Why the Oculus Rift Has the Upper Hand Next Generation

"The Oculus Rift made waves with its Kickstarter campaign, amassing a huge amount of $2.4 million dollars before it finally ended. With several of its development donation tiers bought out, and the more expensive ones purchased multiple times, it’s clear that developers are looking forward to what this 3D simulator has to offer. It probably has more development support than some of the current handheld consoles. However, what exactly gives it the upper hand over consoles, especially as we approach the next generation? The answer is more surprising than you think." | Explosion.com

[Qrphe]

Although I am really looking forward to this device, the resolution is kind of disappointing.

[Peekayboo]

It might be "fun" for single player games but it has a long way to go to be useful

[Waddy101]

I'm looking forward to this a lot, as soon as it gets released commercially i'm going to buy one.

[OneAboveAll]

Can't wait to find out this small device will probably cost an arm and a leg. Woo hoo... -____-

[Nicaragua]

I don't see it.

The hurdle isn't the resolution or the lag tracking, its the "strapping a huge box to the front of your head" aspect.

[taquito]

max resolution 1280x800 split between each eye=LAST GEN

heck, 1080p is last gen, the savy world is rcoking 1200p, 1440p, and 1600p

people who care about visual fidelity, you know, pc gamers!

[MastaPiff]

I agree it has plenty of potential, problem is potential decreases quickly as time passes... It's gotta get out by the summer of 2013 IMO, considering new consoles might be out just after and launch titles from new consoles moght not be the best way to show off the tech. This could be awesome on mobile, the Wii U & Ouya though. Another factor is price point if we are all saving our $$$ for PS4 &the next Xbox we might not have extra $100's to drop on this. It's crunch time the rest of the way for Rift. It better be highly adjustable also because comfort might be the biggest issue with this. I'm still waiting before I declare a "fail"...

[Hassassin]

They're increasing res for the commercial release... I'll buy one anyways if the game support is there.

Imagine Amnesia with the rift (scared shitless will get a new meaning).

[Kingthrash360]

This is the first I've heard of the device. It has my attention.

[profgerbik]

When will people learn this VR stuff is never going to pan out like it should. It's just impractical. Personally even if I owned one I would probably only use it for a select few games anyway.

Playing with nothing but motion controls can really suck ass sometimes also I know you can use a controller with it but then it's not really Virtual Reality so much then...

People are completely brainwashed by Virtual Reality every time they hear the word.

VR is the same as any screen the only difference is the fact you have a screen shoved in you POV. How that is next gen, I have no idea why but yea a lot of you seem to find that amazing.

I mean just look how bad motion control fails now, barely anyone uses it legitimately at all. Play Mario Kart with motion controls it sucks ass, play Wipeout 2048 it sucks ass.

I mean if you want to suck very badly while having a screen attached to your face is, then by all means enjoy it. Then using a controller it looses the entire meaning of VR.

I will admit it is the most appealing VR device and probably the most affordable but other than that it is nothing new, VR has been around since I was literally 6 years old and far before then, it was the same thing it was then that it is now but now you can connect it to anything and they aren't nearly as bulky or big as they used to be.

You want to see the best thing in reality gaming, you need to watch the Gadget Show, they made this massive tent, projected screens all around it, added guns inside it to shoot you, added rolling floor that controlled the way you walked and made an actual gun that replaced the controller of any FPS.

It was mainly an experiment just for one FPS but just seeing how well it works was amazing, they even had a military official come and test it out and he was even amazed at how useful it was and how something like that could truly be used to train real soldiers for the reality of war.

They played it and it was probably the closest thing to reality you would get in a game, when you get shot in the game, you got shot in the tent with paint ball guns. The whole tent was light controlled also so it completely immersed the person and adapted to the game.

VR just doesn't amaze me and never will unless it actually creates a true feeling of reality like they did in that tent.

Attaching a screen to my face and calling that Virtual Reality just doesn't fly for me. Sorry.

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I'd like to try it out. I don't know if the tech is there yet but I'm glad people are still trying to improve the technology.

[talisker]

There are numerous industries which can benefit from VR and gaming isn't a prime example. Medical imaging, architecture and interior design, presentations of expensive equipment to customers, etc, etc... I bet those people bought the prototypes. They have lots of money for R&D and a huge ROE so they can afford it.

I had Sony Visor for about a month. It's heavy and not much fun to wear for longer than 1-2 hours. You sweat, you get tired of permanent 3D in front of your eyes. It's difficult to put on and off. I can't imagine enjoying games with it. I tried it once with Battlefield and once with Datura and Move. You end up looking straight into the ground (kind of funny) and it's really a pain to adjust if you wear glasses. If I ever bought it, I'd regret it a lot. Of course we should look at those devices as prototypes and toys for very early adopters. They aren't ready to enter the mass market.

Until we get very light glasses with VR display, it will never be fun to use those things. This technology still has a long way to go and resolution and head tracking aren't the main obstacles.

[Korda]

Im a backer of the Oculus Rift and I am really looking forward to it.

To answer some of the misinformation in these comments here: the current price point for the developer version of the Rift is $300.

The release date has been pushed back from a December release to a March 2013 release. This was due to the fact that they had to start mass production in order to fill all the orders from Kickstarter (thousands more than anticipated)

There are currently several games with intended Rift support at launch, including Hawken, Doom BFG Edition, Star Citizen, Routine among others. For more information I suggest you visit http://www.oculusvr.com/

I am excited about the impact this could have on immersion in 1st person games and can't wait to try developing with it.

[R6ex]

March 2013 is for the start of the delivery of the developer's kit only.

Consumer version is likely to be only available end-2013.

I hope Oculus Rift v2 will be better as v1 has only a low res of 640 x 800 per eye.

Still, for $300, I'm going to buy it to have some immersive fun.

[1nsaint]

Yes this gimmicky clucky headband that no one ever heard off, really has the upperhand... -_-