cybereality wrote:That said, I can certainly see that there could be dangers here. Especially if you were in a game that was spinning around or doing loop-d-loops or something and you lose track of gravity.
This is a comment I see a lot, and it's a comment I really do not understand....
Why the hell are people wanting to use a
walking platform to do virtual loop-the-loops?! Are you wanting to walk IRL while pretending to pilot a jet aircraft? Ride rollercoasters, or do other crazy things? It feels to me akin to criticising a bicycle trainer because it'd be terrible at simulating scuba diving. It's a device that allows you to walk around in VR. So, while In VR, that's what I want to be doing - walking around. Not racing motorcycles, or skydiving, or piloting a spacecraft; walking.
It also seems to me that future games, designed for VR from the get-go, are going to be slower paced and more "gentle" than the frenzied mania that seems commonplace in many games today. People seem to find simply exploring the environment much more compelling, and the intensity of action - unengaging on a screen - is now greatly amplified in the Rift. That slower pace is going to work in the WizDish's favour. Many people are suffering from V-sickness
simply from sidestepping, for christ's sake. I don't think games where we're looping and doing triple somersaults and spinning around are even VR-suitable in the first place!
I really hope more people will get on this, because I would like to see the project funded. A lot of people maybe have not tried free-standing VR, and don't realize how awesome of an experience it is. Using the Rift sitting down in a seat is honestly not that compelling to me, unless you are playing a cockpit style game (racing, space sim, etc.) where it makes sense to be sitting down. For first-person games, standing up and spinning around is really great. I think even just walking in place would be interesting, but maybe these cheap ODTs can take it to the next level. I'm hoping at least.
Agreed wholeheartedly. My first experience with the Rift was actually an evening using Rift + WizDish, in the Tuscany demo. Walking around that villa was really great. My own Rift arrived on Friday, and I'm actually finding Tuscany (and now HL2) to be just not that great in comparison. Movement just feels odd. I've tried sitting with mouse & keyboard, sitting with gamepad, and standing with gamepad..... but what I really want to do is get back to just walking.
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.