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Author Topic: Virtual Reality Thread: Day 1331: Valve announces HL:VR  (Read 40070 times)

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #90 on: October 17, 2016, 01:42:57 pm »

Yeah, VR hit a second wall in making large spaces comfortable to navigate.

I really want to start a VR Gallery where you just have a full-sized gym-matted area large enough for the illusion of infinite space to be preserved. Like, if you start walking twoards a wall, the VR turns you slightly (i.e., turns the world around you clockwise so you turn counterclockwise to "correct") away from the wall.

Sadly that's like a 30m diameter so it gets expensive. And you have to switch from being tied to a computer to wearing a giant gaming laptop.

Still, I think it's workable.
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Retropunch

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #91 on: October 17, 2016, 01:47:08 pm »

Yeah, VR hit a second wall in making large spaces comfortable to navigate.

I really want to start a VR Gallery where you just have a full-sized gym-matted area large enough for the illusion of infinite space to be preserved. Like, if you start walking twoards a wall, the VR turns you slightly (i.e., turns the world around you clockwise so you turn counterclockwise to "correct") away from the wall.

Sadly that's like a 30m diameter so it gets expensive. And you have to switch from being tied to a computer to wearing a giant gaming laptop.

Still, I think it's workable.

There's a few places already doing that I think (just type in VR arcade in Google and there are loads) - however I hear the main problem is that you can't really do 'running and jumping' with it, you're pretty much just walking around as otherwise it gets a bit thrown off. Still, the tech is there, it's mainly just a software problem.
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Folly

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #92 on: October 17, 2016, 04:25:03 pm »

Sadly that's like a 30m diameter so it gets expensive. And you have to switch from being tied to a computer to wearing a giant gaming laptop.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-price-crash/
This article(not that I put all that much stock in it) suggests that as early as 2017 we may see more affordable VR units that do not have to be tethered to a PC.

Bump because the Playstation VR is out, so let’s share impressions and recommendations. :)
I bought the set, spent the weekend playing around with it, and I am happy.

I read a thread on GameFAQs about someone using PSVR on Dragon Quest Builders, a game not designed for VR, and claiming almost impossibly good results. Have you tried any games not designed for VR using the VR, and if so, what were your results?
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Retropunch

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #93 on: October 17, 2016, 04:50:57 pm »

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-price-crash/
This article(not that I put all that much stock in it) suggests that as early as 2017 we may see more affordable VR units that do not have to be tethered to a PC.

That is very interesting, and I think it will definitely drive the price down. Part of the attraction with reference designs is that it allows small companies to have a go at implementing their ideas of how to solve some of the 'problems' from a stable, openly engineerable platform, rather than having to either engineer it from the ground up or try it out on a closed off product like the Oculus. They obviously get swallowed up or sell their ideas, but it allows for more hands on the wheel so to speak.

On top of that, having a proliferation of lower cost models will definitely drive the market for 'proper' VR games, and hopefully force down the price of Oculus/Vive to being more consumer friendly.
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Cruxador

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #94 on: October 17, 2016, 07:40:29 pm »

Sadly that's like a 30m diameter so it gets expensive. And you have to switch from being tied to a computer to wearing a giant gaming laptop.
I don't think it would necessarily be analogous to a laptop on your head. You could build it as a backpack and essentially make a typical desktop computer (ie, larger and cheaper components) on a backpacking frame, just with a Li-ion battery powering the hardware instead of a wall socket. I could do this in my living room right now for under $2000 dollars, so if a major company wanted to build a machine on the paradigm of a game console, they could definitely get a good machine with a cost under $1000. I wouldn't put it past SONY to do this, although they'd have to market it hard because most consumers would have to go out into parks to play, rather than in their own home, which won't track well with helicopter parents that use video games as a way to keep their kids isolated from the dangers of the real world without the need to parent.

Sadly that's like a 30m diameter so it gets expensive. And you have to switch from being tied to a computer to wearing a giant gaming laptop.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-price-crash/
This article(not that I put all that much stock in it) suggests that as early as 2017 we may see more affordable VR units that do not have to be tethered to a PC.
If by "it" you mean Qualcomm, I don't think this is a promising enough deal that you can ignore their poor showing last year, but if this goes well their stock price is definitely headed back up. A crashing price and improved functionality is the natural antecedent of innovation. Companies that refine rather than revolutionize are going to be the ones coming to the fore now. Oculus is definitely in the "revolutionize" camp and may fall out of the picture soon. They're already not seeing much interest since the high-budget early adopters go for Vive and the common man in want of a cool but affordable toy prefers Gear or Cardboard according to the nature of his wallet. Valve has already achieved their goal of preventing Facebook from having a monopoly, so they'll likely fade from the forefront or move on to other things, and HTC is probably going to focus on refinements and price drops now but they're skilled enough in the area so are unlikely to be chased out.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-price-crash/
This article(not that I put all that much stock in it) suggests that as early as 2017 we may see more affordable VR units that do not have to be tethered to a PC.

That is very interesting, and I think it will definitely drive the price down. Part of the attraction with reference designs is that it allows small companies to have a go at implementing their ideas of how to solve some of the 'problems' from a stable, openly engineerable platform, rather than having to either engineer it from the ground up or try it out on a closed off product like the Oculus. They obviously get swallowed up or sell their ideas, but it allows for more hands on the wheel so to speak.

On top of that, having a proliferation of lower cost models will definitely drive the market for 'proper' VR games, and hopefully force down the price of Oculus/Vive to being more consumer friendly.

When it comes to encouraging game development, I think this will help spur progress, but it will add an impediment perhaps larger than the benefit it provides, at least initially. Right now, when you develop for VR, you need to develop for a specific type of VR. That means you might do what (for example) SubNautica has done. You develop a game, and realize it would be great with VR. So you implement it, because you're an excitable game dev. That's a lot of work, but you do it. Then another kind of VR comes out. Is it really worth all the work implementing that?
Now suppose you're a new dev learning code. There's a dozen competing standards, so which one do you use?

We're going to see an anemic content-production market until some things start happening in software and potentially corporate diplomacy. We need major engines like Unreal and Unity to support all major VR headsets and get their stuff working such that when you dev for one, you dev for all, we need popular libraries and APIs like OpenGL and DirectX to make things easier for both the engine devs and game devs who forego an established engine. Until those things happen, no matter how big the market gets, the barrier to entry will be too high for a lot of innovation in the actual media products that consumers would be interested in.
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Folly

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #95 on: October 17, 2016, 08:40:11 pm »

My skepticism is not with Qualcomm specifically, but rather the prediction that they are going to massively affect the cost and capabilities of VR before the end of 2017. There are a lot of companies with their fingers in the VR industry, making many bold claims, and thus far 100% of them have fallen far short of their promises.
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Cruxador

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #96 on: October 17, 2016, 09:04:29 pm »

My skepticism is not with Qualcomm specifically, but rather the prediction that they are going to massively affect the cost and capabilities of VR before the end of 2017. There are a lot of companies with their fingers in the VR industry, making many bold claims, and thus far 100% of them have fallen far short of their promises.
They're implying that they'll shave a couple hundred bucks off the price of high-end VR, presumably for some undisclosed trade-offs that they're working to minimize the impact of. That is a totally reasonable claim to make in this situation. It's not like they're saying they're saying they can sell the Vive for the price of Cardboard.
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askovdk

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #97 on: October 19, 2016, 02:14:00 am »

...
I read a thread on GameFAQs about someone using PSVR on Dragon Quest Builders, a game not designed for VR, and claiming almost impossibly good results. Have you tried any games not designed for VR using the VR, and if so, what were your results?

Hello again
Based on your question I tried some of my normal games yesterday.
* Dragon quest builder (I had actually already bought it): Good, but I wouldn't say impossibly so. I.e. there is (of cause) no real 3d, but looks good on the virtual cinema wall used in VR for normal games.
* Fallout 4 : Ok illusion, but the very quick turns with the 'direction of looking' quickly gave me head aches.
* Witcher 3: Felt surprisingly flat, - perhaps due to the amount of game information on the screen.
* Infinifactory (A highly recommended port to PS4 in general!) : Good.

Conclusion: The expectation for normal games should be that it's like playing on a wall sized TV, - no more, but also no less  8).

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #98 on: December 28, 2016, 11:19:41 pm »

So, I just ordered an s7edge for xmas, on sale, about 40% off.
GearVR included free. Assuming mk2.
Eventually I'm supposed to get a free 50$ gift card to occulus store credit.



Anyone recommend anything? All the good recommendations seem to be for computer games. I am aware for the most part phone games suck, but are any gear games on the occulus store any good? and if none of the games are good which home theatre video watching app should I get? or other utility apps?
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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #99 on: December 29, 2016, 12:07:36 am »

I almost bought a HTC Vive just the other day with this current holiday 100 EUR discount and free delivery thing, but then decided 800 EUR is still a bit much. I'm probably going to buy into second gen in a few years, by then maybe there will be proper worthwhile exclusives for it beyond the mere novelty of the whole thing. It is pretty cool though, can't deny that.
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askovdk

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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #100 on: December 29, 2016, 02:35:01 am »

(The demo of) the comming Resident Evil did what I can only hope will be the standard for 3D games. - switching between VR and normal screen is just an option setting.  :)
I.e. all game assets are reused in the two modes, it's just a matter of how controls and screens.
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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #101 on: December 29, 2016, 05:52:44 am »

I got the GearVR (in the s7 bundle deal thing) and have to say it's remarkably good. Unfortunately I've not found anything specifically worth recommending, but that's because pretty much everything I've played/done with it has been good.

However, it's just all about eye-strain for me. I tried to watch some futurama and play some random game I downloaded - looked awesome (animated apparently looks a lot better as the lower res isn't as noticeable) and I enjoyed it, but after about 20 minutes I really noticed the eyestrain kick in. Granted, I took it off for 5 minutes, wandered around and then came back and could continue, but in it's current state I couldn't do it for more than a quick 20 minute gaming/watching session

I guess my question is, how much better at dealing with this are Oculus/Vive? I couldn't justify paying the amount without being able to sit down and play a good hour or so at a time.
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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #102 on: January 01, 2017, 04:29:07 am »

I haven't compared them, but the vive/rift do run at a higher framerate than phones can specifically to avoid strain/illness/suffering/etc
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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #103 on: March 20, 2017, 12:42:23 am »

Is the fad over yet? There's supposed to be a bunch of cheaper VR rigs on the market now.
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Re: Virtual Reality Thread: Day n+1
« Reply #104 on: March 20, 2017, 12:52:04 am »

There's the Razer HDK2, and that's about it.
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