Support NeoGAF

[ashecitism]

stream: http://www.twitch.tv/oculus
liveblogs: http://live.arstechnica.com/oculus-pre-e3-2015-press-conference/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/10/oculus-rift-press-conference-live-blog

---

update2:

Event countdown + new site design + new logo.

https://www.oculus.com

https://www.oculus.com/en-us/press-kit/

update:

http://vrfocus.com/archives/16121/oculus-e3-show-timing-announced-will-be-livestreamed/

Doors for the Oculus VR Pre-E3 show, which takes place at Dogpatch Studios in San Francisco, Calirfornia, will open at 09:00 PT. The show itself will be kicking off at 10:00. It’s not clear how long the event will last, although it has been confirmed that the event will be livestreamed as expected. This effectively makes Oculus VR’s press conference the first of many shows to be held at E3, with Bethesda, Ubisoft, EA, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), Microsoft and Nintendo all holding events in the following week.

---

http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/19/oculus-sends-out-invites-for-special-rift-event-june-11/

Oculus is inviting press to a special event on June 11 in San Francisco. The company provided the image above along with the invite (which also accompanied news consumer pre-orders would start later this year, which bears the tagline “Step into the Rift,” as well, suggesting we’ll probably get more information about the consumer Rift headset launch, including possibly more final hardware details.

 

[-SD-]

Oh, yeah. Pre-E3 hype.

 

[Afrikan]

I need a damn press badge so fucking Bad.

 

[Visualante2]

Predictions
pre-order requires Facebook account
they won't tell you the final price when you make the pre-order
it's north america only, or alternatively $ = € = £

 

[Kyonashi]

Why does it say 'oculus' on the unit but the logo says 'Oculus'? Feels like they should pick either upper or lower case and stick with it.

 

[Sami+]

God I'm so excited to play with VR

 

[DouglasteR]

HYPEEE.

 

[Man]

Four days before the console keynotes and right before the weekend. Good. Time to consume the news.

Really curious what the frontrunner game is going to be.

 

[Phamit]

Predictions
pre-order requires Facebook account
they won't tell you the final price when you make the pre-order
it's north america only, or alternatively $ = € = £

Well, Oculus lost a lawsuit in germany, they are not allowed to call themselves Oculus here, because a traditional company is called Oculus in germany

 

[ashecitism]

Four days before the console keynotes and right before the weekend. Good. Time to consume the news.

Really curious what the frontrunner game is going to be.

And also what about exclusives. Valkyrie is timed. Maybe there are others. What about Oculus internal games etc. Should be interesting.

 

[ekim]

Four days before the console keynotes and right before the weekend. Good. Time to consume the news.

Really curious what the frontrunner game is going to be.

Do we know if Facebook invested in any gaming stuff lately?

 

[Man]

I'm also curious to see if Oculus has built a game engine from scratch (internal or not) but I suspect it hasn't been nearly enough time for that.

 

[jelly]

I wonder how they compare to others, who has the jump on who. Early days so anything is up for grabs.

 

[cyberheater]

Given that it's not coming out until spring of 2016. I'm finding it hard to raise any sort of enthusiasm for the Rift at this point. I'm still very much pissed it's not coming out this year.

 

[ashecitism]

Do we know if Facebook invested in any gaming stuff lately?

No idea, but Oculus has internal dev team(s). And they secured Valkyrie before the FB aqcuisition, so who knows what else.

I'm also curious to see if Oculus has built a game engine from scratch (internal or not) but I suspect it hasn't been nearly enough time for that.

Yea, I think it's a good bet between Unity and UE.

 

[YuShtink]

Hyyyyype. Show off and release info on CV1 at the event with a couple high profile VR titles at the event. Then let the other companies start unveiling their VR games and projects during E3. Sounds like the perfect plan to me.

 

[YuShtink]

Given that it's not coming out until spring of 2016. I'm finding it hard to raise any sort of enthusiasm for the Rift at this point. I'm still very much pissed it's not coming out this year.

Why?

You'll be seeing trailers for new games and shit that probably won't be out until 2018, but you're that upset over a couple month delay from a loosely expected release date that never really existed to begin with? Now is the time to REALLY START getting hyped.

 

[grtkbrandon]

That's my birthday. I would like an invite plz.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

I'm still thinking I'm more interested in the Rift - the Vive looks great but nearly every experience I've had with HTC in the pass has been awful. My last Android device, the Nexus 9, was a complete fucking mess of buggy software and awful build quality (light bleed, back not being applied properly, etc) - it was the first big ticket device I've ever had to return based on build quality alone.

 

[Josman]

Hopefully they reveal their input solution, Vive seriously stole their thunder with lighthouse... Man this E3 is going to be a VR bloodbath... Morpehys, Vive and Oculus, if only Nintendo would somehow join the race it would be perfect

 

[ashecitism]

Hyyyyype. Show off and release info on CV1 at the event with a couple high profile VR titles at the event. Then let the other companies start unveiling their VR games and projects during E3. Sounds like the perfect plan to me.

Hopefully they reveal their input solution, Vive seriously stole their thunder with lighthouse... Man this E3 is going to be a VR bloodbath... Morpehys, Vive and Oculus, if only Nintendo would somehow join the race it would be perfect

Doesn't seem like Valve/HTC have anything planned for E3. Public demos will come near launch (and with that announcements I guess), right now they're focused on getting the dev kits out and getting devs on board.

 

[YuShtink]

I'm still thinking I'm more interested in the Rift - the Vive looks great but nearly every experience I've had with HTC in the pass has been awful. My last Android device, the Nexus 9, was a complete fucking mess of buggy software and awful build quality (light bleed, back not being applied properly, etc) - it was the first big ticket device I've ever had to return based on build quality alone.

The Vive looks really really cool - but if it does in fact release this fall it will still be in a very developmental state (whether they call it that or not). Almost all available software will be stuff original made for the Rift. There will hardly be any quality software available that takes advantage of Lighthouse's capabilities (it's simply impossible considering dev kits still havent even been released to the majority of developers). I don't really see much being there this fall except a ton of untapped potential.

The Oculus guys have been 100% focused on this launch since the inception of their company in 2012. They have their own development studios that have been working for over a year, they have Eve Valyrie as a timed exclusive (and I'm willing to bet more) and a ton of partners in VR multimedia. They have waited until they are truly ready to bring a cohesive, polished, comfortable VR experience from Day 1. Lighthouse system aside, I 100% believe that Oculus will have the best HMD on the market. Plus it's sexy as fuck.

Personally I think I'm going to hold off on Vive for now - get a Rift - and then see what comes of the Vive system over the course of a year before I decide to jump in. Unless some kind of major announcement or decision turns everything on it's head.

 

[Josman]

I'm still thinking I'm more interested in the Rift - the Vive looks great but nearly every experience I've had with HTC in the pass has been awful. My last Android device, the Nexus 9, was a complete fucking mess of buggy software and awful build quality (light bleed, back not being applied properly, etc) - it was the first big ticket device I've ever had to return based on build quality alone.

As far as I know Valve designed the Vive and Lighthouse system and they're coding the OpenVR SDK, It would have full Steam support so at least software wise I'd say it's pretty safe, hardware wise I wouldn't know but almost smartphone manufacturer has given me problems and this is just a headset

 

[mrklaw]

Seems early for preorders, and I'd want to see how much Vive is, but I guess popping in a placeholder preorder won't hurt

 

[Josman]

Doesn't seem like Valve/HTC have anything planned for E3. Public demos will come near launch (and with that announcements I guess), right now they're focused on getting the dev kits out and getting devs on board.

Tha's a bummer, they're launching by the end of the year so I at least expected a more refined prototype or public demos ;(

 

[YuShtink]

Tha's a bummer, they're launching by the end of the year so I at least expected a more refined prototype or public demos ;(

That's my only worry with Vive. I just don't see how they can whip up enough good stuff for a November launch when almost no one even has their hands on a dev kit yet. Not to mention the full Vive+Lighthouse system will most likely be more expensive than the Rift, but will basically only have a bunch of ported Rift dev kit software to use it with Day 1 anyway.

 

[Nzyme32]

The Vive looks really really cool - but if it does in fact release this fall it will still be in a very developmental state (whether they call it that or not). Almost all available software will be stuff original made for the Rift. There will hardly be any quality software available that takes advantage of Lighthouse's capabilities (it's simply impossible considering dev kits still havent even been released to the majority of developers). I don't really see much being there this fall except a ton of untapped potential.

This is jumping to conclusions. There is no info to say what any of them plan, other than that we know Valve and HTC have started later. There's no doubt that Oculus have been amassing content for quite a while, but there is no knowing what Valve have been doing the past year or what quality or state games and their platform will be in at launch.
As far as games go, VR games have been developed with the Rift, but no known final input target. Without knowing how easy substituting tracking and input is, there is no telling what kind of difference would be there for exploiting the potential of either Valve or Oculis' input solutions (and maybe even tracking). They were able to keep the Vive quiet for a long time, it stands to reason there could be more.

I wouldn't place bets on any of them without knowing what their actual lineups and ecosystems look like.

 

[YuShtink]

This is jumping to conclusions. There is no info to say what any of them plan, other than that we know Valve and HTC have started later. There's no doubt that Oculus have been amassing content for quite a while, but there is no knowing what Valve have been doing the past year or what quality or state games and their platform will be in at launch.
As far as games go, VR games have been developed with the Rift, but no known final input target. Without knowing how easy substituting tracking and input is, there is no telling what kind of difference would be there for exploiting the potential of either Valve or Oculis' input solutions (and maybe even tracking). They were able to keep the Vive quiet for a long time, it stands to reason there could be more.

I wouldn't place bets on any of them without knowing what their actual lineups and ecosystems look like.

I'm certainly not 100% sure, but a large number of developers are still waiting for development kits. A handful of high-profile developers have early 3d printed prototypes but that's it. I highly doubt at this point that they will have anything substantial ready by end of year. I don't see stuff like The Gallery being ready for launch. Those guys sound like they are just getting out of the experimental phase with the technology. It kind of sounds like that's the case for everyone currently showing off Vive software. Valve and a bevy of developers will have to pull a miracle out of their ass to compete with stuff like Eve Valkyrie which has been in development since 2013. But like I said, there could be mindblowing announcements ahead that completely prove me wrong, I'm only going with my gut feeling here.

 

[ashecitism]

The Gallery demo they showed at GDC was put together in a couple of months for the Vive, but otherwise I think that game is going to be a seated/standing experience. It's also going to be on the Rift after all. Morpheus wouldn't surprise me either.

 

[Jb]

I wonder if Valve/HTC will have a presence at the PC gamer conference.

 

[Visualante2]

I wonder if Valve/HTC will have a presence at the PC gamer conference.

Chet's always talking about demos. Not sure if these are press facing or just internal play tests. Seems like they are very open with Vive, usually take this attitude that we'd rather make something than talk about it. I think Gamescom is another possibility.

 

[ashecitism]

Gamescom is clashing with TI this year and knowing the latter takes a lot out of Valve they might not be at the former. HTC could of course. After that there's PAX Prime and I don't know of any other big gaming con.

 

[EVIL]

I'm certainly not 100% sure, but a large number of developers are still waiting for development kits. A handful of high-profile developers have early 3d printed prototypes but that's it. I highly doubt at this point that they will have anything substantial ready by end of year. I don't see stuff like The Gallery being ready for launch. Those guys sound like they are just getting out of the experimental phase with the technology. It kind of sounds like that's the case for everyone currently showing off Vive software. Valve and a bevy of developers will have to pull a miracle out of their ass to compete with stuff like Eve Valkyrie which has been in development since 2013. But like I said, there could be mindblowing announcements ahead that completely prove me wrong, I'm only going with my gut feeling here.

Thing is, all the content for seated rift content can work for Vive. so allot of content you see on the oculus will be able to be enjoyed on the vive and WILL be ported to the vive, because as a developer, exclusivity is suicide with such a small market.

The thing where vive will have a headstart is input. they will have devkits in as much developers hands very soon, if not november since their consumer headsets will work as devkits just as fine and oculus has still not shown their input setup. so there is a huge ? there.

 

[Oppo]

Why does it say 'oculus' on the unit but the logo says 'Oculus'? Feels like they should pick either upper or lower case and stick with it.

yeah that stuck out to me too. they have 2 logos right now it seems. is one pre-Facebook maybe?

 

[ashecitism]

Thing is, all the content for seated rift content can work for Vive. so allot of content you see on the oculus will be able to be enjoyed on the vive and WILL be ported to the vive, because as a developer, exclusivity is suicide with such a small market.

This isn't contradicting what he said. He's saying since the majority of the experiences are expected to be seated you're going to end up with premium HW lacking software that takes advantage of it. That's not a good value proposition.

 

[GoonerTRON]

All vr press conferences i have seen are super boring. Give me a demo station in an electronics store.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Thing is, all the content for seated rift content can work for Vive. so allot of content you see on the oculus will be able to be enjoyed on the vive and WILL be ported to the vive, because as a developer, exclusivity is suicide with such a small market.

The thing where vive will have a headstart is input. they will have devkits in as much developers hands very soon, if not november since their consumer headsets will work as devkits just as fine and oculus has still not shown their input setup. so there is a huge ? there.

...but there's a 99% chance Oculus will be revealing everything about the consumer Rift at this conference, including input. Well, everything but price. Also note the new Rift SDK has some large new features not offered by the Vive SDK, so it may not end up being so easy to port content between the two once developers start taking advantage of the new features.

 

[EVIL]

This isn't contradicting what he said. He's saying since the majority of the experiences are expected to be seated you're going to end up with premium HW lacking software that takes advantage of it. That's not a good value proposition.

Sure, but Oculus has the same problem, since their premium input solution isn't even revealed yet. I expect only first party oculus content using their mystery controllers and room scale tracking solution, so in that part Valve will have the time advantage.

But yeah, in a nutshell, it looks like valve is trying to get the lighthouse tech to market asap before having software that supports it, but IMO, that's perfectly fine. This will be something that they will share with oculus. VR will be limited to demos and smallish VR games in the first few years. VR wont take off properly until maybe 5 years from now where there is a healthy dev community for it.

edit:

...but there's a 99% chance Oculus will be revealing everything about the consumer Rift at this conference, including input.

Sure, and then? doesn't enable devs to suddenly develop for it. Best case, is they will reveal an input devkit to be bought right there and then, that would be great, truly, but I don't see it happening.

 

[Wynnebeck]

I'd imagine pressure from other competitors probably have forced their hand faster than what they originally wanted. I want to see more about Morpheus however.

 

[Tregard]

We expecting game announcements? Maybe Lucky's Tail proper footage?

 

[ashecitism]

Sure, but Oculus has the same problem, since their premium input solution isn't even revealed yet. I expect only first party oculus content using their mystery controllers and room scale tracking solution, so in that part Valve will have the time advantage.

But yeah, in a nutshell, it looks like valve is trying to get the lighthouse tech to market asap before having software that supports it, but IMO, that's perfectly fine. This will be something that they will share with oculus. VR will be limited to demos and smallish VR games in the first few years. VR wont take off properly until maybe 5 years from now where there is a healthy dev community for it.

There's no room-scale tracking solution for the Rift. They only said seated and standing experiences.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Sure, but Oculus has the same problem, since their premium input solution isn't even revealed yet. I expect only first party oculus content using their mystery controllers and room scale tracking solution, so in that part Valve will have the time advantage.

Sure, and then? doesn't enable devs to suddenly develop for it. Best case, is they will reveal an input devkit to be bought right there and then, that would be great, truly, but I don't see it happening.

Don't forget there's an entire year left to add features to in-development Rift games, and Oculus has been giving early hardware to big developers and second-party developers for a long time. Also, not everything needs a special VR input system. The best VR game right now is Elite Dangerous, and that game was designed around flight sticks.

There's no room-scale tracking solution for the Rift. They only said seated and standing experiences.

Except the old camera could already do both sitting and standing, so an improved camera probably means more than that. It's one of the things we'll find out at the conference.

 

[Noisepurge]

i want one so much Google Cardboard EVA version has made me a believer!

 

[ashecitism]

Except the old camera could already do both sitting and standing, so an improved camera probably means more than that. It's one of the things we'll find out at the conference.

https://www.oculus.com/blog/first-look-at-the-rift-shipping-q1-2016/

The Oculus Rift builds on the presence, immersion, and comfort of the Crescent Bay prototype with an improved tracking system that supports both seated and standing experiences, as well as a highly refined industrial design, and updated ergonomics for a more natural fit.

 

[Foggy]

Sounds like that's the best time to do that sort of even since they're going to end up having a presence at E3 without having to share the spotlight of having a conference. Have your special time, get people excited, and then give even more access at E3. That looks like the best way to go about it.

I don't doubt there will be an input announced since they've talked many times about being able to get the full VR experience "out of the box". I definitely think it'll be somewhat in line with the current solutions that Valve and Sony have offered and it's going to disappoint people that really want that killer input solution out of the gate. I don't even know if we'll ever get an input solution for VR that's ever going to be as ubiquitous as a gamepad or m/kb. We'll have to see how things evolve, but I wouldn't be shocked if the future of VR all but requires multiple specialized inputs depending on the type of game.

 

[EVIL]

There's no room-scale tracking solution for the Rift. They only said seated and standing experiences.

Not right now, but it will. You could do similar thing like lighthouse with 2 camera's which might explain the requirement of 2 x USB3.0 ports for using the rift.

 

[Dreamwriter]

https://www.oculus.com/blog/first-look-at-the-rift-shipping-q1-2016/

Yeah, so? It doesn't say that sitting and standing are new (and they aren't, like I said the existing camera works for both sitting and standing), nor that that's all it does. Like I said, we'll know at the conference.

 

[Compsiox]

much excitement

 

[cyberheater]

Why?

You'll be seeing trailers for new games and shit that probably won't be out until 2018, but you're that upset over a couple month delay from a loosely expected release date that never really existed to begin with? Now is the time to REALLY START getting hyped.

Okay. Back on team hyped.

Looking forward to seeing what gets shown at E3 this year.

 

[Nzyme32]

The Gallery demo they showed at GDC was put together in a couple of months for the Vive, but otherwise I think that game is going to be a seated/standing experience. It's also going to be on the Rift after all. Morpheus wouldn't surprise me either.

They have mentioned that the room structure of their demo has been a proof of concept for demos, expanding that this isn't the case for the actual game. They just say:

"We have a robust roomscale locomotion system in the works. We hope to share that later this year"

And have also mentioned on reddit that having roomscale functionality also demands scaling that to standing and seated - so they need solutions for all of them.