Lenovo has a very similar product inbound (down to the hinge on the display) that was announced back in January and also Hololens based. Are those going to work with existing Vive/Rift software?
It really is good fun and there’s no reason not to try it IMO.
Like anything multiplayer, though, the quality of your experience will be hugely influenced by the other people in the games with you. You’ll run into assholes who ruin things on occasion.
Diego
Wonder if MS will announce compatibility with Scorpio for these headsets or an official Xbox branded one.
Does anyone think there is much longevity in VR/AR? I’m wondering if it’s all just a fad and will die down soon enough, at least with gaming anyway. It might have better and more useful applications in other areas (military, healthcare, engineering). I know there is some discussion about how it helps in ecommerce, especially with virtual fitting rooms, furniture in the home, etc.
I just can’t see myself putting on a helmet and going virtual shopping anytime soon, but I might change my mind (if it doesn’t make me feel motion sick)
As long as the viewpoint does not move beyond the 1 on 1 tracking of your head, you will not get sick.
It’s not a fad, but it may be beyond simulation games. I don’t see how things that rely on player freedom of movement such as open world games, RPG’s and shooters as we know them translate to VR without making four fifths of the population puke their guts out.
Maybe those games translate to AR.
I think that new games need to be invented.Stuff like ‘keep talking’ is excellent and not like anything on the desktop. Of course AR would open up a whole new world of possibilities. But the point is that the opportunities and constraints on a game are different for VR and AR than they are on a traditional desktop. A first person shooter does not translate well. A racing game does. Game designers should take note of that.
So, either truly new games or old genres could (and should!) make their comeback.med-core sims that are true games besides just simulating a vehicle. So RPG’y bits of personnel management, some strategy in the choice and planning of a mission and then glorious VR in the execution of it. For me Falcon 3.0 is the prime example of the above. If I could, I would take that design document and remake it with a modern engine.
[quote]
Daydream will soon also support a new category of VR devices, which we call standalone VR headsets. These devices build on what’s already great about smartphone VR, and they make the whole experience even easier and more comfortable. Standalone headsets don’t require a phone or PC. Instead, getting into VR is as simple as putting the thing on. The hardware is fully optimized for VR, and features a new headset tracking technology called WorldSense. WorldSense enables positional tracking, meaning the headset tracks your precise movements in space – and it does this all without any external sensors to install.[/quote]
A couple interesting things being worked on:
The FOVE tech sounds really interesting.
Anyone know what work is being done to combat vr sickness? For those that have 1st gen sets, have you noticed a decrease in impact over time, as has been suggested by the industry?
No decrease. I just feel a little ill if I am in over maybe 60-90mins playing a cockpit game (which is what I mainly play). If I take a break for 15 mins I am fine. Which is probably what I should be doing anyway.
I’ve had little to no illness when playing cockpit games – Elite Dangerous, Euro Truck Simulator 2, and Aerofly – or games with teleportation – Vanishing Realms and Rec Room.
But I wanted to try my hand at a non-cockpit, non-teleportation, non-roomscale game. So I tried out The Solus Project over the weekend. Holy shit – in the first nanosecond after moving my character with the trackpad, I was motion sick. Any time I moved, I felt like I was losing my balance. I toughed it out for maybe ten minutes, but it was a rough experience.
The first link says it right in the preview:
The display aims to improve the vergence-accommodation conflict that plagues today’s VR headsets
which is one of the causes of sickness (or eyestrain).
For those that have 1st gen sets, have you noticed a decrease in impact over time, as has been suggested by the industry?
Yeah I thought I grew more accustomed over time as I rarely get queasy at all. Either that or software today is better than it was! :)
Yes, I should have pointed out that mentioning vergence-accomodation. Curious as to what else is being done. There was a reddit post last year that sounded interesting:
But if that could solve issues, I’d imagine it would be done already. I wonder if that would run into issues with epilepsy.
I imagine what the Fove people are doing will combat it some. There also was some research at Columbia:
I tried that for a few minutes, if that, before switching back to teleporting.
I stopped playing after 30 minutes more though, I just found the Solus project to have a truly terrible touch interface. I am hoping they go back and clean up their VR touch interfaces because it was garbage. If they don’t, I can always go back and play it without VR I guess.
Given that room-scale VR drastically reduces the prevalence of motion sickness, I’m assuming that sensory conflict (vision not matching up with inner ear) is the more serious blocker compared to vergence-accommodation conflict (eye lens not matching up with eyeball orientation).
The most promising technology I’ve seen that addresses sensory conflict is Galvanic Vestibular Simulation (GVS), which is the process of sending electric messages to the nerve in the inner ear that maintains balance. The ultimate goal is to trick your inner ear into sensing the movement that your eyes are seeing on the screen. I mentioned a while ago that the startup vMocion had licensed the Mayo Clinic’s GVS research with the intent of applying it to Virtual Reality. However, no new updates have shown up since last year, so I don’t know what if anything will come from that venture.
Interesting. I didn’t realize VR wasn’t just fun, but would keep you young and healthy while others around you age and die. Maybe the VR guy is orbiting Earth near light speed lol.
The Mayo Clinic folks look like they are based here in the Phoenix area. I wonder if they need test subjects :)
So when is a Battletech/Mechwarrior VR coming out? Seems like that might work since you are in a cockpit.
The VR skeptic is so comically averse to trying new things that he never took advantage of revolutionary advances to medicine.
Nor shaving lol