the antithesis said:
Please feel free to show me your crystal ball but please don't show me any other kind of ball than that (joke). There is a huge amount of excitement generated around the rift in general. From reviewers of all walks to developers to customers. I get that you don't want it around and feel very strongly about it not getting in your way. Probably the same frustration I'd feel if the kinect 2 required me to wave my arms to throw a grenade in an otherwise non-kinect game. But the ability to use the occulus rift shouldn't be mandatory for you. It should just be an option for those that want it. Either way, what you want isn't going to get in the way of what society as a whole wants. People only really have one of two choices if they don't want this option. They can be people who say it just isn't for them and so they don't pursue it, or they have to be the equivalent of an old man shouting at kids to get off his lawn when they aren't on it. Someone who doesn't want anyone else to enjoy something if they don't like it.
Virtual reality was considered fairly heavily in the 90's, but people lost interest and not because there wasn't a thing to strap to your head but because the idea is inherently flawed for the reasons I've already given. I predict a lot of buyer's remorse in the future.
The reason it was flawed was because the tracking tech wasn't there and the latency was horrendous. Have you played VR games recently? I have. The field of view is extremely limited and any time you turn your head the screen takes a few seconds to catch up, it's entirely noticeable. And even then, those products were thousands of dollars and only had one or maybe two games developed for any one model. The setup of virtual reality hardware was also generally huge and bulky. The graphics were quite bad. The VR of the 90's was actively frustrating.
But these are the issues that the Occulus Rift has resolved. The price is affordable (dev kits are $300). Graphics have improved and the rift has encorporated 3d stereoscopic vision that really lends to immersion. Even the dev kits are relatively small and manageable. The latency has been significantly reduced. The field of vision is spectacular. And, the Rift is already in the hands of developers across the world who are integrating existing games (Skyrim, Team Fortress 2, Hawken, Doom 3, etc) and are developing other things specifically for it.
This is the first time virtual reality has been practical and has had a fighting chance. I don't think it'll be as good for FPS games as people may think. But I can see a lot of real promise in exploration, horror, and other such non-rapid movement uses (Neck issues and such with rapid movement). As such, it is particularly well suited for things like rendering a movie theater. You can specifically toggle on or off 3D in the app as well as many other options. It looks like you're watching a big screen. Honestly, there's several movies that I wish I had seen in theaters that I'll now have an option too. Can't wait to see some classics like Casablanca on it.
But this time it's legit. For example, John Carmack just got named the CTO of the Occulus Rift company (he's staying with ID though, must be nice to make two incomes). That's breaking news as of a couple hours ago.
Here's a couple videos you may want to watch and examples you may like to see if you haven't yet:
Here's an article regarding the new High Def version of the app. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-perfect-3d-movie-theater-how-re-writing-reality-in-vr-creates-a-better] He lists a lot of actual advantages over real theaters that should be considered. More realistic 3D rendering than theaters can offer without the dimming that 3D glasses cause. Lighting of the environment in general is also optimized. You're able to create a better environment when you don't have to worry about real issues like lighting the walkways to prevent tripping or having to put a projector in the back of the room that may be noisy and bright.
This is the first review of the theater app before High-def was aavailable. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/virtual-reality-an-empty-movie-theater-and-peace-how-the-rift-could-change]
The Rift in general:
A technical explanation of how the rift provides enough data to actually trick the brain a little bit into thinking the environment is real. [http://www.gamespot.com/shows/reality-check/?event=what-does-the-oculus-rift-do-to-your-brain-20130804] This will only improve with time.
Warning message that tells players not to lean on virtual objects. [http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/6/4595062/new-oculus-rift-cover-shooter-fps-ulta-realistic] The game is just a small indie dev demo but it shows promise as far as the future of Time Crises-esque games which I enjoyed in arcades as a child and on home consoles later on.
Just check out videos on Youtube regarding it. There's a lot of neat stuff.
This could provide a lot of other benefits too. From learning how to drive to medical and pyschological therapies like the fantom pain therapy mentioned in the gamespot video above.
I'm specifically spending the time explaining this to you in case this is the future of a lot of stuff. Don't wait too long to get on the bandwagon just because the 90's sucked at it. You may miss out on a lot of stuff if you do. Still aren't convinced? That's your prerogative.
