I checked out NYC and street view is kinda eerie, like I was stuck in the Matrix. Everyone just frozen.
Anyone try the From Other Suns open beta this past weekend? Seems well made for a small studio, but like most VR games it suffers from a lack of depth and content, and tries to compensate for it by including multiplayer (always struck me as a bad idea considering the small VR player base.) Neat Serenity-like ship to walk around, but nothing really to do unless you need to repair something. The gunplay was pretty bland, and it’s easy to abuse doors against AI. I like the concept though, and it’d be nice for them to do well and maybe flesh out the skeleton in a sequel.
An AAA port like Fallout 4 VR is probably the only way we’ll see a living, breathing world in VR, though the early reports haven’t been great (and I fear for my dinky R290 in terms of performance.)
The new Samsung VR set (not for phones for the PC) called Odyssey looks great:
It fixes two of the most significant problems that stopped me considering a Vive/Rift: Motion tracking sensors are built into the headset (so you don’t have to set them up on your walls), and a much larger resolution.
The only potential concern is that it uses the Windows Mixed Reality technology. Apparently that is compatible with SteamVR though, which is promising. When I read that the motion controllers actually work well and that Google Earth VR works with it I think it will be time to consider a VR set.
at $500 i could be convinced to upgrade from my vive if the resolution is not just a marginal improvement (i.e able to read text on virtual desktop without making it gigantic)
I thought this was an interesting exchange. On one hand, it makes a mockery of the situation but on the other, depending on the VR experience, it could be educational. I’m not sure I agree that it immediately crosses an ethical red line. Depends on the design, most likely. I haven’t tried it, but have visited Auschwitz.
I can’t help but think this topic was chosen for a VR experience by the developers because of its provocative nature. There is untapped potential in VR as an educational resource (that we glimpse with things like Google Earth VR) that is done a disservice with stuff like this. I will be very surprised if it tackles the subject maturely and not for cheap thrills.
I’ve been keeping an eye on the various Microsoft-driven sets (Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc,), now including the Samsung. The Samsung set is more expensive than the others, but has 15 degrees wider field of view and AMOLED screens, so the cost seems justified.
All the others that have been announced have a flip-down screen. The guy from Cnet likes it better with the fixed screen because he says you don’t have to make the headband as tight. But I wear glasses, and I thought the flip-down screen would be nice from that standpoint.
Yeah that’s true, it will be interesting to read thorough reviews from the cheaper ones and the samsung ones when they become available. FWIW, I did read that the Acer one (which is cheaper) has a 105 FOV which is much closer to the vive/rift/samsung than the other cheaper ones.
Source for that? Everything I’ve seen has the others, includingAcer, at 95 degrees / 2x 1440 (vs 1600 for Samsung)
Here you go, i read it from the Microsoft store page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/acer-windows-mixed-reality-headset-with-motion-controllers/8ttsf1q97hkp/s5sx
Who knows, it could be a typo.
Huh. If you look at the others, they say it too. I’m wondering if that’s a general spec of Windows Mixed Reality. They have detailed pics of each, though, which is great.
I’m really hoping these will be available to try somewhere. I’m rather worried that VR is going to be a challenge for me because of the various things that tend to make me dizzy/nauseous (not just movement related, but other visual phenomena)
Well, if you read the article, it makes it sound like they’re trying to make it educational and accessible to people of all ages – not turn it into cheap thrills. That’s part of the reason why I wonder about the “ethical red line” response. IMO, the more people are aware of the horrors that happened there and educated about it, the better we are as a society. We certainly don’t need a VR simulation of a gas chamber with 100s of suffocating Jews, though.
I’ve been there as well. It really depends on the nature of the experience. VR is potentially a great way to let people “visit” places/museums they can’t physically travel to. It depends on how it is presented/sensationalized.
The biggest barrier for me is the wall camera set up, but Samsung Odyssey will solve that. My only apprehension is that accuracy will not be as good, so I guess I will have to wait for reviews to know for sure.
FYI, that’s how all of the Microsoft-partnered sets work (none need external cameras)
I think it’s great MS went that direction. It will make these headsets so much more accessible to the mass market.
Yeah, that and the lower cost. Will be interesting to see how big a deal these are this holiday. Seems pretty smart to me that Microsoft is enabling this without taking on the brunt of the hardware production burden themselves.
I haven’t really looked into the Microsoft sets. I imagine there is a trade-off with the tracking. What happens when the controllers are out of view of the cameras? With some games and applications this could actually be a big deal. I do love the idea of a flip-up mask and easy setup would be nice. I feel the need to calibrate the Vive every time I use it. While it isn’t difficult it is a nuisance,
You already have a Vive, lol.
I haven’t used any of the Microsoft sets but I can imagine that hand tracking in the controllers themselves are “good enough” to be “accurate enough” when out of your view.
If you can’t see the hand controllers that you’re actively using, and the sensors on the headset itself similarly cannot see the hand controllers, I don’t see why the tracking of those hand controllers would need to be more precise than what the sensors inside the controllers themselves can provide.
Are there any games out there today which require 100% precise hand controller tracking in cases where you cannot actively see those controllers?