Me too
And FPS game are hands down the worst experiences I've had in VR; I could only cope with about 20 minutes in HL2
Cockpit based games on the other hand, are perfect for a sit down PC VR experience.
Rift Higher Price than Expected? $600
- Thread starter Obsidian Ant
- Start date
Me too
And FPS game are hands down the worst experiences I've had in VR; I could only cope with about 20 minutes in HL2
Cockpit based games on the other hand, are perfect for a sit down PC VR experience.
Maybe they fixed it. I tried it on the very first day that the semi-official Half Life 2 VR update came out from Valve, I seem to remember there was a mod version before that. That was way back before the DK1 was known as anything other than the "dev kit" Not really tried it since.
It's an effect not easy to describe, but if you've experienced it then you'll know exactly what I mean. Going to the imax to watch Star Wars in 3d was absolutely nothing compared to sitting in a Sidey with a DK2
Those 1st person scenes in the X-Wing got as close as I've seen. Maybe because I could only get seats a little too close to the screen.
BTW: If you live in the Los Angeles area, go see it at the Chinese Theater. Rated best screen in the world, using IMAX with Laser.
Yeah I was shocked to see how much Oculus wanted for CV1. That's ridiculous. Even with that stupid Xbox controller (which most gamers don't need). I think I'd be willing to pay that much or more for the VIVE. I think the VIVE is going to be a better experience anyway. Gonna save my chips for that one.
Totally! Selling something below cost is an absolute disgrace, what are they thinking the money gouging thieves!
Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
The dealbreaker for the Vive for me is the sensor placement, and having space to use it. It doesn't strike me as a "sitting at a desk" VR solution. (Plus i have eaves in my office in the house, so nowhere to mount anything which doesn't sit on a desk). I'll investigate nearer the time as I have a Omni coming (at some point, if they ever actually make the thing!), and that might be a good fit with the Vive, but for now the Rift seems like a better solution. I'm especially not a fan of fresnels for anything, as they're always poor.
I think the vive will come out at a similar price point to the Rift, if for no other reason as that's where the price point is now set, and vive don't have to go lower (they have nothing to prove, and no reason to if they can charge more for the device, or even turn a profit) - VR will remain a niche for the first adoption period, and tbh, it's better it does rather than go instantly mass market and consumers trying to run it on PC World type low spec machines with cpu embedded gfx.
I still think at £410, the Rift is a bargain. VAT/Taxes are a fact of life - if you can recover them, it's a great price. If not, hey ho - that's life, it's still a great price for the included tech imho.
Interesting back to back demo comments by a couple of tech guys at CES in another thread...
My comments...
Very interesting, thanks for posting.
Funny thing though - they both chose the Vive, but based solely on what they said I would pick the Rift! They said the Rift had a better display, less screen door effect (something I know I want, from experience). They said the controllers (when they come) are better on the Rift. The only part that bothered me was the Rift having a bit less FoV than the Vive. All the talk about walking around and stuff - utterly useless to me, my room is too small and I don't really want to do it with a cable attached to my head anyway! What, you have to have someone trail around behind you like at the demos, or install some sort of curtain rail on your ceiling to keep it out the way. Their excitement was mainly about that aspect... and it means absolutely nothing to me! Going to be interesting times.
Thanks a lot for this natte hond. The article was quite informative, even for the layman.
Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
Interesting that they're playing ED on the Vive at 00:38.
Muddled nonsensical review imho. They love the "walking around" of the vive, but then go on about how most gamers do FPS etc when comparing controllers - there's no way you'll be able to "walk" through an FPS with a vive on without an aircraft hangar. Then the bit about "some guy put a chair in front of me and I could sit in it" - that's not going to happen in a single player at-home experience. And then the bit about cables - most gamers at home, are seated - it's not an issue.
The bits they like are the bits that can't be done by consumers, outside of a managed experience in a large space, but they see that as better? Odd. They use the walking around with the vive as a reason to choose it over the better resolution of the rift for example.
Strange comments. I think they miss the point, especially as it's the "Consumer" Electronics Show, not the "Theme park" new ideas show.
The camera on the Vive seems like something they've added to solve the space when walking problem, which is a problem they've created for themselves via their tracking method (nobody plays computer games at home walking around or even standing), and which to my mind has very very limited applications in a consumers home. (Do you really want to jump off a platform into lava in a game, because there's a coffee table in your way in your real living room?).
I'll get a Vive, for sure, as I'm a VR evangelist, but it seems like the kind of thing you'd use in an aircraft hanger for team based/corporate entertainment events, rather than something you can use in your home - walking around is a non-starter in my office in my house, as it's about 3m square and with the computer desk/files, I can do 5-7 paces in one direction at most.
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I respectfully disagree that people only play video games sitting down. My wife does yoga on the Wii Fit and we both did fitness stuff on the Kinect (before it was stolen). Several of use are standing when we're playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero with friends (2 guitars, drums, and a singer). I built an arcade style Street Fighter controller meant to be played while standing to emulate the feel of an arcade cabinet to play emulated SF2 or SF4. Yesterday I was testing out EvadeVR for Oculus, where I finally got to practice slipping punches without needing a training partner.
I'm sure there are many applications we haven't thought about yet that can pull someone out of a chair.
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Just remember to invite someone over to hold the cables while you're doing yoga on the moon, or whatever.
Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
Of course there are, that's why I backed the Omni.
But do you really think the average consumer, especially in Western Europe/Asia, where houses are really quite small, would have space to do the "navigating" thing effectively? What happens in a tiny room, when the game you're playing is a large room? What happens if the doorway you need to go through in the game has a sofa infront of it?
The WiiFit is a static device - you don't move forwards/backwards as by definition you need to maintain contact with the board, so if anything, that sort of proves the point...
I don't have an issue with static standing and VR, or an Omni like solution, it's that Vive's USP is the walking thing, which seems irrelevant if they want to get it into people's houses.
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A whole bunch of us are getting free Oculus Rift CV1s! Think you're wrong again mate!
Just remember to invite someone over to hold the cables while you're doing yoga on the moon, or whatever.
I'm not suggesting the cord isn't a problem. I don't think it'll be licked until they can go wireless. My point was there are non-sitting gaming applications already. At this point, I'm probably sticking with Oculus because I want something more comfortable, and probably slightly cheaper.
Not a bad idea with "Moon yoga." I can see people wanting to "visit" beautiful serene or spectacular views while standing in "tree" or "Warrior 1." I'm sure somebody will make a Touch version.
Wireless brings another problem too, unfortunately - batteries... weight and charging.
I feel the walking about your living room thing is a bit of a dead end personally. As you suggest, doing things like yoga somewhere peaceful, where you're not really walking around but in one spot - cool. But the whole idea of this big space (but actually very small when translated to the virtual world) is pretty limited. Maybe I just don't see it yet, maybe there will be games/apps that will make that lightbulb go "ah, so that's it" but I'm stumped as of just now.
Two guys' opinions... based on the fact that things didn't work quite right with the Oculus demo and that probably coloured it (guns calibrated to fire at oneself, fr'instance).
Vive has it for me... because it has the whole Valve / SteamVR thing going on, the front facing camera is a great idea, and Oculus are not the "affordable alternative" any more. Whatever price Vive launches at, it's going to be expensive & require saving up for - but then so is the Oculus.
So if I get one of them to replace the DK2, it may as well be the one that I want & which is guaranteed compatibility with PC games. That's the Vive.
Vive has it for me... because it has the whole Valve / SteamVR thing going on, the front facing camera is a great idea, and Oculus are not the "affordable alternative" any more. Whatever price Vive launches at, it's going to be expensive & require saving up for - but then so is the Oculus.
So if I get one of them to replace the DK2, it may as well be the one that I want & which is guaranteed compatibility with PC games. That's the Vive.
Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
I can't speak for Kerrash obviously, but for me, FPS are nausea enducing while strafing. I don't strafe very much in real life, and when I do it in an FPS, usually at several meters per second, my brain pages my inner ear and decides that it's time to go and find some alcohol or just give up entirely, which has a profoundly unpleasant effect.
If I'm "grounded" in the VR experience, in an aircraft/spaceship/car/rollercoaster etc, there's no nausea.
If I'm "grounded" in the VR experience, in an aircraft/spaceship/car/rollercoaster etc, there's no nausea.
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I never had any problems with the tuscany demo, but then there's not a lot to do in there so I never spent more than about 10 mins playing it.
The Half Life retrofit had a very particular problem which didn't sit well with my stomach. Whenever a new section loaded up the screen would freeze. It felt like someone had come along and stuck you head in a clamp... but you could still feel your head moving. It was exactly the same feeling as when you sit perfectly still after knocking back a few whiskies, but you feel as though the room is spinning.
The solution would have been simple. All they had to do was blank the screen whilst the sections loaded. I've played HL2 many many times and I managed to close my eyes at most of the load points, but boy! was it bad when I mis-timed it.