Oculus Rift

Andrew76 · 03-10-2013 01:27PM

Maybe a silly question but what happens to the right thumbstick or mouse if your head now controls where you look/aim? Freed up for other functions maybe?

Genghiz Cohen · 03-10-2013 01:36PM

Andrew76 wrote: »

Maybe a silly question but what happens to the right thumbstick or mouse if your head now controls where you look/aim? Freed up for other functions maybe?

It depends on the control setup. For me the Rift would be for moving the camera, not the weapon.

So I can look around while keeping the weapon pointed in the direction I'm moving.

Andrew76 · 03-10-2013 01:38PM

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

It depends on the control setup. For me the Rift would be for moving the camera, not the weapon.

So I can look around while keeping the weapon pointed in the direction I'm moving.

Good point, that would be more natural alright.

Myrddin · 03-10-2013 01:48PM

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

It depends on the control setup. For me the Rift would be for moving the camera, not the weapon.

So I can look around while keeping the weapon pointed in the direction I'm moving.

Are Rift enabled games like HL2 etc, able to allow you to do this?

ScumLord · 03-10-2013 01:51PM

FutureGuy wrote: »

I tried oculus rift at Eurogamer Expo. It is the future. The uses for this are uncountable.

The problem I would see for the rift in becoming very commonplace is that it's too involved. I don't think people will be too willing to absolutely cut themselves off from the outside world for long periods of time and may still like the ease of playing on a tele. The rift won't work in a group setting for example.

I can't wait to get one for sim racing though, it'll be a game changer there, the best sim set ups at the moment require 3 screens a monster graphics card and of course the space to do all that. Cockpit games will be perfect for this device. I'm not sure how it's going to work long term with other titles. It's just hard to imagine this device from descriptions though.

Andrew76 wrote: »

Maybe a silly question but what happens to the right thumbstick or mouse if your head now controls where you look/aim? Freed up for other functions maybe?

In time I'd hope they can give you some sort of gloves that work in game and all your controllers would need is some sort of locater to appear in game too.

Andrew76 · 03-10-2013 02:00PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I can't wait to get one for sim racing though, it'll be a game changer there, the best sim set ups at the moment require 3 screens a monster graphics card and of course the space to do all that. Cockpit games will be perfect for this device.

Ah crap, now I've no excuse not to upgrade my PC when this comes out.

Skerries · 03-10-2013 02:14PM

any hints as to when it will be released?

03-10-2013 02:31PM

On the previous page, page 13 there is a video posted showing bioshock infinite and some other games.

I put my iPhone screen to the tip of my nose and crossed my eyes so the two images blended into one. You can really see the 3d effect (although not perfectly in focus, but it works better than expected) takes a few seconds to "make it work"

Myrddin · 03-10-2013 02:50PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I can't wait to get one for sim racing though, it'll be a game changer there,

Nody · 03-10-2013 03:19PM

FutureGuy wrote: »

I tried oculus rift at Eurogamer Expo. It is the future. The uses for this are uncountable.

I also saw the omnidirectional treadmill that works with the rift. Absolutely amazing. Spoke to one of the developers and I think we are on the verge of a major change in how the we view games, both figuratively and literally.

Not games; movies... Think of being able to be IN the actual movie and look around and see and get "jumped" because you did not look behind you etc. All that should be possible by simply making it into a game that moves your character along and/or have limited space for you to explore as the movie goes on.

ScumLord · 03-10-2013 03:55PM

Andrew76 wrote: »

Ah crap, now I've no excuse not to upgrade my PC when this comes out.

I wonder will it require extra horsepower as your rendering two images (at a reduced resolution, but still)? With this, GTA V and Assetto Corsa on the horizon I think I have my excuse to upgrade my graphics card. Even though my Geforce GTX 460 hasn't given me any problems so far, I'm getting the custom PC inferiority complex knowing it's not current and have been looking for an excuse to waste money on a new card.

Nody wrote: »

Not games; movies... Think of being able to be IN the actual movie and look around and see and get "jumped" because you did not look behind you etc. All that should be possible by simply making it into a game that moves your character along and/or have limited space for you to explore as the movie goes on.

Google have a 3D video camera now don't they? I've seen video where you can freely look around while it moves down the street. Might not work to well for film though, you could miss the action looking around and miss key plot points.

stevenmu · 03-10-2013 05:33PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I wonder will it require extra horsepower as your rendering two images (at a reduced resolution, but still)? With this, GTA V and Assetto Corsa on the horizon I think I have my excuse to upgrade my graphics card. Even though my Geforce GTX 460 hasn't given me any problems so far, I'm getting the custom PC inferiority complex knowing it's not current and have been looking for an excuse to waste money on a new card.

I used to use a pair of shutter glasses for 3D. The performance hit was only about 10% because all the resources (vertices, textures etc) are already in memory and a lot of the heavy calculations were already done. More modern games might be using different techniques (complex shaders, advanced lighting etc) that don't scale quite as well, but I don't think it'll be a huge hit.

o1s1n · 03-10-2013 07:34PM

ScumLord wrote: »

The problem I would see for the rift in becoming very commonplace is that it's too involved. I don't think people will be too willing to absolutely cut themselves off from the outside world for long periods of time and may still like the ease of playing on a tele. The rift won't work in a group setting for example.

This is an issue I've experienced with mine. It's an incredible device, but it's not something you'd be using all the time. It's very involving.

It's really a 100% 'set X period of time aside' to use it kind of device.

There are some fairly basic racing simulators out for it already and they're really great fun. Nothing like looking around behind you to see out your back window while reversing

Can only imagine what a proper release is going to be like.

o1s1n · 03-10-2013 07:41PM

Andrew76 wrote: »

Maybe a silly question but what happens to the right thumbstick or mouse if your head now controls where you look/aim? Freed up for other functions maybe?

In HL2 for example, it still does the same thing. So for smallish movements, looking around you, you'll use the Rift. But if you suddenly need to turn quickly to shoot behind you, you'd use the thumb stick/mouse.

The down side being the more you use the thumb stick/mouse, the less immersive it is.

When I was playing Team Fortress 2 for example I was using the mouse so much that I was starting to forget I was using the Rift and it felt like I was sitting in front of a big tv.

Had to dial back the mouse use a bit.

But yeah, you can reconfigure it so the mouse movement is just the weapon. It's difficult to do in very fast games like TF2 (as you need the quick screen movement brought on by the mouse, hard to imitate that with your head!) but in slower things it can be really interesting. Like 'Alone in the Rift' where the mouse movement moves your hand with a torch.

So if you move your head to the right, you're pretty much looking at darkness until you track your mouse hand over with the torch.

Agricola · 05-10-2013 02:37PM

o1s1n, do pc games that dont support head tracking still work on the device?
I mean can it double as regular monitor while you control a games head movements with your mouse?

o1s1n · 05-10-2013 10:34PM

Agricola wrote: »

o1s1n, do pc games that dont support head tracking still work on the device?
I mean can it double as regular monitor while you control a games head movements with your mouse?

There's a lot of hacking and demoing going on at the moment. Many games are playable to some degree. I'm trying to get something up and running at the moment called 'Perception' which apparently has Rift support for Dear Esther. But work needs to be put in to get it running. You can't just boot up any game and expect stereoscopic display.

If the game hasn't been configured and you're just trying to run it from your desktop, it's not going to work. If you put a non Rift enabled game (or even just try to look at the desktop) it doesn't work. Actually when you exit a Rift game and it throws you back to the desktop it's crazy disorientating. There's one image in one eye and a different image in the other, it's like being crosseyed. (speaking of which, there's a 'Rift Desktop' program which lets you view it properly)

There are some workarounds for video. There's a thing called Stereoscopic player' which lets you view video as 3D in the Rift.

Best thing to do if you have one is just to browse the Oculus Rift forums. Everything you can use with the device so far will have a thread about it.

There's also an excellent torrent full of all the current Rift demos etc.

But yeah, if you can get the game displaying in stereoscopic then it would probably work with the Rift as you described, mouse control with no head tracking. But it would be horribly disorientating. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to feel sick in this thing if you don't have headtracking and a decent FPS.

I'll give you a good example. HL2 has Oculus Rift support and it's fantastic.

However! You know the between section loading screen? Well for some reason, that doesn't headtrack. It just stays bang in the middle of your vision. So no matter where you move your head to, it's right there in the middle. It's crazy nauseating. And I've a fairly cast iron stomach.

ScumLord · 06-10-2013 04:02PM

I'm guessing it would work well with ARMA as independant head movement is already a part of the game.

jumbobreakfast · 06-10-2013 05:08PM

It would be great but the rift requires a steady 60fps to match the refresh rate of the screen otherwise the imersion is broken. And that's 60 FPS in Side by Side (SBS) 3D so effectively it requires 120FPS. I don't think the arma engine will be able to deliver that

o1s1n · 06-10-2013 05:14PM

It's more of a nausea thing for myself. It's not completely immersion breaking (I find the lower limit is about 40fps) - but once you drop under that, its not a very comfortable experience.

I'd love to use it for DayZ but yeah, the Arma engine and high FPS aren't exactly friends!

Agricola · 06-10-2013 10:37PM

I dont have one but am very tempted. Think I'll hang on for the consumer version though.

smithy1981 · 09-10-2013 01:49PM

I couldn't wait any longer myself so i ordered a developer kit

@o1s1n or anyone else that got one : Did ye get hit for customs?

stevenmu · 09-10-2013 02:04PM

I think that prototype/developer hardware should be exempt from customs, so if it's labelled correctly you should be fine.

o1s1n · 09-10-2013 03:42PM

Sailed through customs without any kind of tax

Does have 'Developer Kit' written on the side of the box it's shipped in I think.

ScumLord · 09-10-2013 05:06PM

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

It would be great but the rift requires a steady 60fps to match the refresh rate of the screen otherwise the imersion is broken. And that's 60 FPS in Side by Side (SBS) 3D so effectively it requires 120FPS. I don't think the arma engine will be able to deliver that

I was thinking more from the point of view of the head movement being separate from the body movement. I'm sure it would be an easy enough mod to make for any shooter.

Zith · 10-10-2013 10:24AM

smithy1981 wrote: »

I couldn't wait any longer myself so i ordered a developer kit

@o1s1n or anyone else that got one : Did ye get hit for customs?

No customs duty or extra tax. Just paid the original price.

jumbobreakfast · 10-10-2013 11:04AM

ScumLord wrote: »

I was thinking more from the point of view of the head movement being separate from the body movement. I'm sure it would be an easy enough mod to make for any shooter.

Yeah Valve have about 6 different modes for the oculus that you can try when playing their Source games and separate head movement is one of them. There is no neck tilt sensor though so you can't lean in to get a closer look at a sign or an object on the ground in a game. There is a demo called Heli-hell that tracks those movement if you stick one of the razor hydra controllers to your chest. It's really neat to be able to lean sideways out of the cockpit for a better view of what's below you

stevenmu · 10-10-2013 11:28AM

Positional tracking is supposed to be coming in the consumer version I think.

Genghiz Cohen · 10-10-2013 11:36AM

Excellent. Leaning, go!

o1s1n · 10-10-2013 01:36PM

stevenmu wrote: »

Positional tracking is supposed to be coming in the consumer version I think.

I'll be interested in seeing how they deal with that and the headset cables.

One annoying thing at the moment is that the headset is tethered. So if you were moving around lots you'd be knocking your PC over. (you would literally completely forget it was there)

Would need to be wireless.

Duggy747 · 10-10-2013 01:50PM

I'm staring at the Order Now button on the Rift site, balancing on whether to do it or not:

Oculus Rift

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