I don't really care, I wear prescription glasses so it will not work out well and no don't mention Lasic or any other eye surgery.

This is how we will all go to work one day.

Or possibly in a slightly more useful form like the Victor robot from Fallout New Vegas.

I'm pumped. I am really looking forward to the 1080p version of the Oculus Rift. I'm trying to hold off on buying the SD dev kit.
I would have loved to try that Game of Thrones VR booth that was setup in the US.

DosFreak wrote:

I'm not very enthused about strapping something to my head with wires or having to have other equipment in addition.

It wouldn't be the first time would it DosFreak? 😀

I really don't feel like being an early adopter on this one. This brings back memories of early 3d cards that came with a bundle of 2 or 3 special editions of games that worked with that card only and then a couple years later you end up with hardware that no one is supporting any more. I will probably sit this one out.

badmojo wrote:

Thankyou vetz, I knew there had to be at least one other person here with a wide-eyed childlike sense of adventure!

See you in the metaverse.

I used to have a childlike sense of wonder, then my inner child got kicked square in the balls. I am jaded now.

snorg wrote:

I used to have a childlike sense of wonder, then my inner child got kicked square in the balls. I am jaded now.

Same here...I've been trying to regain that childlike sense of wonder for years, but to no avail. There's not even a howto video on youtube...I'm screwed 🙁

On topic:
I was super hyped for VR in the 90s, ever since the VFX-1 was announced and released. Unfortunately I never got one until recently.
But I'm cautiously optimistic about the Oculus, just not hyped...after years of disappointment after disappointment (mostly related to game releases) I'm almost unable to be excited about anything new...or enjoy it once it's released 🙁

Until they make the VR as accessible and cheap to all home users, just like how everyone can get a decent i5 or even i7 based gaming system now, I'll wait.

- It should be common enough for all new games to include the option to use it. You don't want to get stuck with one or two games using it.

- It should be light enough to wear it for practical long term playing.

- It should not interfere with your current favourite headset, if you're using one.

- And finally the only thing I'm worried about these VR sets, is that there is no long term study done on the effect of these devices placed so close to the eyes, and the long term effect on the eyes. It's not like using 3D glasses where the source of the radiation is much farther away.

The current VR technology for home users limits the vision to the extent you can twist around your neck. If and when the home VR system has been perfected, people would want more - a multi-directional tread mill like structure to simulate the movements, and maybe a blower to blow simulated wind, hot and cold air, or even splash snow and water on your face, to simulate the weather. And maybe you want the tread mill to vibrate too to provide feedback when you fall or get hit. It never ends.

There's currently a more accessible VR experience already available for most home users - a multi-surround headset and speaker systems. When you turn off the light and play on your laptop or big screen TV (or even your normal LCD/monitor) with surround sound and a vibrating controller, the immersion is already enormous.

I also have the TrackIR 5 head tracking device. But not using it.

Malik wrote:

There's currently a more accessible VR experience already available for most home users - a multi-surround headset and speaker systems. When you turn off the light and play on your laptop or big screen TV (or even your normal LCD/monitor) with surround sound and a vibrating controller, the immersion is already enormous.

That reminds me, one of the best immersive non-VR experience for first person shooter games I've ever had was in a totally dark room + a video projector covering the wall from top to bottom + a powerful sound system. Even old games like Doom (source port) felt much more real, the large screen size (literally a whole wall) made everything look so 'right' and lifelike.

I guess the end result of this is something where you do your regular job on autopilot while you live out your life in a VR fantasy. I think this was part of the plot of Existenz or maybe I'm confusing it with something else.

Going VR essentially ties you down to a particular place or corner.

And even if it's portable, it'll be odd to see some device stuck on your head at the airport or restaurant with your head moving in all possible directions like a short-circuited Robocop.

The VR is already present for us. We ARE in a VirtualLY REALity world right now. Feel the fan blowing on your face, get wet outside when it's raining, feel the fire in the kitchen, feel the pain when a cat bites you, (...I'm tempted to insert naughty stuff here...), and what not.... 🤣

Or you can go to the theme parks for real-life rides.

I do sometimes go to the VR theatre - which is usually placed in amusement centres - where you're given 3D goggles to watch a rail movie and you sit on a rocking seat with blowers, false snows, water splashes, etc.

But I don't mind waiting and see what's gonna happen. As everyone has said, we're still waiting. For me, since the late 70's. Looking at how advanced the latest graphics cards have become, and how far the VR had been left behind may be an indication already.

That all being said, what I want to see, is the ability of a user to use a VR set which remotely controls a nano-technology sort of device inserted into humans to fight cancer cells, and possibly the bacteria and one day, the viruses themselves. You get to "play" the game, AND treat someone in the process. 😁

snorg wrote:

I guess the end result of this is something where you do your regular job on autopilot while you live out your life in a VR fantasy. I think this was part of the plot of Existenz or maybe I'm confusing it with something else.

I think you might be thinking of something else; Existenz was more about playing games and not really about doing one's regular job, as best as I can recall.

If anyone is interested what the new HMD hardware will be capable of this talk given at the steam dev days earlier this year covers all the important bits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2dQoeqVVo

I find it interesting that some people mention playing on a large screen with a projector as the most immersive gaming experience they have had. The HMD being made by occulus is being designed to give an image that covers 90 degrees of your vision (horizontal) and using stereoscopy you can make any virtual object feel bigger by adjusting the angle your eyes converge to it, at least to some extent. By contrast to people that have had experience with older consumer HMD designs, those models have only given ~30 degrees field of view max and the resolution difference is also pretty huge. To get the same 90 degrees field of view with a projector (or any display) your eyes need to be positioned half the width of the screen away from the screen.

I remember a friend lending me glasses and a video card expansion card that allowed 3D in a space game. My memory on the subject is pretty vague. Anyway: it did not work very well IMO. 😵

Jorpho wrote:

snorg wrote:

I guess the end result of this is something where you do your regular job on autopilot while you live out your life in a VR fantasy. I think this was part of the plot of Existenz or maybe I'm confusing it with something else.

I think you might be thinking of something else; Existenz was more about playing games and not really about doing one's regular job, as best as I can recall.

Maybe, I can't remember. I only saw like half the movie and it was 2 or 3 am when I was watching it, so I may be confusing it with something else. I thought they were doing product survey with like some burger flipper game who was playing the game WHILE he was working, so I got the impression it was a kind of "better than life" type augmented reality. But I may very well be confusing it with some other movie/movies I've seen.

I really like computers and technology in general, but I just have to say I'm really incredibly unenthused about this. Just beyond belief. It is another thing to buy/maintain/upgrade and/or another service to subscribe to. And there will be a dozen different magazines based around it: Max-VR, Business VR and You, etc etc.

Meh. Maybe I'm just old and cynical.

snorg wrote:

I really like computers and technology in general, but I just have to say I'm really incredibly unenthused about this. Just beyond belief. It is another thing to buy/maintain/upgrade and/or another service to subscribe to. And there will be a dozen different magazines based around it: Max-VR, Business VR and You, etc etc.

But of course. The concept in itself just has too much appeal, regardless of how flawed the implementations end up being. I still can't believe that Second Life is anywhere near as popular as some media would suggest.

Waiting for oculus as possible way to get 3D. Tried old glasses (packed to geforce 2) few years ago, when i had fx5900xt and 21 eizo. It had few disadvantages, that i hope oculus will solve. Have no interest in recent 3d at this time, cause it has serious flaws. Hope that oculus will have these positives over current and old solutions:
-no need to change mine 24IPS HP for some crappy TN screen supporting 120hz and 3d glasses - really dont want 2 screens just because 3D
-no darker image cause of glasses and optically smaller screen - it should have feeling of really big screen
-better ingame feeling cause i wont see stuff around lcd like sun on screen, lights around....
-no more hurting neck because of bad screen position, can play in any position, even lying in bed (must be great to play some 3d movies in bed)
-no need for expensive graphic card able to do 120FPS (i hope), 60 fps should be fine

So when i disable head tracking (reported as main source of bad feelings - that stuff need only pilots in cocpit), i should get fine game replacement of standart lcd screen and great personal cinema just for a price of crappy 3D TN screen.

I'm torn on VR gear. On the one hand I would like something, but I'm not so sure that the current projects are what I'm looking for.

My only experience with VR was playing Dactyl Nightmare back in the 90s and also the mech game that the Virtuality place had for the sit-down version. I can't say how well the 3D worked since I'm completely blind in my right eye. When I first put on the helmet, I saw that I was staring into a little tube right in front of my good eye and I thought to myself "How is looking through this little tube going to be immersive?" By the end of the game, I'd ceased to notice the "tube" and only saw the game world. It was fairly convincing as far as seeming like I was actually in the game.

Ever since then, I've wanted such a display helmet for playing FPS games at home. I don't even care if it has motion tracking or 3D (since the 3D won't work for me anyway). All I want is some kind of display that I can wear on my head, which blocks out the real world so that I can only see the game.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, nobody makes such a helmet. There's a rule that if it's a VR helmet, it MUST include full motion tracking, it MUST include a 3D display, it will require special drivers to run and has to be supported by the game.

I want a generic, wearable VR type display that will work (as a display) for any game and what they're working on are highly specialized systems that require dedicated support in the software.

I mean, would you really want full head tracking? Sure it's great when you want to just look around a little, but what about when you want to turn 180 degrees? You'd end up facing away from the mouse and keyboard. Or it would have to work like the analog thumbstick in a console game. Looking around with the helmet would only be analog to a certain extent and when you looked far enough to the side, it would go into 'turn' mode, where it would keep turning until you faced forward again. In effect, your head would become an analog joystick. No thanks!

Plus, there's the fact that I tried two different little freeware games that included optional Occulus Rift support and I couldn't get either one to run on my system.

Rekrul wrote:

I want a generic, wearable VR type display that will work (as a display) for any game and what they're working on are highly specialized systems that require dedicated support in the software.

This is what I'm after too. Head tracking would be cool but not practical like you say. I just want to have my visioned filled with the game world at a descent resolution and frames per second.

So maybe I'm not pumped for VR at all, I'm just pumped for a wrap around face monitor.

i've heard good news about the NEW O.R., it doesn't make people nauseous any more and has a 1080 screen. i'm excited for VR but, my empty wallet isn't.