving a 14 year old car, but spend money on fairly lavish vacations

Edit: Playstation VR is likely to be priced at around $500. PS4 is ~$350. For someone who already has a decent pc, and would need to upgrade only the video card, the PS VR doesn't make sense, but it's definitely decent entry option for PS4 owners. Smart car is a good analogy.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Well, as I said before, VR is for gaming enthusiasts, today. These people have the capable machines/interests to make the necessary upgrades to run VR. It wont be until several years before it becomes something more mainstream, and broader than playing games. This is the first step, and as people start to see what it can do, more will be interested. I can tell just by how few talk in the thread. People are still skeptic.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Part of the reason interest is so low, is that so few people have had to chance to try it, in any form. I expect even here, in a relatively techie environment, less than a handful of people have had the chance, and most of those likely with either just a very short demo, or a fairly lousy version like cardboard. Like a laser, it's difficult to get excited about from reading or a video.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Here's an idea i made myself: When browsing a laser shop, instead of looking at still pictures of the laser pointers, you have them made in 1:1 scale in VR. You can pick one up, inspect up close from every angle, even turn it on. It can simulate the wavelength and apparent brightness, and have various optics and targets to point at. How cool of a way to shop online that would be?

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

That would be amazing. It's the evolution of a virtual changing room/online shopping, and similar ideas have been tossed around for years regarding clothing, or even an online virtual mall. None of them ever really took off beyond a concept since people don't want to browse through a clumsy "virtual" environment.

Except now that virtual mall or store would no longer be on a flat screen, on a phone, pc or tablet. We can also expect to see software soon to create virtual/video realistic avatars which would be pretty cool. So you would actually see YOUR hand manipulating the laser.

 

[Isaac Clarke]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

if this thing can be connect to game consoles.... and we play first person shooter/ horror game and have 3d graphic....=heart attack...

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Yes it can, and yes it does already.

The first iterations are all geared toward wither seated use, or limited space, but several companies are working on ways to mimic walking/running in vr. So you would literally be able to walk and turn in virtual reality. There is also potential down the line for let's say mountain biking in VR, on a stationary bike synced to a virtual environment. Or say have an actual race with other people. Loads of possibilities.

FPS/Dungeon crawl is definitely going to be a popular game format.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Predicting the future of technology (and VR).

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Will watch it later

In the meantime, imagine this, but with a vr headset on...

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Not as impressive as that rig, but this is the demo I tried. I could actually feel the tires spinning behind me, and convince me the sense of spinning out of control.
(because I suck at racing)

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

That's awesome, I wonder how much that setup is.

I'm very torn myself right now on whether to pre-order the oculus rift or hold off. Having spent 10-15 hours using the samsung gear since sunday I'm 100% sold on VR, and will not be upgrading my monitors as a result. (Currently using 2x27" 1920x1080 monitors, was thinking of getting a curved 34".) Now it's just a question of whether to wait for vive release, and price, or even hold off a bit longer, and wait for initial reviews to come in.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

That's awesome, I wonder how much that setup is.

I asked them and I believe it was 130K sek (~15K usd)... Nope

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

I asked them and I believe it was 130K sek (~15K usd)... Nope

Yeah, that's way outside my budget. I mean way way outside my budget. One thing to spend $1500-200 on PC that will last 2-3 years, another for something like that.

On the other hand, if there was an arcade type setup where I could spend $5 for 20 minutes or so, I'd do that without hesitation.

I can definitely see VR bringing back arcades. It's not commonplace in the US, or Europe, but I was quite surprised by the number of internet cafe's/gaming cafe's in asia. Might be, with the high entry point into VR that we could see a resurgence of that business model.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Reviving the arcade businesses is a great idea. For reference: my colleague tried the demo, and he does not care for video games at all, and sigh whenever he sees me playing my phone or find out that I played x-game last weekend.
But he loved that demo, even went back for a second time. It was at a electrician's trade show.