Rift is here!

We get to play in the world of VR at the office today!!! I can say that it is nothing short of a profound experience, not just to run around in a world like this, but to see our art and characters truly come to life.

A really BIG thanks to my buddy TG who loaned us his Oculus Rift development kit. Now let's hit that $2.5M stretch goal so we can really get this sucker working!

(More to come later, I think Chris Spears was working hard to get some better video of our group having some hands-on time)

 

I want to get a kit on my head as soon as possible! Everyone I have read about who has tried it has become a huge believer of the tech.

 

It has 2 sides of the story for me.

As a person who loves games, i say wow! I want to experience it!

As a parent i am getting afraid of my kids one day playing with this and having even a harder time of keeping the feel of time running.
It will need some kind of timer reminding you how long you play and some indicators that someone wants to communicate with you out of the game.

I am no parent who want´s to keep my children away from new entertainment inventions.
Every time has it own rules, way to work and of course ways to entertain and play games!

But we all have the knowledge from when we had been young how powerful games can be if you love them and the power of letting you forget what is important. These tools will make games even more powerful to escape live.
I guess will just have to play with them to keep control of it.
*smiles*

 

I don't think you have much to worry about ... yet

The tech is cool, but the practicality still isn't there. Once the "shineyness" of it wears off, this is still a very tiring and cumbersome way to interact. Watch people actually using it. My favorite is when they lose their hand positioning on the keyboard/mouse and the hunt begins..

 

Our lab is getting a Rift, so I'm looking forward to trying it out in game.

Touch typists don't look at the keyboard anyways. There are little bumps on the F and J keys to identify the home row.

Before going digital I had a color darkroom in my house. Certain tasks are performed completely in the dark. You learn to place things in certain locations, and there is no need to hunt for anything. I actually found it quite relaxing, and I think it gave me some insight to how blind people perceive the world. Point is: My mouse will be right where I expect it (unless I knock in onto the floor).

 

*curses as he knocks over his drink, fries his keyboard and dampens his nether-regions*

I am with Brenton. This is really cool tech, but this has a long way to go to be part of a practical, heavy gamer lifestyle. Kinect and Wii is cool too, but its not something I can fit into my daily gaming beyond short spurts. You have to take these steps and its a nice novelty, but I am not getting a tattoo yet.

 

LOL! Sadly, I don't need to wear VR goggles to manage that one.

Would love to see a vid of the team trying it out

 

Yeah, my definition for that is "Friday".

It was fun walking around in VR (and the avatar player model was quite impressive) but... ow, headaches. SO not ready for prime time yet. There's a reason this version isn't for sale!

 

Is it disorienting playing a third person game with the rift?

 

Now to couple Rift development with the Virtuix Omni and some voice recognition and who needs a keyboard and mouse?
http://www.virtuix.com/

 

We weren't in third person mode - we were using a Unity scene demo that Rick had added some SotA assets to (like the avatar model) so we could see how they would look. I imagine third person mode would be almost impossible!

 

This is great. I hope SOTA can be a great asset for those who are interested in doing there own creations for this.

 

Agreed when it comes to the headaches...And a bit nausea...I can wear it for awhile and it is great, but there seems to be some "tipping" point when things get a bit uncomfortable. The image looks rather fine, if not a bit low-res compared to viewing things on screen, I could see scan lines. Maybe it's just me, or the refresh was off on the demo I tried at the convention I was at, but I think the Rift has some ways to go until full prime time unless you can play in 5min spurts - LoL

 

All the lab rats are lining up to use that I'm sure. lol

Who's going to be the King Rat?

 

For those of you getting headaches: Do you wear glasses?

 

I probably haven't looked at my keyboard when I type for at least 15 years... Not really what I was talking about. But if you are getting one, you'll discover the actual usage of it for yourself soon!

Don't get me wrong, I want the tech to move forward - but its not what people think it is currently.

 

From what I understand the new version in development is High Definition and I heard it's a lot better and also there will be forward/backwards head tracking so better control for leaning in and out to examine things. It will be awesome to see what other accessories you can use with this like a wand, sword, and shield. You could use some sort of hand tracking with gloves and a webcam to have actual items in your real hands probably.

 

I love the sound of this I hope it finds its way integrated into the game.

 

Just imagine what it will be like with the full HD version of the Rift. I, for one, will be getting this on day one and hopeful of support for Shroud of the Avatar.