Oculus Rift - 500 dollars open source-HMD
http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/122/1225382p1.html
John Carmac har en ny leksak!
Rift är en hemmasnickrad stereoskopisk HMD(Head-mounted Display) med smått sjuka 90° synfält och inbyggd headtracking.
Upphovsmannen heter Palmer Luckey, en kille på 3D-forumet MTBS3D, som vad jag förstår jobbar för US air force med någon slags utveckling och utbildning via VR.
Han gör det här helt utan vinst, fokus ligger till 100% på att öppna folks ögon för VR.
Palmer verkar ha fått bra gehör hos flera av de stora producenterna(förutom John Carmac då som redan är extatisk) så med lite tur kommer det även att finnas ett gediget mjukvarustöd för VR om det blir hype.
1) I am talking to Valve.
2) I am talking to id/Zenimax/Bethesda
3) I am talking to Epic
4) I am talking to Crytek
5) I am talking to Unity
6) I am talking to several other development companies
Journalisterna som fått prova Rift på E3 har låtit ungefär så här:
It's hard to convey in words the sensation of Carmack's foray into the world of HMD gaming. Ultimately, as rudimentary as his prototype was, it still worked quite well, and having no other peripheral light sensations piercing the casing helped me transport into the testbed world of Doom III.
Initially it does look quite low-res, but as John points out, this is something that will likely change before any such device with his stamp on it even makes it to market. What was most impressive though was the smooth frame-rate and responsiveness to head movement.
I started out using my thumb on the controller to move the camera, but once I realised my head could do the majority of that, it became far more natural to just move in the game-world as I would in real-life. This sensation was furthered when I started to physically react to fireballs being hurled at me from Imps. I began crouching and stiffeing up and I'm not afraid to admit my heart-rate went up as well.
A few minutes into my eyes-in session and I was moving about the game-space like a pro, peeking in and around corners and eating up the virtual 3D world around me as if I were actually there. Obviously the testbed was not nearly as challenging as the actual Doom III game, but it gave great insight into how this technology, specifically for shooters, can work. And again, the only major issue I had was in the overall resolution. It's also important to point out, for all the FPS keyboard and mouse warriors out there, twitch play with head movement coupled with controller in-hand was just as precise and far more engaging. If this technology goes mass market, honestly it's the only way I'd ever want to play a first-person shooter.
hela intervjun med Carmac: http://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3226063
Kickstarter-kampanjen börjar 19 juli och pågår i 30 dagar. 500 dollar kommer att ge en komplett Rift i delar som man får bygga ihop själv.
Tankar, funderingar, åsikter? Är VR nästa stora grej eller kommer det här också att rinna ut i sanden?
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Personligen så fullkomligt älskar jag det här. VR är verkligen sjukt underskattat, och jag hoppas att det går bra för Palmer och hans Oculus. Han är en jävligt vettig kille - lite av en amerikansk MBY