Meant to be Seen

GDC 2013 kicks off today and I thought we needed a fresh thread where we gather all the impressions, news and articles about the Rift or Oculus VR.

You if you find an articles, a video or something regarding Oculus VR and GDC 2013, please post it here for us to see.

GDC bound. Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oculus3D/status/316 ... 96/photo/1

Anyone going?

Like see what folks say about their experiences with the new 7 inch version...

My colleague Ben Lang is there so we'll have reports throughout the week with any luck. Watch that space.

Good idea, this thread.

My body is ready!

I just want to say I support this thread as THE place we dump all the GDC info into; I'm of the opinion we should sort everything out and spin off topics that clearly need dedicated threads from here. Please don't go spamming up the boards with a thousand threads about every little picture or soundbite out of GDC, please - lots of people are already grumbling about this place getting clogged with low-information threads. Don't be that guy.

Woo, GDC! I'm excited! If you're bored waiting for the news to start rolling in, come contribute a question to this Reddit thread Ben from RoadToVR is using to gauge what to ask the Oculus guys. My favorite so far: "Who will play Palmer Luckey in the inevitable movie?"

The VR talks by Oculus and Valve folks aren't until Wednesday and Thursday. More waiting!

I guess we will get some dev kit impressions from their booth and maybe some game announcements...

nateight wrote: Woo, GDC! I'm excited! If you're bored waiting for the news to start rolling in, come contribute a question to this Reddit thread Ben from RoadToVR is using to gauge what to ask the Oculus guys.

I thoroughly endorse this product or message!

Update #25 probably belongs in this thread:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/152 ... sts/436597

Free custom UDK support, Hawken at GDC, UDK demos, oh my!

Confirmation of three demos at the Oculus VR booth (update 25)

Hawken
DriVR
Epic Citadel

Looking forward to Hawken impressions from GDC

Same here, can't wait for the Hawken impressions!

superbike81 wrote:Hawken impressions

I've heard several (non-VR) impressions from people in the Battletech community, and they all seem to think it's entirely too "arcadey". I wouldn't judge too much on what you may hear from guys using their very first HMD at a giant hypefest conference, it's likely to be something along the lines of "OMG EXPLOSIONS I CAN'T PROCESS HURGLBURGRG".

Parallaxis wrote:Confirmation of three demos at the Oculus VR booth (update 25)

Hawken
DriVR
Epic Citadel

Anxious for people to see DriVR. That's my favorite. So simple yet so effective

nateight wrote:

superbike81 wrote:Hawken impressions

I've heard several (non-VR) impressions from people in the Battletech community, and they all seem to think it's entirely too "arcadey". I wouldn't judge too much on what you may hear from guys using their very first HMD at a giant hypefest conference, it's likely to be something along the lines of "OMG EXPLOSIONS I CAN'T PROCESS HURGLBURGRG".

Well I already know that I enjoy Hawken. As soon as I heard they were working on Rift support I went ahead and signed up. Only played it for a couple of hours, but I think the VR experience can be great if they do it right. So I guess I'm not looking for Hawken impressions, I'm more looking for "Hawken VR" impressions.

We get a lot of complaints from the Battletech fanboys that want dodging removed and everyone made slower. However, the game isn't marketed to them and they already have a plethora of games to choose from. Hawken is a strange mix of the western mecha aesthetic with the mobility and play speed of an east asian robot game. It's a rather niche market that has been mostly ignored in the West for the past few years whereas in east asia they are getting games like Border Break. Most of the better players in Hawken came from games like Quake, Tribes and Global Agenda, along with some other twitch shooters as opposed to the mech sim crowd.

brantlew wrote:

Parallaxis wrote:Confirmation of three demos at the Oculus VR booth (update 25)

Hawken
DriVR
Epic Citadel

Anxious for people to see DriVR. That's my favorite. So simple yet so effective

When I saw the Rift for the first time I instantly thought about driving games. Cars, ATV's and so on. Something like Motocross Madness 2 would be insane.

Well the show has been going for a while now, going to start hearing so good things such as.

Max Scoville wrote:Just played Hawken on the Oculus Rift VR headset and my brain has officially been exploded out the back of my ass.

Max Scoville wrote:THERE AREN'T ENOUGH DICKS IN THE WORLD TO DESCRIBE THE NUMBER OF BONERS THAT VIRTUAL REALITY MECH WARFARE WILL INDUCE IN YOUR MIND.

and his slightly more subtle Revision 3 Games/Destructoid Show host

Tara Long wrote:Yeah.... the Oculus Rift is pretty awesome. Believe the hype. #GDC

And I what assume will soon be quite the reaction from the apparently controversial creator of Fez:

Phil Fish wrote:i have two GDC goals: try the oculus, and get my copy of the first MYST novel signed by Robyn Miller!

I'll update this with other twits when I get bored. Seems like another full blown week of "I complained about Oculus business practices but the upside is I'm getting a box that magically transports my head to impossible worlds for the price of a digital camera".

I wonder if they are using the 5" prototype rift or the devkit to demo at GDC.

Polygon hands on with dev kit http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/25/414579 ... um=twitter

Edit: Quote from the article on the DriVR demo,

We also took a drive in a demo that the Rift developers created using the Unity Engine and its built-in assets. The driving mechanics were rough, but even a bumpy road is a credible way to show off the device's capabilities. After I drove into a guard rail and began backing up, there was a moment — fleeting, but a genuine and surprising moment — when I stopped thinking like I was playing a game. I turned my head to look back 180 degrees through the rear window and had to stifle the urge to wrap my right arm over my passenger side seat, which didn't exist in the real world.

Could we see some news from the Bioshock guys regarding the Rift tomorrow? Hmmmmm..

i like the videos ive seen so far. the reactions to the final Dev Kit seem positive even with the "lower pixel" screen so that is very encouraging and nice they are acutally demoing the final Dev Kits instead of the previous models.

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/new/ is a place to direct your eyeballs if you lack a sufficient flow of Rift-based GDC news; the updates are coming at a pace well beyond anything I've yet seen there in weeks or months of lurking, and it's all nicely persistent and out of our way. Anyone have a bead on a few other relevant subreddits?

Reddit's a little slow. I prefer things straight from the source. Like this from Torque 3D!
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/22225

unsilentwill wrote:Reddit's a little slow. I prefer things straight from the source. Like this from Torque 3D!

Holy mother of God. Every time I say, "Yay, that settles it, I'm using UDK!" something comes along to make me question what planet I'm even living on. This is a great find, thanks!

unsilentwill wrote:Reddit's a little slow. I prefer things straight from the source. Like this from Torque 3D!
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/22225

This is just awesome news!!!

eidahl wrote:Could we see some news from the Bioshock guys regarding the Rift tomorrow? Hmmmmm..

NO!!

- that would potentially make some buyers wait to play it in VR
- that would still be a marketing news in 6 months, when the game is cheaper and you need a good reason to remind people it exists to be played over winter

With so few Rifts out there that are labeled dev kits they would be stupid to make any such announcement (does not mean they are not already working on it ^^).

Slightly off topic but I think we need to start getting rid of the S in FPS and start calling it FPVR.
Anyone with me?

nateight wrote:

unsilentwill wrote:Reddit's a little slow. I prefer things straight from the source. Like this from Torque 3D!

Holy mother of God. Every time I say, "Yay, that settles it, I'm using UDK!" something comes along to make me question what planet I'm even living on. This is a great find, thanks!

Wow I haven't checked in on Torque in a VERY long time, this is awesome! I will definately be looking into this, they already have hydra support as well which just makes it all the more attractive. Good find digging that up. I wonder if there is still a houdini apprentice -> torque pipeline? that would make it even more attractive if that is still in place.

Here's an article from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/ ... -throw-up/

Kerry wrote:Here's an article from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/ ... -throw-up/

Man, I really hope these people are just being babies about getting sick. I am not the type of person to get nauseous from roller coasters or anything (aside from drinking heavily) so I can't imagine it affecting me too much. But that would be a bit of a bummer if I'm wrong. I like this quote from the TF2 Oculus wiki. "Some very lucky folks never get any effects at all and can play for many hours. You are freaks and the rest of us are very jealous of you. "

Kerry wrote:Here's an article from Forbes:

Good find, fresh off the presses. Keep in mind, there are still plenty of people that get sick riding in cars. The vestibular problems could be bad for some people and that could be a major roadblock to widespread adoption, but for people who have been playing the fastest games they could find for their entire lives I'm hopeful many if not most simply won't understand all the queasy looks. I tend to agree about the wider appeal of virtual tourism and the like, but I have difficulty picturing any human being who would throw down $300 just for that kind of experience. Minecraft as a launch title sounds like an excellent start on a way to bridge this divide.

totallymichael wrote:

Kerry wrote:Here's an article from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/ ... -throw-up/

Man, I really hope these people are just being babies about getting sick. I am not the type of person to get nauseous from roller coasters or anything (aside from drinking heavily) so I can't imagine it affecting me too much. But that would be a bit of a bummer if I'm wrong. I like this quote from the TF2 Oculus wiki. "Some very lucky folks never get any effects at all and can play for many hours. You are freaks and the rest of us are very jealous of you. "

I think everything he said is understandable. Games like TF2 and other fast paced FPS where you're running very, very fast are likely to produce sickness. On the other hand, games with a more realistic pacing, such as war games (BF3 , MW) are likely to be a more confortable experience.

About the racing games though, it could have been that he was already prone to sickness due to TF2.

Polygon has a few GDC Rift articles:

Dev Kit Hands-On
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/25/414579 ... n-gdc-2013


Rift and Indie Devs
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/25/414579 ... from-indie

Good article - he didn't even mention resolution etc. just that his brain was convinced to be the game character. Good

I can see plenty of stationary games for people like him - I wonder why they don't have a demo for them yet.

Seems like there is a need for some type of generic software to adapt players gradually to VR...a decompression chamber for reality if you will.

I look forward to the Minecraft experience. There are places (in the deep, the dark, and the dank) where I experience minor vertigo on my 27" screen...can't imagine how that will magnify with a large FOV stereoscopic display.

totallymichael wrote:

Kerry wrote:Here's an article from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/ ... -throw-up/

Man, I really hope these people are just being babies about getting sick. I am not the type of person to get nauseous from roller coasters or anything (aside from drinking heavily) so I can't imagine it affecting me too much. But that would be a bit of a bummer if I'm wrong. I like this quote from the TF2 Oculus wiki. "Some very lucky folks never get any effects at all and can play for many hours. You are freaks and the rest of us are very jealous of you. "

Most adults who are uninitiated get woosy just trying out iRacing on my 100° FOV triple screen setup. There is a huge range of tolerance for these kind of experiences. Likely, they were doing some translational movement, which will make you feel sick if you are at all sensitive. Everyone will have a different experience, I'm sure.

Considering this is the first proper shot at true VR, it's bound to be a bumpy ride. It'll get a lot better in the near future.

New article from develop-online.net:
http://www.develop-online.net/features/ ... rtual-real

I think people need to get the idea out of their head that they're going to be playing fast paced action games in Vr. At least in my case the whole world spinning while you cicle strafe is bound to make me sick. A better example would be something like flower where you're out in fields of grass with the ability to fly just taking in the whole experience.