A bit of background, I'm a 42 year old computer professional who has been working in IT for almost all my adult life. I've also been a gamer virtually from ground zero (ie Pong in the arcade) and I have spent some serious coin on my gaming addiction, be it home or arcade. A Jap import of every major console on release and favourite JAMMA arcade boards via super gun have been had with a few notable omissions (3DO etc.) I have had early exposure to severe MMO addiction with Ultima Online over dial up that culminated with having a near family intervention over WOW and SWG (pre NG) I kid but it wasnt far off.
I think however I may have just seen the dawn of a new era of gaming, and nothing is ever going to be the same again. We will look back on the days of 3d monitors and eyefinity/nv surround like it was a quaint aside to the real experience and the likes of Kinect will play second fiddle as an augment or facilitator for VR, but no more.
I dont know quite what I was expecting, I had fantasies of the Lawnmower man style immersion but didnt think for one minute it would be as good as that, I've been taken in by this VR false dawn before many times, iGlasses etc. The 'reality' was not what I expected, at all, it was so much better and its where the true next gen gaming experience lies. The first demo I fired up was an Unreal Engine rollercoaster simulator,followed by every demo and game patch available for it. To say was floored was an understatement. Here are a few things about the Oculus Rift you will never get unless you try it for real. Videos DO NOT in any way prepare you for it, or even give you the slightest inkling as to what to expect. First the high points, of which there are many, followed by the low points of which there are fundamentally few and by the final version will be almost zero
1. Scale: Objects can seem extremely tiny or as is more often the case can seem unimaginably huge. When looking at the sides of the turrets of the castle (Rollercoaster demo,Unreal engine 3) on the way up you can tell how 'high' you are as easily as you could if you were really doing it and the level of immersion from being able to look over your shoulder gives you the shivers. Then there's the vertigo which I'm a sufferer from so my reaction may be a little more than most, but when I got to the top of that castle and peeped over the side of the car and looked down, my stomach turned over. It literally felt like I was two hundred feet up in the air next to a castle that I could reach out and touch that a single brick of was the size of my head.
Follwed up by the blue marble demo and Titans of space really nailed the scale of planets thing till you feel like you're head is going to pop. How you get that across from a screenshot? I dont know, its a marketing challenge for sure. On screen it looks like nothing special, on the headset its like powering into the sun in Hotblack Desiato's stuntship I **** you not.
if anyone's interested post your thoughts or questions and I'll continue. You should be, you'll all have one when it's released I guarantee it.
I think however I may have just seen the dawn of a new era of gaming, and nothing is ever going to be the same again. We will look back on the days of 3d monitors and eyefinity/nv surround like it was a quaint aside to the real experience and the likes of Kinect will play second fiddle as an augment or facilitator for VR, but no more.
I dont know quite what I was expecting, I had fantasies of the Lawnmower man style immersion but didnt think for one minute it would be as good as that, I've been taken in by this VR false dawn before many times, iGlasses etc. The 'reality' was not what I expected, at all, it was so much better and its where the true next gen gaming experience lies. The first demo I fired up was an Unreal Engine rollercoaster simulator,followed by every demo and game patch available for it. To say was floored was an understatement. Here are a few things about the Oculus Rift you will never get unless you try it for real. Videos DO NOT in any way prepare you for it, or even give you the slightest inkling as to what to expect. First the high points, of which there are many, followed by the low points of which there are fundamentally few and by the final version will be almost zero
1. Scale: Objects can seem extremely tiny or as is more often the case can seem unimaginably huge. When looking at the sides of the turrets of the castle (Rollercoaster demo,Unreal engine 3) on the way up you can tell how 'high' you are as easily as you could if you were really doing it and the level of immersion from being able to look over your shoulder gives you the shivers. Then there's the vertigo which I'm a sufferer from so my reaction may be a little more than most, but when I got to the top of that castle and peeped over the side of the car and looked down, my stomach turned over. It literally felt like I was two hundred feet up in the air next to a castle that I could reach out and touch that a single brick of was the size of my head.
Follwed up by the blue marble demo and Titans of space really nailed the scale of planets thing till you feel like you're head is going to pop. How you get that across from a screenshot? I dont know, its a marketing challenge for sure. On screen it looks like nothing special, on the headset its like powering into the sun in Hotblack Desiato's stuntship I **** you not.if anyone's interested post your thoughts or questions and I'll continue. You should be, you'll all have one when it's released I guarantee it.
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