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 Post subject: First impressions
PostPosted: 30 Apr 2013, 15:43 
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I'll post what I've posted in other forums I visit frequently. In a nutshell: it's freaking awesome! What surprised me most is how huge are game environments. Watching the Doom 3 corridors, halls and characters at real-life scale is an overwhelming experience. It's incredible to stand in front of an NPC and realizing that he's as tall as you! Then you look down, at the floor, and you see their shoes! And if you look up, at the ceiling, you can see the pipes and lightbulbs... you really have to see it to believe it, it has nothing to do with watching in front of a monitor.

The field of view if huge. It's bigger than a scuba mask (if you have tried one), for me it's big enough to create a believable experience.

Moving your head feels very natural, just like in real life, and it helps to the immersion. And talking about immersion, the 3D effect is way better that any cinema/tv glasses I've ever tried, it's so natural that you forget you are in front of a screen. Each eye receives its own image without any tricks like shuttering or interlacing. It's so convincing that you must see it to believe it.

The first time I tried it I was standing and I felt a bit of vertigo when walking with my Xbox 360 controller, walking slowly helps. After taking a rest I played for almost two hours with no issues.

Bad things? Sure. You can see the pixels and the black spaces between them. When you have been playing for 5 minutes you forget about it, but the resolution is really low and it's difficult to appreciate details at medium and far distances. Also the display is a bit blurry when you look around.

Another small problem is the positional tracking. The Rift tracker can track roll, pitch and yaw, but it can not detect horizontal movements like getting closer or further away from the computer screen peering into something. I mean, if you move your head but don't move the Rift, it will not record it. This will probably be fixed in the consumer version and it's especially important for games where you are inside a cockpit.

In my opinion, this thing is not ready for mass market yet, but I'm sure that with a better screen and true positional tracking, it will change gaming forever.

Should you buy one? It's difficult to answer. It won't replace your current monitor(s) for gaming, but if you have the money and you are the kind of geek that loves new technologies and wants to be surprised, go for it. Anyway if you have the chance, try it. You will never forget your first time. Nothing has ever surprised me so much in my long gaming life.

Take a look at this video, because the reactions of several members of my family have been very similar:

http://www.dbtv.no/?vid=2328907978001

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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 30 Apr 2013, 17:12 
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ahhhh i really regret not buying one!

Please tell me that nearly no games are working yet! That would help my soul..... :nudgenudge:

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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 02 May 2013, 09:05 
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Hahaha... well, there are very few playable commercial games right now. I have tried the following:

- Team Fortress 2 (official)
- Doom 3 and episodes (via community patch)
- Half Life 2 and episodes, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 (via community driver)

In those games the experience is excellent (not so great in Portal 2). I still must try Dear Esther, Mirror's Edge and Skyrim (but the car section in Half Life 2 is epic!!!). A new (paid) driver called VorpX is on its way, this one will support nearly 30 games. And FTNOIR (a community driver) is being adapted to support the Oculus tracker, so it will be compatible with all games that support TrackIR (for tracking, stereo3D will have to be handled separately).

Last night I played 2 hours non-stop of Doom 3. After 5 minutes playing I stopped noticing the low resolution and the screendoor effect, and I got immersed in the game as I had never been before. Guys, seriously, this is the most amazing thing I have ever tried, even with its shortcomings (it's very difficult to read the PDA, for example). The first time a full-size zombie approached me, walking slowly, left me breathless.

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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 02 May 2013, 09:39 
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I would love to try one out! To bad I am prone to motion sickness. Do you feel that this is something you can get used to?

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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 05 May 2013, 14:19 
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Thanks for the feedback! :)

I've pre-ordered a kit myself, but it will take a while before it arrives I think. Meanwhile, I have been reading up a bit on other people's impressions instead.

Loved the video you made of your sister trying out the Rift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V86yojE2 ... e=youtu.be

:lol:

I see from a slide over at Oculus Rift developer forums that they have a devkit 2 planned for Q3 2013 and the consumer kit not before Q3 2014:
https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/v ... f=26&t=862

Reading the impressions people have (low res, screen door effect, nausea, motion blur etc be damned), I want one now!


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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 05 May 2013, 19:57 
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Wijkert wrote:
I would love to try one out! To bad I am prone to motion sickness. Do you feel that this is something you can get used to?


While waiting for LordJuanlo's answer, I can offer some of which I found around on the internet regarding motion sickness. :)

I've been reading up a LOT about OR and to me it seems like the general impression is that most get some motion sickness after some initial usage but it gets less after some time (once you get your "VR" legs its called). I have 3D vision and HD3D setup, where both have had some time where I had to get used to different convergence and depth settings and also some artifacts like 2D shadows which made a bit naseaous. Its an adjustment and I don't think anyone will know how it hits before you put the Oculus Rift on. There is no default setting fits all either, so to get it optimal, you need to adjust settings especially for you.

Good news is that the things that trigger motion sickness for you, might not be triggered with OR, bad news is that it might be worse.

Here's the experience from one who gets motion sick fast:

Quote:
I’ve never met anyone more prone to motion sickness than I am. I get motion sick sitting in a rocking chair. Standing still in the Rift, I was totally fine – and for the most part, even just standing still is a jaw-droppingly awesome experience on its own. Moving around took some getting used to, but I got used to it pretty quickly. This definitely isn’t something you’re going to want to do for extended periods of time.

http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2013/0 ... an-action/

A thread on OR developer forum regarding motion sickness:
http://oculusrift.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1593

And a thread about it from someone who don't get it on MTBS3D:
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=17398

Cymatic Bruce have a lot of great videos of his impressions with OR and is talking a bit about motion sickness in the first ones. Seems adjusting it correctly made a great impact for him. He also talks a bit in one of his videos about moving his body while moving in VR to counter the motion sickness. In later video's it seems he has gotten more used to it. Here's his channel on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HapPProductions

The positive about the motion sickness is that people actually feel disconnected from real life, so the body and brain starts to react more instictively on movement ingame. Shows Oculus works at least. Hopefully with better controls more suited to VR like Razer Hydra, position tracking, better screens and games more customized to VR will make it easier to reconnect the body into whats happening in VR.


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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 05 May 2013, 20:05 
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Thanks for the informative reply!

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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 05 May 2013, 20:19 
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Wijkert wrote:
Thanks for the informative reply!


No problem. :)

I forgot the most important thing of all, you CAN try a dev kit if you wish. There are people offering others to try out theirs here:

link

I see there are a couple in Netherlands as well.

Thread about it here:
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=16542


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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 06 May 2013, 08:33 
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I have no idea if you can get used to motion sickness, as I don't suffer from it. But I can tell you that the first time I did the Unreal Coaster demo it impressed me and I felt a bit of vertigo, but after doing it a couple of times, the vertigo went away.

Here's a cool video of my sister getting really scared and trying to run away from a Half Life 2 antlion. It was totally unexpected and very funny. It's in Spanish but I added English captions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V86yojE2lNQ

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 Post subject: Re: First impressions
PostPosted: 08 May 2013, 08:37 
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An even funnier video of my family trying the Unreal Coaster on the Oculus Rift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrK2rbHyY_w

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