don't get too comfortable

Cool story bro.

The Oculus DK2 still makes me sick and the resolution is depressing, not to mention the awful screen door effect. Everyone keeps saying that will all be solved, but I need to actually be in a headset that doesn't trigger multiple discomforts before I can even think about developing for it. And the thoughts of it being a widespread consumer device are laughably premature. The hype is way over the top on what's being shown in VR now. Not only that, the current demos are mostly trash. They're either warmed over (usually FPS) demos of existing games that don't use the medium in any useful way, or they're over the top gimmicks that are meant to be impacting during a five minute expo demo rather than being practically usable.

Even if it does take off, it's entirely a game design problem. Production, whether it's the engineering side or the art side, won't change even slightly.

I'm 38 and VR has been "The Next Big Thing™" since I was a small child. I wont hold my breath...

How is modelling going to change? A game model is a game model. A person might have to make arms in an FPS or something...but really that's not a huge change. Game Design and UIs are the big ones. And that's if VR actually catches on.

There's actually a bunch of work that could be done with OS's to better support VR. A version of windows that worked with VR would be interesting.

The Oculus DK2 still makes me sick and the resolution is depressing, not to mention the awful screen door effect. Everyone keeps saying that will all be solved, but I need to actually be in a headset that doesn't trigger multiple discomforts before I can even think about developing for it.

Thats Oculus, Have u seen Microsoft' demo? its even more impressive and realistic

@ ferrous you asked "How is modelling going to change?" check the vid

The Oculus DK2 still makes me sick and the resolution is depressing, not to mention the awful screen door effect. Everyone keeps saying that will all be solved, but I need to actually be in a headset that doesn't trigger multiple discomforts before I can even think about developing for it. And the thoughts of it being a widespread consumer device are laughably premature. The hype is way over the top on what's being shown in VR now. Not only that, the current demos are mostly trash. They're either warmed over (usually FPS) demos of existing games that don't use the medium in any useful way, or they're over the top gimmicks that are meant to be impacting during a five minute expo demo rather than being practically usable.

Even if it does take off, it's entirely a game design problem. Production, whether it's the engineering side or the art side, won't change even slightly.

I'm sorry to hear your discomfort with the DK2, I personally love mine, and suffer very little ill effects after hours of use. as for your claims about the current offerings being trash, might i suggest trying Elite: Dangerous, Half-life 2, Dying Light, or with the help of software like vorpX, skyrim, gta V, and countless other games? for me the DK2 has been an eye opening experience, the effect of walking into another world is absolutely immense, and the sense of presence can be amazing. Don't put down VR just because it hasn't worked out all the kinks yet, what it does offer when you don't suffer from those symptoms is an overall amazing experience.


Do not get me wrong, the DK2 does have problems, but i do feel we are nearer now to actual VR games then we have ever been before. the Vive and CV1 models both look stellar, and although i am slightly disappointed in the expected resolution of the CV1, it does offer instead higher quality screens which should remove the screen door effect all together.

I'm sorry to hear your discomfort with the DK2, I personally love mine, and suffer very little ill effects after hours of use. as for your claims about the current offerings being trash, might i suggest trying Elite: Dangerous, Half-life 2, Dying Light, or with the help of software like vorpX, skyrim, gta V, and countless other games? for me the DK2 has been an eye opening experience, the effect of walking into another world is absolutely immense, and the sense of presence can be amazing. Don't put down VR just because it hasn't worked out all the kinks yet, what it does offer when you don't suffer from those symptoms is an overall amazing experience.

If we ignore the sickness thing, I just see rehashes of games I've already played. Why the hell would I care? I don't doubt that enterprising game designers with something to prove can produce great experiences that truly use VR in useful ways. But the available demos, including all of the ones you mentioned, are a complete waste of time to use with VR.

So no, I don't feel that bolting VR on to a normal game after the fact is added value or an amazing experience. I might consider tolerating the sickness for a novel experience. I'm not going to endure it so I can play Half Life again. That's a joke.

So no, I don't feel that bolting VR on to a normal game after the fact is added value or an amazing experience.

then your core problem isn't with VR, it's with any game produced today if all you see is rehashes. i'm not really sure what type of games you expect to come from VR, and certainly there will be some unique VR experiances, but for many the addition of adding VR to any of todays game is already quite the experience alone.

So no, I don't feel that bolting VR on to a normal game after the fact is added value or an amazing experience.

For the most part, I agree with you. But... Elite: Dangerous.

In a way, I think that simulators have always been the sweet spot for cumbersome and expensive VR kit. And Elite is, at it's core, a pretty-ish space fighter simulator.

Despite the low resolution, the screen door, and the fact that I can't really play it for more than half an hour at a sitting... The ability to keep an eye on your opponent over your shoulder, as you come around to finish him off - that's unparalleled. It immerses me in the cockpit of this spaceship to a degree that wrap-around monitors and positional audio will never be able to accomplish.

And I think that, once they solve some of the remaining technical challenges, is where the current generation of VR will shine.

There was a news interview a few months back about one of their new killer apps for VR systems: Porn.

No link since we want to remain work-safe and kid-safe, but they described how POV displays were very ... to put politely ... powerful and overwhelming. One of my favorite parts of that clip where they discussed the tech was the interview with the viewers. They showed the person watching the clip and had them discuss the reaction afterword. There was a scene of near-universal surprise, with comments like "Oh wow that is big, oh no!" followed by trying to turn their head away. People of both genders who watched their clips said it was absolutely going to be the future of that industry.

I'm 38 and VR has been "The Next Big Thing™" since I was a small child. I wont hold my breath...

I remember in the late 80's they were talking of VR ....

Thats Oculus, Have u seen Microsoft' demo? its even more impressive and realistic

@ ferrous you asked "How is modelling going to change?" check the vid

That's AR, not VR. It's sort of like Kinect, it seems all woo and amazing, but in the end, everyone went back to their gamepads and mice, because it turns out it's more strenuous to move oneself than it is to make small precise movements with a mouse or wacom tablet.

Meh.

Until we can ditch headsets this will be another flash in the pan in my view, many good reasons quoted above.

The immersion I want comes from great pace and storytelling, and characters I can believe in. Anything that convinces producers they can skimp on thus because of the power of VR is just a shame

I'm sadly old enough to remember the red green glasses 3D in film, and the bulky headsets with appalling latency that had a brief emergence in the early 90s. I don't personally see much more offered by the current new tech.

Investors throwing money at something just means they think we will be dumb enough to buy it. It says nothing about how good it actually is.

A version of windows that worked with VR would be interesting.

No!!! Don't say this too loud or windows 11 will have an interface ideally suited to VR, and everyone else who isn't using VR will be stuffed. It's not like they didn't do this before with touch screens :)

I'm 38 and VR has been "The Next Big Thing™" since I was a small child. I wont hold my breath...

That's because the concept (AR/VR) was ahead of technology (processing speed/power) at that time. Now processing speed is catching up

There's actually a bunch of work that could be done with OS's to better support VR

While I agree it would be nice to not have the desktop environment actively fight me whenever I am wearing the rift... The thought of having to put a helmet on to check my email is not a pleasant one.

The thought of having to put a helmet on to check my email is not a pleasant one.

But imagine possibilities for those viagra and breast enhancement spam ...

I don't believe VR is anywhere near ready for primetime. The human FOV is almost 180 degrees horizontally. 1080p doesn't cut it, not even close. Human visual acuity on average is estimated to be around 1 arc minute. At 180 degrees, that's over 10,000 horizontal pixels for us not to see the actual boundaries. VR obviously won't operate on the 16:9 aspect ratio, but that's still a hell of a lot of pixels.

Come back in 10 years where I'll probably still dismiss it out-of-hand. I do agree that VR is "the future", but the future is a very, very big window.

EDIT: Apparently the human eyes can be approximated as 4:3 or so, at 155 degrees horizontal and 120 degrees vertical. Not as extreme as I had originally thought, but even that's still a metric ton of pixels.

There's actually a bunch of work that could be done with OS's to better support VR

While I agree it would be nice to not have the desktop environment actively fight me whenever I am wearing the rift... The thought of having to put a helmet on to check my email is not a pleasant one.

Hah, I've been misinterpreted, I meant more of your first point, where the OS actually worked with VR, but not required for using as part of the OS. I'll be curious to see what Sony does with their headset in this regard, if they ever actually release theirs for the PS4.

(And it's not about wanting to use Windows with VR, but more just making the experience of doing something as simple as swapping to a new game less painful)