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Oculus Rift Launch Thread: Ballpark 2016

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Enordash

Member
They had reached 5:15 for Canada earlier this week. Frustrating that they went back but those people do deserve their orders first. I am at 6:04. If I was in the states I would be next shipment.

Think they'll get to 06:19 in the next US shipment? I broke down and looked at the seconds finally.
 

fred

Member
Blimey, new orders are going to be available in August now. Looks like plenty of people are now ordering after reviews have been published. Oculus REALLY need to start ramping up production right now for Christmas.
 

Enordash

Member
Blimey, new orders are going to be available in August now. Looks like plenty of people are now ordering after reviews have been published. Oculus REALLY need to start ramping up production right now for Christmas.

Either that or they finally adjusted the time considering the current shipping rate.
 
Think they'll get to 06:19 in the next US shipment? I broke down and looked at the seconds finally.

If they have a big shipment like this they will. They have almost cleared most of the 5 minute mark in the US.

Considering how many orders are in the 5 minute mark that is huge.
 

Wollan

Member
Chronos completed. Here's my short review:

I really liked it. If you have an Oculus Rift you should buy it.

Pros:
+ Combat is fun and easy to grasp. Block, evade, parry, charge attacks, magic supercharges etc. Enemies will follow you for a surprising length (room to room). Decent amount of enemy variety.
+ Death ages your character by one year is a cool mechanic as besides appearance it also unlocks new abilities (earned from life experience) so death is a leveling mechanic by itself. There's also a traditional level mechanic based on xp from kills that earns you points so you can boost your attributes. At the end of the game I was
55 (meaning 37 deaths)
old and my level was
55 as well
.
+ Atmospheric/ambient sounds without constant music is nice and takes me back to Onimusha/Resident Evil. The fixed camera also makes me reminiscent of those games.
+ Good art and level design with interconnecting sections. I have a very powerful PC but something tells me this game is quite performant (visual bang for bucks). There's a handful of memorable moments throughout the game. The whole thing lasts 12-15 hours or so.

Cons:
- Environment is a bit too static. I appreciate there not being a million destructible vases as I can't control my OCD but I would like the environment to react on a basic level.
- No new game + mode. One play through and you're done. I really don't feel like I missed any secrets (no locked doors etc).
- It's a melee only game. 'Magic' is mainly weapon charges and there's no range combat.

Other notes:
* I like that the bosses are largely physical encounters where it's your on-foot skills that matter and not a puzzle.
* This is not a loot game.
* This would be a good game outside of VR but the extra dimension sure does immerse you! Developer have used scale plenty (both large and small). With that said, it's not a game to show-off VR with as it's more subtle when compared against Luckey's Tale etc. You will catch yourself though wasting a couple of minutes just staring at impossibly large structures.
* I like that notes are read in 1st person (sometimes I look towards a nearby door just to check that I'm safe) and the texts are well written. The overall story of the game was lightly engaging.
* Remember to inspect your inventory for clues.
 

Evo X

Member
:06 order and no update yet. Had no idea spending a few extra seconds pre-ordering would lead to days or weeks of waiting.
 

Wollan

Member
Can you age yourself out of a Chronos run? That does sound like a cool idea either way.
The last skills are handed out at age 80 according to the tree. The trailer sais 'Get thrown back out before the deed is done... you will use that year to grow wiser, stronger... you keep going back, until the dragon dies... or you do."

On another note: Just played the most visually arresting Lucky's Tale level. The volume, the space, felt real. I've seen in VR demos before that a virtual headlamp really sells the presence and there's a full level dedicated to this mechanic in Lucky.
 

LaneDS

Member
The last skills are handed out at age 80 according to the tree. The trailer sais 'Get thrown back out before the deed is done... you will use that year to grow wiser, stronger... you keep going back, until the dragon dies... or you do."

Huh, cool. Will definitely check that game out one day, but probably not until it drops in price once or twice (no CV1 still and now too close to DS3 unfortunately).

Appreciate the impressions though!
 

owlbeak

Member
I have no idea when mine will ship, I ordered ~30 minutes after it was available and estimated ship date was April when the order was placed, but I was curious if anyone is using the CV with Elite Dangerous and, if so, how it is? I heard DK2 was amazing with the game and Elite is the main reason I purchased a Rift and new PC. Been playing Elite since October 2014 and can't wait to dive in with a Rift. I imagine it's a whole other experience.
 
I have no idea when mine will ship, I ordered ~30 minutes after it was available and estimated ship date was April when the order was placed, but I was curious if anyone is using the CV with Elite Dangerous and, if so, how it is? I heard DK2 was amazing with the game and Elite is the main reason I purchased a Rift and new PC. Been playing Elite since October 2014 and can't wait to dive in with a Rift. I imagine it's a whole other experience.
I have a friend who's played Elite for two days with his CV1, after having played it with DK2 for like a year. He loves almost everything about it - the increased resolution, framerate, and most-of-all comfort he says are so much better they are game changers. However, he is incredibly annoyed by the "god-rays" glare problem - Elite being a game that takes place in the blackness of space and dark space stations, there's a lot of high-contrast things to glare up and distract, causing a lot of smearing/washing out of colors. At least in his first two days, he found the problem bad enough he said he'd have preferred it if Oculus had left the displays/lenses the same as DK2 and just made it more comfortable.

Now, it's possible he'll quickly get used to it or find ways to minimize it (like adjusting the game's gamma, and lowering the brightness of the HUD colors), but that's his two-day opinion.
 

owlbeak

Member
I have a friend who's played Elite for two days with his CV1, after having played it with DK2 for like a year. He loves almost everything about it - the increased resolution, framerate, and most-of-all comfort he says are so much better they are game changers. However, he is incredibly annoyed by the "god-rays" glare problem - Elite being a game that takes place in the blackness of space and dark space stations, there's a lot of high-contrast things to glare up and distract, causing a lot of smearing/washing out of colors. At least in his first two days, he found the problem bad enough he said he'd have preferred it if Oculus had left the displays/lenses the same as DK2 and just made it more comfortable.

Now, it's possible he'll quickly get used to it or find ways to minimize it (like adjusting the game's gamma, and lowering the brightness of the HUD colors), but that's his two-day opinion.
Thanks! That sounds awesome, but slightly worrying. I've never used an Oculus or Vive so I'm not sure what I'm in for in regards to the god rays, but I've read it has been bad. Do you think there is any way for them to fix that software wise? Or is it just something we'll have to deal with until the next CV.
 

rnaud

Member
And now a UPS tracking number, it's becoming real.

I've bought a few games that are downloaded and installed. I've tried real hard not to play them on my DK2 to get the full experience :)

It's going to be a great week.
 
Thanks! That sounds awesome, but slightly worrying. I've never used an Oculus or Vive so I'm not sure what I'm in for in regards to the god rays, but I've read it has been bad. Do you think there is any way for them to fix that software wise? Or is it just something we'll have to deal with until the next CV.
The only fix is to make games that limit high-contrast areas where there's something really light on top of something really dark. So it's not a real problem with many Rift games, except during black loading screens and stuff. But space-based games are definitely going to be a problem.
 

vermadas

Member
So if I get virtual desktop on steam right now I get an oculus key or whatever you need to play on oculus home?

Yep. If you've played a uPlay game on Steam before, it's just like those - first time you launch the game you get a key to copy/paste in Oculus Home.

Does the Steam version of Project Cars work with the Oculus currently?

Yes.

Does the picture quality look on par with 1080p? I'm specifically thinking about play games on virtual desktop.

720p at most. However, you get a cool sense of scale in the headset that makes up for some of the image quality loss. Edit: Assuming you're talking about playing in "theater" mode with Virtual Desktop, SteamVR, etc.
 
Yep. If you've played a uPlay game on Steam before, it's just like those - first time you launch the game you get a key to copy/paste in Oculus Home.



Yes.



720p at most. However, you get a cool sense of scale in the headset that makes up for some of the image quality loss. Edit: Assuming you're talking about playing in "theater" mode with Virtual Desktop, SteamVR, etc.

Thanks.
 
Does the picture quality look on par with 1080p? I'm specifically thinking about play games on virtual desktop.

It doesn't look like 1080p or 720p or anything else you've tried. The way these things look in VR is a bit unique. It's important to realize that the true resolution is going to be very low compared to what you might be expecting (lower than 720p even), but the effective resolution will appear a little bit higher because of the movement of your head.
 

StudioTan

Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
So looks like they were actually shipping yesterday. Up to 5:45 now. Looks like they're really trying to get the 1-3 week orders out "on time".

I wouldn't recommend anyone use the Rift for flat screen media, personally... I know other's have different preference levels however

I've watched Netflix on the GearVR, it's certainly watchable.
 
I have no idea when mine will ship, I ordered ~30 minutes after it was available and estimated ship date was April when the order was placed

Did you ever receive the 1-3 weeks email?

I spent over an hour that day refreshing the page non-stop and since it wasn't working properly only got my order in after 40+ minutes of sitting there re-trying all of my credit cards.

It said it would be a May shipment, so I'm just wondering if I'll have any notice before they charge for it since I used a debit card when it finally went through and I'll need to have the money for it on the card before they proceed with the charge. I only went with the debit card because it was the one that happened to finally work :(
 

AwesomeMeat

PossumMeat
So is this worth it if you have VR?

It was for the DK2. Playing games like GTAV, Borderlands,Mirror's Edge and Dishonored were a lot of fun in VR. Keep in mind that some fiddling with settings is required to get things looking just right. Also since these games were not made with VR in mind there can be some motion sickness depending on the game.
 
First thing Im gonna do when my Rift arrives.
Saw a few guys playing Dying Light and Gta5 with Vorpx. Also Alien Isolation, all looked great.

Bad, bad idea! Start out with experiences that are actually built for VR until you get used to the concept. Vorpx is not suitable as a first-time experience, unless you're one of those lucky few who doesn't get motion sickness. Dying Light is going to make you sick within seconds, and GTA5 will probably take just a few seconds more.
 

Wallach

Member
Nice! I was looking for info on 1.3 support for those a few days ago and found nothing. Do you know if they'll be on Oculus Home? This is the kind of game that I don't mind owning there instead of Steam, as I don't see myself ever playing them without VR.

Haven't seen anything on that front, no. Wouldn't mind being able to launch it from Home myself.
 

Enordash

Member
Anyone have their hands on both headsets in here yet? I'd like a reasonably full rundown if anyone is up for providing one.
 
Nine minutes? UK shipments are already in the six minute window. A good pace.

Oculus seem to be in batches by continent I think? US got a big splurge yesterday, hopefully Europe's turn tomorrow, or even better everyone gets a splurge!

I'm in the UK but at 40 minutes and 36 seconds...it still said April delivery when I pre ordered but we'll see.

I didn't get the 1 to 3 weeks email but I did get a "we'll tell you more by 12th April email".

Edit - Durante has both and has posted briefly in the vive thread as well. I imagine he/she is a fairly busy person though (fixing DS3) so not sure how much they can post.
 

Enordash

Member
I saw a bit of Durante's comparison impressions. Not only would I like to know about the visual and tracking quality, I'd like to know which is more comfortable and convenient. Which experience is less finicky. That sort of thing. I'm sure the Vive is more complicated, but you get the more complex experience out of it. Wish I could afford both.
 
Sweet, ETS2 and ATS should be getting 1.3 support likely later today:

Man. I have been on the verge of cancelling my Rift for the past few days, but this stopped that idea dead in the tracks (unless Vive support is to follow shortly).

Do you know if they'll be on Oculus Home? This is the kind of game that I don't mind owning there instead of Steam, as I don't see myself ever playing them without VR.

I don't think this is official support. It is basically done by one or a few of their devs in their off time. Oculus versions have always been released as beta branches on Steam rather than integrated in the main version.
 
Alright, my Rift should finally show up tomorrow. Everyone is saying you can use UPS MyChoice or whatever to digitally sign so UPS can just drop it at the door. I signed up and logged in and I've been looking on the site, but I can't find where to actually digitally sign it. Anyone have any clues?
 
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