Oculus Rift

A newer, more improved version will come out next year :p

Sorry, I meant a newer one the year after whenever this new one is out.

It's quite a bit of money for something that is still being developed. (I guess that's why they call it a development kit :p )

Has there been any word on when it's going to be officially released and not a 'development kit'?
 
I can see this being amazing for racing games, 1st person RPG's and FPS's which is what i mostly play anyway.
Racing definitely, but im not sure about FPS, i think it could be a lot harder to target. You've already got your movement, target movement, and mouse movement which can make it harder to be accurate, but throw in head movement too, so your view and aim arent the same, it adds another difficulty IMO. Some games should be fun, but i think the likes of BF would take raging a step further.

Paypal shows £286 but I'm expecting the lottery import tax of about £60 when it arrives
Is what i expected, but apparently its duty exempt, its classed as a monitor/visual display unit, and they seem to only require tax not duty. So £286 should be the only charge, and no +£10 cos parcelforce had to pay for it to clear customs.
 
Racing definitely, but im not sure about FPS, i think it could be a lot harder to target. You've already got your movement, target movement, and mouse movement which can make it harder to be accurate, but throw in head movement too, so your view and aim arent the same, it adds another difficulty IMO. Some games should be fun, but i think the likes of BF would take raging a step further.

Yeah pretty much.

Moving sideways/strafing will make you puke.

I found I played games slower in the rift. Going too fast just made my head spin. Try RetroVirus, great rift effect but 10 mins later and I felt I'd been inside a washing machine. My best experiences in the rift were the slower Kairo type games and demos.

Is what i expected, but apparently its duty exempt, its classed as a monitor/visual display unit, and they seem to only require tax not duty. So £286 should be the only charge, and no +£10 cos parcelforce had to pay for it to clear customs.

I've not been stung by import tax before but some stories on the oculus forums show some people got charged £60+ when the DK1 came out. Not sure if anythings changed with the Oculus billing as I bought my DK1 used.
 
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Someone on the previous page pointed this out when i was under the same impression that it'd still be added.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/dc/16...t-from-united-states-to-united-kingdom-is-14/

The import duty rate for importing Oculus Rift VR Headset into United Kingdom is 0% , the import VAT is 20%, when classified under Electronics & Video Games → TV, Home Theatre & Projectors → Monitor | LCD - usable with computers & other electronics with HS commodity code 8528.59.3100

So provided its shipped with that HS code to help customs, it appears that or simply labelling it as a 'Computer Monitor' would fall under a category which only the VAT is due, which is what Oculus are asking to be pre-paid, suggesting they've done their homework for each country and know what the customer is expected to pay and they'll pre-pay it through the courier.
So as well as no unexpected surprises, this also has the benefit of speeding the customs process up because all the relevant fees have been paid, and i'd imagine marked clearly so theres no hold-up.
I did read on their forums someone wasnt impressed at being charged VAT as they are exempt (individually, i'd assume) and they'd have to pay it and claim it back. But on the whole, i'd say this i a big plus for customers. Although having to pay tax on something which wont be taxed for a while (till shipped) is a tad annoying i guess.
 
In this video

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/we...-the-world-oculus-rift-devs-say/1100-6418402/

It says that the DK2 is feature complete and that the consumer version will only see minor improvements, which will come through software.

So the DK2 is basically the final consumer spec?

Yeah, it looks like thats the final spec, although if there is the availability of other panels which would be better, i'd imagine they could increase it. As ive mentioned somewhere else, this strikes me as being a Beta product, we've had the long term testing on Alpha, they've got something which is at the beta stage and it might not be too far away from being the finished product.

Other changes could still happen, things which can come from general feedback but 'feature complete' does seem like it'll be pretty much the same hardware as the DK2, just possibly better usage or adjustments to those features, but no (planned/intended) advancements on hardware.

It makes me wonder (and probably a few others) whether it'd be worth waiting for the consumer release, if its only going to be minor tweaks and possibly a price reduction due to mass production. Thats going to have a long waiting list too, for what may well end up being 99% the same product.
 
Yeah, it looks like thats the final spec, although if there is the availability of other panels which would be better, i'd imagine they could increase it. As ive mentioned somewhere else, this strikes me as being a Beta product, we've had the long term testing on Alpha, they've got something which is at the beta stage and it might not be too far away from being the finished product.

Other changes could still happen, things which can come from general feedback but 'feature complete' does seem like it'll be pretty much the same hardware as the DK2, just possibly better usage or adjustments to those features, but no (planned/intended) advancements on hardware.

It makes me wonder (and probably a few others) whether it'd be worth waiting for the consumer release, if its only going to be minor tweaks and possibly a price reduction due to mass production. Thats going to have a long waiting list too, for what may well end up being 99% the same product.
I think we will see at least 1440p from the consumer release.They really need to get it as good as possible to compete with Sonys offering who we know will benefit from much higher economies of scale and therefore possibly more competative pricing,, I think we will see a sprint release next year.
 
I think we will see at least 1440p from the consumer release.They really need to get it as good as possible to compete with Sonys offering who we know will benefit from much higher economies of scale and therefore possibly more competative pricing,, I think we will see a sprint release next year.

Wont the Sony one be PS4 exclusive though?
 
Not sure about the Sony/PS4 aspect, but Sony have released headsets for a few years now i believe, not VR but i guess for home cinema use, and they most definitely havent been cheap.

Sony HMZ-T3W - Wireless Personal 3D Viewer
http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/head-mounted-display-products/hmz-t3w

Available now for just £1299.00, obviously i could have just told you about it, but i imagine everyone will be rushing there to order one :D

OLED Panel
YES x 2
Display Resolution
1280 x 720
Aspect Ratio
16 : 09
Virtual Surround
8ch
Virtual Image Size
750 inch in 20m distance

Also, i dunno about the new VR headset specs (which are probably out there) but they'll need to be able to run on PS4 hardware if thats part of their audience, so i wouldnt expect them to do anything more than the equivalent of split-1080p, more just means more compromises, with PC customers it simply means dial down your settings or head to OCUK to buy a better GPU.

Found the specs, its also 960x1080.
One positive of all this though is that if the consoles get VR headsets (MS have a patent) then that means the 3 significant platforms all have VR adoption, so VR implementation is likely to be taken seriously by all multi-platform developers, we've got the new generation consoles using PC hardware, so the developers shouldnt be compromising an awful lot any more, they dont need to do exclusive games (unless $$$ comes calling) or console-only, and it shouldnt be an inferior port. This is all good news for PC gamers, for a change!
 
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I fly FPV video quads and planes with 800 resolution Headplay googles. I hate even standing up with them on, let alone looking around. That said I'm going to let others beta test the tech and then buy the second gen stuff this time!
 
They ****ed me off with no OR this year.
So now whoever starts selling VR helmet first ill buy that one.
Sony or OR does not matter i just want one..
 
One positive of all this though is that if the consoles get VR headsets (MS have a patent) then that means the 3 significant platforms all have VR adoption, so VR implementation is likely to be taken seriously by all multi-platform developers, we've got the new generation consoles using PC hardware, so the developers shouldnt be compromising an awful lot any more, they dont need to do exclusive games (unless $$$ comes calling) or console-only, and it shouldnt be an inferior port. This is all good news for PC gamers, for a change!

I really hope this is how it turns out. I've been keeping an eye on the rift since the kickstarter and will definitely buy one at some point in the future, probably in a year or two once it's easily available.

The only thing that has put me off so far is the resolution. I didn't think it would be an issue when finished until I checked that link of the rift resolution 'simulation'. Going on that alone I think I would be a little disappointed with it after the initial wow factor wore off, although I do still really want to try one.

I know the resolution is only a small part of what the rift is (i.e. the immersion far outweighs the quality of the image) but I do think it would annoy me slightly/give me a bit of a headache playing with it for a long period of time.

Can't wait to see how things develop over the next few years though!
 
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