Maybe things have changed, but the set up I saw had a bunch of shit wired up all over the room.
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Maybe things have changed, but the set up I saw had a bunch of shit wired up all over the room.
The Vive lighthouses are powered, but they don't plug into the computer, just the wall. Rift has sensors that run from the computer though but you can just stick them on your desk.
Yes you do have to set up a space for VR, but I don't see that as a huge barrier. It's like complaining your TV has to hook up to your cable box and your ps4 in a place that's visible from your couch.
I have to say, having VR in the home is a pretty great thing. I play mine almost every day and it's really a great experience. It's early days and there's a ton of room for improvement, but even in its current state it's a lot of fun.
I don't mind having stuff under my tv because all of the wires are out of sight and everything is confined to a small area. I just don't want it all over the room. Surround sound is similarly obnoxious for the same reason.
Besides, it only makes sense to me that something wearable should also be portable, which current VR setups certainly aren't.
As far as the dedicated space requirement goes, yeah, give it 5 years and portable VR should be pretty dope. I'm more excited for wireless PC-powered VR, which I didn't think would happen so soon.
Pretty much every time I use my Vive I wish there were SteamVR controllers with analog sticks instead of touchpads. It bugs me more and more over time.
Did any of you guys try the Huge Robot locomotion demo?
https://hugerobot.itch.io/freedom-locomotion-vr
It's a really slick demo of a very comprehensive locomotion system. The star feature is probably that it uses head bob and arm sway to allow for really comfortable running-in-place motion while keeping both hands free and allowing your head to look independent of your running direction. I'm surprised at how well it works, even when the in-game movement speeds are exaggerated. But on top of that it kinda-elegantly incorporates most other movement concepts: standard teleportation (both zipping and blinking), "teleport-step", grip world rotation, FOV reduction, "real" body-to-world collision, and a very awesome freeform climbing mechanic. The only thing it's missing is simply using the touchpad to move, lol.
Highly suggest checking it out. See if you can get the gun and try shooting while running around. I think it works with Touch, but it's designed for Vive at the moment.
Certainly portable VR exists and will continue to improve, but portability is probably not as useful as you want it to be, since room-scale VR involves staking out a space to play in. People have come to set up their living rooms with TV in mind, and you'll see people doing the same for VR.Quote:
Originally Posted by kedawa
But I do think all that shit will be wireless eventually, save for power sources.
Use your imagination, man!
Imagine a portable AR/VR headset you can wear everywhere, that lets you navigate the real world, but everywhere you look there's tits and fireworks.
Intel is actually attempting this, but the real demo is not as impressive (obviously)Quote:
Originally Posted by kedawa
I do think AR is going to be a thing, and that AR will inherently need to be mobile and work in the real world and that makes sense. VR, on the other hand, removes you from the real world, and I think it's always going to make most sense in a dedicated space.
I'd love to see AR combined with Canon's 4 million ISO cameras.
Full colour night vision that puts military-grade photo-electric goggles to shame is a thing I'd be interested in.
That was the really cool thing about the Hololens. You just walk around the house seeing shit everywhere and interacting with it. There was this detective game that puts things you have to find around the house.
http://i.giphy.com/WrNFFZiQ9jZiU.gif
I get pumped every time there's a Compound update. The current dream is a beefy, varied, and not randomly-generated FPS built on these mechanics.