Fafhrd on 21/5/2015 at 02:56
Using Kickstarter purely for marketing is a total dick move. If they've already got their first round investors, there's no need for a Kickstarter.
Fafhrd on 12/6/2015 at 04:16
That conference really felt like Oculus just shitting the bed in public. They're launching 4-6 months after the Vive, with less features. The Oculus Touch controllers are reportedly not going to be available at launch (and I read one report that the Touch devkit won't even be available until after launch). The whole Microsoft partnership came out of nowhere and was frankly a little baffling. Their killer app seems to be the virtual living room for Xbox One streaming, which...seriously? Nothing will kill presence faster than sitting on a real couch in a virtual living room playing a console game and not being able to even peripherally see your hands holding the controller.
And so much of it felt like re-purposed Apple keynote. Iribe talking up the industrial design of the CV1, Luckey coming out with "one more thing...," etc.
Fafhrd on 13/6/2015 at 03:31
Finally watched the parts of the Oculus Presser that I missed. Iribe is just embarrassing as a speaker. So many applause breaks that didn't get applause and him not knowing what to do about it. Palmer actually came off pretty genuine and excited, but he needs to fire his style consultant. The techbro t-shirt sport coat combo needs to die in a fire, but adding sandals to that just makes it hilarious.
In other news, I finally got to do a couple of the Vive demos at work today (oh yeah, did I mention that I now work at a company doing VR stuff? I totally do). Just The Blu Encounter and Tilt Brush, but they're both pretty incredible. My dumb QA brain was all analytical about The Blu, so I was kind of messing around with the whole boundary warning system and not able to just be all "WHOA" about the experience, but there was a second where the whale's fin sweeps over the shipwreck and I almost ducked under it, so job well done there.
Tilt Brush is almost more interesting as a UX thing than a real application, but it's really phenomenal. I would kill for some sort of Vive/VR build of Blender that worked like it. Just imagining being able to do dynamic topology sculpting on an object that I can just walk around, carving away or adding on to it. It would be awesome.
Display resolution was really good. There was still some screen door effect, but it actually seemed less noticeable than on a Galaxy S6 Gear VR, which is interesting, since I believe the S6 has a much higher resolution display. It's got to be something to do with the optics.
henke on 15/6/2015 at 11:15
Quote Posted by Fafhrd
oh yeah, did I mention that I now work at a company doing VR stuff? I totally do
Cool! Me too! :D Well, ok we've only done one VR project yet, a tour of a hydro power plant, but it turned out quite well. Customers were happy.
What was the Gear VR like? What kind of interactivity does that thing offer? And did you notice any nausea/unease with either that or the Vive?
Fafhrd on 18/6/2015 at 07:41
I disagree with the majority of his premises: Kinect failed because 75% of the time, its gesture recognition just plain didn't work. 3DTVs failed because they were a clusterfuck of compatibility issues on active glasses, glasses not being included with the TVs and costing $100+, and the manufacturers locking down exclusive bundles on the movies that people wanted; and this shit lasted for the first two years of the 3DTV push, so once it was sorted out consumers had given up.
Also, John Walker has amblyopia, and thus totally busted stereoscopic vision, so his opinion on 3D movies/games and VR is meaningless, since most of the effect is lost on him.
The thing that
might kill VR this generation is lack of standardization. If the APIs for Oculus Touch aren't compatible with Vive controllers (or other future SteamVR compatible controllers), and vice versa, that's going to make developing VR titles a pain in the ass for everyone.
Quote:
What was the Gear VR like? What kind of interactivity does that thing offer? And did you notice any nausea/unease with either that or the Vive?
GearVR is pretty 'eh.' It works pretty well, but interactivity is limited to either the touch pad or a USB controller, and screen door is pretty bad (even on the S6).
catbarf on 18/6/2015 at 13:13
I was a heavy skeptic of VR until I got to try it at PAX, and now I'm a believer. This is, IMO, not going to be a passing fad for a couple of reasons.
1. It works. The head-tracking on the Rift I used was spot-on, 1:1, no delay or sluggishness like on TrackIR. The 3D was great. With a solid pair of headphones it was easily the most immersive gaming experience I've ever had, and this was in a crowded expo hall. It's really hard to adequately describe to someone who's never tried VR.
2. It is not a unique technology that radically alters how you interact with the game. Motion control is different, a game has to be designed for motion control from the ground up. If you don't have a motion controller, you are getting a substantially different experience. VR will give people 3D and 6DOF camera control, but these don't radically change the way anyone interacts with the game. Developers don't have to make VR-specific games and hope the VR community is a big enough market for it to be worth it, they just need to include VR support and can still sell to everyone.
3. It's a straight substitute for your monitor. Unless they end up being uncomfortably heavy, there's no major downside to just using the VR headset versus using a monitor. With stuff like motion controls, you get tired of waving your arms in the air when you just want to relax, and then it's time to stop. If you get tired of moving your head to look around or lean with a VR headset like the RPS author keeps complaining, you just stop. Keep your head still, forgo the motion tracking, look around with your mouse/controller. No big deal. You still have an immersive 3D display.
I think the biggest obstacle to mainstream VR adoption will be APIs and implementation as Fafhrd said. I don't think consumers will buy VR sets and then discard them as gimmicks, but I could see consumers buying VR sets and discarding them if only a handful of games end up supporting their particular model.
