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[Tracker]

Second Life supports the Rift

So it has begun - with major companies developing for and supporting Oculus Rift, it is only a question of time for the Rift to arrive. Well, Second Life weirdos might not be the people I imagine using OR, but does it matter? The Rift Shall Be Finished.

[Eagle of Fire]

There was little interest for all those cumbersome "power gloves", right?
Who would like to swing the controller in the air, that sounds imprecise and looks stupid, right?

Lo and behold, Kinect.

Ahem. The Wii is the right example to state here. But even then, it only prove what I was saying: it was already there. They are simply reusing old technologies because there was no interest before.

Like those dance pads for Dance Dance Revolution? If I had to believe every gaming "expert", this was an incredible revolution. Nobody had ever seen this before! Ahem? I had a pad almost identical when I was 6??? That's 20 years ago!

Even then, again, there is the point in which I simply don't care. I could not care less about the Wii remote. All the games I've found the least interesting on the Wii were games which used the remote as an NES controller. And what about Kinect? It is exactly the same thing: I play console games to relax, not to jump around making noise for the neighbors at 2 am!

No interest... That's exactly the reason for me. I know you guys would like to find another reason, but that's exactly that for me. Why try to find a reason which doesn't exist?

[RRS]

My example - Kinect/Wii Remote versus wired gloves - was to counter the "no interest" arguments.

Of course there was little interest when technology was in its experimental stage: buggy, limited, unwieldy, outrageously expensive (you could buy a brand new computer for the price of VR Helmet 20 years ago). But by now the electronics evolved and are faster, lighter & cheaper - this factor changes the customers' interest level, even if the concept had been tried before (with poor results). First cars were inferior to horse carriages, but after their performance was greatly improved they became mainstream...

Personally I have little tolerance for new gadgets, I'm very stubborn when it comes to control scheme (remember when I was seeking for an old keyboard model?), I'm not into this new "video gaming is physical exercise" fad.

[Tracker]

EA more-or-less confirms Dragon Age 3: Inquisition and Battlefield 4 to be developed for the Oculus Rift

[Tomekk]

Since you mentioned Kinect... http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...on/4863-Kinect

Dragon Age 3 for Oculus Rift? Ohh wow, that's really going to make it a good RPG. Totally going to help me forget about that the fact that they're ponces and won't even let me be a non-human.

[Japo]

[RRS]

Yeah, read about it. I'd sooner expect it to be bought by a console maker, but Facebook?? Heck, even Skype would make more sense? (stereoscopic video conferences)

It did lost a bit of "indie" appeal...

[florianix]

Most of those systems result in many people geting sick because of latency and lack of precision of the headtracking systems.

Thats why the castAR system is not exactly a HMD, but an augmented reality system, but nevertheless suitable for applications as described above.

HMDs without headtracking system made it on the market:
- The ZEISS cinemizer
http://www.zeiss.com/cinemizer-oled/en_de/home.html
- and another one by Sony.

We used the Zeiss cinemizer and combined it with an external headtracking system in the company to build a demonstrator for a system without the budget to use original components (military aircraft HMD were out of budget and their use and distribution is limited by several regulations).
However, the headtracker that was good enough to avoid people from getting seasick exceeded the price of the HMD.

The Oculus Rift was not really ready for serious use at that time (and still is as far as I know).

[florianix]

Update: The Zeiss cinemizer has got a headtracker for gaming use.
We didn't use it, however.