Occulus Rift VR Kickstarter

[DooM_RO]

This VR kit has been in development for some time and is endorsed by BIG names in the industry namely Gabe Newell, Michael Abrash, Cliff Bleszinski and of course John Carmack.

Right now they are raising funds through Kickstarter to start sending these kits to developers because they need their feedback before they release the consmer version.

If you are interested in making a small donation for this project then click this link http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game and if you donate 275$, you will get a prototype version plus Doom 3 BFG edition.

[Nomad]

Wow, it's already reached almost a million dollars funding. This peripheral may be the only one I ever actually buy.

[DooM_RO]

Don't forget to watch the video!

[DoomUK]

Couldn't resist:-

[DooM_RO]

Tommorrow, at quakecon, at 18:00, there is a panel called Virtual Insanity featuring J Carmack and Michael Abrash from Valve. Looks like more info is on the way!

[Nomad]

id Sofware and valve working together? This is the best thing that has ever happened.

[999cop]

John Carmack backing on this;
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-oculus-rift-virtual-reality-headset-is-the-future-of-3d-gaming-2012-8

[DooM_RO]

Nomad said:

id Sofware and valve working together? This is the best thing that has ever happened.

Yeah, I keep wondering why they didn't team up with Valve instead of Zenimax, especially considering their good relationship. Anyway, I'm gonna donate about 10$ in the near future.

I can't wait for this to come out although I'm gonna wait a bit to see the reactions to it but if this becomes a success, imagine what we can do in 5 years!

[Kira]

DooM_RO said:

imagine what we can do in 5 years!

How about in one year to begin with?

http://www.roadtovr.com/2012/07/07/oculus-rift-2-0-a-1080p-high-fov-hmd-by-2013-under-1000/

2x 1080p, sounds awesome to me.

[Nomad]

DooM_RO said:

imagine what we can do in 5 years!

That's what we've been saying for 20 years and we still don't have what the Oculus promises. Thankfully that will finally change!

[DooM_RO]

Wow, they almost have 1.2 million.

[Technician]

DooM_RO said:

Wow, they almost have 1.2 million.

And with only five-thousand backers. Some people are throwing down serious money.

[DooM_RO]

Technician said:

And with only five-thousand backers. Some people are throwing down serious money.

Only Notch gave 10000 dollars.

[Chopkinsca]

I was skeptical when I first heard of this. Who wouldn't be? We've all seen VR attempts fail in the past. It was John's keynote for QuakeCon this year that changed my mind. He really seems to know what he has got himself into and knows what to do. The other people behind it aren't amateurs either.

[DooM_RO]

Here is the Virtual Insanity panel for those who didn't see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gaqQdyfAz8&feature=relmfu

[Nomad]

Really great panel. Seeing someone like Carmack talk about something like this with such conviction really gives me hope that this is going to be worth every cent!

[DooM_RO]

I agree but I wouldn't get one of these as soon as they're available. I'd probably wait a bit to hear some opinions or for some upgraded versions. He also said somewhere that they will be cheaper than they anticipated, somwhere around 300$

[Aliotroph?]

The interesting part is how little some of the issues have been examined. Carmack was talking a lot in his keynote about doing things like parallax correction based on the movement of your head/body that it seems very few people have ever bothered to even try. There were some other things too, but that one really resonated. It's interesting how a field that used to have so much interest, much of it big-budget, still has huge gaps for two-man teams to fill.

[RestlessRodent]

Is it going to be Open Source?

Or is developing for it going to be a hell hole of proprietary licensing where nobody except big name companies will be able to use?

[Nomad]

Aliotroph? said:

The interesting part is how little some of the issues have been examined. Carmack was talking a lot in his keynote about doing things like parallax correction based on the movement of your head/body that it seems very few people have ever bothered to even try. There were some other things too, but that one really resonated. It's interesting how a field that used to have so much interest, much of it big-budget, still has huge gaps for two-man teams to fill.

I bet you were paying extra close attention to the question the guy with the lazy eye asked :D

GhostlyDeath said:

Is it going to be Open Source?

Or is developing for it going to be a hell hole of proprietary licensing where nobody except big name companies will be able to use?

In the vid Carmack said he was going to do his best to make the code added to Doom 3 BFG edition available, but he said that it actually imports a lot of code from Tech5 so we may not see it released until the Tech5 source is released.

[Gez]

I just visited the Kickstarter page and the amount raised was strangely auspicious:

[geo]

There was a team on Shark Tank selling something similar but in a big giant orb so you can run in the game too. Like a giant hamster wheel you can't fall out of. Kind of like a holodeck. They've been selling to army recruitment centers to get people in the door.

[DooM_RO]

Here is what a Quakecon atendee thought about his Rift experience. Post more if you find any http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=14967&p=77274#p77263

[Aliotroph?]

Nomad said:

I bet you were paying extra close attention to the question the guy with the lazy eye asked :D

Hehehe, not really. Carmack just confirmed what I'd already figured out. I can't do stereo vision in meatspace anyway, so the only times I've been able do that were in theatres with glasses. Euphoria-inducing that is. :D

Anyway, Carmack is right. Effort is often better spent on things like having the camera correct for head and body motion. People with one eye do very well in most cases because brains are really good at picking up depth cues from parallax. This is why you always see various birds doing that head-bobbing thing. The 3D effect from stereo displays is a sort of low-hang fruit in the sense that the math was done decades ago and your sensor setup doesn't need to work so well.

[DooM_RO]

The whole thread I posted as well as the site has some very high profile posters as well such as John Carmack and Palmer Luckey, maybe we can ask them a few questions.

[geo]

Virtusphere >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubxcSS_GXc

[Skeletor]

Hm, thinking about picking a set up. I see immersive strip club applications becoming a huge industry.

[geo]

Skeletor said:

Hm, thinking about picking a set up. I see immersive strip club applications becoming a huge industry.

You hit the nail on the head. DOA: BV will be huge in Japan.