Oculus Rift HD

[EwCjE3v7]

Anyone else here about this:
http://www.edge-online.com/news/oculus-rift-john-carmacks-vr-headset-takes-kickstarter/

They have integrated a cam.

Do you think this will be a true success?

[N36fSL3A]

There was a topic about this earlier.

[3hM2Nwbp]

I'm 100% sure it will be the next big thing (just like mobile development currently is). John Carmack's word is not to be taken lightly. The biggest thing is waiting for the hardware to catch up and become affordable. Currently, most of the "cool stuff" such as gloves, pants, etc. are "build it yourself and write drivers for it". I expect within the next few years that you'll be seeing full VR suits instead of just a head set (hopefully without an umbilical cord attached!)

I'm watching and waiting for the right time to jump into this scene (abandoning my current ventures into Android).

[chrisname]

Luc Lieber wrote:

John Carmack's word is not to be taken lightly

Why not? He changes his mind every five minutes on the OpenGL vs. DirectX debate.

I'm 100% sure it will be the next big thing

I wouldn't be so sure. I'm excited about it, but cognizant of other "next big things" like 3D, Wii Motion, Kinect, light guns, and even early VR, all of which failed to capture the public imagination for more than about five minutes, to the extent that Nintendo have basically abandoned Wii Motion and the 3DS (bringing out the "new" 2DS) and Microsoft, ever attentive to consumer demand, decided to just sort of force consumers to buy the Kinect if they wanted the new Xbox. Meanwhile, light guns are virtually nowhere to be seen except in lame arcade games like Time Crisis, and VR is getting its second chance now that the hardware to do it is actually possible. That doesn't mean it will succeed though; especially not while it's a $300 investment with a 640x480 display that gives most people nausea. I want OR, and VR in generally, to succeed and I think it will but it's definitely too early to say it's "100% the next big thing".

mobile development currently is [the big thing]

What?! Mobile games are currently stuck on 90s gameplay and early 2000s graphics with most of the money being made from microtransactions and "pay-to-win" mechanics. There are no real AAA games (only spinoffs like the reviled Deus Ex one) on mobile because touch is a horrible way to control a game much more complex than Tetris (hell, even Tetris is much more difficult to play with touch) and because smartphones don't have the power to render intricate 3D scenes or simulate multiple instances of complex AI. You can argue that they'll get more powerful, but they won't keep up with PCs and, to a lesser extent, consoles (lesser because until recently the current gen of consoles had to make do with 512 MB RAM shared between the CPU and the GPU).

[Mats]

simulate multiple instances of complex AI.

While I fully agree with all your comments on mobile games (and indeed the rest of your entire post), I have to disagree here. Multiple instances of complex AI are easily done on modern phones.

[BHX]

Have they addressed the issue of a lot of gamers have of severe headaches due to how close the monitor is to their eyes?

[3hM2Nwbp]

From what I understood, the tracking was a bit slow and was causing some nausea after prolonged exposure. I think they are going to be offering a 1080p development kit at some point as well...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2429308,00.asp

It's all going to come down to affordable hardware support and input latency.

[BHX]

I'm not talking about that. There is a condition, that I can't recall the name of, where you have no problems playing games on a monitor or tv, but if you get the monitor too close to your eyes you get severe headaches. I don't think resolution change will fix that issue.