An Unexpected Surprise: 'Halo 5' And HoloLens

[Guest]

Ever since its initial reveal in January, we've been closely following the progress of Microsoft's HoloLens. Our hands-on experience earlier this year at BUILD (link to your story) provided us with a glimpse of its potential, but at its current stage of

An Unexpected Surprise: 'Halo 5' And HoloLens : Read more

 

[jaber2]

Nice article thank you, do you think HoloLens might give Oculas Rift a run for its money? since the partnership with Microsoft was a last minute attempt to put Oculas Rift on E3

 

[scolaner]

Nice article thank you, do you think HoloLens might give Oculas Rift a run for its money? since the partnership with Microsoft was a last minute attempt to put Oculas Rift on E3

I think Microsoft is going big on AR/VR, period. I was surprised by the Oculus/MSFT love, but the thing to really understand is that Hololens is *augmented reality*, not *virtual reality*. Thus, HoloLens and devices like the Oculus Rift are complementary, not competitive.

Simply:
-HoloLens projects images, etc. onto the real world, and you see both through the HUD. That's what AR does.
-Oculus Rift (et al) puts you into a completely virtual, but ideally immersive, environment. You cannot see the real world. That's what VR does.

Both are, from what I've seen, incredibly compelling. But they're fundamentally different.

 

[JTP709]

Nice article thank you, do you think HoloLens might give Oculas Rift a run for its money? since the partnership with Microsoft was a last minute attempt to put Oculas Rift on E3

I don't think Oculus has anything to worry about from Hololens...nore does Microsoft have antying to worry about from Oculus. The Hololens is more Augmented Reality while the Oculus is Virtual Reality. They both serve two entirely seperate purposes.

 

[PaulBags]

I can see hololens being useful to watch a tv program on a long commute without holding my phone out in front of me. Would also be useful in the supermarket, if the shelves were IoT, to highlight where items on your shopping list are etc.

 

[loki1944]

I'm far more interested in this than the VR stuff.

 

[shloader]

Tech like this could be crazy useful inside the console game space once the FOV gets expanded a little. Imagine playing a game like Star Citizen and using this to see relevant information from consoles just by a slight head tilt and glance rather than fumbling with hot-keys to see power and weapon readouts, or extended radar information. Imagine any game where statistical data would be more useful if seen quickly with a slight look up or down as opposed to hitting a key that pauses the game and interrupts the immersion of the game. With something like this, gone would be the days of pausing to look at a map.

In the PC space I can see where something like this would make much more sense than a 4th & 5th monitor. This could really de-complicate some games that throw a crazy amount of statistical data at you and cause a break in the gameplay to do it.

 

[somebodyspecial]

I just can't see myself with a helmet on playing my game. If they can shrink that thing to be glasses at some point maybe, but otherwise I'll just take a screen thanks. I could see it as cool tech for like virtual travels, to say museums or some such, and owning one for that type of stuff (which admittedly would be pretty cool). But I fail to see how I'll ever want a headset of any type on for gaming sessions.

I already hate huge over the ear old style stereo headsets and prefer in-ear for my "quiet gaming", or full surround speakers when nobody is around (LOL...surround at a few hundred watts can freak out your neighbors with gunshots etc). I love the FEEL of shotgun blasts etc that you can't get from anything on your head. I'm more aware in a Multiplayer FPS with a headset (ie someone sneaking up on you etc), but for most gaming I prefer feeling the thumps etc in my seat/floor. But most people probably don't have a set of Klipsch v2.400's or Logitech Z560's. These will blow you out of your room and right into your neighbors yard ROFL

 

[back_by_demand]

Tech will always shrink and I can see a few years from now Hololens will be the size of sunglasses, with a full panoramic field of vision. We just have to go through excruciating increments first, like the first laptops up to todays ultrabooks. The shopping thing would be great, linking into your supermarket club card as you walk down the aisles it highlights your previous purchases, or special offers like 3 for 2's. Or for new items you ask for them and it gives you a Dead Space style breadcrumb line to the item. In gaming you could have PVP in paintball-style arenas. Driving could have HUD directions. Applications are huge, but if the only issues are size and field of vision, these will improve over time, as all tech inevitably shrinks and powers up.