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[PTTG??]

Well, the first consumer oculus rift has been delivered. Having neither the money nor the computer power to even remotely consider getting the oculus or the vive or really anything better than google cardboard, I want to live virtual vicariously. And hey, in four years when VR is 1/5 the price and 10x the quality, we can all look back at this thread and laugh. It'll be a nice reprieve from the "make america great again, again" Trump re-election campaign.

Anyway, does anyone have an Oculus on pre-order?

[Beggars` Sect]

Been hearing about VR for nearly 3 decades now - and it was always a gimmick...but I must admit, all the recent hype - especially the PS VR - made me stop and pay attention.

Reading about people`s experiences recently it seems they`ve finally managed to pull it off. And it`s very tempting to try, even though logistics - wearing a headset, getting motion sickness and all that are of putting and I`m definitely too old to spend hours with one on.

But some games look really good...Adr1ft and that EVE Valkyrie, most of all. And if they manage to get something like Skyrim adjusted to VR we`ll have a VR zombie/widow epidemic coming for sure.

[Rose]

I also don't have the money for one, but I've found a way I can use my google cardboard as a really shitty HMD for the PC, which is what I'll have to settle for until I get loads of cash dumped onto me.

[Solifuge]

I've actually got Razer's Open-Source VR DevKit (v1.4) coming at the start of next month. I went with that over other options because it's less expensive, the unit is modular and has replaceable parts, is fully open-source to expand development of hardware and software for the device, and already has more visual fidelity than I will probably care about.

Personally, I'm really itching to get into VR GameDev, and to hack and play around with the tech. I'm a little worried about the motion sickness and all that, and I generally am not an early adopter, but it's definitely the time to get in as a prospective developer.

[TheBiggerFish]

PTW.

[PTTG??]

Next up we need omnidirectional running machines that input the data to a game so you can actually run around. Then gamers will become one of the fittest groups ever.

I was thinking about this. I think it's possible to manipulate the user's spatial sense and trick them into doing things like walking in a wide circle while they think they're walking straight, or change the relationship of virtual to real rotation so that the game keeps sending you back across the center of the play space. I definitely can't wait until when someone says "I've been playing CS for eight hours," it'll be like they just got out of a triathlon.

However, I think that the VR people are a little over-optimistic. They plan to sell 170 million VR headsets by 2018, which sounds a little out-there to me.

[Drakale]

However, I think that the VR people are a little over-optimistic. They plan to sell 170 million VR headsets by 2018, which sounds a little out-there to me.

Yeah it seems that way to me also, is there even 170 million person with a powerful enough PC to run the thing in the first place?

[Bremen]

However, I think that the VR people are a little over-optimistic. They plan to sell 170 million VR headsets by 2018, which sounds a little out-there to me.

Yeah it seems that way to me also, is there even 170 million person with a powerful enough PC to run the thing in the first place?

Some of them run on smartphones, and there's a lot of those out there.

[PTTG??]

Google Cardboard is pretty interesting, even when your phone doesn't actually fully support it.

[A Thing]

Next up we need omnidirectional running machines that input the data to a game so you can actually run around. Then gamers will become one of the fittest groups ever.

Well, very fit legs at least.

[Cruxador]

I'll throw  my name into the "not in my price range now, but looking forward to the second generation" category.

Reading about people`s experiences recently it seems they`ve finally managed to pull it off. And it`s very tempting to try, even though logistics - wearing a headset, getting motion sickness and all that are of putting and I`m definitely too old to spend hours with one on.

Motion sickness is a result of having an inadequate graphics card (less than 90fps) or using software where the VR is hacked in and doesn't work properly (Skyrim, most prominently). Both of these issues are already not a problem if you use the equipment exactly as intended, and will get further away even from fringe cases over the next half decade or so.

Next up we need omnidirectional running machines that input the data to a game so you can actually run around. Then gamers will become one of the fittest groups ever.

I'm more interested in what the next iteration of virtual reality looks like. This one's nice, sure, but as far as I can tell they really haven't done anything new. All that's been done is make the concept of the stuff back in the 80's actually work in the modern day. I can't wait to see how this stuff ends up once we actually figure out how to do so.

Two cool things I've seen in development are video cameras that watch your hands (bought out by Oculus, with no further news) and a project for facial recognition and monitoring. There's been some good development there independently of VR (which people on 4chan have used to map their faces to anime girls and then masturbate and share the result (the future is amazing)) but that tech is generally impeded by having half the face occluded by a big VR headset. So some people have taken the muscle impulse sensing tech used in high-end prosthetics and stuck it to the headset, then worked on software to integrate the two. The problem now is that it has to be calibrated each time you put it on, which will make it unappealing to the general market, but once it's ready for prime-time, multiplayer spaces will be greatly enriched.

[PTTG??]

I think what we might see is a suite like Garry's Mod or something designed to do all the "basic stuff" really well and provide a baseline for user-made VR environment games.

Since VR is going to pretend that the Player Character is the Player, games are going to lose the ability to position the PC. Subtle stuff- like turning the camera to face an interesting object- and more obvious things, like getting hit by a club and landing flat on your back, aren't going to be possible. Overcoming that is going to be difficult. In multiplayer games, I imagine that VR rigs are going to have deaths or even stuns result in out-of-body-experiences.

A mech-suit simulator could hide a lot of flaws, and something with portals of some kind sounds like fun. But for all of that, VR doesn't quite have a specific use case. What games can VR do that conventional displays can't?

[Retropunch]

Since VR is going to pretend that the Player Character is the Player, games are going to lose the ability to position the PC. Subtle stuff- like turning the camera to face an interesting object- and more obvious things, like getting hit by a club and landing flat on your back, aren't going to be possible.

I think this is actually going to be one of the main hurdles - you're heavily restricted to what you can force the player to do without it ruining the experience. I played a really early oculus game and they hadn't worked that out and it was absolutely horrible. You were wandering along and then it just pulled your gaze to something - instant nausea.

Anyway, I think this time VR might actually work out - they've got the technology for this to properly work, and graphics are getting to the point where people want to be 'immersed' rather than just play. Omnidirectional platforms are being worked on and I saw a vid a while back of one working, but I imagine it'll take a while for it to be consumer ready - although if VR kicks off I imagine these will come around quickly.

in terms of the sales, I think horror games are going to be the big one - someone will have a heart attack, the media will overreact and then everyone will buy it (thereby reaching that 170m figure).   

[Cruxador]

Since VR is going to pretend that the Player Character is the Player, games are going to lose the ability to position the PC. Subtle stuff- like turning the camera to face an interesting object- and more obvious things, like getting hit by a club and landing flat on your back, aren't going to be possible. Overcoming that is going to be difficult. In multiplayer games, I imagine that VR rigs are going to have deaths or even stuns result in out-of-body-experiences.

The "death camera" stuff that's become usual isn't possible, and game devs are going to have to actually take a note from the book of visual artists to make you look where they want, instead of just forcing your face in the right direction. Seems worth it to me, but it's definitely going to take devs a while to get used to.

After all, aren't cutscenes a means to get around functionality that the player lacks in the actual game?

That's far from their only use. They can have all sorts of narrative purposes.

[Folly]

I'm disappointed that Steam's list of games for Vive is so weak compared to what Rift has in it's lineup. Steam has a handful of artsie applications, and tech-demonstrations that last about 5 minutes. I was expecting more from the service that boasts more games than any other on PC.

PS VR is the only option I'm seriously considering this year though, simply due to price. No way I'm spending $900 on a headset that will need another $1500 in PC upgrades, especially with so few games available right now.