The “Rift Room” At The 2013 Origins Game Fair

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nateight
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The “Rift Room” At The 2013 Origins Game Fair

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Origins is essentially the (public) E3 of tabletop gaming, serving both as the primary trade show for the Game Manufacturers Association and also a fan convention. Every year, thousands of gamers from around the world descend on beautiful(?) downtown Columbus, Ohio to play everything from Pokemon to poker to Dungeons & Dragons. New games are debuted (I'm personally rather keen on playing Ogre Designer's Edition against the man himself), industry awards are announced (along with The Smithee Awards), all manner of games and nerdly accoutrements are sold in the expansive dealer's hall, and a great time is generally had by all. For the past several years, something that could be called a VR experience has also been available – Battletech: Firestorm is a real-time video game take on the popular Battletech tabletop game, and even if the graphics are a little outdated, few other games can come anywhere close to the feeling of immersion afforded by a fully-functional 'Mech cockpit. So what could make such a fun convention even better? That's right: The Oculus Rift.

I'm bringing my Rift to Origins, and MTBS posters are invited to take part in the closed-door demos I'll be doing throughout the convention! These demos are not open to the public, but I wanted to spice things up by letting you guys in on the fun. Don't have a Rift yet? On the fence about buying the developer's kit? Curious about what the Rift adds to a particular game, or just want to chat about the future of tabletop gaming in VR? If you can make it to the Greater Columbus Convention Center this upcoming week (June 12-16), send an email to riftroom@gmail.com and we'll schedule a time for a brief demo. If you do have a Rift and you would be willing to bring it by for some VR multiplayer, that's even better!

Please note, these demos are not an official Origins event nor is the Rift Room officially affiliated with Oculus in any way. Please do not spread the word, but rather keep this our fun little MTBS secret. I'm looking forward to meeting some fellow posters in meatspace, and sending them into cyberspace!
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Okta
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Re: The “Rift Room” At The 2013 Origins Game Fair

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Keep your dirty computer tech stuff away from the pen and paper and dice buddy! ;)
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nateight
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Re: The “Rift Room” At The 2013 Origins Game Fair

Post by nateight »

Okta wrote:Keep your dirty computer tech stuff away from the pen and paper and dice buddy!
:lol:

The reason the Firestorm pods get a pass is because of the Battletech tabletop connection, I guess. But there's going to be an "Electronic Game Room" this year, probably with a bunch of well-known board game properties playable in the form of tablet apps. Times are a'changin' for the pen and paper set, and any board game manufacturers who plan on sticking with plastic and cardstock may not last very long once their competition adopts some digital format. I'm hoping I can demo the Rift for several forward-thinking game designers and industry figures, and show them that VR doesn't need to be a threat to them, rather it can be an asset. AR probably presents even more possibilities in this space, but either way, I don't think we're too many years away from being able to play virtual, no-setup/no-cleanup board games with networked friends, all from the comfort of our respective homes. It might not be quite the killer app that an MMORPG or architectural visualization could be, but it's still something I'd be very interested in exploring if I owned a few board game properties.
Shameless plug of the day - Read my witty comments on Reddit, in which I argue with the ignorant, over things that don't matter, for reasons I never fully understood!
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