Oculus Rift - Development Kit 2

[ImpulsE69]

If only they would make a new Roller Coaster Tycoon! Isometric 2d is only so good! Granted I did resist the jump to RTC3 and 3D for a long time (it was only sale on GOG for like $8 before I first played that entry into the series) and it was fantastic!

If only I could get the same feeling in 1080p with some good graphics!

I resisted too because I didn't hear that many good things about it. I finally broke down and got it last year sometime on GoG and it's great. It does do 1080p, but yea..textures are still old school, although there are mods/texture/item packs for it. I've thrown it on my big screen in 3D ride mode and it's pretty crazy.

 

[smackababy]

The switch from 2D to 3D was brutal for games like Crusader, so I avoided it until I finally said "What the heck! It's cheap enough and I love the series." I am glad I did play it.

I really do wish they'd make a new one though.

 

[Harrod]

Can't wait for this to get to the final retail product. I was tempted to get it early but I'm tied up with other projects right now.

 

[Elcs]

Any idea whether the Consumer product will be more than the $350 Dev Kit price tag or lower?

I kinda do need a new display to replace my 47" HDTV for gaming (not desperate, but planning) and I'm thinking that the Oculus Rift might be the ideal solution for me in that respect some day down the line.

 

[Red Storm]

Any idea whether the Consumer product will be more than the $350 Dev Kit price tag or lower?

I kinda do need a new display to replace my 47" HDTV for gaming (not desperate, but planning) and I'm thinking that the Oculus Rift might be the ideal solution for me in that respect some day down the line.

I don't really see the Oculus completely replacing a traditional display. Not every game is going to be Rift compatible. Some genres don't even translate well to VR.

 

[bigi]

It will be really immense if one can use this in FSX as well as many other games of course.

 

[smackababy]

I don't really see the Oculus completely replacing a traditional display. Not every game is going to be Rift compatible. Some genres don't even translate well to VR.

I would think playing something like an RTS, platformer or a MOBA would be rather cumbersome on a OR. It really only lends itself to first person games, which helps with immersion. Not that that is a bad thing. It won't replace traditional monitors. There are far too many things you do on a PC that aren't really 'VR optimized'.

 

[xantub]

Sounds like a great thing, but not for me. Nowadays I mostly play non-twitch strategy/tactical games and turn-based RPGs, so not much use for the Oculus there. 20 years ago when I played pretty much whatever you could install in a PC was a different thing, but my taste in games have changed. Maybe if I get sucked into an MMO again this would be great.

 

[Red Storm]

You know I was thinking that sport games wouldn't really translate well to VR, but could you imagine playing a basketball/football/soccer game in first person VR? It would be an entirely new kind of sport game, but that would be really cool to experience.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I don't really see the Oculus completely replacing a traditional display. Not every game is going to be Rift compatible. Some genres don't even translate well to VR.

I would think playing something like an RTS, platformer or a MOBA would be rather cumbersome on a OR. It really only lends itself to first person games, which helps with immersion. Not that that is a bad thing. It won't replace traditional monitors. There are far too many things you do on a PC that aren't really 'VR optimized'.

Why can't this be used as a normal monitor and not 'VR'. One of the things I'm hopeful for is to have a large monitor that I can keep in my pack for long trips. Headphones for your eyes.

BTW - I know that there are already products that can do that, but none of them really work all that well.

 

[Red Storm]

Why can't this be used as a normal monitor and not 'VR'. One of the things I'm hopeful for is to have a large monitor that I can keep in my pack for long trips. Headphones for your eyes.

BTW - I know that there are already products that can do that, but none of them really work all that well.

Well, I guess there's really no reason why it couldn't simply act as a large 2D display for non-VR things. But you wouldn't be able to see your keyboard, so that might be quite limiting for many.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Well, I guess there's really no reason why it couldn't simply act as a large 2D display for non-VR things. But you wouldn't be able to see your keyboard, so that might be quite limiting for many.

That might be a problem for some, but even in a RTS you should not be looking down at your keyboard. Come on guys, most of you have been using a keyboard since before you were potty trained, you should know where the keys are by now

 

[Midwayman]

I would think playing something like an RTS, platformer or a MOBA would be rather cumbersome on a OR. It really only lends itself to first person games, which helps with immersion. Not that that is a bad thing. It won't replace traditional monitors. There are far too many things you do on a PC that aren't really 'VR optimized'.

It would be interesting to play these games as if you were playing a tabletop wargame. I can see how it'd work on RTS type games.

 

[Midwayman]

Well, I guess there's really no reason why it couldn't simply act as a large 2D display for non-VR things. But you wouldn't be able to see your keyboard, so that might be quite limiting for many.

There are already virtual cinema apps. I'm sort of hoping the consumer version will have a camera embedded in front for PiP operation or just to replace the VR with a toggle. That way you can orient without having to take the HMD off.

 

[SMOGZINN]

There are already virtual cinema apps. I'm sort of hoping the consumer version will have a camera embedded in front for PiP operation or just to replace the VR with a toggle. That way you can orient without having to take the HMD off.

Or perhaps use the Rift's motion sensing ability to detect a look down and seamlessly add the external video feed to the bottom when you look down, basically pushing the video up.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

There is a camera attachment planned for the commercial release, there's a usb extension port on the headset itself.

Most gamers with more than about a months worth of regular gaming experience don't need to look at their keyboard to see the controls, for those who really can't manage it then you can always use a gamepad, windows has literally thousands of compatible game pads.

The idea of pedals and other control methods are all nice and well for immersiveness but almost always lose out compared to mouse + keyboard for control agility and responsiveness, as nice as that seems it's my experience that with fancy controls you always end up scrapping them for something more effective in the long run.

Interesting concept using something like the rift to aid in competitive play, there's a lot of downsides, but something like view independent of aim could actually be a massive benefit in some games I feel.

 

[smackababy]

The idea of pedals and other control methods are all nice and well for immersiveness but almost always lose out compared to mouse + keyboard for control agility and responsiveness, as nice as that seems it's my experience that with fancy controls you always end up scrapping them for something more effective in the long run.

The problem is that anything where you'd be using pedals and a joystick effectively, the response of a mouse is completely unrealistic. Take flying a helicopter for example; there is not a single machine that can maneuver in change of directions as I can do with my mouse, so the agility and responsiveness are bad for realism (and in the event developers actually add in something to compensate for that, gamers whine because it isn't responsive). Even FPS responsiveness is unrealistic. Nobody can turn around as fast as you can with a mouse, or change directions instantly (unless you're Deion Sanders). But, god forbid it takes more than 2ms to make a full 180 from a sprint! I only concede the FPS argument because you don't have control over your head and eyes, so they have to make a some concessions to accommodate some things.

 

[Red Storm]

That might be a problem for some, but even in a RTS you should not be looking down at your keyboard. Come on guys, most of you have been using a keyboard since before you were potty trained, you should know where the keys are by now

We here at AT know it fine, but I'm willing to bet a good portion of gamers do not.

 

[Paul98]

What I find most exciting is that this is only the beginning. It has me very excited thinking what might be possible both now and in the future. What new games or completely new uses there will be when using VR. We will eventually have 4k or 8k along with full body motion capture capability.

 

[Aikouka]

I would assume that the retail version would be similar in price to the developer kit.

I would think playing something like an RTS, platformer or a MOBA would be rather cumbersome on a OR. It really only lends itself to first person games, which helps with immersion. Not that that is a bad thing. It won't replace traditional monitors. There are far too many things you do on a PC that aren't really 'VR optimized'.

Yeah... I think that if you tried to use the Rift with current RTS games, you would find that the view of the field would just be too narrow.

 

[Elcs]

I don't really see the Oculus completely replacing a traditional display. Not every game is going to be Rift compatible. Some genres don't even translate well to VR.

Yeah, I'm not looking at it as a replacement per se but with my TV having lines of stuck pixels, the OR could be a great tool to go alongside the TV when the opportunity comes along.

Plus, it should leave a little £££ left in my pocket for a standard display should the TV go the way of the WEE bin.

Just thinking out loud, exploring a few interesting options other than a straight swap

 

[TheUnk]

Man I would love to play DiRT/GRID in the cockpit view with this

 

[BurnItDwn]

I will wait for Retail, but, the Dev Kit 2 looks fantastic. Maybe it'll be enough that I will disuse my eyefinity setup ... My desk would look better with only 2 monitors, and then I could stick the 3rd one on another PC which is using a 19 inch 1990s CRT since my old 24inch IPS panel died.)

Without eyefinity, I could move my second 6870 to the basement PC and upgrade it from the 4870 I've got on it right now (basement PC is mostly HTPC, but sometimes does some gaming as I've got it connected to my projector!)

(note: I know it sounds like bragging, but, my projector is an entry level projector, and my monitors are very inexpensive low end 20.5 inch LCD's ... I bet that the projector, and the video cards, and the LCDs I have cost less than even a single 30 inch high res panel ... )

 

[ImpulsE69]

Am I to understand that to get these to work properly to prevent motion issues you need 60fps minimum (120fps total) in each eye? At 1080p, does that mean a heavy hitter card is required? Or is there something that makes that not be the case?

 

[mizzou]

Am I to understand that to get these to work properly to prevent motion issues you need 60fps minimum (120fps total) in each eye? At 1080p, does that mean a heavy hitter card is required? Or is there something that makes that not be the case?

depends on the program...if you are trying to play TF2, you don't need a beast of a computer I imagine.