Virtual Reality

I have been playing around with an Oculus Rift DK2 for the last couple of days. It’s a VR headset, really designed for developers, ahead of the launch of a consumer version that’ll debut next year. As Iniquitas pointed out in the Elite Dangerous thread, thar be pixels. Even so, I’m astounded by what I’ve seen so far. Oculus has been bought out by Facebook and is going to PC and XBox One. Sony are doing their own version for PS4. VR is going to land big time in 2016, after a lot of false dawns.

VR in the 1990s

We’re a long way past that now. The Elite Dangerous thing is just profound. You can walk around the interior of a spacecraft. Your on-screen hands mirror what your real ones do on the controls, at least to an extent. Other non-Elite highlights would include virtual cinema, or indeed virtual desktop, which allows you to watch Netflix, etc. Watching something that was always intended for TV on a cinema sized screen is quite smart. I may have to dig certain Babylon 5 episodes out :smiley:

The philosophical aspects of the technology really interest me too. We’re getting to the beginning of the end when it comes to VR’s commercial proliferation; I genuinely reckon everything is where it needs to be for the tech to be commercially successful. Once that happens, iteration and differentiation that will drive subsequent attempts will take us in some very interesting directions.

VR. Anyone else experienced it recently and have an opinion? Never seen it, but intrigued? Thoughts on a post, as per.

1 Like

My bro (not just normal bro, actual bro-ther) got one of them development headsets bout like 6 months ago cos he is a computer, like pap. I was not v.interest. There is one inarguable reason why I would never want to wear one:

In any case I’d seen VR before, and it was pretty shitty. My bro(ther) tho was like, no James (he calls me James), ur wrong, these new VR sets are amazing! Honest, bro(ther), it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before!

And then I was like, Doesn’t that defeat the object?

I like to think I won that Argument!

2 Likes

Are the adult entertainment industry forming the spearhead so to speak?

4 Likes

Originally posted by @JBoy

Are the adult entertainment industry forming the spearhead so to speak?

Sotonians; ahead of the curve.

1 Like

Off to a conference in Brighton next week. Hoping to go to some VR talks, and maybe have a go.

Personally, I’m very excited about this. Would love an opportuinity to work on something VR one day.

Looks like Oculus just got blown out of the fucking water.

Nice buy, Zuckerberg!

Hmmm, forgot about my previous post.

I’ve changed my opinion somewhat since, it seems.

I’m somewhat sceptical of VR now. Whilst I think there is huge potential, I think the reality is some way off that.

I’ve had a few short goes on a Hive and Oculus, and there’s still some kinks to be worked out.

They claim the disorientation and ‘sea-sickness’ issue have been resolved, I’m not entirely sure.

There’s also the fact you’ve got the hulking great piece of kit on your head, if the aim of VR is to create total immersion in an experience, this breaks that pretty quickly.

In the case of the Vive, you are literally tethered to the wall. So the intuitive urge to roam around and explore becomes a somewhat treacherous experience.

I’m somewhat biased in my appraoch, bieng in the game industry, but I think it’s a while off before we start seeing really worthwhile VR games. The scope at the minute seems to be very limited to basically a game like any other, where you can move the camera by moving your head. It’s probably great for racing games, or cockpit based games (Starfox VR?). But a lot of what I have seen so far mostly amounts to gimmicks.

I’m sure there are some more useful applications for the technology, but I think it’s going to be some time before this ever gets out of serious geek niche territory.

The price tag on most sets is going to lengthen the cycle for this too. With prices so high (can understand why they are high, not a moan at that specifically) there’s never going to be a huge rush to develop meaningful stuff for it, as the market will be small.

In games, I think this will see it mostly stuck in the gimmick cycle, or VR for VR sake, as opposed to truly unique VR experiences.

It’s gonna get v.complicated legally IMO. I.e. what about when bears & Immigrants get VR headsets, and they go around in packs virtually feeling up other user’s virtual boobs? Will we go virtual jail or real jail?

Until I can hump Emma Willis on it I’m not interested.

1 Like

You laugh, but one thing that has already been suggested is using VR to allow people to act out, erm, unseemly or deviant desires to prevent them from doing it irl.

Not really sure how wise an idea that is.

1 Like

Yeah, fine, until they want to compare what doing it in RL is like compared to doing it VR

1 Like

I ain’t laughing, I saw youtube video other day which was this guy playing GTA, and all he was doing was wandering round and smashing women characters in the face. It was sort of funny at first, cos it was so out of order the way he walking past i.e. cops and i.e. gangsters to attack young mum pushing pram, and cos it wasn’t real, but then you think, jeez, what kind of sick mind makes video like that? Or, to be fair, watches it RIP

Yeah, that is a concern I share Btripz.

lol

1 Like

I’m looking forward to the time when it’s good enough to perform hilarious japes. Right now, tech is limited. As soon as they get Matrix-level stuff going, it’ll be possible to have some serious fun.

You could “spike” someone and put them in an awful situation to mess with their heads. You’re only really bound by your own imagination and capacity for evil.

My personal hell would be watching footy with Andy Townsend, ms pap and Danny Dyer. Nightmare scenario really. If ms pap isn’t talking about football, she’ll be trying to cop for Danny Dyer (don’t ask; I’ve never understood it) leaving me to listen to Andy.

Why is whiny bloke from coldplay smiling and walking past multiple eye disableds / davros/wheelchar dudes?

1 Like

I’m sure you already know this, but that is Mark Zuckerberg, the bloke that runs Facebook.

They bought Oculus,a firm making VR tech. Those people are his willing acolytes. He uses them to power the Facebook network.

Genuinely didn’t know that. I hate him

plus the matrix is starting right there

1 Like

VR was a mistake

2 Likes