Oculus Has Already Literally Shot Itself in its Virtual Foot

Mark from Gamersledge takes a look at how the Oculus Rift team got its marketing message so very, very wrong at its pre-E3 press conference today.

[SniperControl]

I dont get this partnership, so you still need a beefy PC in order to stream to the Rift?

The tumble weed is tumbling after that announcement.

[bananaboats]

"The tumble weed is tumbling after that announcement."

Not from what I been seeing. Seems people are excited about that partnership.

Good job on MS part for locking this down. Smart move

[Eonjay]

"Not from what I been seeing. Seems people are excited about that partnership. "

Oh... those are probably fanboys, PR folks or people who haven't seen the demo yet. You should check it out. Then tell me why someone should be excited about this?

[Testfire]

The people that are excited really don't understand the OR, what it takes to run and what the X1 is really going to be able to do with it.

[NatureOfLogic_]

Please, just stop. If Xbox fans don't want to miss out on true VR experiences they'll have to purchase a PS4 or just build a powerful PC that will be able to handle Oculus Rift.

[JasonKCK]

Eonjay to be fair those same type of fanboys are also trying to downplay it. Two sides to every coin.

I think VR is a cool idea. I want it to succeed but can't shake that 3Dtv feeling.

[Charybdis]

Nice was kinda expecting windows 10 to support oculus rift. With xbox one also being part of the windows 10 platform it kinda makes sense, hopefully they will open up their console for more direct support instead of only streaming?. Always good to have multiple choices. Also hoping for more integration of occulus and other vr and ar devices into the wndows 10 platform and by that extension also the xbox one. If a game supports vr (or ar)it would be nice to be able to pick your vr display device of choice

[pinkcrocodile75]

While the announcement is great for fans of VR, am I the only one who feels that VR leaves me cold?

I've tried VR before and although it's different I cannot ever envisage me buying Oculus or Morpheus. I'd rather not bother.

However AR DOES interest me and I like the idea of playing with my environment.

Am I the only one who feels like this?

[Godmars290]

How is it really that smart of a move when they have their own VR tech?

In lot of ways this is no better than what they tried to do with cable while talking about making their own similar service.

[darthv72]

hmmm... you need a beefy PC if you are actually "playing" vr games on the OR. when it comes to streaming then it would likely be a regular PC to pass on the video stream to the OR.

Like how the playstation TV is a go-between for streaming PS4 games in another room. All the real processing of the game data is still being handled by the console. (xb1 for the OR and PS4 for the PSTV)

[Gority]

That makes no sense........

In MS case, XB1 > PC > OR

In this case, OR is just the output device.

In Sony case, PS4 > Vita TV > TV

If you are going to buy an OR anyway and prefer playing on that, it's an extra feature, nice to have. It's not a reason to purchase an OR or an X1. Not a game changer. Plus X1 + PC + OR = expensive to not doing any VR at all.

[rainslacker]

For me, I fail to see how it's going to gain a lot of VR support given that it's not available directly from the Xbox. IF it requires a PC to handle everything, why not just make the game directly for PC and avoid paying MS their licensing fees.

It would seem better to cut out the middle man. As far as I know, OR can already stream anything from a PC, so this tech isn't even really exclusive to the Xbox, as many different things can be streamed to a PC, and undoubtedly AR types stuff could already be implemented without the need for an X1.

Just seems like a half-a** implementation of the technology so MS can say, "Hey, look what you can do with Xbox and Windows 10". Otherwise, I am thinking the same as Gority's last statement there. It's really just a fancy way to do a HMD. I can see other ways it can be implemented which would be more compelling, particularly in a horror game, but as it's presented, it's just fracturing the market for the feature, and likely won't be implemented in anything meaningful.

[donthate]

Depends on what you mean by beefy PC?

This article primarily talks about the game streaming from Xbox One to the Oculus Rift.

If you are talking about the PC itself connected directly to the Oculus Rift (which is off topic), then the processing power needed on a PC depends on the game. If Sony can make it happen on PS4, I'm sure even a modern low-end PC will have no problem.

[ThanatosDMC]

I think, he is considering the hardware spec requirements for the Occulus Rift to make it even work properly.

[SniperControl]

The Rift is plugged into the PC, the X1 streams the game to the PC, the PC creates a virtual room and sofa, from there it's goes to the Rift.

There, is that enough on topic for you?

[sonic989]

i like your direct console to PC comparison it just shows how knowledgeable people can be .
consoles are built differently wasnt it stated before even mark cerny said it, and also said thats why consoles in the past used power pc cpus instead of x86 to compete with more powerful pcs but according to him the x86 have evolved with intel and amd current work and can be modified to suit what they believe is great for a game system without compromising anything of what could have been achieved with the power pc architecture .
and lets just throw all that aside and focus on the fact that morphous was built for PS4 in mind knowing everything needed for the system and stabilizing it to function probably i dont think oculus was built for xbox it was built pcs and very powerful ones too , its obvious that they want to cut any internal processing inside the headset to reduce cost and size and be dependent on the pc specs you have, morphuos isnt like that .

[Timesplitter14]

I really hope Valve's VR headset wins the VR war. It's much more open and no-nonsense than oculus. And Morpheus is platform-specific so it's not really an option

[moomoo319]

Morpheus most certainly is an option.

Its called buy a PS4, buy a morpheus, and have a VR experience better than whatever the hell Phil Spencer just demonstrated lol.

[brads4]

Based on what is it a better experience? Your intuition?

[Timesplitter14]

@brads
I'm guessing it's based on the average N4G user's blatant insecurity that surfaces whenever the PS4 is doubted.

it's the same kind of insecurity that -mysteriously- changed N4G's general stance on remasters overnight the day the Uncharted collection was announced

[rainslacker]

Ideally, for VR to really take off, a single base to code VR experiences to would be the most beneficial to consumers and developers. Once all that is settled, if it ever is, then VR could see a lot of support without the headaches involved of trying to code several different API's, and the hardware itself can stand on it's own features instead of the support one company can muster for the tech.

[SniperControl]

Hang on guys, from what i can see, the Rift is plugged into the PC and not the X1, so your streaming from the X1 to PC, then through onto the Rift. There is still need for the PC to do some work creating the virtual room and virtual screen, plus is there any sort of headtracking going on?

Rift's minimum spec equates to a Gtx670, which is still a pretty decent gpu.

[Orbertron]

try this Q&A xbox video

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[DivoJones]

It's even more simple than that.. you need a beefy PC to run the oculus, period. It's a dual-screen monitor that renders 3d, so two different images that need to be in perfect sync. The recommended PC specs were a quad core i7, and a very high end graphics card, 8gb ram, etc, 2x USB 3.0 ports. Maybe later versions will utilize USB C, for it's higher bandwidth and a simpler interface.. if it can handle dual 4k screens it should be able to handle what the Oculus requires.

The screen room for 2d games isn't all that bad, but I can certainly understand why people are disappointed/amused. That said, you certainly can't expect it to magically make every game a 3d immersive experience.. games need to be developed specifically for that purpose.

[SmielmaN]

Too... Much.... Logic.... Must.... Bubble... Up.... Well said.

[Azzanation]

More options are always a good thing. This isn't MS's focus, this is only to counter its competitors with VR devices. MS's true focus is AR (Hololens)

O-R is an accessories usable on multiple devices, nothing bad can come from this. I am more interested in AR technology, I am past the VR stage. It doesn't impress me and never did.

[bunt-custardly]

I disagree with the author but I can understand why he thinks this way.

Let me enlighten you.

There's something rather special being able to watch movies or play games on a massive cinema screen (in 2D) using a VR headset. It's not all about making from the ground up VR experiences as there will be plenty of those.

As an extra app this is a nice addition and not a replacement.

[Thatguy-310]

So your'e telling me that you would prefer playing on a virtual screen rather than on a real one?? What 0.o???? heck the resolution was atrocious why would you even bother with it when the experience will be better out here in the real world.

[SteamPowered]

Actually the resolution is amazing because the pixels and viewing surface are so small. It can simulate a curved screen in any aspect and in roughly 2-3K.
That experience in the real world would cost you $100,000.

[bunt-custardly]

How many people have cinema screens in their homes?

I have tried the Gear VR Oculus Cinema app and it's brilliant regardless of the lower quality. You can get the movie experience in the comfort of your own home.

This looks like allowing people to stream to a giant TV screen which is great if you don't own one in real life.

[FPSFox]

@ SteamPowered

You have no clue what you are talking about so best you stop pulling "2k, 3k" numbers out your ass. More than 50% of the screen in this concept demo was wasted on the virtual world simulation. I don't care how densely packed the pixels are on the Oled inside the rift... Pixels are pixels. Your fake virtual screen of only a real resolution of 960 x 540 or so is not better than my ACTUAL 1920x1080.

I'm experiencing every pixel, and you are being cheated out of your resolution because your not satisfied with the size of your TV... not worth it

[ThanatosDMC]

Confusing comment. I literally have no idea what point you're trying to make.

[Debaitable]

"Yeah, it's not as nice as having an actual vr experience in the game, and maybe it's a novelty, but I get the feeling they're trying to create an environment in which to play games and not just a device to play them on. It's like the Steam streaming solution to Linux support. They want to support as many titles as possible, but some titles won't be supported natively so they need to do these tricks.

In the end, I see a situation where someone can avoid paying hundreds or thousands on monitors AND a vr headset. They can buy just the Rift or the Vive and see virtual monitors on their desk in their virtual private jet. Just click a shortcut and the scene melts away to "boot up" the cockpit in Elite: Dangerous.

It seems dumb, but done right, they're opening up the possibility to use the Rift as a cheaper display solution than traditional monitors. By making screens virtual, you can change your display resolution on a whim to anything you want. Curved displays, dual or triple monitors, you name it."

[WeAreLegion]

The people disagreeing with you have no idea what it's like to watch something on a VR device. So, don't bother replying to them.

This feature is nice.

[balth99]

Hey man, author here.

I respect and understand this viewpoint -- but that's NOT what was presented today - they are not attempting to create a 'massive' cinema screen. If you go back and look at the video, she seems to be ten feet away from it. It's just boggling to me that you wouldn't want some kind of controllable situation to move closer or farther from the virtual screen -- they didn't even intimate any of that in this demo.

[bunt-custardly]

You're making an assumption that this is the only room available. Sure it's what they showed today but might not be the only choice when it's fully realized next year. The Oculus Cinema app for Gear VR as an example has, Movie theatre, Moon surface, Home Cinema and Void. For all you know they could introduce specific themed rooms to suit the game you are playing.

Gear VR already has this such as Dreamworks Theatre and Insurgency Demo.

Either way, what was shown is still a representation of a large home cinema screen and actually looks the same as the home cinema for Gear VR which having actually played it fills an entire wall not some small 50" TV.

[Rimeskeem]

I just need more proof that this isn't a gimmick. What I saw today didn't exactly prove it wasn't.

[Destiny1080]

you plug it into a powerful pc and then stream 900p content to it

[uth11]

but scaled to a virtual screen at who-knows what actual resolution, so it won't look as good as a real screen.

[Crazay]

Soo...wait... Will this change anything with respect to Hololens?

NM - I finally got to watch the video with Hyrb.

I'm still not all that jazzed about VR. AR seems more interesting to me.

[bigtrucknd]

So is this just a TV screen I wear on my face?

[kneon]

bingo!

[arbitor365]

So i guess we are just waiting for Sony to come along with Project Morpheus next monday, kick this thing in the teeth, and walk away with its lunch money.

[jcnba28]

Project Morpheus will be just as bad, if not worse.

[NatureOfLogic_]

Just as bad? Worse? Lmao, I love the salt from this gen so far.

[sonic989]

well quite honestly i dont think microsoft brought anything good to the console gaming medium and they are continuing with that trend .
nintendo and sony are more into the games and actually you feel that they like their IPs and games something microsoft lacks severely .
mourphus will do great there is no reason why it wouldnt , it was already used and tested countless times if anything the oculus which is NOT built for X1 will not work or function probably on it for sure and to make matters worse X1 is weaker than the PS4 , microsoft should have developed their own thing rather than going into panic reaction mode .

[Debaitable]

Until I see full fledge games on Project morpheus i 'll remain skeptical. So far all we'really seeing is PS move mini games and we all know how that accessory went.

[G20WLY]

You're not looking properly then, are you?

Check out Eve: Valkyrie and tell me that's a mini game lol!

[moomoo319]

That short vid at the end was a bit hilarious.

Put on a mask to simulate sitting on a couch and watching tv lol.

Has anyone thought about what VR will do to a person's eyesight??? Especially if you replace all tv related activities with an OLED screen one inch from your eyeballs.

[B1uBurneR]

I took the demo as just hey looks it works together, But we can't sit here and assume that this is how they will work together for years to come. We expect features to be added to enhance the experience. The Author has a right to take pot shots for clicks but we all the reality of these devices they all get updates and added features. Again nice click petty bait.

[moomoo319]

If MS wanted to jump on the VR train, they should've went two feet in.

Looking at what morpheus, oculus, and vive can do at this very moment, We have a right to make fun of this ridiculously over-priced half measure which simulates your living room.

[PizzaSteve]

I think MS just don't know what to do. They got the money to throw around so they throw it around to keep up with PS4.

I feel bad for Phil too. He try hard to make good choices and make people happy but he got it rough.

[sonic989]

you might not have said it in technical details but in fact you are actually 100% correct .

[Vasto]

E3 coming in a few days. You will see how rough Phil has it. lmao

[moomoo319]

Its also less expensive to buy a 65 inch ultra HD television than it is to buy a powerful enough gaming pc with an oculus to simulate having a 65 inch television lmao.

[brads4]

Most people already have a decent pc. Seriously, what year is it? My laptop could run occulus no problem. What if I already have a 65 inch tv and I'm still bored?

[sonic989]

dont know maybe do something else like having a life .
just be thankful of what we have now, how do you think people used to live in the 60's and 50's or even before it .
my laptop cant run oculus and i consider it new and none of my friends have a computer that could run oculus so i dont know really about people having a decent pcs most of them ( the people in my area ) use pcs for mmos that if they care about it but anything else on playstation because its reliable and easy .

[rainslacker]

Most people are moving away from PC, or they buy those sub $500 PC's which are good enough to run explorer, itunes, and the occasional game in low-med settings. Most people do not have a decent PC, which is why games aren't written to decent PC specs.

I'd imagine most people that would buy an OR would have a decent PC however, but I fail to see how this implementation would make anyone run out to get a beefy PC, and X1, and an OR to take advantage of it. It's a nice feature to have I guess....except that it's really not something worth using when it's not as good as a standard TV.

[brads4]

LOL thanks for the pro tip guy regarding getting a life. I think I have that part covered :) The PC specs are not even that high. The video card is the biggest expense, the rest is like, 4 year old standards.

[S-T-F-U]

I'm drunk.

[Paleblood]

I don't understand it. They use a VR headset to play a game on a tv? Shouldn't the concept of VR be to play the game on the headset?

[AlphaBlackWolf96]

Microsoft brought my hopes up just to crush them with that God awful demo. Shame. I would've killed for Forza VR.

[lunatic0001]

It would be cool but I think people are hoping for a lot...what did you expect that somehow when streaming an xb1 game to the oculus...it will magically covert it to where you have that vr experience...that's extremely wishful thinking...its just a feature much like how Windows 10 will be able to stream xb1 games...granted,in my opinion,its a dumb feature but its there for people to use it if they want

[AlphaBlackWolf96]

I honestly don't know what I expected. To be honest this came out of nowhere. But God knows Microsoft isn't any further than they were before the announcement. They should stop while they're ahead and either kill it now or drastically change it. This. This is 2013 "who thought this was a good idea" all over again. Absolutely unexceptional work.

[lunatic0001]

haha...true that dude...its a dumb feature but like i said its just a feature...not going to kill your oculus rift enjoyment if you never use it...its just there if you ever do want to use it...the way i see it...no harm done...ms is just trying to push windows 10 which is what any company would do to promote their product right

[TheMailman]

Oh my god this is the most stupid thing I see for a long time!!! Jesus Christ this is an insult to our intelligence!!!!!!

[dcbronco]

This author is not a real gamer. True gamers know the phrase is "shot themselves with an arrow to the knee".

[Relientk77]

virtual foot lol

[PistolsAtDawn]

I get this is a pro-Sony site, and that's fine, but what is cracking me up is how many people are acting like this is a bad thing in ANY way....it ONLY adds to the situation. Not to mention that people keep assuming that it will ONLY stream from an X1 (and then they conveniently forget that many Morpheus games will act the same way). We all know if it was Sony they partnered with, this site would think it was the best thing ever. Personally the only HMD I am looking forward to is HoloLens, but even just streaming Occulus has some great uses to it (and stop assuming that is all it will do).

[AlphaBlackWolf96]

Dude the demo. I mean the game streaming I can live with. But that demo. Oh God why.

[Vasto]

How did it shoot it self in the foot unless you ignore that's its a PC device. Dump article is trying to pick one small thing that has nothing to do with what the Oculus was made for and that's PC gaming.

[lunatic0001]

I don't get what this moron is crying about its just a partnership between ms and oculus..you can stream xb1 games through it...granted it doesn't convert them to some kind of virtual reality experience but its a feature none the less...this guy is just tripping...its just an extra feature not the oculus main feature..if people want to use this feature they can if not then they won't...no harm done

[PistolsAtDawn]

" This morning we announced our partnership with Oculus VR and shared why Windows 10 will be the best platform for experiencing virtual reality on the Oculus Rift. Gamers who buy the Rift will get to play games with the included Xbox One controller, AS WELL AS stream their favorite Xbox One games to Rift through Windows 10."

Straight from Xbox/MS for those that are ASSUMING that it will ONLY stream. Pay attention to the point about "As well as" instead of "by"

http://news.xbox.com/2015/0...

[rainslacker]

Playing with a controller is already available on the OR. Them including a MS controller doesn't change that, nor does anything indicate that MS is doing anything beyond what they showed for VR gaming. This doesn't indicate at all that VR is coming to the X1, and in fact, their own statement indicates that the only thing VR related is streaming. The As well as part is correlating two completely different things, not adding to two similar things.

[Zero109]

A guy that commented on the article said it best:

"This is that terrible gaming media journalism I have such an issue with. This article is painting the experience and importance of it with little to no detail.

The big news here is that MS and Oculus Rift has entered into a partnership. The demo they showed should be taken as a first step. Instead of trying to paint it as the all end experience you will forever expect from the pairing. There is lots of potential of places this tech could go... a tweak and they could go Illumiroom it would be just expanding the image on to the walls I do effects like this in several forms of software now.

The point is this is amazing technology. NO.... what they showed isnt the purest form of VR gaming as we have seen but with announcement being today and this is as far as they have gotten.... almost no lag, streaming, and with what seems to be solid tracking..... is today imaging tomorrow. Why try to sour the strides made?

Put it in its true perspective. Not some over critical over assuming semi rant."

And I completely agree.

[rainslacker]

I agree with you, but MS could have maybe put a little more effort into showing people what they should be excited for. It's pretty apparent that people aren't too moved by the current demo. While the tech can be used for other things, when it comes to the X1, which is where most comments are directed, it's fairly lackluster and seems more like a way to include the X1 into the conversation.

The tech itself is not even really X1 related, it just so happens that the X1 can stream to PC. What we're seeing however is nothing new for the OR, as a PC could already stream content, and augment it, for display on the device.

Honestly, Halolens was more exciting, and I see this as a way for MS to push the Halolens experience without requiring people to purchase the expensive Halolens device. Because of this, I feel that it's going to be very limited in implementation simply due to the fact it requires people to already have the prerequisites to make it work. I highly doubt many people are going to purchase a "beefy" PC, an OR, or/and and X1 to be able to do this.

If they can manage to get some support behind it then the story could be different, but getting support for regular VR, without adding in all the middle-men devices, is going to be tough enough since the VR tech still has a ways to go before it becomes something substantial and mainstream.

[CiliCanadian]

I am looking forward to Sony press conference so they explain what Morpheus will be capable of. Some rumor suggest that Morpheus might be capable of been a stand-alone virtual theater (i.e. been able to display in 2d any HDMI output without the use of a PS4 or PC) in addition to be a VR output for PS4. If this is true then Sony will have a clear winner there.

[balth99]

Thanks everyone for the discussion. I'm interested to see how Sony responds this Monday, and I'm hoping we hear something from the Vive camp, as well.

[kenwonobi]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. I want both VR machines to win. In fact I want them to battle each other next generation replacing traditional consoles hopefully one day. I want the Oculus and Morpheus to be our new consoles to be excited at launch for as much as the Xbox vs PS4. We have to eventually evolve in gaming so that it grows. Either Virtual reality or holographic reality will be the way. I am hoping it is sooner than later we have this new reality.