Be Excellent To Each Other

3D gaming I can get behind as you're controlling the action and you can choose to focus on whatever you please (in general). I just don't like my focus to be funnelled down where the director wants it to go in films or TV.

The only boob I remember exploding last night was you.

VR is an old technology too. It died on its arse the last time, and I don't see how they've actually sorted out the issues that scuppered it the last time. (Looking like a prick, massive headaches, not remotely working for people with relatively minor vision issues). I mean, looking like a prick has been enough to scupper home 3D tv on its own.

Oh forgot to mention, it's really fucking expensive.

That's all a load of nonsense surely? The stuff about VR and 3D.

Nobody looks good in 3D specs. Not even me.

I'm sure I had one of my standard issue rants earlier in this thread about how the market for people who were prepared to sit in front of their PC with a massive FUCK YOU REST OF THE WORLD device strapped to their head was really quite limited.

Oh yes here we are, from nearly two years ago - viewtopic.php?p=806368#p806368

Ha! We've already had this one out - viewtopic.php?p=806413#p806413

And I remember VR had a big push in the 90s, turned up in Blackpool arcades for a while too, and it did indeed die on its arse. Also I know plenty of people with 3D tellies who after the initial ZOMG 3D rush never watched anything in 3D ever again.

I do genuinely wonder if the whole area is something that a lot of folks just flat-out aren't really that comfortable with, because it fundamentally messes with our entire lifetime's worth of what our senses are supposed to work like.

Quite.

Nice hat, MaliA!

The difference between old VR and new VR is that this time it's fucking incredible.

Apart from you still have to wear a computer on your head with a load of wires coming out of it, still look really daft, are still incapable of sharing the experience with anyone else around you in any meaningful sense, and are still being the most anti-social arseface in the general vicinity.

It's like those Tomy-Tronic 3D things, but with better graphics.

I'm sure OR rift is fantastic technology, but I can't see it gaining any sort of mainstream traction whilst the user is required to lock themselves out from the rest of the world to use it.

Can I ask a silly question? So this Rift thing, yeah? That's not the question, by the way. This Rift thing do you "see" in "3D" or is it like the Google box thing where it just sorta tracks your movements? That was the question.

It is amazing being in a spaceship in orbit above earth.

(a) most of these criticisms also apply to online gaming with headphones on
(b) have you tried it

I do wonder how many of the naysayers have actually tried the thing.

A friend of my brothers had a 3D TV with Avatar on Bluray. He sat through the whole film with his glasses on thinking "This is alright.. I think?"

When he went to out the disc back in the case he realised that he'd been watching the 2D disc as the 3D one was still in the box.

Really? how did you do that?

I say that because the only way I could find to get my Nvidia GPUs to work in 3D on a TV was to buy Nvidia's app for $35 or so

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3dtv-play-overview.html

And when installed you find out it's locked to 24 FPS, completely and totally ruining the experience.

If there's another way I would be interested to hear it?

When mentioning prices I was talking about when it released. A 120hz monitor cost over three times as much as a regular 1080p 60hz one. Now? lol they can't even give it away.

Both stimulate a 3D image and track movement.

I've no idea why you needed an app and some special monitor, I just HDMId my PC (some relatively crappy AMD card) to the TV as it always is and choose 3D from the game's options. Done. I don't even know what refresh rate my TV is, not convinced it's 120Hz though.

Well, you needed a special tv, so that makes sense.

If you're running active 3D (the glasses with batteries) then your set is 120hz. As I said earlier many TVs are like that now and come with the glasses.

Hmm, AMD eh? might have to order a 5m HDMI cable later and have a go at that myself..

I'm not.

I took delivery of a Samsung Gear VR headset yesterday. It's designed specifically for the Galaxy S6 so it just slots into the micro usb slot and then clips into the visor powered by the Oculus magic pixie.

It is a significant order of magnitude better than the Cardboard VR headsets - everything is much clearer and it feels light and comfortable on your head. Because of the design there's no light pollution and pretty much all you can see is the very well defined image in front of your eyes. Because of the magnification you can make out individual pixels but it's not distracting.

There's a 360 video of some speeder going past the crashed Imperial Star Destroyer on Jukka from off of the New Star Wars - the sense of scale as you look up is pretty breathtaking - you really get the feeling of big that spaceship is.There's a free version of Smash It on the store which makes you do all sorts of ducking and weaving. Mainly though you are tapping the side of your visor to fire things so after about 2 minutes you just keep thinking - "I want a Cyclops / X-men game".

Being able to navigate the menu and to get onto the Oculus store without having to remove the headset is extremely welcome, the prices on the store not so much - most of the half decent looking games are $9.99.

Overall so far £80 for a halfway house between the cardboard / equivalent headsets and the full Oculus experience seems like a bit of a bargain.

Pre-orders for the HTC Vive open at the end of February.

Alton Towers joins the bandwagon

Not sure how well the marketing message of "You know the last rollercoaster we built, we fucked up and the cars smashed into each other and people lost their legs? Well, in our next new one, we're going to blindfold you so that you've got no chance of seeing it coming" is going to play, but it's interesting nonetheless.

OH MY FUCK THAT WOULD BE INCREDIBLE

I hope there's a rollercoaster track visible on the headset though so people can prepare for the twists and turns, otherwise the exit to that ride will be vom-city.

Would a rollercoaster ride be long enough to cause those sorts of problems? I mean if rollercoasters went on for as long as most VR experiences do then people would probably be vomiting regardless.

1500 people per hour and then they pass the headset on to you.

On a hot day

After hundreds of people have terror sweated inside

No thanks

What if you were the first to have a go?

Yes, VR motion sickness can come on in seconds in my experience. One bad disconnect between brain and body is all it takes if you are susceptible.

I see. Well anyone who's that much of a lily liver is probably best avoiding rollercoasters anyway.

Temple Run VR has so far today made everyone that tried it report "That made me feel sick". I am wandering about the office making people feel nauseous.

So no change there then.

Just spending 5 seconds walking forwards in Alien: Isolation when my body knows that it's not actually walking forwards is enough to render me incapable of pretty much anything except sleeping and shitting for up to 12 hours.

I've found that getting older has made me a lot more sensitive to things like motion sickness, feelings of nausea, headaches from flashing lights, eye strain etc.

VR does sound quite exciting but I fear I may be too old by the time it gets good...

My thoughts exactly. I used to be able to play anything and be fine but the other week I tried the original Perfect Dark and that sent my head all wonky.

I daren't even look at Timesplitters.

I know what you mean about getting older. e.g. If I go on a swing now I pretty much instantly feel just like I'm having a whitey but then again I've used Google cardboard for quite long periods with no ill effects so I'm hopeful that I'd be ok with an even better VR thing.

I read that as "whitney" and got very confused!

Yeah, it's a few steps down from a full on whitney.

In my experience, things like Elite Dangerous, where you're supposed to be strapped into a chair in the game world, translated brilliantly into VR. It massively improved the playing experience. But anything like an FPS, where you move around in the game world but are obviously not moving in real life, made me feel as sick as a dog.

Swings do the same to me now too, which is a shame as I used to love swings as a kid. Roundabouts are the worst for me, I hate feeling dizzy - to think we used to lay down on them, looking up to the sky with our heads hanging over the edge

I'm feeling sick just thinking about that.

I watched a 360 video shot from the cockpit of a stunt jet last night. I almost snapped my neck trying to angle my head in line with the aircraft and then it went upside down.

I almost hurled.

Everyone is blathering about this Rift thing and VR but surely we should be chomping at the bit to get our mitts on the "omni-directional platform."

Just look at that thing. It looks totes the balls.

https://i.imgur.com/9Tw8dlR.gifv

I saw a version of this used at EGX 2 years back and whilst it was nowhere near as ergonomic as the one in that clip, it still looked like brilliant fun. I've always thought sitting on your sofa with VR looked daft as shit (and would probably hurt your neck after a while) but going for a literal run about in an open world would be the coolest thing ever.

Unless you're a big fatty, presumably.

At least it might cut down on some of that silly hopping around business in FPSeseses.

In a moment, I wondered why the 'video clip' seemed repetitive and then realised it was actually just looping. Then realised it was a GIF. Might be a slow day for me today.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck ... 4c51f811d3

So looks like get the HTC Vive if you want a high-end experience, and PS VR if you want something something more accessible and cheaper. Oculus might be squeezed out at both ends of the market.

What a poorly written article.

He seems to really like the HTC. Suspiciously so.

Could be it's really good. I've neither used the HTC or read the article