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The London Heist PS4 Morpheus VR demo (video)

Krejlooc

Banned
awesome.

I had a vision of a next-gen isometric view Populous type game for VR. You'd feel like god looking down on your peasants or enemies as you gain prayer power and rain down fire and brimstone on your enemies towns lol. Sounded like fun in my head.

Epic games has a VR demo like you describe:

KJrKQRF.png


Valve refers to it as the "little people" demo. You basically play as a god against another god controlling armies of tiny people as they fight for you.
 

Hale-XF11

Member
This really helps to solidify my desire for a motion controller solution in VR, which I think Valve has, but Oculus doesn't. I don't want to be stuck using a gamepad in VR for everything.
 
Imagine, Myst VR, that features puzzles that play with your senses in VR, that require you to explore and notice the details... it would be like the original, heralding a new way to look at games.

This sounds like it could be amazing with VR plus the Moves. Especially with how into it people are seemingly getting in these demos.

Sony might want to mandate the use of the stereo camera for VR, though. Just another depth-cue to error correct against. Also, they sell them.

For the "Myst experience" reasons mentioned upthread, I feel more and more each day like Jonathan Blow has been taking his time to polish The Witness, because it will be a showpiece title for this thing, and he wants to introduce them together. I know he's doing it on PC as well but he gets a big boost from Sony PR w/r/t PS4 version of the game.

Oh yeah, I could see this.
 

Soi-Fong

Member
I reaaaaaally think VR is the next big nothing.

It´ll probably end up being pretty successful in the Porn industry though.

Oh how wrong you are... I can't wait till all the doubters including yourself get served a nice helping of crow...
 
I think this argument is hilariously missing the forest from the trees

Watching TV in and of itself makes you look like a moron. We're apes staring at walls with just enough cognition to not drool on our selves. The only reason you don't "cringe" is because it's become socially acceptable. Soon, too, will VR and other wearables.

Hmmm I understand what you mean but its far from the same though. The whole body moving like its in the middle of an action scene vs. staring at a box.. Its cringe worhty for all these reasons: Giant headset on the head + shiny balls controllers + whole body movement. Now if its not for you, great! But i cant see this becoming the usual stuff you see people do. The fact that its a 'short term' thing also makes it less mass-appealing I think. ( By short term I mean that most people wont use for more then half an hour per session as you are completely unaware of your real surroundings. This might not be an issue for the single gamer outthere, but I just can't see how a father will use this for a long gaming session while his kid and wife are home. The fact that you are completely in the game is great... but at the same time you are completely blocking your surrounding from getting your attention. To close this post.. this is my opinion... no need to take it personally.

Edit: by the way, i'm pretty sure VR can be successfull but for a short period only, cause people will realise they rarely use it... similar to the Wii, Kinect etc. (I'm generalizing but you get my point. im talking about the non-hardcore gaming crowd here)
 

Shanlei91

Sonic handles my blue balls
I love all of this motion stuff, Wii / Kinect / PS Move, with Move easily being the most accurate and satisfying of the bunch.

But I don't take advantage of it much because I play video games to relax and that involves sitting on a couch, not standing up and bouncing around. The video looks cool, and something I would want to try, but not something I would go home at night to play. I wonder if it will become big or just be the next PS Move or Rockband drumset in regards to something that is played for a while then forgotten by most.
 

convo

Member
People always looked silly with big VR-headsets on whichever one it is, they just became more comfortable and slicker looking, it's the experience that counts really. It's like a person with a night vision camera talking shit at others that try to traverse a pitch black room with obstacles. It makes no sense at all.
 
All this talk of VR (demo'd Crystal Cove Rift at PAX) is awesome, but has there been any word on whether these devices can be used as an hmd in lieu of a TV screen?
If so that is the best feature to me, full immersion and the gigantic looking display in all of my PS4 titles regardless if the title is VR or not would make Morpheus a day one for me.
 
They should make a game using the Sharpshooter. Killzone 3 didn't really do it for me, what with the whole thing being on the tv (and the horrible framerate).
 

Krejlooc

Banned
All this talk of VR (demo'd Crystal Cove Rift at PAX) is awesome, but has there been any word on whether these devices can be used as an hmd in lieu of a TV screen?
If so that is the best feature to me, full immersion and the gigantic looking display in all of my PS4 titles regardless if the title is VR or not would make Morpheus a day one for me.

The problem with the display itself is that the optic lenses surrounding the rift curve the display to the extents of your vision. It's not like you're seeing a screen really up close, it's like the screen is surrounding your eyeballs (to a degree).

The actual display on these devices is just normal screen, usually a cell phone screen running in landscape orientation (read: software rotated). As an example, if you connect your rift to a PC and aren't running a rift game, you can pop off the lenses and look at the screen inside, and it's just a normal computer monitor:

hLdyHta.jpg


Now, the problem with viewing non-VR adjusted images on a VR display is that A) the image is 1 single screen displayed across two eyes, so you see half of the image on your left eye and half of the image on your right eye. Our brains aren't wired to take in imagery like this, so it winds up being slightly physically painful and we can't make sense of what we see at all. And B) the image is distorted around your peripheral, and the fovea of the lenses makes it so only the center has any sort of clarity.

Now, there are tons of programs that will, as an example, render the screen to a floating window in VR space, like so:

d9IeonY.jpg


Once again, without the lenses, you simply see something like this:

CwW0fb5.jpg


Now, the rift DK2 has a very special undocumented feature that not many know about. If you drive a DK2 at 120 hz (the DK2 normally operates at 70 hz) if enters a special mirroring mode where the display naturally doubles up. This is desktop mode and each view port will display the entire desktop scaled down. Many thought nvidia's drivers were fucked when using the rift - in actuality, it was Nvidia's 3DTV drivers that were driving the rift at 120 hz causing mirroring mode.

TL;DR: what you describe isn't only possible, it's a major selling point of these devices. VR movie theaters are huge on gear VR:

3WBDp4n.png


6ANRE7L.png

.
 
Epic games has a VR demo like you describe:

KJrKQRF.png


Valve refers to it as the "little people" demo. You basically play as a god against another god controlling armies of tiny people as they fight for you.

Nice! I'm glad people are already thinking outside the realm of pure First person games for VR.
 

Thanks for taking the time to respond, perhaps I am dense, but it sounds like either Morpheus or the Rift can do a mirror mode if told to do so and thusly enabling hmd functionality?

If that is not the case and I am misunderstanding, then can software be written that does not use tracking VR tech but still scale properly to the Rift/Morpheus? I am picturing playing something like Bloodborne on this device for the immersion benefit of the device, similar to what headphones do for audio.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Nice! I'm glad people are already thinking outside the realm of pure First person games for VR.

Epic also has a really cool demo called couch knights.

You can completely fuck with your perception of reality using vr. This is one of the most nuts things imaginable:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghgbycqb92c

He steps out of his body. He, in first person, exits his body, and watches himself in third person.

There is also really cool shit like the be another person project, which lets you switch bodies with someone else in the same room.

Vr is insane when you start working with it.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Thanks for taking the time to respond, perhaps I am dense, but it sounds like either Morpheus or the Rift can do a mirror mode if told to do so and thusly enabling hmd functionality?

If that is not the case and I am misunderstanding, then can software be written that does not use tracking VR tech but still scale properly to the Rift/Morpheus? I am picturing playing something like Bloodborne on this device for the immersion benefit of the device, similar to what headphones do for audio.

You can disable headtracking in things like vorpx or vireio. The scaling stuff is because of ipd offset and barrel distortion. This is why reading people comparing vr to 3dtv is so frustrating - vr is maaaaany components at once, not just all or nothing.

So yeah, you can disable headtracking and still perceive the game like you are there. I dunno why anyone would do that, though.
 

Mihos

Gold Member
All this talk of VR (demo'd Crystal Cove Rift at PAX) is awesome, but has there been any word on whether these devices can be used as an hmd in lieu of a TV screen?
If so that is the best feature to me, full immersion and the gigantic looking display in all of my PS4 titles regardless if the title is VR or not would make Morpheus a day one for me.

Watching a 3D movie like the Avengers 3D in the VR movie theater is awesome in a way that is hard to describe... little things like the way the light from movie on the screen reflects off environment really sells it, and gives you a good idea of what glasses free 3D would be like... even though your are wearing the goggles... like I said, hard to describe.
 
You can disable headtracking in things like vorpx or vireio. The scaling stuff is because of ipd offset and barrel distortion. This is why reading people comparing vr to 3dtv is so frustrating - vr is maaaaany components at once, not just all or nothing.

So yeah, you can disable headtracking and still perceive the game like you are there. I dunno why anyone would do that, though.

Well a main advantage in my mind is that my Panasonic plasma is beautiful, but it's 55 inches and 10 feet away; I perceive my game world through essentially what amounts to a small window that is mounted on a plaster wall.
These headsets use low persistence oled panels at such a distance from the user's eyes that the image clarity, and motion clarity, and sheer scope of the perceived screen size would blow users away.

I don't even need to be "in the world" to get major benefits from such a device as long as the image can be scaled to a point where it isn't distorted like you suggested can happen.
 

Respawn

Banned
That was quite delightful. I had a good chuckle how the digital world have you thinking you're actually there. Matrix indeed.
 
I lost count of how many beers I've spilled while flailing away with the Kinect last gen... I can only imagine the amount of wasted suds this will produce in my house.
 

Mihos

Gold Member
I lost count of how many beers I've spilled while flailing away with the Kinect last gen... I can only imagine the amount of wasted suds this will produce in my house.

You will need one of those beer hats for this.

Source: I am wearing a beer hat
 

halfbeast

Banned
The more I see demos like this, the more I think your typicla action game ISN'T what VR will be about.

The games that put you in a place to admire the details and to challenge your perceptions, will be the games that will truly offer something interesting and unique, and what will get people to try it. Not arcade on rails/wha-a-mole style shooters.

Something like say the Myst series, making a comeback would be AMAZING.

Imagine, Myst VR, that features puzzles that play with your senses in VR, that require you to explore and notice the details... it would be like the original, heralding a new way to look at games.

exactly this.

if VR is being used to sell me the same boring cover based shooters, please tell me now, so I can save those 200-300 bucks.

also, not really sure how I feel about games where I need a spotter. :/
 
Haha, that looks ridiculous, even the guy next to him can't stop smiling! :D

I get the feeling that the only difference between this and Kinect when it comes to looking like a dumbass is that, with this, you can't see the look of shame and disdain on the faces of those you love as you flail around like an asshole.

I reaaaaaally think VR is the next big nothing.

It´ll probably end up being pretty successful in the Porn industry though.

Morpheus vacuum tube attachment (named "Succubus™") - $79.99
 

Circinus

Member
Looks great. Player seems to be really enjoying it and seems very immersed.

Looking forward to all kinds of VR. Lots of great experiences that will be more immersive than ever will arise I think.
 
I won't bother with Morpheus for regular games, but experiences like these and stuff like The Deep are going to be the reason I buy it. I just hope Sony support it, unlike the Vita and Move. I mean, at least the indie scene will have some fun stuff for it.

Either way, it's going to be fun!
 

Circinus

Member
I won't bother with Morpheus for regular games, but experiences like these and stuff like The Deep are going to be the reason I buy it. I just hope Sony support it, unlike the Vita and Move. I mean, at least the indie scene will have some fun stuff for it.

Either way, it's going to be fun!

I don't think you should kid yourself there, PS Vita has been supported way better than PS4 so far by SCE in terms of first-party games. And even beyond that.
 

hesido

Member
I hope PS4 gets DLNA by the time morpheus launches. I like that gigantic screen stuff. (Although the reduced resolution could be a problem?)
 

Circinus

Member
Full games on Morpheus will have very dated graphics though, right? :(

Not necessarily dated, but they'll definitely have to make compromises somewhere.

But it's still possible to have good graphics without taxing hardware too much, especially with more cartoony art styles.
 

jaypah

Member
Beer and vr dont mix well. It's a very good way to make yourself sick.

I drink a 6 pack while I use my DK2 all the time, but I understand that it's probably not a good idea for everyone. I also don't get motion sickness no matter what I try. As a side note I've also gotten really good at grabbing my beer from my side-table without taking the Rift off!
 

Saganator

Member
I can not fucking wait for this to be in my ha... on my head. I just hope it doesn't give me motion sickness.

I think VR is the next big thing. I remember VR's first flop, but I think it's finally here and here to stay.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
I don't really see the boarders when looking forward. I can't really see the upper limits at all, actually. I see the boarders mainly when I am turning my head or I crane my eyes hard left or right. One difference in VR, for the moment, is that there is no eye tracking, and the lenses have a very narrow fovea. Because of this, you can't really look around with your eyes like you can in real life. Eye tracking and foveated rendering and improved optics will eventually fix this. Eye tracking is extremely early tech however, it won't be ready for another 5 or so years. The FOVE is an eye-tracking enabled VR headset that demoed at SVVR the other day, but people said they got incredibly sick from it because our proprioception is at it's absolute strongest in our eyes. We need extremely low latency tracking for the eyes.

Going forward, now that VR devices are already in the stage where many are using dual displays, the horizontal boarders will gradually move out until they are unnoticeable. I have a pair of wearality high FOV lenses on order, I plan on trying to retrofit them into a headset. Those give about 150 degree FOV.

Eye tracking has been used in SLR cameras in the early 90s to pick a focus point based on where you look (ECF) and it seemed to work exceptionally well even back then. I think that its a cost saving measure for now.

Edit: The reason why Canon do not include ECF in the newer DSLR's is, that there is no demand among photographers for it (purists who seem to hate everything "auto") and they rather save the cost - tech is ready to go whenever they have a businescase for it.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Eye tracking has been used in SLR cameras in the early 90s to pick a focus point based on where you look (ECF) and it seemed to work exceptionally well even back then. I think that its a cost saving measure for now.

Eye tracking obviously exists. Sub 2-ms eye tracking does not exist in any form currently. Using eye tracking to select a slowly transitioning focal point in a stationary-in-space SLR camera screen is much different than using eye tracking for foveated rendering in virtual reality.

It's not a cost saving measure, the technology is flat-out impossible at the moment with any degree of utility unless you want to make people incredibly sick.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Eye tracking obviously exists. Sub 2-ms eye tracking does not exist in any form currently. Using eye tracking to select a slowly transitioning focal point in a stationary-in-space SLR camera screen is much different than using eye tracking for foveated rendering in virtual reality.

It's not a cost saving measure, the technology is flat-out impossible at the moment with any degree of utility unless you want to make people incredibly sick.

It was used in sports photography - that was its selling point. And if the tech to track ones head motion with sensors or camera based light sources is "fast enough" - so would a camera be that tracks your eyes movement. I would guess.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
It was used in sports photography - that was its selling point. And if the tech to track ones head motion with sensors or camera based light sources is "fast enough" - so would a camera be that tracks your eyes movement. I would guess.

You're missing the enormous step in the process - the eye tracking you are talking about in sports photography is just forcing a focal point on the camera. In VR, it's not merely a focal point, it's a user input. Eye tracking adds to motion-to-photon latency, it becomes an entirely new part of the rendering process. Without eye tracking, we struggle to hit sub 2-ms latency in total render loop. Throwing it in slows things down considerably.

The world around the photographer does not have to wait for the eye tracking in the SLR camera to react. It does in VR.
 

Novocaine

Member
It's impressive for sure.

But it also suffers from the same thing that keeps me from plugging in my Kinect and made me despise the Wii-motes and that is waving my arms around and moving all over the place.

I'm sure this will be okay at first but how long until the gimmick wears off? Is it going to be worth the cost of admission? I still haven't used a VR headset so I'm not writing it off completely or anything just yet. But from what I've seen I think I'd be better off saving that money.
 

Stampy

Member
That looks as fun as any other motion game. Cool at first moment. But afterwards it becomes lame and repetitive and too unatural to be worth the hasle. I don't think this will be it for the long run. :/
 

Krejlooc

Banned
It's impressive for sure.

But it also suffers from the same thing that keeps me from plugging in my Kinect and made me despise the Wii-motes and that is waving my arms around and moving all over the place.

I'm sure this will be okay at first but how long until the gimmick wears off? Is it going to be worth the cost of admission? I still haven't used a VR headset so I'm not writing it off completely or anything just yet. But from what I've seen I think I'd be better off saving that money.

It's not a gimmick, nor is VR a spectacle. People aren't nuts over VR because they think it's just the bees knees effect, they are high on its utility. You're not just doing the same things you did with a gamepad with some unique twists, VR presents information not possible on other screens.

The gimmick doesn't "wear off." The "gimmick" in this sense is akin to television's "gimmick" of displaying motion pictures. It's a fundamental shift in display technology. Not a fun twist.
 
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