Oculus Rift

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I do really like the look of this, but I think I'd wait until it's matched with something you actually run around on.

Oculus Rift + Omni (by Virtuix) = Awesome.

Hopefully they'll have it nailed in the next couple of years :D
 
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I do really like the look of this, but I think I'd wait until it's matched with something you actually run around on.

Oculus Rift + Omni (by Virtuix) = Awesome.

Hopefully they'll have it nailed in the next couple of years :D

I'm not seeing how the Omni will take off. I'm sure some die hards will want one, but I bet more than a few will end up being used for a few days before being consigned to the garage.

Even the name sounds like it's trying too hard really. They looked at "Oculus Rift" (which is just one of those names that just sounds right) and tried to come up with a name that sounded as good. Didn't work really.

They're estimating $400-$600 dollars for something which you basically shuffle your feet on. I'll be surprised if it hit's it's target when the Kickstarter goes live.
 
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That youtube dude playing portal is pretty cool. I love it when he does the whole falling thing as when you look at his body reaction, he moves his head closer to the ground.

Quite funky. I bet there will be some really hilarious videos of people playing games and vomming that will get released. Cue special game that makes you blow chunks.
 
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Have you noticed for a lot of the youtube videos you can do the cross eyed trick and watch them in 3D? Pretty cool :)


This is a particulary good one in full HD. Cup you hands on your face/eyes so you block out the unwanted image to the wrong eye.

 
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Received mine yesterday. Spent the first hour going through several demos, and at the end of that, I had absolutely no ill effects.

Stuck my dad in it when he came round for lunch, and he spent round about an hour with it, again, with absolutely zero negative effects. The stuff we were looking at though was all joypad controlled stuff, and I'm convinced that really helps to start with, as you can't do instant spin around on the spot movements as you would with a mouse.

Given that my dad is in no way a gamer (his gaming career literally started and finished with Space Invaders and Galaxians), I all but had to drag him off Proton Pulse (a breakout style game), which he really enjoyed.

Had a couple of friends try it as well, both with massively different results. The first, again, had no problems. My other mate felt really bad after literally 2 minutes though later on after trying the other lenses, he felt loads better, so it could just have been that he was somewhere between the and B and C cups, with the B ones offering him the best experience.

My first (and only experience really) of something feeling not right was after about an hour of Half Life 2. Towards the end of that I had to stop, as I was starting to feel a bit dodgy. Later on though with Team Fortress 2 (which I'd have to say is utterly awesome, the sense of 3d in that was something else for me) I didn't have the issues that I had with HL2. Maybe that was to do with the more involved calibration process though - I certainly need to try porting those settings over to HL2.

After chatting about it though, we pretty much agreed that this feels like it did at the start of 3D accelerators, and given a solid consumer launch, it will become a must have peripheral. It really does make that much of a difference to the way you experience a game, and then some. Honestly, watching the YouTube videos of it all conveys nothing of the experience (it simply can't).

The single most impressive thing about it is the sense of scale. Things do look life size. Genuinely. As for the biggest downside at the moment, most people are saying the resolution, and while yes, that really needs sorting (and will be in the consumer release), for me, the screen door effect is actually more jarring (and that may be too strong of a description) than anything else. Being able to see the gaps between the pixels just removes the feeling of utter solidity of what you're seeing.

As for the best demos so far, I'd have to go with (in no particular order):

UnderCurrent
Planet 1
Firma

All 3 give a fantastic sense of scale and of being present in their worlds (UnderCurrent isn't publicly available, but the devs might send you a copy if you ask nicely).

Anyway, feel free to ask if you have any specific questions at all.
 
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I admit, I was a believer but too sceptical to pony up for the Kickstarter.

But seeing peoples hands on reactions makes me want one now.

Any idea on how this would work for someone with a lazy eye?
 
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I admit, I was a believer but too sceptical to pony up for the Kickstarter.

I nearly didn't, but the whole media thing with John Carmack demoing it was the thing that convinced me to take a punt.

Any idea on how this would work for someone with a lazy eye?

One of my friends who I demo'd it to (joe pineapples on these forums) has fairly poor vision in one eye and can't see 3d via 3d glasses, yet he was still impressed enough with the experience that he wants a consumer unit. In my post on the previous page, he was the one who I was talking to and agreeing with that this will be a must have peripheral.
 
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Can you still punt in for a dev unit or have they stopped those now?

Got £125 on my 5 years at work. Im seriously tempted to spend it on getting one of these!

You can, but you'll have somewhere in the region of a 3 month wait if you order one now. I'd say buy one if you want to play around with it, and know the limitations of the dev kit (namely the screen in it). Don't buy one if you're thinking that you'll be playing all your games on it and ditching your monitor - in that case, wait for the consumer release.

Good round-up of the device from Dslyecxi:

He's right about the current screen, in that the screen door effect is very visable, and that you couldn't play seriously competetive games with it due to the low res screen. However, it doesn't stop it being a fun, and frankly, amazing experience.

However, he seems to be the total skeptic when it comes to Oculus, moaning that if they were going to put in a higher res screen (which they've repeatedly said they are for the consumer unit) that they would have showed it off. A consumer release is at the very least probably a year away, so why would they show a higher res screen now, when they probably don't even know which screen will actually make it into the production unit.

First time I've ever listened to this guy, and it's a shame he just goes on and on about the same thing, as in the beginning, I thought he was quite rational, but by the end just thought he was a total ****.
 
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It's strange why people dislike the guy for having an honest and logical opinion on an experience. I too wonder why they've not managed to source a better screen yet for demonstration purposes, nor being able to answer if they even have yet.

He's right, a higher res screen isn't the only thing needed here but a panel capable of a lot more pixel density, panels that costs thousands right now. If you're not skeptical you're either ignorant or a fanboy, but those two usually come hand in hand. It's not perfect, but it has the ability to. Being able to discern constructive criticism, praise and concerns is a huge skill for some it seems. I also watched the whole thing but I don't remember him saying that they would've showed it off, was a couple days ago.

I'm also not sure where being skeptical had such an almost taboo approach, or that it's a bad thing. When did that happen?

We all want this to work, I want one for flight sims especially but not if it looks like crap, even after the upgrades.
 
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It's strange why people dislike the guy for having an honest and logical opinion on an experience. I too wonder why they've not managed to source a better screen yet for demonstration purposes, nor being able to answer if they even have yet.

It's not that he isn't honest or logical (I thought he was), but after expressing his opinion for 5 minutes, he goes on for another 20 minutes spouting the same thing again and again and again. That's just whining.

As for not showing a panel - like I said, why show a panel now that probably wouldn't be in a production unit let alone the retail one? A lot can change in a year. All it would do right now is get them flack for shipping current dev kits with their current panel instead of upgrading them.

As for the ability to do it, on the TF2 night they hosted, someone asked Palmer if he was playing with a dev kit unit, and he admitted he was using his own version with a different panel.

Again, yes, it really does need a better panel, but even at the moment, the dev kit delivers an experience that probably 99.99% of people have never had before, and despite the current res, it's stupidly good fun.
 
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It's strange why people dislike the guy for having an honest and logical opinion on an experience. I too wonder why they've not managed to source a better screen yet for demonstration purposes, nor being able to answer if they even have yet.

He's right, a higher res screen isn't the only thing needed here but a panel capable of a lot more pixel density, panels that costs thousands right now. If you're not skeptical you're either ignorant or a fanboy, but those two usually come hand in hand. It's not perfect, but it has the ability to. Being able to discern constructive criticism, praise and concerns is a huge skill for some it seems. I also watched the whole thing but I don't remember him saying that they would've showed it off, was a couple days ago.

I'm also not sure where being skeptical had such an almost taboo approach, or that it's a bad thing. When did that happen?

We all want this to work, I want one for flight sims especially but not if it looks like crap, even after the upgrades.

Are you the reviewer? That would explain why you seem to be getting overly emotional.
 
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Are you the reviewer? That would explain why you seem to be getting overly emotional.

No, it's just annoying when people pick up on things that aren't being said.
People do it a lot on these forums, but it's not exclusive to here, you can read so many threads where someone will reply to another pulling things from thin air, statements that were never said or wild assumptions based on the smallest of information.

Such as you thinking it's a review, when it is an impression on the current state of the product.

Secondly, the need for people to rather than talk it out, or reply with something of substance to then go and spew bile or nonsense because they have nothing better to say, as you did. Creating friction in a discussion which ultimately leads to mods having to shut those doing it down.

Of course, the expected reply will just be like your previous, it won't have anything to do with the topic at hand, or about a video of it, or the information people are giving out. It won't stop me replying like I do often when someone is acting irrational.

Can you deal with that or are you going to act out?
 
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The reason why they haven't demo'd a version with a real display yet is because that display doesn't exist. I feel they are bargaining on the fact that a display in the price range will appear before they release consumer units.

It's a gamble for them as they could end up with egg on their face, but its a kick starter project so the risk you take.

Lets face it, if the screens existed they would use them in press demo kits...
 
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