Is oculus rift worth getting now?

[Craig234]

Between game availability, coming new versions, coming price drops - is now a good time to get one or wait (6 months, 1 year, 2 years etc.)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'd wait. Version 1.0 is never a good buy.
I still am not sure if the idea will be accepted, will it become like 3d TV? funny glasses that are irritating to wear and makes you look like a fool to anyone else in the home.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'd wait. Version 1.0 is never a good buy.
I still am not sure if the idea will be accepted, will it become like 3d TV? funny glasses that are irritating to wear and makes you look like a fool to anyone else in the home.

When have gaming geeks ever cared about looking like fools in their own home? I haven't talked to a single person who has the early dev version that wasn't blown away by it.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Main issue I have with it has been the delays and cutting of the support for anything but Windows. Add in the demo's of Valve's VR headset (Vive?) and Microsoft's augmented reality headset and I don't think Oculus has much room for any kind of error. Already at this point I would say Oculus is way behind Valve given the controller interfaces and full room motion available in the Vive. Add to that the fact that unlike Facebook, Valve is a 3D graphics and game company, which fits a little better for producing a 3D graphics device which has a primary use first for gaming...

 

[Fanatical Meat]

When have gaming geeks ever cared about looking like fools in their own home? I haven't talked to a single person who has the early dev version that wasn't blown away by it.

Let me clarify, it seems to really remove you from everything but the game. I haven't tried one so maybe I'm wrong.

 

[cmdrdredd]

My problem is I often play with a decent 5.1 setup with an A/V Receiver and proper sub etc. This wouldn't be ideal for that because when you turn your head you are no longer facing the proper direction for positional audio. Almost requires you to use a headset and most times I don't prefer headsets unless I have to use voice chat. The quality just isn't as good as a proper surround system.

 

[thujone]

Main issue I have with it has been the delays and cutting of the support for anything but Windows. Add in the demo's of Valve's VR headset (Vive?) and Microsoft's augmented reality headset and I don't think Oculus has much room for any kind of error. Already at this point I would say Oculus is way behind Valve given the controller interfaces and full room motion available in the Vive. Add to that the fact that unlike Facebook, Valve is a 3D graphics and game company, which fits a little better for producing a 3D graphics device which has a primary use first for gaming...

this dude nailed it. i'd wait until there's something from valve... but who knows how long that will be. only reason i'd really hop on this now is if you are planning on developing games/software for VR

 

[JeffMD]

I won't consider OR until the final hardware is released and by then, we will hopefully see a support mod for GTA5 or witcher by then.

 

[Craig234]

OK. It'd be nice to have but I'll wait.

 

[Annisman*]

Valve's VR seems to be the frontrunner for best set from what I've read. I'm waiting for a while to pick anything.

 

[TechBoyJK]

My problem is I often play with a decent 5.1 setup with an A/V Receiver and proper sub etc. This wouldn't be ideal for that because when you turn your head you are no longer facing the proper direction for positional audio. Almost requires you to use a headset and most times I don't prefer headsets unless I have to use voice chat. The quality just isn't as good as a proper surround system.

I actually much rather have a nice set of headphones. Ever had a nice set?

 

[mizzou]

There is definitely something to be said about being in the front seat of a completely new experience. I have very fond memories of day 1 purchases of other things and sometimes it was a "meh" experience and other times it was "wow".

CV1 Oculus Rift will be pretty damn good, I think that will be guaranteed. The problem will be how good is the software? That will be depend on how well you cope with growing pains.

The biggest issue you will run into with these new VR headsets is "Will I get motion sick?" If you do, it will be completely worthless.

 

[SMOGZINN]

When have gaming geeks ever cared about looking like fools in their own home? I haven't talked to a single person who has the early dev version that wasn't blown away by it.

I don't think there is any question that the technology is cool. I question if it is actually useful for anything. Will it actually improve games or is it a gimmic that will quickly grow old.

Does anyone here still game with 3D glasses?

 

[Fallen Kell]

The biggest issue you will run into with these new VR headsets is "Will I get motion sick?" If you do, it will be completely worthless.

I have to agree with this. The 2 biggest factors that play into your getting motion sickness are the head tracking and response to the tracking. One of the things that I believe puts the Vive at the top of the list is their head tracking seems to be extremely good. Since they are tracking the head in a full 3D environment for spacial placement, many of the issues that seem to have plagued other implementations does not occur (i.e. the head changing its height as your move your head around due to the nature of your body position). That small 2-3mm change is very difficult to detect using certain sensor systems, but seems to have been handled by the Vive, and in systems that do not detect it and subsequently change the camera position in the game to reflect that detection causes the disconnect between what the brain knows the inner ear has detected from what the eyes are receiving (causing the "motion" sickness because the inner ear and eyes are not in sync).

 

[cmdrdredd]

I actually much rather have a nice set of headphones. Ever had a nice set?

I have a set of sennheiser PC360s with an astro mix amp pro and they are far and away worse sounding for gaming than my HT setup in the game room. It's the difference between drivers that are a few inches large and only having two of them and speakers that are 8" or larger pushing lower frequencies with more power.

 

[QuantumPion]

If you buy a DK2 now you'll still probably be able to sell it for close to break-even before the release of CV1. So if you have disposable income I see no reason why not to get one if you can and don't want to wait a whole year for CV1.

The game that works best with DK2 right now is Eliteangerous. As a space sim it does not have any motion sickness and it's a full retail game with fully implemented and functional VR support. If you aren't interested in Elite Dangerous (or the other few games which support Dk2, such as Asetto Corsa, Euro Truck, War Thunder, etc), then all you have left is demos which are neat but they get old after playing with them for a few weeks.

 

[TheSlamma]

Not at all

 

[gorobei]

the recommended specs of 2x usb3 and hdmi make the rift cv1 a little suspect.

the vive lighthouse tracking system is a better and more flexible system that allows for future expansion. the rift single camera poses a fair possibility for early adopters remorse.

hardware wise, both the rift and the vive will have the same display specs: 2x oled @ 90hz screens at near square aspect ratio for each eye. so the thing that will decide the winner or loser is the tracking system. since lighthouse allows for controllers on the 1st gen, rift has the penalty of requiring another usb port for a controller.

valve and oculus have been coordinating with each other to make sure all vr products are a good experience to avoid poisoning the well, so there shouldnt be any major incompatibility when it comes to the games.

hololens isnt even a factor, it is in alpha stage.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Hololens is more augmented reality. You still see stuff around you in the real world with a virtual overlay. I think there will be gaming uses but its not meant to be games only.

 

[cmdrdredd]

What I want to see that isn't even related to gaming is virtual museum tours. I want to explore and visit the National Museum of Japanese History without flying to Japan. Stuff like that. The potential outside of gaming is much more interesting to me.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Stuff like that is why I cringed when the idiot gamers made a big fuss about Facebook buying Oculus (and the latter has always said so, social media is an area they specifically felt would be a good fit). VR has a lot more potential than just games. Museums and landmarks would be excellent fits (where people can "visit" without going there, but if you do go there you can pop on some VR goggles and see other things, kinda like those photographs where they gradient between modern time and some previous time of the same place). But also more than that as well. Think future rovers and space probes where we can beam back how things would look to our eyes. Or submersibles, or any number of other things. I can only imagine how queasy people will get once those people that go climbing buildings and towers and base jumping off them with VR cameras.

I have a set of sennheiser PC360s with an astro mix amp pro and they are far and away worse sounding for gaming than my HT setup in the game room. It's the difference between drivers that are a few inches large and only having two of them and speakers that are 8" or larger pushing lower frequencies with more power.

If you're just going by bass then yeah. And sorry but that's not really a good headphone. It's decent for a headset but there's plenty of headphones that would blow it away.

You can also compensate for the lack of lowend by adding a sub (you'll have to run analog out to it likely) and/or a tactile feedback system (bass shakers). I expect that will be one of the next developments in VR systems are products working to provide haptic feedback.

And decent headphones with a proper setup positional audio system will demolish surround sound setups with regards to placement, so it's not like they don't offer something equally substantial over that.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Stuff like that is why I cringed when the idiot gamers made a big fuss about Facebook buying Oculus (and the latter has always said so, social media is an area they specifically felt would be a good fit). VR has a lot more potential than just games. Museums and landmarks would be excellent fits (where people can "visit" without going there, but if you do go there you can pop on some VR goggles and see other things, kinda like those photographs where they gradient between modern time and some previous time of the same place). But also more than that as well. Think future rovers and space probes where we can beam back how things would look to our eyes. Or submersibles, or any number of other things. I can only imagine how queasy people will get once those people that go climbing buildings and towers and base jumping off them with VR cameras.







If you're just going by bass then yeah. And sorry but that's not really a good headphone. It's decent for a headset but there's plenty of headphones that would blow it away.



You can also compensate for the lack of lowend by adding a sub (you'll have to run analog out to it likely) and/or a tactile feedback system (bass shakers). I expect that will be one of the next developments in VR systems are products working to provide haptic feedback.



And decent headphones with a proper setup positional audio system will demolish surround sound setups with regards to placement, so it's not like they don't offer something equally substantial over that.

You obviously don't know much about headphones. Headphones that would be good for music mostly suck for gaming because the positional audio capability is terrible. It doesn't matter if you have sennheiser hd800 with a headphone amp. You will never replicate a true 5.1, 7.1, 9.2, 11.1 or whatever system.

I am not taking about just bass. If all you care about is bass why not just use some shitty beats headphones?

Also no, no headphones or headset ever will beat a proper home theater setup for surround sound. It can't, doesn't, and won't happen. Period. You are on crack if you think so. Good luck trying to get Dolby atmos from headphones (it's coming with Star Wars battlefront). It isn't possible, and the separation of a simple 5.1 system with a good receiver and proper speakers blows away any headphones you can buy for separation of the sound channels. Sorry man.

 

[Annisman*]

Have to agree, love my headphones but if I had the room I would go back to a nice 5.1 setup

 

[JeffMD]

You obviously don't know much about headphones. Headphones that would be good for music mostly suck for gaming because the positional audio capability is terrible. It doesn't matter if you have sennheiser hd800 with a headphone amp. You will never replicate a true 5.1, 7.1, 9.2, 11.1 or whatever system.

I am not taking about just bass. If all you care about is bass why not just use some shitty beats headphones?
.

Beats has bass? I try all the demo displays and I can't believe people enjoy that shiat.

The problem with a home theater setup is it has no place in VR. It is correct 1 degree out of 360. Do we have ideal headphones? probably not. We have amazing sounding headphones for sound quality, but on their own they don't have much strength for positional sound. Is it POSSIBLE too? I very much think so. There is no reason we can't scale down the audio pattern of a home theater so that the speakers are right next to the ear. We just need to spend some more R&D on developing them. ATM it seems like only a few gaming audio manufacturers (who we would never suggest for their high audio quality) attempted it but none of them are using good enough driver positioning or using good enough drivers, period.

It will come with the many new controller types we will see when the technology is released to the common folk. Which isn't now.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Beats has bass? I try all the demo displays and I can't believe people enjoy that shiat.



The problem with a home theater setup is it has no place in VR. It is correct 1 degree out of 360. Do we have ideal headphones? probably not. We have amazing sounding headphones for sound quality, but on their own they don't have much strength for positional sound. Is it POSSIBLE too? I very much think so. There is no reason we can't scale down the audio pattern of a home theater so that the speakers are right next to the ear. We just need to spend some more R&D on developing them. ATM it seems like only a few gaming audio manufacturers (who we would never suggest for their high audio quality) attempted it but none of them are using good enough driver positioning or using good enough drivers, period.



It will come with the many new controller types we will see when the technology is released to the common folk. Which isn't now.

Exactly, it isn't there yet. When I game on my 5.1 setup(soon to be 7.2) the positioning of the audio is perfect. When I have to use the headphones it is just ok. It's missing the separation of the multiple speakers. I did calibrate it for the room etc. so maybe that makes the difference.