Hiya guys! Chrisdfas lady friend here!

[Jezzum]

Just thought I'd write a quick hello to introduce myself as he recommended I sign up here, I'm Jess (PSN Jezzum), You'll probably often find me in a squad on bf3 being shouted at by Chris down the headphones for being Queen of Noobs, although I'm trying to get better!

So as well as introducing myself I thought I'd share with people something thats really exciting to me in the world of developing, peripherals and enhancing the gaming experience in general, not sure whether its known on the forum yet!

Here's a link to the website, http://oculusvr.com/

Its basically the first prototype to a Virtual Reality headset, complete with 3D view, low latency head tracking and loads of other cool shit that has me almost giddy with excitement, I've wanted these since I was a kid, and I'm keeping tabs on every move of its development. Soon, very soon, a consumer version of this will be available, can you imagine how fucking awesome it would be to play Skyrim and truly feel like you were inside the world? Or playing the battlefield franchise, ducking RPGs and seeing a jet whiz over you? Its incredibly exciting and the fact that this could be out within the next few years is just AWESOME.

They did a kickstarter, asking for $250,000, within a month, they had over $2.5million pledged, including the support of industry giants such as Gabe Newell of Valve, and various other developers keen to get their hands on the device and use it with their games.

As far as I know you can order a Developer version to use with your own games for around $300, but it is in no way a consumer ready version and wont work with games that dont support it (obviously)

Anyway sorry for ranting on, but its super exciting and hopefully of interest to a few people here!

[YorkshirePud]

not convinced myself jezz, i remember the gameboy 3d and that just evaporated i have a feeling it would mess up your eyesight or at the very least make you barf

for the moment ill stick to a big arse tv

[DJ-Daz]

Hey Jezzum, hows it going?
I agree with Pud, just hold your phone about 3 inches away from your eyes and try and focus on it.
Unless the focal is about a foot away it wont work.

[theENIGMATRON]

Hey Jezz

Another Female on here, Kim will be happy.

hold your phone about 3 inches away from your eyes and try and focus on it.
Unless the focal is about a foot away it wont work.

Beg to differ on that one, The reason you cannot focus on it, is because there is a constant movement of between CM and Millimetres
Each time it moves closer or further away, your eye have to refocus, So this is a bad example.

You can focus well on them, You have to give it around 1 - 5 minutes pending on your eyes and brain to settle and really start to work,
I have a TV Headset, and when you first put it on, your like wow blurry, ugly and so on.
Give it a little your eyes adjust and before you know it you dont even relise.

On another note, Something new....... will it take off...... too much of an investment for something so new.
I suppose some companies / developers have to take that gamble to be in a chance for the niche market,
Just seems anything that comes into play thats new phases out too quickly

[Symonator]

VR has been around for years and there is a reason it's never gone mainstream, because it doesn't work, consumers don't really want it and in all honesty 3d tv is just the same, it will never take off like they thought it would..

If it needs glasses or something extra to see it, people just don't want it, it's not convenient and doesn't fit in with what's going on around them.

I'm not an investor or a banker or an inventor, but i am a gamer, VR won't take off in my lifetime.. at least (hopefully) another 45 years. lol.

Welcome to the forums though, chris' lady

[InfiniteStates]

Hey Jess, welcome to the forum

...can you imagine how fucking awesome it would be to play Skyrim and truly feel like you were inside the world? Or playing the battlefield franchise, ducking RPGs and seeing a jet whiz over you?

Yes, all this stuff is awesome to gamers, but they have some hurdles to overcome first... They need a headset that is so light it applies little to no pressure on your nose, and they need to overcome the close focus issue. They also need to cope with how you move around a virtual immersive world...

Have you seen this? It's a concept Microsoft recently patented as a different approach to VR. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of their research labs to see how much is realised in hardware and how well it works...

[Jezzum]

All great points to the discussion, I can completely understand why you are skeptical, but they have stated that the reason they are giving it "another go" is because of the technological advancements that has made the idea more feasable and financially beneficial. Whether it takes off or not, its good to dream, right?

There are a few Q&As floating around the interwebs answering some of your questions about focus, the weight of the device etc. Including wearability for those with glasses, I doubt there will be any news out there for a while now, so I'll just sit tight and hope!

Have you seen this? It's a concept Microsoft recently patented as a different approach to VR. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of their research labs to see how much is realised in hardware and how well it works...

This is all news to me! Sounds interesting considering that a team called "Project Holodeck" is doing something extremely similar, partnered with the Oculus, they wanted to partner with Microsoft and their Kinect as a motion sensor, but ended up developing their own as it wasn't precise enough for what they wanted!

[Jezzum]

not convinced myself jezz, i remember the gameboy 3d and that just evaporated i have a feeling it would mess up your eyesight or at the very least make you barf

for the moment ill stick to a big arse tv

A few people have reported motion sickness with use! Hope you've sorted out the sound problem with your tv now! I spent 4 years gaming with a 22 inch piece of crap Matsui and recently upgraded to a 40 inch samsung LED and its gorgeous, dont know how I did without it

[DJ-Daz]

I'd like to think it will work, but the focal point does need to be around 1 foot away. Dave you may be able to use it, but not everyone can focus that close without serious eye strain.
The creator has stated that glasses will NOT be supported.

Now if the focal point IS 1+ feet away, this is a product I could get behind. Speaking of which... are you in their PR department? You're working hard to convince us that it's going to be good.

I smell a spambot!

[Jezzum]

Now if the focal point IS 1+ feet away, this is a product I could get behind. Speaking of which... are you in their PR department? You're working hard to convince us that it's going to be good.

I smell a spambot!

Haha good point! If I was, I'd wanna be getting paid for it!

Its just something I've followed since it was announced and been super excited by, I love being immersed in a game world and anything hinting towards the next level is something I can get behind! Until then, sitting a few inches away from my TV screen will have to do

[YorkshirePud]

oh yes give it a go by all means if we dont try we dont improve but personally id hate having it stuck to my face while i get burgled

[InfiniteStates]

IGN goes hands-on with the Oculus Rift:

[DJ-Daz]

Some users are seriously annoyed after the team behind Oculus reported lengthy delays in getting the prototypes ready on time.


Original post regarding slipped shipping dates:

Thats nearly a 5 month delay just for developers!

[YorkshirePud]

they could probably take a few tips from the guys producing the pebble watch, remember i posted about them? they keep stuff fairly up to date on their website with videos and blog posts

as soon as they are available to buy on a decent guranteed supply im having one!

kickstarter it would seem is getting more people into trouble than it is helping

[DJ-Daz]

Kickstarter isn't to blame, it's the developers who sell their idea's.
Oculus started out as one guy who wanted to make his own 3D platform, and the idea just went globally nuts!

I can imagine there is a big problem creating a small idea for yourself and a few hundred people, then having to re-think everything because hundreds of thousands want in. He'd probably be better off getting help from a few Dragons!

His marketing is superb, his management skill are probably good too, but when a device goes as wild and "viral" as this has it's a different scope of management all together.