MS's answer to VR, I wonder if elite will support this.

[[VR] Mad Mike]

When I 1st saw the advert I was sceptical, however it seems it fairly accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1421828030&x-yt-cl=84411374&v=piUF9PLvGYw

if this was april I would not believe it however!

http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-hands-on/?mbid=social_twitter

either way, with Oculus, Sony and MS all working on VR or AR devices, it seems 2015 is going to see some potential game changers in terms of consumer tech.
(I would not be surprised if the MS one is still to expensive to get mass uptake for a few years however)

 

[Zephyriel]

I'm just happy to see all the major companies are investing in VR, as well as a lot of small ones. This really means VR is ready, it won't just be a gadget, they're really going to push to have a VR headset in every home. Hopefully this means we'll see many big games that natively support them.

 

[MrPrise]

Looks cool and all. It just bothers me a little that they call holograms what you can see through the device. But maybe I'm just ignorant and wrong and they are right. But if we follow that logic, you can call any 3d object you see in a game hologram...
Even though their holograms look like a real object in the real world thus similar to how I understand holograms but I do not think that is the same like the other attempts to create holograms that are independently visible in the real world for everybody without wearing any device to see it.
Or are they calling them hologram because they appear in the real world? Which is not entirely true since you still see them on the device.
Somehow I feel a similar bending (downgrade) here to the LED displays. It suggests it uses LED to display the image like the OLED, but in fact the LED is only used as background light.
Of course that does not make this MS product bad, I was just wondering about the terminology they use.

 

[rennarda]

This is typical Microsoft vapourware unfortunately - the final visuals are not going to look as good as that video suggests. Doesn't anybody remember the phone concept video they put out a few years back ? I'll believe this when I see it.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

This is typical Microsoft vapourware unfortunately - the final visuals are not going to look as good as that video suggests. Doesn't anybody remember the phone concept video they put out a few years back ? I'll believe this when I see it.

I thought that but then I read the wired article and she actually used it. The experience she reported back sounded, at least similar, to the youtube advert.

 

[StephenB]

I'm always sceptical towards Microsoft's hardware. Back when I was in college in 2010 Microsoft employees showed a tech demo of their new device that was a phone, tablet and TV in one foldaway device. The video they showed to support what the device would look like when finished looks very similar to the video you posted. I never heard anything else about it and I suspect the same with this.

I hope it does get finished and that it has some use rather than ending up a an expensive gimmick.

 

[tresch]

It's not an answer to VR as it's not a Virtual Reality device. It is an Augmented Reality device, which is a significantly different experience. It would never be able to offer the level of immersion that the Oculus Rift gives for Elite, for instance, as you'd always be able to see the real world along with the simulated one.

Augmented reality is definitely cool, but it doesn't compete with VR.

 

[Lirezh]

If it's going to look like in the video it's going to change the world.
However most likely it's very far from it.

It does not seem to be a display created for immersive "presence" like Oculus, so even if it would have perfect visuals like in the video all it could likely do is project screens around you.
It could essentially create a holo-deck experience without force feedback.
I guess sooner or later we get that, however I doubt it's going to be Hololens. (Still hoping they deliver what they show, I'd not care about the price


P.S.
they promised release with Windows 10 which is close. So it's going to be known soon

 

[xondk]

Personally for gaming I think oculus is going to work better, seems more solid and directly made for gaming. Where this is focused on AR, but we will see.

That said, question for oculus users, how is it in terms of needing to lift it to see RL around you?

Oculus should really get a simple and low latency camera with a switch so you can toggle and quickly see keyboard or such, or isn't this a problem?

 

[tresch]

That said, question for oculus users, how is it in terms of needing to lift it to see RL around you? Oculus should really get a simple and low latency camera with a switch so you can toggle and quickly see keyboard or such.

Depends on what you need to do, but I don't find it too bad. Before the route planner was in place I was able to write notes on a pad next to me easily enough, just tilt it up a little with left hand, write with right hand.

That said, I also have a full control setup so I can feel all my controls easily. HOTAS + rudder + xbox controller for a few extra buttons, because they're easier to feel out than keys on a keyboard. Voice attack would handle those easily enough.

Should be noted that in my opinion the benefits of the immersion far outweigh any inconvenience.

 

[vanfanel]

Very cool but then I remember this from a few years ago and the marketing just seems so familiar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM

 

[xondk]

Depends on what you need to do, but I don't find it too bad. Before the route planner was in place I was able to write notes on a pad next to me easily enough, just tilt it up a little with left hand, write with right hand.

That said, I also have a full control setup so I can feel all my controls easily. HOTAS + rudder + xbox controller for a few extra buttons, because they're easier to feel out than keys on a keyboard. Voice attack would handle those easily enough.

Should be noted that in my opinion the benefits of the immersion far outweigh any inconvenience.

Hmmm that's quite true, voice attack could easily compensate for things like roccat power grid, which I use since I prefer having joystick on right hand keyboard on left, and keys around my fingers rather then having to move all the way right to arrow keys for point shifting for example.

 

[NumptyScrub]

It's not an answer to VR as it's not a Virtual Reality device. It is an Augmented Reality device, which is a significantly different experience. It would never be able to offer the level of immersion that the Oculus Rift gives for Elite, for instance, as you'd always be able to see the real world along with the simulated one.

Augmented reality is definitely cool, but it doesn't compete with VR.

It does sound like the perfect option for those people who desperately want to be able to see through the HMD so they can take notes / drink tea / type on the keyboard without taking the Rift off. That is, of course, assuming the the MS hardware can cope with the job of low latency display + head tracking.

The promo video (I've only watched it without sound) also seems to indicate that it has built-in gesture recognition as well as the transparent "screen" (whether it's a screen or a projection is probably irrelevant at this juncture), which would allow for more input options for those apps that support it. Depending on the actual hardware spec and software support, it's entirely possible this could do the same job as the Rift and even add a few features at the same time.

Still, I don't regret buying the DK2, it is doing the job admirably until the CV1 (or "Hololens") condense into a physical unit that's available to purchase

 

[Tavern]

Competition...such a beautiful function for consumers.

More the merrier !

But keep in mind this is a standalone (Or intends to be in it's final design) product. As in, all the rendering/graphical/processing hardware is housed within the HMD itself. While mobile processors are taking leaps & bounds in processing power, I don't think they are up to handling games like E|D just yet. This is very far off, likely decades, if ever at all considering a large gaming desktop will always be miles ahead of any mobile processors/GPUs/etc. & AAA PC games will be developed with the bar set at the level of desktops, not mobile/miniaturized devises.

But hey maybe this will revolutionize the way we play games & our expectations. I personally just don't see it happening, as we are always going to want the most complex & demanding games our desktops can handle, not the most complex & demanding games our cell phones can handle. I say cell phones because I imagine HoloLens will use a qualcomm CPU similar to scorpian/snapdragon/etc.

 

[Malic]

Just remember, the Nintendo 3DS, smartphones, do this too, it is just not worn on your head... augmented reality is nothing new.. what makes this different is it overlays over most of your field of view.

F-35 helmet does this too, beams light onto your retina. It allows the pilot to "see" through the airplane at stuff below you.

Competition...such a beautiful function for consumers.

THIS is the major thing, yes, more competition means that no one can rest, they all have to innovate and keep pushing the boundaries. Us consumers end up with better and better end products

Imagine if Nvidia and AMD.. one just vanished.. "oh we don't need to introduce anything new, we don't have competition anymore." Imagine if that had happened in 2005?

 

[Christian68]

I think Elite Dangerous would work great in a dark room. I am not sure if it's strong enough to render Elite.

 

[Darian]

It's not an answer to VR as it's not a Virtual Reality device. It is an Augmented Reality device, which is a significantly different experience. It would never be able to offer the level of immersion that the Oculus Rift gives for Elite, for instance, as you'd always be able to see the real world along with the simulated one.

Augmented reality is definitely cool, but it doesn't compete with VR.

if you set the " background" to not invisible but showing all of the game screen it is true VR

 

[Peteo]

Just remember, the Nintendo 3DS, smartphones, do this too, it is just not worn on your head... augmented reality is nothing new.. what makes this different is it overlays over most of your field of view.

Actually if you read the hands on with Microsofts current prototypes, this version does not cover most of your field of view. People describe it as a 16:9 50inch rectangle 10 feet away where the AR stuff is rendered. They say you definitely see parts of the real word that do not have anything render on them out side of this rectangle.

Also this is way different implementation than using your phone or DS. It has a depth of field infrared camera (the kinetic) on it. So it can truly understand the depth of things in front of it. (Camera sees every thing as a 3d point cloud) This allows the AR object to "stick" to real life surfaces with out jumping around, or coming unpinned as you move your head & body around. The descriptions of the demos say this is the truly amazing effect that tricks the mind in thinking that the object it really there. Also it can scan real life objects into a 3d objects that can be smashed and appear to be removed from real life (in the rectangle of course)

 

[Peteo]

Competition...such a beautiful function for consumers.

More the merrier !

But keep in mind this is a standalone (Or intends to be in it's final design) product. As in, all the rendering/graphical/processing hardware is housed within the HMD itself. While mobile processors are taking leaps & bounds in processing power, I don't think they are up to handling games like E|D just yet. This is very far off, likely decades, if ever at all considering a large gaming desktop will always be miles ahead of any mobile processors/GPUs/etc. & AAA PC games will be developed with the bar set at the level of desktops, not mobile/miniaturized devises.

"Sources" are saying it's using an unreleased atom chip from intel (14nm, will be out end of year) the chip also has a gpu. So yeah it won't be as powerful as a desktop chip, but way more powerful then a phone chip. Then you have the hpu which might just be processing the input from the depth of field camera and other sensors, and maybe the output to the "light field array"

 

[Archvillain]

It would never be able to offer the level of immersion that the Oculus Rift gives for Elite, for instance, as you'd always be able to see the real world along with the simulated one.

Augmented reality is definitely cool, but it doesn't compete with VR.

Actually, this seems much better for Elite than the Oculus Rift - this device could offer all the same virtual immersion of the Rift plus a real physical cockpit, with tablet-screen controllers, flight-stick, instruments, notes, etc.