The Great Oculus Rift Hype Machine, Continued

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Thanks for the article, I really enjoyed it.

Unlike many news posts reporting on monitors/storage/CPU/GPU, the "tech specs" are such a tiny part for Oculus and other VR tech... There's so much more to the story. Personally, I thought the article shared both the author's excitement and concern for the ever-approaching VR launch.

If done right, VR is a potential game changer. I've been gaming in more or less the same ways for 20 years... VR just might change that. It's the personal, subjective experience of VR that has to win people over and I think it's warranted for some of the reporting surrounding it to adopt a different tone.
 

dstarr3

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with the amount of investment the industry is placing, it's hard to imagine this failing

Well, 3D TVs tanked even though all the manufacturers were throwing all their money at it. And the reason they failed is because people just don't want to wear bulky shit on their face to watch TV. I'm really excited for this, but this is just another example of people needing to wear a bulky thing on their face. Hopefully gamers don't mind, hopefully this offers a much better experience over traditional gaming than 3D TVs offered over traditional television. Because I want this to be awesome. But, there is the chance that this just turns out to be an extremely niche kind of device.
 

kyle382

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"Rubin did say that most studios typically have three-year plans for games, but he said he's encouraging them not to think that way, that so much is changing that three years is too long. (Yes, three years is too long. I think I've heard that somewhere before)"

haha love it. My jimmies are so rustled right now.
 

Oldbutstillatit

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After about a year of playing PC games on a DK2, I can say I'm just as excited as the day I ordered it for VR. Looking forward to the future of VR.
 

endeavour37a

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Well whether one thinks all of this is BS or very cool is sort of missing the point I think. Look at Oculus as the bulky camera in the late 1800's, they sure got better and we all have one now in one form or another. It is the next logical step not only in entertainment but, limited only by the immigration I guess.

One day instead of strapping something on to create an environment we will be simply stepping into one, total immersion. This thing is just the first baby steps in that direction perhaps. Perhaps the age of screens has yet to reach the beginning of the end of it's usefulness, but maybe this is the end of the beginning in that direction to find a new way to experience and use our scenes and bodies in extraordinary ways.
 

Little Lost Linden

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I puke on the Oculus Ralph. Does it come with a strap architecture that will hold a small plastic bag to store all of the puke that comes out of our mouths as we get sick from using it for more than 60 minutes? Are the bags disposable or will we have to use the same one over and over? Will the puke bad be washing machine safe? These any so many other questions will need to be answered soon, hopefully at e3.
 

computerguy72

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I have a DK2 and hopefully the CV1 has a better FOV. FOV really is the secret sauce that makes this 'VR'. It's because of that the DK1 was actually often more immersive even at a lower resolution. Even still I've demo'd the DK2 to friends and most of the time they are blown away. A lot of them walked away determined to buy a new video card to prep for when these are for sale. Nvidia and AMD will really benefit from this stuff.
 

mapesdhs

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I puke on the Oculus Ralph. ...

Most of the side effects issues with VR relate to mismatches in sensory input. The way Oculus has focused on precision and other aspects of the design suggests to me that they've worked heavily on getting this right. However, it's not about whether there will be side effects or not (some people will never able be to use such devices, just as some can't watch 3D cinema, etc.), it's about how the public will react. If consumers behave sensibly and simply return the product if they find it's not for them, than that's great, the device will find it's relevant audience, the common set of those who can use it and those who want to. But if people start filing lawsuits because they barfed or something, then it'll be a problem. It's down to how US consumers deal with the fact that by definition some of them will not be able to use a device like this (so far, the lawsuit culture hasn't really spread elsewhere to the same degree). These issues are precisely why Nintendo canned their development of an HMD for the N64, fear of side effects & consumer reaction, so they ploughed $40M into the rather pointless VirtuaBoy instead (I tried it at NOA's HQ on a visit, it did work rather well in terms of basic stereo effect, but was very obviously incapable of being a winning product, it was too early back then for anything usefully advanced in consumer HDM tech to be viable).


... A lot of them walked away determined to buy a new video card to prep for when these are for sale. Nvidia and AMD will really benefit from this stuff.

Where the article talks about content, I think a bigger win for game devs is just to add support for the device to existing games, or factor it in if they can to newer ones. It's a mistake IMO to believe they have to churn out all sorts of VR-specific gamey demos that look more like cartoons. These demos feel too much like the way 3D movies have events in them designed specifically to shove something 3D into the audience's collective face, like the director feels the need to tell THREE DEE!! at them, as if they'd forgotten they were watch a 3D movie.

Instead, just have a flexible game world which should naturally allow what a tracked HMD can do to enhance the game play, eg. this is why the Oculus is already so popular with people playing Elite Dangerous.


The one down side of this VR bandwagon is the effect on social gaming. Stuck inside an HMD, one can't show a friend what's going on in the game. Not a problem for people net-linked, but I think it'd might be a little weird at LAN parties.

Ian.

 

jabarumba

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Dear Sirs,
I don't care if the only content is me sitting on a beach/mountain/desert with a floating monitor screen in front of me. Throw in some ambient sounds and I will be happy to use my keyboard and mouse until major content comes down.
Thank you in advance,
User with the hardware requirements
 

elcentral

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the only part i found baffling is they are sending out xbox one controllers well sounds like they are forcing it on us but we will know at lunch i guess. and he goes on saying, we send out xbox controllers so the devs got a standard to go on. then why do you not force the half moon controllers on us instead ? if it is the next bit thing in VR ? well few people well get the half moon controller and they will be forgotten unless you force them on us. o well i hope we will get a standard cit. for me every time they add some thing my first question has always been can you remove it ? we added sound can i remove it ? luckily yes you can, xbox controller can i remove it ? we will see. and lets not talk about the xbox one streaming people in the seats where like W T F.
 

arneberg

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where is steam ! as a friend of developers?, i guess that they try to get into that domain with selling games as a competitor to steam. The hub is a example of that.
 
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Guest

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My computer met the RAM & CPU requirements to run the Oculus Rift!
But I don't have a GTX 970 graphics card. XD Just running on integrated graphics currently.
 

f-14

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what the hell is this article about? i couldn't finish reading due to the sheer volume of paid for hype. the only thing i read was a bunch of wishy washy b.s. of utopian feelings of things that never were, and never will be.

way to go fritz, you're making kev look great next to you! YES YOU CAN. more hope changed.......
so long toms delete my account.
 
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Guest

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Sorry to burst your bubble. It's not a game changer. It's like have TV on your phone. Wow, now I exist everywhere! But not. It will be fun, cool, but it won't change anything.
 
My open letter to Luckey would be:

Please send a dozen units and as many specialists, with a big bundle of cash to Hidetaka Miyazaki and demand a VR Souls game. Throw as much money as needed at him, please.

Do the same for CDPR's CP2077, but less important if I were being honest ;)
 
Sorry to burst your bubble. It's not a game changer. It's like have TV on your phone. Wow, now I exist everywhere! But not. It will be fun, cool, but it won't change anything.

I agree. There will be a few outliers who create a phenomenal VR experience purely as a labor of love... but... it'll be just like Physx, HairWorks, Mantle...

Pay us to implement your shtuff, otherwise we just don't have the time. I highly doubt adding VR to a game will pay for itself in additional sales. Then there will be a huge rift between the haves and have nots. The have nots are pissed development is taking so long, etc.
 

pocketdrummer

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I miss the days when a lengthy hype cycle was about a year. Honestly, I stopped giving a damn after the first year, the 2nd year it started getting annoying, at this point it's much more tolerable to read an article about the atrocities occurring Ukraine than it is to read YET ANOTHER Oculus article.

I get that they want to get it right, but they need to release something already. If history serves us, a few early adopters will pick it up, followed by a few hopefuls, and a year later all the content will dry up and we'll be left with another promise of 3D/VR that ultimately flopped. I could be wrong. Hell, I HOPE I'm wrong, otherwise the past 3 years of mumblings about this project will be for nothing.

How about we hold off on pointless Oculus "news" until we get pricing and a solid release date along with launch titles.
 
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