Elite: Dangerous will support Oculus Rift
kickstarter.com
kickstarter.com
The idea of OR on top is brilliant, too - seems like a great fit for a cockpit-based game.
Question: only the OR dev kits appear to be available at the moment. Is there a public roadmap for a consumer version?
To answer your question, not yet. I would expect to hear something later this year on the time frame for the consumer version, which I'm also waiting for. Not only for this game, but also to plug into a raspberry pi for a project. Just waiting for that 1080 display.
Note I did not fund it, so this isn't just rationalization of sunk cost for me. And I do mean "cautiously" optimistic... while I continue to believe that procedural content generation is the way of the future, its continuing failure to manifest is making me wonder if perhaps it is the way of the future in the same way that, say, raytracing or voxels has been the way of the graphics future for about 10 years now, without ever happening. Still, we'll see.
Couldn't wait personally. No regrets.
Sounds like a great feature, hope it works smoothly and naturally!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuality_(gaming)
Their products were amazing for the time but they just did not catch on. I never understood why. (However, I did subsequently learn that their games were not actually stereo vision!) It is a bit like 3D - amazing cinema experiences but the TV sets and cameras just did not find buyers. Actually VRML is in the same category - excellent 3D but with nobody able to see the point of it, develop content for it or share the vision of what it is all about.
Although the original Virtuality products were headline grabbing, they did not generate any demand for the 3D headset market that did exist after they came out. In the early 1990's there were several brands of affordable VR headsets that were at a good technology level for the time (when TV's still had CRTs LCD displays were impressive). I thought everyone would want these things, not just gamers but normal 'soccer moms' (one brand of headset could work like a heads up display so you could do things like the washing up whilst still watching TV).
Based on previous history I expect this new fangled headset to fail. I hope it does not, however, I don't believe that wonder technology or having exceptional games is going to crack the nut this time round. A new killer application is needed.
The technology just was not good enough, even if it was good for the time.
The Oculus Rift has solved all of this except the resolution bit, and word has it they've got it figured for the retail launch of their product.
The Oculus Rift is to 90s VR as the Ford Model T is to a donkey.
Re: motion sickness.
Oculus (Rift) are aware that this is a problem with their product and they have not solved it.
If you think about it, having better tracking sensors than the VR headsets of the 90's does not do anything to fix the fundamental problem: your eyes getting different inputs to what the body is getting. If your eyes are telling you that you are falling but your stomach and ear canals are telling you that you are still sat on your arse in your mom's basement then you just might start feeling sick. Improved gyros in the headset are not going to magically create some anti-gravity field for you, are they?
As for the 'you have not tried this particular brand of VR headset and therefore you don't know what you are on about', line of argument, true I have not tried these particular VR headset novelty devices yet. However, I have also yet to try a 2013 model 3D TV but, from having seen how the 2010 3D TV's had their failings I can fairly predict that the 2013 3D TV's have not addressed the fundamental failings that the 2010 models had and are therefore unlikely to take the market by storm.
I am merely sharing the same level of scepticism that the BBC had regarding this particular product:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23877695
We have seen it all before and people just don't want to wear some clumsy headset in their living room, whether that is to watch a movie, to be 'in' a game or anything else. Even without the motion sickness problem this product would be only for a few gamers with more money and sense.
The first wave of VR headsets came out while 3D gaming was in its infancy. Some genres (FPS, fighters) made sense early; platformers and RPGs were only really honed after the VR craze was dead and buried.
The BBC article is about the history of VR headsets hence it includes a mention of everything that went before - simples.
This new fangled headset does not solve the problems - 1) motion sickness and 2) nobody wants to wear these things in their front room. As a consequence it is only going to appeal to a few gamers rather than suddenly persuade millions of people that do not game to rush out and buy VR headsets.
If 2) wasn't the case then, given how high resolution panels have been available for quite a few years in affordable phones, we would have headsets for a wider range of non-game applications - e.g. watching 2D/3D movies, watching porn and taking photos. There are a few of these more basic headsets out there but nobody is queuing up for them and none of the big companies are desperate to sell them.
I wasted at least one whole summer playing the original Elite and the top 3/4 of the screen was black and white, mostly black with an occasional wireframe model of some space ship. The lower quarter of the screen was four colour and even chunkier graphics than the top due to how Bell+Braben did that cool mode 0/2 switch that had not been done before on the BBC Micro. I can still remember most of the hot keys - S, X, <, >, H for hyperspace...
Elite was truly the most original and innovative game ever. In terms of rocket science and pioneering innovation it was in an entirely different league to this new fangled VR headset which is not really anything more than a mobile phone strapped to some ski goggles.
Let's hope that the technological challenges in commercialization are dealt with swiftly. Then we will experience a boom in VR games and applications.