The goal of $250,000 goal was met within 1 hour and sits currently just under 2 MILLION. a few days left; ends on September 1. back if you can and want, for just $300 you get the device in december along with Doom 3 BFG Edition - Oculus Rift ready.
It also has some big names of supporters behind them and a good deal of game developers show great interest in Oculus Rift (ID Software, Valve, Epic Games). It’s actual rather easy to implement due to an easy integration into the Unreal Engine.
I think this might be the next huge thing to revolutionize the gaming experience - unlike the 80ies/90ies clumsy devices, this time for real. Looks very promising to say the least and I’m very certain it’ll be a huge success in the imminent future. With $300 for the prototype it might be very affordable for the typical consumer as this was the initial goal of the inventor: VR for the broad masses.
I think I’ll wait for the consumer version. The promise of higher resolution and also, seeing how well this will be supported has me waiting. On top of that, it can’t yet function as a regular monitor. So, if I don’t have the games for it, and I can’t use it to see a massive display, then at the moment there is no reason for me to get it.
The other issue I want to know about is how accurate the color rendering is. If it has a crap gamma, poor black and white levels, poor color plot points, and non-standard D65 white balance, then there is no way in hell I’d spend money on it.
seeing they don’t use own displays but rely on already available displays, I’m pretty sure the gamma and everything will be acceptable. I usually don’t dig too much into PR from the inventors themselves, but there are plenty of testimonies available from all sorts of serious and trustable sources; even from skeptical private users that tested the device on various occasions (e3, gamescom etc) - the feedback was marvelous. I’m pretty sure major flaws would have been noted at some point.
The consumer version might be able to dish out 1080p, have integrated headphones, optional rechargeable battery support, better straps or remains the same. They pointed out that they don’t want to increase the price, tho. However, a “luxus” edition would be acceptable imo. As for the future, the only thing I want to see improved is that it covers ALL angles of headmovement. 180° vertical and horizontal even if it’s not needed (yet).
The software that will incorporate this device will be pretty boss I imagine. Also finally a use for Move / Wii like stuff! Additional hardware like some sort of “power glove” (don’t laugh) could also be fitting. You “pull the trigger” to shoot, with motion tracking ala Wii mote the game could also tell where you actually aim disconnecting view (head movement) and aim (cross hair).
Or something like [S]Kinect[/S] err I mean something that actually works: http://www.leapmotion.com/
The release window is also rather good placed as it gives sony and microsoft enough time to make sure it’ll be able to use it on their new consoles (or reproduce the idea; sony dabbles in the head-displays for a long time now, but nothing that compares to rift). This is too huge to pass and after the WII-Movement success they surely won’t make the same mistake again and ignore the casuals; too much money to be gained here.
Ah how I love the future… this is the first technical innovation that makes me exciting since… well my first own internet access and the PSX.
What type of display does it use? If it’s OLED, then it’s definitely in the right direction. Still, just because they’d use some manufacturer to make the display doesn’t mean the display will be accurate. I think it took 3 iterations of the PSP to get a semblance of standard 65k white balance. Who knows how bad the gamma is. The Vita looks great but that is just me checking out the black levels. Nice and inky, but without measuring I have no idea how good or bad the color reproduction is. That’s just an example.
Laptop displays, pad displays, not all of them are equal and even from the manufacturing lines they stray a bit. Without any type of controls, it would be impossible to get accurate color reproduction, and on top of that trying to measure the thing would probably be impossible too.
Though, if this was manufactured well and the displays were fairly accurate, and worked as a monitor, then it would be truly awesome.
Hell, I’m still using CRT monitors (Sony Trinitrons) because nothing comes close as far as color, black/white levels, white balance, and most importantly, performance.
I mean, it’s better they just do what they want to get done (VR) then dig into unknown stuff (displays) and build that up from scratch, too. You really sound like a color fanatic, so I doubt it’ll satisfy you… or any display in existence. x)
It’s a LCD-type. OLEDs in that format would be too pricey for now to fit in that price margin. maybe in a year or two they’ll have that done for that price. a luxus edition (or a rip off from another major company) might have that earlier. purely speculative tho.
If it’s industrial I wonder how good the quality is. Often, they’re pretty decent. If you check plasma monitors compared to HDTV, monitors are much better, better quality with non of the filters and crap that mess up a display. No speakers either. Monitors are meant for “industrial” vs consumer, and often are better. I may send them a few questions, see if they answer.
