Virtual Reality - Oculus Rift

So virtual reality is actually here now, it works, it's not particularly expensive and it's getting better by the second.

The Oculus Rift marks day one of properly made virtual reality, and pretty much everyone who has tried one is blown away.

Here are some funny and interesting videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkQMydTDv5c

Big Mike tries Oculus Rift Part 2 (roller coaster) - YouTube

There are loads more videos to be found on YouTube, of kids, grandmas and just people trying this stuff out.

I've ordered one already, it's probably arriving in august some time. It's only an early version, meant for developers, but they are still getting amazing feedback. I can't wait. This is pretty much the next step in gaming.

About - The Forest

Do want.

All I need now is Elder Scrolls VR.

Yeah, by august there should be hundreds of great games modded to work with the Rift, and tons of new interesting demos/games out too. I can already spend hours on end in Minecraft. With this thing, I would probably lose myself in there pretty shortly haha.

I'm so fucking psyked basically. It's the fucking future right here.

Been watching the Oculus Rift project for a while now. I'm really f'cking excited about the near-future of gaming.

That looks kind of awesome. I did something like that in some huge game place in Florida that's name I forget, in which we flew around on magic carpets. The screen was like a big helmet with a screen in it that shifted depending on where you looked. That was like 10 years ago, so I'm sure the viewing technology is better now.

But I'd hesitate to call that virtual reality. Maybe visually, but he still had to use a controller. It seems like real virtual reality would involve your body movements being detected to determine your game-body's movements. In that way, the one I used was better, as we were on motorcycle-looking things which simulated these magic carpets we had to ride on.

This thing makes you feel like you're actually there. It doesn't feel like a window or a close up screen. That's what is so amazing about it.

Yup, I belive the angle is like 110º or something like that, so basically there are no edges in your field of vision I look at a video of Doom 3 through the glasses and it's absolutely amazing.

The only thing that sucks is that you still have to use the controller/keyboard + mouse to play. I guess we'll have to wait a few years to get a gaming experience like the one seen in SAO :P

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Originally Posted by Dianeva

That looks kind of awesome. I did something like that in some huge game place in Florida that's name I forget, in which we flew around on magic carpets. The screen was like a big helmet with a screen in it that shifted depending on where you looked. That was like 10 years ago, so I'm sure the viewing technology is better now.

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You're probably talking about Disney Quest. It's pretty popular around here, but I haven't been there yet.

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But I'd hesitate to call that virtual reality.

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I wouldn't. Not by the standard of 'Virtual Reality', over the years. The most popular virtual reality experience (before Disney Quest came along), was one where you stand up in a pod, holding a joystick and wearing the VR helmet. Even VR training simulations are mostly confined to small spaces where your mobility is limited or controlled. So I would still call this virtual reality. By all accounts, the feeling of 'being there' is pretty much unparallelled, and it brings a new dimension to first person shooters, where you can have your gun trained on one target, and still have free range of motion for your head to look around and assess others, which was, before, impossible.

I doubt I'll be playing first person shooters too much with this. I just really want to explore puzzle and sandbox games. Amnesia, Minecraft, Portal etc.

I will probably also be making some worlds of my own to explore, in particular impossible geometry, which can be done with the Source engine, is incredibly interesting, and would create a very very surreal experience.

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Originally Posted by Marvo

I doubt I'll be playing first person shooters too much with this. I just really want to explore puzzle and sandbox games. Amnesia, Minecraft, Portal etc.

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I agree. I was just stating one way that the technology would be changing the normal gaming dynamic. I can't even begin to think of all of the ways it will apply to deeper, more immersing games.

Oh absolutely, this definitely opens up new possibilities in the regular gaming dynamic. Being able to look over your own shoulder by actually looking over your own shoulder is pretty special.

GS News - Skyrim modded with Oculus Rift support - GameSpot.com

Fuck yeah!

Woah woah....I can buy this shit right now for $300 and play major modern games with it?

So much for having a life this summer.

All joking aside, this is pretty god-damned impressive. the fact that it actually tracks head movements and rotates the camera direction is a whole other level, that is awesome. I need to start saving up. I also think it's awesome that Valve is adding official support for this in all their games - just one more reason to love Valve.

Its fucking amazing! I can't wait for it to come out. First game I'll be playing is penumbra: black plague......(I'm not going to do that, I would probably shit myself, it's bad enough in a lighted room with three of your friends around)
Seriously though I actually think I'll invest my money in this, does anyone know if people get strained eyes from playing with it for more than an hour?

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Originally Posted by Supernova

Woah woah....I can buy this shit right now for $300 and play major modern games with it?

So much for having a life this summer.

All joking aside, this is pretty god-damned impressive. the fact that it actually tracks head movements and rotates the camera direction is a whole other level, that is awesome. I need to start saving up. I also think it's awesome that Valve is adding official support for this in all their games - just one more reason to love Valve.

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Haha yeah, it's great to see all the big players, id software, Valve and Epic jump on this stuff. John Carmack in particular played a big part in all of it.

As awesome as the device is, I'd advice against buying the current developer kit, unless you really really want it, because of following reasons:

1: Massive wait time. I probably won't get mine before august, unless I by some incredible stroke of luck receive it earlier as some bundle solution for all orders in Denmark. This happened with Korea, and could also happen in Denmark.

2: This is an early version. It works, it's very impressive, not just a proof of concept, but certainly an entertainment device. However, the commercial version will be leagues better, in pretty much every department.

3: You need to tinker a lot at the moment, to really get a lot of enjoyment out of the device, since there's only 2 or 3 officially supported games on the market so far. Everything else is mods for existing games, or simply tech demos.


I decided to buy the device, simply because I couldn't wait, I have enough money and I want to support the project.

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Originally Posted by dutchraptor

Its fucking amazing! I can't wait for it to come out. First game I'll be playing is penumbra: black plague......(I'm not going to do that, I would probably shit myself, it's bad enough in a lighted room with three of your friends around)
Seriously though I actually think I'll invest my money in this, does anyone know if people get strained eyes from playing with it for more than an hour?

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Word is that it strains less on your eyes than watching a movie in 3D. It feels very natural. The main concern is basically nausea, emerging from a kind of motion sickness and other trickery. Basically, this is a very different experience from anything you know. Ýou think you are moving and turning in space, even though you feel like you're standing still. A lot of people say that the most nauseating experiences they encounter, are when a game for one reason or another stops responding to your head movement. This could be because a mission is over, a loading screen comes up (lots of these in Half Life) or your computer simply has a little hickup.
In order to understand, basically imagine you are walking down the street. Out of nowhere, everything freezes, your vision fades to black, and then you suddenly appear in a completely different location. A lot of games actually do this, and it should supposedly feel completely nuts, when using an Oculus Rift.


And if it isn't painfully obvious already, I'm pretty much super hyped for this thing, and I'm just vacuuming the internet for all information, videos, interviews and other stuff I can find, regarding the Rift.

Yeah, I agree with Marvo here, definetly wait till the official release, granted it'll cost more but well worth it imo.

Any ideas if it'll work with consoles or just pc's? Although I'd rather have it on pc with Skyrim fully modded.

Also, how could you all see this VR thing toying with our dreams?

Random thought, use The Elder Scroll construction set to rebuild your dream enviroments. That'd be sweet. I did it once for Oblivion but with the Oculus Rift and Skyrim, waking life has reached a whole new level.

On the other hand this really is just the start of things, I wonder what the future of gaming will be like in 50 years.

That's honestly amazing. Maybe for the next-gen consoles (Xbox 720, PS4) all of the games will be modded with it...Oh my goodness, so much for getting my grades up next year. I'm going to be pretty busy with this when I get it.

You should focus on good grades so you can get a good career and make good money when the better more expensive stuff comes out. Leave the gaming to us we'll let you know how amazing it is.

Just kidding but seriously...Lol.

This is going to be a great cure for boredom when I'm sitting in some random state with two or three days of layover.
I won't be making any money while I sit but I don't think I'll care anymore when it comes out.

The commercial release probably won't be more expensive, just saying. The goal is to sell it at around 300 dollars as well.

Regarding consoles, Oculus support will be entirely on a game to game basis. It is unlikely that Microsoft, SONY or Nintendo will actively support the Rift, simply because they each have their useless gimmick (Kinect, Move, waggling) that they have to promote.

Works for me, I'm more of a PC gamer myself.

I am so fucking jealous, right now. =/

[Edit:]
Also, Mirror's Edge:

More cool stuff:

Spoiler for Vids:

I would love to get this, but thanks to a weird condition, I only have vision in one eye, so no depth perception for me =( It looks amazing though.

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Originally Posted by Tiresias

I would love to get this, but thanks to a weird condition, I only have vision in one eye, so no depth perception for me =( It looks amazing though.

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You can still use it. The point of virtual reality, is to put you into another world. You aren't experiencing 3D in the first place, so the oculus rift will feel just like how real life feels for you.

My uni is thinking of getting in a bunch of Oculus Rift dev kits for us to use should we chose to take on a project of such scope.
Personally, I want to get my hands on a kit as soon as I have the money, but either way, I WILL be developing for it. And more importantly, I can't fucking wait to play a game with it. Skyrim would be pretty fucking badass, but TF2 would be just plain fun. God damn it just makes gaming 10x more exciting, no matter the game.

Only problem is it doesn't yet do position tracking, only orientation. But I'm sure that'll come in the relatively near future.
Imagine playing with this, a kinect and an omni-directional treadmill; of which I've seen a few combinations of. Complete freedom in a world? (Although lets be realistic here, we just want to laze in our chair and be immersed in a world, with our controller or whatever)

All-in-all, I'm very excited about the future of gaming, seeing this.

I've just gotten a Razer Hydra from my brothers, and it's a great gaming tool. It really immerses you in the game you are playing, and it's really precise. I am quite excited to try out the Rift with it, especially because it can also be used to hack positional tracking into the Rift.

It's a shame you can't order a dev kit now slash. The wait time is pretty much 2 months, and the number of orders they get a day is probably only rising :D

Ahh awesome. Dude I'd love to do something cool integrating Hydra with Oculus. People have done some cool stuff with Kinect and Oculus, but Hyrdra would be way easier, in terms of development (and better gameplay too probably).
But that'll probably be a couple years down the line for me, it sounds like a good Honours year project. Which I suppose isn't too bad, it gives the technology time to perfect, and decent SDKs to come out for them.

The cofounder got killed....

Abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=9122999

Techcrunch.com/2013/06/01/oculus-vr-co-founder-andrew-scott-reisse-killed-at-33-the-victim-of-a-hit-and-run/

Wow. WTF. :(

Yeah it really sucks, guy studies and works for his entire life, finally realising his dreams, people are lining up to buy and praise, and he just dies to a stupid hit and run. This guy did a lot of work on software support behind the scenes, working together with Unity, Valve and other companies to bring Rift compatibility. Quite a blow to their team.

It really is a shame. My condolences to to his family, friends and coworkers. Was anyone able to find a list of games he contributed to and or awards he may have recieved? I'm having no luck finding anything, and all the articles about the news pretty much say the same thing, and tell nothing of his accomplishments.

On a brighter note: 1080p Rift made its debut at E3! :cooler:

Oculus Rift HD prototype VR headset appears at E3, we go hands (and eyes) on (update: video)

If they're really waiting a year before releasing the consumer version, I wouldn't be surprised to see even higher resolutions. I think my Rift should arrive sometime in the next month's time, at least I really hope so.

I'd heard resolution was the main let down in current models. At the rate display technology is progressing, it seems unlikely that that'll be an issue even by release. What is the actual resolution of this thing, though? Per eye, what was it and what is it? "1080p"; does that mean 1080p per eye? The previous version was 600*800 I think.

The vertical resolution is 1080, horizontal is 1920/2, which is 960.

So I actually have this thing now, and it's pretty amazing. I can't even play games at 60 FPS, which means the experience is terrible, but even then I'm very impressed. I have a new PC coming in tomorrow, going to have a blast. I have like 7 games I want to check out with the rift!

I've never used an Oculus Rift, but I don't really see the big deal. I mean, it's cool that it looks like you're actually there, and it's a great technological advancement, but it's nowhere near true virtual reality. It's basically a glorified right analog stick, if you ask me.

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Originally Posted by TimeDragon97

I've never used an Oculus Rift, but I don't really see the big deal. I mean, it's cool that it looks like you're actually there, and it's a great technological advancement, but it's nowhere near true virtual reality. It's basically a glorified right analog stick, if you ask me.

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How is it nowhere near virtual reality? What you are saying makes no sense, if it's "cool that it looks like you're actually there" then it is most certainly a virtual reality. In terms of unprecedented latency, fov and resolution this device is pretty much the closest you will ever visually reach in the world of virtual reality before Neural Interfaces are properly made. The very sentence I've heard every owner repeat so far, is that coupled with a good headset the Oculus Rift allows for the ultimate immersive experience.
There might not be a threadmill, or haptic feedback but people very rarely miss them, not to mention that they are fairly inaccurate. Virtual reality is a computer simulated environment that can simulate physical presence. Hearing and seeing are undeniably the two largest senses involved in forming the sensation of presence, hence when you can perfectly simulate both senses you come close to a perfect virtual reality

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Originally Posted by TimeDragon97

I've never used an Oculus Rift, but I don't really see the big deal. I mean, it's cool that it looks like you're actually there, and it's a great technological advancement, but it's nowhere near true virtual reality. It's basically a glorified right analog stick, if you ask me.

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You'd be wrong. The Rift does two things; it turns your head into a very accurate, low latency 3DOF analog stick (pitch, yaw and roll), where a normal analog stick only has 2DOF (pitch and roll). On top of that, it also puts a 90° horizontal FOV display on your face, allowing you to effectively look anywhere in a game, and really feel like you're in a game. Combined with simple motion tracking, like with the Razer Hydra, you get a very compelling experience. On it's own, with keyboard+mouse or a controller, the Rift is less interesting, at least from the perspective of first person shooters, as in, games where you run around on foot.

The Rift has certainly proven to me, that seeing stuff makes you believe it's actually there. I can hold a gun in a game, with my real life hands, turn it around, point it at my face, and then insert it in my head, and I get this incredibly weird sensation of something actually phasing through my head, like a ghost or something. It's there, but it's not.

If we can simply get a decent motion tracking solution to launch with the 1080p (or higher) consumer Rift, it will completely disrupt the market. Motion tracked VR makes for absolutely amazing experiences, it's hard to describe.

That said, another important part is how realistic the game you are in looks. I've tried a few hyperrealistic tech demos (near photorealistic), and they were extremely interesting. Mind you, they have to be very simple, otherwise they couldn't run on any ordinary computer, but it's incredibly interesting.
You have to think of the Oculus Rift as the first step in the direction of fully fledged virtual reality. Sounds and visuals are the most important aspects, and we finally nearly have those down. Motion tracking is already very well developed. Force feedback is pretty much the last piece of the puzzle, and definitely the most challenging, but we already have promising prototypes popping up. If things go well with the consumer release in 2014 of the Rift, this technology could very well fundamentally change our world, more so than the advent of smartphones or even television did. I'm being brutally honest here.

Marvo, I'd love to see some demo vids, if you're able to capture some of your experiences. It seems like a lot of young devs are getting some pretty good YouTube exposure by doing this. Do you have the capability (or the interest)?

I have my new rig now, so yeah, for the most part I should be able to do a bit of recording. I've sort of been thinking of the angle though, as basically just releasing a stereoscopic warped video, with me going "well this is cool" the whole way through is kind of boring, I guess. Could just do it for you guys I guess :p

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Originally Posted by Marvo

I have my new rig now, so yeah, for the most part I should be able to do a bit of recording. I've sort of been thinking of the angle though, as basically just releasing a stereoscopic warped video, with me going "well this is cool" the whole way through is kind of boring, I guess. Could just do it for you guys I guess :p

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Haha. Yeah, I hear you on that. Well, the main thing I've seen being done is just kind of documenting the issues that you find with different software, and maybe providing some insight on how it may be fixed? It's a good way to take us through your experience (and show us a lot of cool gameplay stuff, too), and I hear the makers are being really responsive about some of the issues that these indy developers (or hobbyists) have been able to find. So, everybody wins. I think there are couple of good youtube user links in the previous vids in this thread, if you'd like to get an idea of how people are setting up their channels and what types of topics they are including in their videos.

Who knows? Could be a fun project for yourself. :>

I don't see what is so amazing about this thing.... why would I want that..... if I want to be in some virtual reality then it's lucid dreaming or OBE's which actually can develop some skills and bring to some brain development and to spiritual growth

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Originally Posted by Karloky

I don't see what is so amazing about this thing.... why would I want that..... if I want to be in some virtual reality then it's lucid dreaming or OBE's which actually can develop some skills and bring to some brain development and to spiritual growth

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It's just a different approach to playing video games. There doesn't have to be anything spiritual or enlightened about it :)

That said, there's no reason you can't learn something from VR applications. VR is already being used to educate pilots and surgeons.

My God...this looks insane. :shock: