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Latest Confirmed : VIVE / HTC Technological Breakthrough : Forward facing camera
- Thread starter catanonia
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Yeah...pushing it back to add a camera? Really? Come on HTC, I think the ripping seams around their mobile business is starting to show and spread.
This is something that probably should have been optional and modular. When I can just lift the unit a little to see my room, the camera just doesn't seem to add a whole lot...though I could be wrong.
If it really was the cause for the delay, which some sources indicate it was, then I'd also call a bad shot and say it shouldn't have delayed it. Still though - if they make it in April it would be a respectable achievement.
I can vaguely guess some of the major issues to solve for that tech, and solving them for a consumer grade article is not a cakewalk.
I can vaguely guess some of the major issues to solve for that tech, and solving them for a consumer grade article is not a cakewalk.
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Could be useful for typing in the Galaxy map and finding the mouse. I will probably go with the cheaper option that works well.
I would stay very cool on HTC for the time being. There are some big shake ups happening there as their mobile business is hemorrhaging money. They are trying to diversify with health related hardware and VR. I'd be really concerned for continued software development on the Vive if HTC doesn't see their foray in VR as immediately successful.
The Rift on the other hand, has some seriously stable backing, regardless of what you think of Zuckerburg and the board of FB. Even with that though, I still view VR skeptically (the concept is great, the delivery of hardware, IDK) and I look forward to seeing how the market responds to what they've got.
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I'm even more impressed with the Vive... http://www.tomshardware.com/news/htc-vive-pre-first-look,30894.html
I dont care for the camera outside... breaks Immersion imho...
Hold on, how could the camera be the breakthrough? The camera is already on the 7,000 sets that they're already shipping (as advanced dev kits) that was going to be their limited consumer release. If the camera was the "breakthrough", they could have released it by now. The breakthrough was supposed to be something they are working on integrating right now. They shouldn't have more than prototypes of it.
I may be wrong but I'll be looking for something more from the CES tomorrow.
I may be wrong but I'll be looking for something more from the CES tomorrow.
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If it can do some sort of Kinect style shinannegans and visually represent your hands, it might be able to solve the issue of not being able to use the keyboard inside VR.
At EGX I played a Dungeon MAster style game called Crystal Rift. I love DM style games so was really looking forward to it till I had a go and realised they'd removed stuff like sleep, the DM style spell casting system, moving character positions and anything that was even slightly complex, they'd even added a 3 lives mechanism.
When I asked why it was so "dumbed down" (asked more politely) they said it was due to the inability to use keyboard inside VR, meaning they had to simplify everything for it to work.
This put me off VR somewhat, I wasn't too keen on the idea of whole game genres being dumbing down due to the requirement of a simplified control system.
If this camera addition can solve that and make the keyboard useable it suddenly means VR games can become a whole lot more complex, which I think is awesome.
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Like others, I also would like to know if Leap Motion-style hand tracking can be done with the Vive hardware.
If so I'm waiting to see hand-to-menu control in Elite.
If so I'm waiting to see hand-to-menu control in Elite.
If it can do some sort of Kinect style shinannegans and visually represent your hands, it might be able to solve the issue of not being able to use the keyboard inside VR.
At EGX I played a Dungeon MAster style game called Crystal Rift. I love DM style games so was really looking forward to it till I had a go and realised they'd removed stuff like sleep, the DM style spell casting system, moving character positions and anything that was even slightly complex, they'd even added a 3 lives mechanism.
When I asked why it was so "dumbed down" (asked more politely) they said it due to the inability to use keyboard inside VR, meaning they had to simplify everything for it to work.
This put me off VR somewhat, I wasn't too keen on the idea of whole game genres being dumbing down due to the requirement of a simplified control system.
If this camera addition can solve that and make the keyboard useable it suddenly means VR games can become a whole lot more complex, which I think is awesome.
That is a good point, though I'm not sure I'd call it a breakthrough. Certainly not a hardware breakthrough and I think the pudding here is in the software. Will need to see how it is implemented. Personally, I have no issue using my keyboard blind but I get that isn't everybody. As the Vive is looking more and more like the premium option, it makes sense to include it. I just would have preferred it to be a modular add-on to help keep the cost down.
If it can do some sort of Kinect style shinannegans and visually represent your hands, it might be able to solve the issue of not being able to use the keyboard inside VR.
At EGX I played a Dungeon MAster style game called Crystal Rift. I love DM style games so was really looking forward to it till I had a go and realised they'd removed stuff like sleep, the DM style spell casting system, moving character positions and anything that was even slightly complex, they'd even added a 3 lives mechanism.
When I asked why it was so "dumbed down" (asked more politely) they said it due to the inability to use keyboard inside VR, meaning they had to simplify everything for it to work.
This put me off VR somewhat, I wasn't too keen on the idea of whole game genres being dumbing down due to the requirement of a simplified control system.
If this camera addition can solve that and make the keyboard useable it suddenly means VR games can become a whole lot more complex, which I think is awesome.
Im a KS backer of Crystal Rift and from my time observing the games development I think they approached this with a baby steps mindset to make sure they took small but correct moves. Certainly there's been nothing to suggest they would develop it with the cool DM gameplay that you touched upon there. The game has the DM style but lets be honest we all want to see that, I reckon they were clued into that. Its a pretty straight forward game beyond that. Cool to play though very well done.
Anyway, I wouldnt worry about dumbing down in vr games based on Crystal Rift, that was my point
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Has there been anything said if this camera would enable AR?
You'll probably find possible future lawsuits more to do with the camera feature than it being a desirable feature in itself, the US manufacturers will use any trick in the book to bury competition from the far east, I some how now see apple chipping in saying they have the copyright on putting cameras on things - yes call me sceptical!
Very little other than this camera being the reason for delaying to April. Certainly AR would be possible, and I'd think their API would allow devs to take advantage of it for whatever purpose be it AR or otherwise.
Im a KS backer of Crystal Rift and from my time observing the games development I think they approached this with a baby steps mindset to make sure they took small but correct moves. Certainly there's been nothing to suggest they would develop it with the cool DM gameplay that you touched upon there. The game has the DM style but lets be honest we all want to see that, I reckon they were clued into that. Its a pretty straight forward game beyond that. Cool to play though very well done.
Anyway, I wouldnt worry about dumbing down in vr games based on Crystal Rift, that was my point
Aye, I'm probably being pretty unfair comparing it to Dungeon Master then being unhappy that it isn't.
EGX was the first time I'd ever heard of Crystal Rift it and as soon as I saw it I was "OMG Dungeon Master in VR, MUST BUY NOW!!".
*joins 1-2 hour queue to try it out*
But it's not, and yeah I do think it's a good game in its own right. Quite an experience in VR actually.
My anecdote was more related to the realisation I had that there's gonna be a dumbing down of games with VR, in the same way that folk complain PC games are dumbed down for console or tablet, but potentially worse. And that the whole reason that's gonna happen could *potentially* be negated by Vive's camera addition (though it might not, I have no idea if the camera is up to the job or even if that's what HTC/Valve were thinking).
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Thanks for that - the camera looks genuinely innovative and useful.
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