Oculus Rift

**No One** · 01 Apr 2014, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by icarusfall

I just don't see the masses strapping on that big thing to play the Nintendo tapes.

I don't see it either. I'd like to be proven wrong (even though I have zero interest in it myself, I recognize that having more options is A Good Thing), but I just don't envision anyone other than diehard tech nerds shelling out for it.

Originally Posted by James

I believe 100% differently than you. The immersion of VR will be huge, with plenty of room for practical application in the sim genre alone.

James

I also don't understand why I need a hunk of plastic strapped to my head to be "immersed" in anything. Get off my lawn, I suppose.

**James** · 01 Apr 2014, 03:19 AM

Because the difference between looking at a screen a foot or more away, or a tv several feet away, and a screen that tells your brain "I am here!" is immense.

Not trying to be snippy, but that's the whole thing right there. Your brain saying "I am here!" has value, even when you know it's a trick and there's a giant chunk of (very light) plastic strapped to your face. It's a system that works.

James

**Frogacuda** · 01 Apr 2014, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by No One

I also don't understand why I need a hunk of plastic strapped to my head to be "immersed" in anything. Get off my lawn, I suppose.

This is why Abrash coined the term "presence" to distinguish what VR does from the widely over-used term "immersion." VR, when done correctly, can give you the sensation of being somewhere else on a sub-concious level. It's a phenomenon that no other medium can even come close to doing, even huge simulators with wrap-around screens. It's much more than looking at a picture of a screen, or even a 3D one, it's that sense that everything is all around you; it's the holodeck. It makes things possible that are simply not in any other way.

Obviously, the public isn't really going to meet this device with varying degrees of skepticism, but conceptually it's almost universally appealing. The key is really just finding ways for people to actually try it for themselves and see what it feels like. I don't know how they're going to go about that.

**bbobb** · 01 Apr 2014, 12:29 PM

I just noticed this will have a booth at PAX East. I'm kind of curious to try it out.

**Chux** · 01 Apr 2014, 12:38 PM

Corey Coleman just checked into Oculus Rift Presented by Facebook and Mountain Dew. Tell your friends about this experience?

**bbobb** · 01 Apr 2014, 12:41 PM

You will be getting said message since you had to bitch out and let your silly JOB run your life. :P

**Chux** · 01 Apr 2014, 12:56 PM

What the fuck, both you and Mike cut me deep at almost the same time.

Assholes IMO.

**James** · 01 Apr 2014, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

The key is really just finding ways for people to actually try it for themselves and see what it feels like. I don't know how they're going to go about that.

I'm picturing a single display unit badly calibrated at Best Buy that every mall-goer for the last six months has tested out and put back unsanitized.

James