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[EVIL]

Now we get it. Now we know why the media is so excited by the next generation of virtual reality, and beguiled by Palmer Luckey's Oculus Rift head-mounted display in particular. Don a ready-calibrated unit, dive into a specially prepared demo and the next ten minutes of your life could well redefine your expectations of the next era of gaming.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-hands-on-with-oculus-rift

Digital Foundry finally got one and did a write-up.

EDIT: Apparently it's using the same screen as the Nexus 7? Interesting if true. Guess it doesn't leave a lot of hope that the 1080p model is going to have significantly less blur.

Also, the effective resolution (excluding peripheral vision) is approximated at 420X360. They speculate even a 1080p panel is only going to get the effective resolution into the 480p range.

The effect is somewhat akin to playing games standing in front of a stadium Jumbotron - pixels are colossal, and resolution is low to the point where almost all of the text in Team Fortress 2 is completely unreadable. As a consequence, there is clear and obvious motion blur from the LCD too, though this was less of an issue than we thought it would be.

Wasn't this kinda expected? You need 4k screens if you really want an effective resolution around the 1080p.
Also while the rift has 110 degrees FOV, which is impressive, to really want to have total view filling immersion you need more then 180 degrees of viewing range.

Some guys at the http://www.mtbs3d.com/ forums are looking at Fresnel lens stacking to reach higher FOV

 

[1-D_FTW]

Wasn't this kinda expected? You need 4k screens if you really want an effective resolution around the 1080p Also while its 110 degrees FOV, which is impressive, to Really want to have total view filling immersion you need 270 degrees of viewing range. which might require if you want a 1080p+ active view, screens that add up to a total of 8k

I was editing as I read the whole article.

Yeah, it was definitely expected by me. Although I think some people tried talking themselves out of the issues because of how awesome VR's potential is.

I'm certainly still excited, but I think it's a good read for anyone still on the fence about ordering.

Sadly, this is why I canceled my 270 order to begin with. Should have known they'd be selling for 1000 on ebay. Stupid! Stupid, me!

 

[EVIL]

I was editing as I read the whole article.

Yeah, it was definitely expected by me. Although I think some people tried talking themselves out of the issues because of how awesome VR's potential is.

I'm certainly still excited, but I think it's a good read for anyone still on the fence about ordering.

Sadly, this is why I canceled my 270 order to begin with. Should have known they'd be selling for 1000 on ebay. Stupid! Stupid, me!

dammit, you had to quote me before my failed stealth edit

Me talking about 270 degrees is poop. I did a read up on the total human fov, and they said it was 270. I took this as if that was the total fov that you get when only moving your eyes around. but it also includes the range of the head, so you only need a viewing range of 180 degrees to get a total sense of immersion.

Also forget my blabbing about needing higher res screens for more fov. this is BS. When you pre warp the game like the oculus rift does, then the active view doesn't stretch out more then it already does when you increase the fov from 110 to 180. The only areas that get less detail is around the peripheral vision, so that shouldn't be to much of an issue anyway.

 

[Durante]

I think the FoV on the current Rift is more than sufficient -- I could even see them going (slightly!) lower on the FoV for the consumer model if it helps making it smaller/lighter.

I find the talk about the S4 screen interesting. It's pentile, so the resolution isn't a full 1080p, but I'd be more than willing to make that tradeoff for OLED.

 

[Pharaoh 117]

I think the FoV on the current Rift is more than sufficient -- I could even see them going (slightly!) lower on the FoV for the consumer model if it helps making it smaller/lighter.

I find the talk about the S4 screen interesting. It's pentile, so the resolution isn't a full 1080p, but I'd be more than willing to make that tradeoff for OLED.

You really think 110 degrees is enough? That's one point I wish they improve on future versions (granted I haven't tested it yet). I always thought the closer we can get to 180 degrees the better.

 

[Durante]

You really think 110 degrees is enough? That's one point I wish they improve on future versions (granted I haven't tested it yet). I always thought the closer we can get to 180 degrees the better.

I own one, and really didn't notice any lack of FoV. Of course, until we reach the maximum perceptible by the human eye more is always better, but I really believe that FoV is already so good that it can wait until we have at least 4x the resolution, faster pixel switching times and a smaller and lighter device.

 

[EVIL]

my experience is that the fov is the same as if you cup your hands and hold them on the side of your head. you still see allot of your hand in the peripheral vision. The fov is good, and impressive, but still not large enough to truly immerse you fully!

Also when you look from left to right, you go further then the 180 degrees that you can observe, even reaching as far as 210 degrees horizontally

so while 110 is nice. it is still a long way off to fully immerse you.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Anyways, the fact DF seem to think they're the exact same screen being used in the Nexus 7 certainly helps with the theory Dev 2 could be using the new screen in the upcoming 1080p Nexus 7.

With Durante, though, about hoping they go with a smaller OLED in Consumer 1.

 

[plagiarize]

You really think 110 degrees is enough? That's one point I wish they improve on future versions (granted I haven't tested it yet). I always thought the closer we can get to 180 degrees the better.

where would you rather spend pixels? more peripheral vision or more detail in the center?

great VR is going to take a LOT of pixels, and a lot of horsepower pushing those pixels.

I haven't got my rift yet, so I don't know how much FOV it has, but I suspect I'll feel the same way as durante. A high end PC can push 4K, just about, on most games. If that's what it takes to get HD esque pixel density at the current FOV, then that seems the most sensible thing to target first.

 

[Mr.Green]

Foveated rendering could be the solution to the required insane resolution needed for proper VR vs. the system requirements.

 

[EVIL]

Foveated rendering could be the solution to the required insane resolution needed for proper VR vs. the system requirements.

The problem is that you will need to track the movement of your eyes, since you wont be looking straight ahead all the time, and this can add to the latency. The idea is certainly a good one. After that the only obstacle is the ability to send crazy high resolutions to the rift or any future headset. but I am very sure this will be solved allot faster then expected because of the pursuit of 4k and 8k television sets.

 

[1-D_FTW]

The problem is that you will need to track the movement of your eyes, since you wont be looking straight ahead all the time, and this can add to the latency. The idea is certainly a good one. After that the only obstacle is the ability to send crazy high resolutions to the rift or any future headset. but I am very sure this will be solved allot faster then expected because of the pursuit of 4k and 8k television sets.

I'm not that optimistic with the current tech. I really can't see 7 inch panels exceeding 1080p anytime soon. It's just not necessary. I don't really follow Apple, but I've heard some people mention scaling issues? So I guess it's possible their 8 inch mini ipad could do the 2048X1536 bit. But i can't imagine anyone below really going that route. It's already hit the magic 1080p mark and going higher serves no purpose. The FOV is so small, it accomplishes everything it needs at 1080p. Higher resolution just wastes GPU resources and depletes battery life. Pretty sure we're gonna be stuck at these resolutions for the next decade (unless VR shifts to a different display tech).

Just don't see it transferring over from the HDTV space. Especially since the mobile/tablet market is about to get commoditized big time in the next couple years.

 

[syko de4d]

I'm not that optimistic with the current tech. I really can't see 7 inch panels exceeding 1080p anytime soon. It's just not necessary. I don't really follow Apple, but I've heard some people mention scaling issues? So I guess it's possible their 8 inch mini ipad could do the 2048X1536 bit. But i can't imagine anyone below really going that route. It's already hit the magic 1080p mark and going higher serves no purpose. The FOV is so small, it accomplishes everything it needs at 1080p. Higher resolution just wastes GPU resources and depletes battery life. Pretty sure we're gonna be stuck at these resolutions for the next decade (unless VR shifts to a different display tech).

Just don't see it transferring over from the HDTV space. Especially since the mobile/tablet market is about to get commoditized big time in the next couple years.

http://www.redsharknews.com/technol...s-like-4k-is-coming-to-nearly-all-smartphones
http://www.stuff.tv/news/phone/news-nugget/4k-smartphones-could-land-this-summer
http://trendinsider.com/2013/04/26/...me-an-available-feature-in-future-smartphones
etc.
dont think 4k is far away for smartphones
Smartphones will be able to make and watch movies in 4k so we will see smartphones with 4k display.

 

[Reallink]

They can't go with another 7" screen on the consumer version if they want to be any kind of success IMO. The weight, size, and overhead strap are way too cumbersome for a retail release in the larger open market. That's even ignoring the things that aren't so obvious, as I personally believe the original design was based on 5.6" screens for many other performance/function/utility reasons. The 7" design was a panicked, sub-optimal hack job.

 

[1-D_FTW]

http://www.redsharknews.com/technol...s-like-4k-is-coming-to-nearly-all-smartphones
http://www.stuff.tv/news/phone/news-nugget/4k-smartphones-could-land-this-summer
http://trendinsider.com/2013/04/26/...me-an-available-feature-in-future-smartphones
etc.
dont think 4k is far away for smartphones
Smartphones will be able to make and watch movies in 4k so we will see smartphones with 4k display.

Unless I'm missing something, that says nothing about 4k screens. Just hardware ability (for taking pictures and video). Which makes sense. If the mobile is going to replace everything under the TV one day, it'd need these capabilities. Doesn't mean it'll display them at 4k on your phone display though.

First link mentions up to 2560x2048 displays, but I'm pretty sure that's the resolution of the Nexus 10. So that's no real surprise. Larger panels can get higher resolutions simply by way of being cut larger.

 

[Mr.Green]

The problem is that you will need to track the movement of your eyes, since you wont be looking straight ahead all the time, and this can add to the latency. The idea is certainly a good one. After that the only obstacle is the ability to send crazy high resolutions to the rift or any future headset. but I am very sure this will be solved allot faster then expected because of the pursuit of 4k and 8k television sets.

Palmer was asked about eye tracking at GDC and according to him, providing a good solution didn't seem to be a huge deal but at the same time he didn't see a practical use for it. No one mentioned foveated rendering though.

 

[M3d10n]

I think relying on LCD screens is the biggest limiting factor: displaying wide-FOV images directly to each eye is a problem LCDs are not designed to resolve.

We need VR glasses using tech more apt to VR applications, like virtual retinal display (draws directly to the retina using lasers) and optical/holographic waveguide lenses (project the image from a microdisplay into a special lens that can do the job of multiple lenses at once).

 

[Durante]

They can't go with another 7" screen on the consumer version if they want to be any kind of success IMO. The weight, size, and overhead strap are way too cumbersome for a retail release in the larger open market. That's even ignoring the things that aren't so obvious, as I personally believe the original design was based on 5.6" screens for many other performance/function/utility reasons. The 7" design was a panicked, sub-optimal hack job.

What other reasons would that be? I mean, I'm with you on size and weight (and aesthetics), but I can't really think of any other "non-obvious" drawbacks of using a larger screen.

I think relying on LCD screens is the biggest limiting factor: displaying wide-FOV images directly to each eye is a problem LCDs are not designed to resolve.

We need VR glasses using tech more apt to VR applications, like virtual retinal display (draws directly to the retina using lasers) and optical/holographic waveguide lenses (project the image from a microdisplay into a special lens that can do the job of multiple lenses at once).

But using mass-market displays is what really makes the Rift possible at its price point in the first place. And that price point in turn is what could allow it to reach sales high enough (not "mainstream" level mind you) to really put VR on the map.

Once that has happened, more specialized tech can (and will) come. Though I think you don't need to go as far as retinal displays, at least at first. I mean, it's already perfectly technically feasible to build OLED displays with 2,098 PPI -- that's what Sony demonstrated with the HMZ-T1. And less than half of that on a 5" display would be more than sufficient for a future Rift 3 (or 4).

 

[copelandmaster]

More of Nathan Andrews's HL2 Oculus + Hydra project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmOh8WVTVtA

Alex's reaction at 2:30 seems appropriate

 

[EVIL]

I'm not that optimistic with the current tech. I really can't see 7 inch panels exceeding 1080p anytime soon. It's just not necessary. I don't really follow Apple, but I've heard some people mention scaling issues? So I guess it's possible their 8 inch mini ipad could do the 2048X1536 bit. But i can't imagine anyone below really going that route. It's already hit the magic 1080p mark and going higher serves no purpose. The FOV is so small, it accomplishes everything it needs at 1080p. Higher resolution just wastes GPU resources and depletes battery life. Pretty sure we're gonna be stuck at these resolutions for the next decade (unless VR shifts to a different display tech).

Just don't see it transferring over from the HDTV space. Especially since the mobile/tablet market is about to get commoditized big time in the next couple years.

I was responding about the way to transmit high resolution video wireless or via a cable.

talking about screens, I have no idea. Maybe future headsets could use DLP chips as a screen. DLP chips are used in HD and SUPER HD projectors. and work by using an arrange of mirrors (one mirror per pixel) that can reflect colours of light back and project it. So you would have a chip, infront of it 3 colours of light (RGB) and by reflecting the proper combination of light it can "colour" these mirrors.

Below an example of these mirrors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Light_Processing

I do know that all options have not yet explored. from fresnell lenses to create higher FOV optics, to the uses of diffrent ways to display images.

 

[syko de4d]

More of Nathan Andrews's HL2 Oculus + Hydra project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmOh8WVTVtA

Alex's reaction at 2:30 seems appropriate

This looks so good, it must be blast to play it with OR + Hydra

 

[SaggyMonkey]

Ok, I just had one of the most incredible experiences.

I ran the Epic Citadel map from the UDKGame, brought the console down and typed 'Fly'. I then proceeded to fly up to one of the towers and stuck my hand out as if to touch the stone wall as I flew by. It was an amazing and emotional experience. I can't believe how realistic it was! I really felt that I was there.

I'm sorry, but when they get the resolution sorted out, some people are never going to come back.

And I'll reiterate, the Unreal Engine is amazing in the Rift!!

Go immediately, put on a song you love, and fly around the Epic Citadel. Oh and make sure to touch the stone on the way by.

Sorry, I'm late to this party. Just got the kit on friday. How are you launching UDK in the Oculus view mode? I've got headtracking working, but it's not rendering the twin fish-eye images when I launch builds.

 

[Signor Rossi]

Sorry, I'm late to this party. Just got the kit on friday. How are you launching UDK in the Oculus view mode? I've got headtracking working, but it's not rendering the twin fish-eye images when I launch builds.

bring down the console:
stereo on
hmdwarp on

 

[Reallink]

What other reasons would that be? I mean, I'm with you on size and weight (and aesthetics), but I can't really think of any other "non-obvious" drawbacks of using a larger screen.

I'm not sure how much (if any of this) was factual, but there were discussions about the 7" being too large for their design resulting in much of the screen going unused (blanked out) obviously greatly reducing the effective resolution (perhaps varying with IPD). I also saw a couple mentions of the 7" necessitating more image overlap for people with narrower eyes, which if true is a big problem as so many of their users will be youths whose heads (and IPD's) aren't fully developed. Again, not sure if any of that is factual, but I suspect the smaller original design was deliberate for reasons outside of aesthetics/weight/etc...

 

[Zaptruder]

Just got my kit! Amazing! But...

Fuckkkkk. Gotta buy some motion sickness pills to use this thing.

*barfs everywhere*

 

[SinSilla]

There is a new, supposedly awesome, demo for you Rifters out there.

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/1dbdmo/new_video_and_first_public_test_build_of_my_space/

Would love to hear some more impressions!

 

[Mr_Appleby]

I wish I got that level of accuracy and lack of lag. :/ Maybe I should try playing with it again, or attempt UDK integration.

i've only had one since friday but I whipped up a quick test over the weekend (openGL/C) that lets you pick up a box and chuck it around the scene. i haven't experienced any noticeable lag and accuracy is great - better than any other device i've used anyway. i probably spent an hour throwing that box around just because it felt so good.

 

[luffeN]

Just got my kit! Amazing! But...

Fuckkkkk. Gotta buy some motion sickness pills to use this thing.

*barfs everywhere*

Do you easily get motion sick? What demo did you try?

 

[RiverBed]

so is the whole machine head mounted or does there have to be a cable?

 

[LordCanti]

so is the whole machine head mounted or does there have to be a cable?

One cable from a little control box to the Rift and two cables from that box to the PC (plus one cable for power).

 

[RSP]

There is a new, supposedly awesome, demo for you Rifters out there.

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/1dbdmo/new_video_and_first_public_test_build_of_my_space/

Would love to hear some more impressions!

Damn, that looks good! We have a similar prototype ready to go as soon as our Rift gets in the office. Can't wait to hear what people think.

 

[Zaptruder]

Do you easily get motion sick? What demo did you try?

Yeah, I think I do. Was just trying the tuscany demo.

Went out and bought some motion sickness tabs and a couple of motion sickness pressure point wrist bands...

Which seemed to help a lot.

Was able to try for much longer (20-30 mins) without nearly as much motion sickness.

From what I can gather from my knowledge and limited use, the motion sickness problem is a multi-factorial issue (isn't it always?).

The biggest issue is the lack of translation. Reaching down to pick up the ball without a similar shift in view point kicks this problem off.

And all the head sways and saccades don't help the matter either.

Of course screen blurriness doesn't help either. Movement is another big sickness generator (at least for me) - something that you'll just have to get used to. The visual sense of movement without the corresponding inner ear shift causes as much an incongruence as moving the head without a similar visual shift.

Sign me up for a GVS when those things are available for public. And wireless is also an important priority - allowing a person to spin full circle.

Ideally, the system would be setup so that it could track the heading of your head - the heading of your torso; where your torso points, you walk forwards relative to that. Maybe a little motion chip necklace that you add to enhance the setup.

And if they can get an omni, or even just feet tracking for walking on the spot motion, it'd pretty much complete the whole wazoo.

Just tried the space fighter demo for the Rift.

Excellent excellent stuff. This is the kind of experience the rift is meant to engender. I mean, the game itself is very basic, but when combined with the headset makes it seem much more immersive than anything else I've ever played. Just looking around an admittedly spartan cockpit, and using your head to track targets all around space is an absolute blast.

Did notice a bit of a drift during the demo though - started out angled towards one side of the desk, then ended up angling towards the other side as the demo progressed. Definetly something that an image recognition system would help calibrate (drift isn't great - calibration every few seconds would be sufficient to keep it aligned without making it feel unnatural - although in practice it'll be at a much higher rate).

Can't wait for Star Citizen alpha/beta to come out so I can try the shit out of that in VR. Don't think I could play it any other way at this rate.

 

[1-D_FTW]

/\

By motion sickness pills, do you mean ginger based? Ginger (food or pills) seems to be universally picked as the best motion sickness remedy.

 

[Ashler]

The guys over at Cyan worlds should develop the myst games for the Rift. This would be an ideal type of game for it.

 

[Zaptruder]

Ok. Spent a bit more time with various OR demos, getting better VR legs quite quickly, although still feeling a bit woozy after an Angrybots OR demo - which is probably the most 'complete' unity demo I've found so far.


Using controller and KB and mouse feels quite natural; as long as where you move forward is where you're pointing.

Using the analog stick, you will intuitively adjust the heading to maintain a 'forward' (intended heading) even when looking around, just as you would while strafing. Works ok on the KB, although not quite as well due 8 way control.

Any game that tries to slow down your strafing movement is going to cause this scheme to suffer though.

Takes a second to get used to pointing and shooting in the direction of your head, but feels natural very quickly.


The sense of scale in this thing is fantastic. Despite its stark simplicity, I quite enjoyed the ISS explorer demo. The ability to appreciate the scale of something in VR is fantastic. Looked like a 3-4 storey tall building, with massive panels everywhere.

Tried Beach OR demo. Nice and soothing, little jellyfish like light sources floating around, while you traverse through a jungle. There's a platform you can ride, that floats upwards and clips through branches and leaves. I was looking up and instinctively put my arm out which felt funny and cool (cool in how instinctive and natural it is, funny because your arm ain't there!).

After all that though, I'd have to say the space shooter demo is still the best indication of what OR is all about at this point in time. Enhances a very simple shooter very significantly, and gives us a glimpse at what gaming in the near future is going to be like. Would be nice if there was a 'calibrate' button that allowed your front to snap to the heading in which you're looking though.

 

[TimeEffect]

So, we're talking next gen, we see MS seems focused on IntelliRoom-- what does Sony have for their pet project?

Can Occulus Rift be compatible with PS4?

In terms of input devices, Move is pretty handy, no?

 

[DieH@rd]

So, we're talking next gen, we see MS seems focused on IntelliRoom-- what does Sony have for their pet project?

4+ year old video of Sony multimedia glasses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Ngf6hMWSmFA#t=541s

 

[MrBig]

So, we're talking next gen, we see MS seems focused on IntelliRoom-- what does Sony have for their pet project?

Can Occulus Rift be compatible with PS4?

In terms of input devices, Move is pretty handy, no?

Sony has HMD hardware, I'm sure they could throw more money at VR than oculus and make better HMD/tracking hardware if they wanted to, but it sure would be great if there was just one thing devs had to support if they wanted to do VR, or at least an open standard to support VR devices in general.

 

[Mr.Green]

In terms of input devices, Move is pretty handy, no?

Hell yeah.

It would force you to always face the camera, though. I'd like to be able to turn around.

 

[Zaptruder]

Just ended a session playing around with the Vieirio Drivers...

Not good for your eyes man. I'm seeing double right now. Adjusting the IPD and what not isn't immediately obvious what you need to do - and you can screw it up badly.

Even when you get it right, it's very much lacking compared to proper native support.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Such an awesome move to use kickstarter to get units to the devs. There are so many cool projects in the works :O

I wish sony would invest more in their HMD, they have the resources to make an even better unit than the rift.

 

[Zaptruder]

Such an awesome move to use kickstarter to get units to the devs. There are so many cool projects in the works :O

I wish sony would invest more in their HMD, they have the resources to make an even better unit than the rift.

Sony have no idea what they're doing in this area. The only thing they have over the Oculus team is an established name and in theory more money to play with.

Oculus... they've got a young genius, and several world class team members, and more importantly the drive and passion to make VR the new paradigm shift in computing.

 

[Mr.Green]

Sony have no idea what they're doing in this area. The only thing they have over the Oculus team is an established name and in theory more money to play with.

Oculus... they've got a young genius, and several world class team members, and more importantly the drive and passion to make VR the new paradigm shift in computing.

That, and a few patents pending.

 

[mrklaw]

Sony have no idea what they're doing in this area. The only thing they have over the Oculus team is an established name and in theory more money to play with.

Oculus... they've got a young genius, and several world class team members, and more importantly the drive and passion to make VR the new paradigm shift in computing.

sony have some great display R&D and optics, and solid manufacturing/logistics. They'd make a great pairing

 

[Axispowers]

Hey I just contacted Oculus Support a week ago, I was wondering how much longer will my Oculus arrive.

We are not able to provide those specific details to you. If you were to
pre-order a Development Kit today, we are estimating a June delivery.
You can use that as a guideline, but these are not guaranteed dates

 

[CrunchyFrog]

More of Nathan Andrews's HL2 Oculus + Hydra project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmOh8WVTVtA

Alex's reaction at 2:30 seems appropriate

That quick bit where is he's grabbing the mine with the gravity gun and glances over his shoulder at Alyx shooting the headcrab zombie is what gets me most excited about this tech. The kind of situational awareness you'll have with this is going to be not only incredibly immersive but also incredibly useful. Backstabbing as a spy in TF2 will get a hell of a lot harder. It'll also help out a whole lot in up close melee confrontations where the rub is more just fighting the camera to keep track of your opponent than the skill required to hit them. It'll make games like Chivalry and Zeno Clash a LOT easier.

 

[Zaptruder]

sony have some great display R&D and optics, and solid manufacturing/logistics. They'd make a great pairing

Eventually, they'll have a great HMD. But I just can't see Sony leading the charge here.

I mean... Sony is a company of slow starts and near misses these days. Some in their company are piqued in their interest over the OR, much like the rest of the gaming world. But it doesn't seem like a company that can get that interest from one side to the side that is capable of actually making a product that can compete with the OR.

But I'd prefer it if OR sets the standard first before Sony starts to muscle in - fracturing VR at this point is just asking for broken hopes and dreams.

And I don't just mean the headset - I mean the whole VR shebang - the HMD, the controllers, the camera and all the ancillary pieces needed to make it work as well as VR should work.

The frustrating thing about Sony is that they actually do have all the pieces (HMD, Move, Eye) in seperate parts... but if they would have the vision to put it together - then they would've already done so by now!

 

[Blizzard]

That quick bit where is he's grabbing the mine with the gravity gun and glances over his shoulder at Alyx shooting the headcrab zombie is what gets me most excited about this tech. The kind of situational awareness you'll have with this is going to be not only incredibly immersive but also incredibly useful. Backstabbing as a spy in TF2 will get a hell of a lot harder. It'll also help out a whole lot in up close melee confrontations where the rub is more just fighting the camera to keep track of your opponent than the skill required to hit them. It'll make games like Chivalry and Zeno Clash a LOT easier.

I don't think this will be the case with stuff like spy backstabs, since in TF2, you can currently glance behind you practically instantly by making a quick moues movement, and spin back to face forwards. With the Rift, not only would turning be slower, but it would be at the risk of hurting your neck if you kept craning over your shoulder, plus possibly causing motion sickness.

Immersive yes, but the real world is slower than a TF2 style game.

 

[Doc Holliday]

That, and a few patents pending.

Ahh, i wasn't aware they actually had patents. I was under the impression they just took tech that was already out there and applied it to VR.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

I don't think this will be the case with stuff like spy backstabs, since in TF2, you can currently glance behind you practically instantly by making a quick moues movement, and spin back to face forwards. With the Rift, not only would turning be slower, but it would be at the risk of hurting your neck if you kept craning over your shoulder, plus possibly causing motion sickness.

Immersive yes, but the real world is slower than a TF2 style game.

Well the difference here is that you can look around without changing your movement trajectory or the aim of your weapon. When on the move I would imagine a turn of the head is much easier than swiveling your entire character around then having to adjust the directional keys in the process.For engineers especially they can keep their wrench pointed toward theeir buildings and continue repairing while taking their eyes off them to glance around on occasion. When you're in situations where your gun's being pinned down by long range rockets or heavy minigun fire, every whack counts, and this makes doing that while still being wary of spies much easier.