Let's Watch a Guy Watch the Oculus Rift VR Experience... Then Tactfully Talk About Its Shortcomings

The Verge's Nathan Ingraham got a hands-on (or is that on-head?) look at the latest version of the Oculus Rift, the Kickstarter project that generated huge excitement among gamers and VR fans last year. But frankly, my impression from Ingraham's account is pretty lukewarm; the technology, while impressive, is still far from ready for a mass market, or even a large niche. Read closely:

In the demos I tried, the trickiest thing was deciding between using the right analog stick on the Xbox 360 controller to look around versus actually turning my head. While trying Unreal Tournament, the Oculus team told me that I'd have better luck if I actually looked in the direction of my enemies, making for a slightly tough adjustment period. And while exploring a snowy medieval town in the Epic Citadel tech demo, I probably bumped into the wall more times than I would have using a standard monitor and control scheme. But the immersion trumps all, even despite the Rift's relatively low resolution. Walking into a church after being out in the open sky felt claustrophobic and enclosing, and the feeling of looking around a vast outdoor world while in reality sitting at a desk was both jarring and fascinating. There's going to be a definite adjustment period and learning curve for those diving into the world of the Oculus Rift, but those who manage to make the transition may find themselves getting lost in that world pretty quickly. [Emph. mine]

That doesn't seem like the seamless, intuitive, totally immersive experience we hoped the Oculus Rift would be. It's just one man's perspective, to be sure, and much may change between now and when the Rift is released as a thousand-plus dev kits to game and VR developers. But like I was last year, I'm still skeptical this is a technology ready to transform the world.

Hat tip: Waxy.org.

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Comments

[Ezra]

Sounds great to me keeping in mind this is just version one, and won't be priced prohibitively. The most important thing right now is key developer support and affordability for the masses and it seems this product has both.

I'd be happy to support the Rift as is, and as with buying version one of anything, know greater things await in version two or three.

[Brookston Holiday]

I wonder if it wouldn't be less disorienting if moving your head only moved the head of the character, while requiring the analog stick to turn. So you could continue walking forward but look (and perhaps aim) off to the right. This is how I would expect it to work. Who wants to have to turn their head to maneuver?

[Todd]

I think its a pretty high bar to be looking for seamless and totally intuitive out of the box. Quick question, when you first got behind the wheel of your car was it natural and automatically just felt like an extension of your body. I find it funny the emphasis is put on the disorientation an wierdness of the experience. Given we've had the last 20+ years to stare into a small window and control our virtual selves with a joystick or keyboard, I'd be a lil bit disappointed if this experience didnt feel odd as hell :D. Anyhoo, I have no idea if this will revolutionize the gaming industry, but its definetly heading in the right direction. I'm cautiously optimistic right now, and will be turning into a raving fan boy when my dev kit gets here :D.

if it were my choice, the bolded section of the article would have been "the feeling of looking around a vast outdoor world while in reality sitting at a desk was both jarring and fascinating"

[LeonTubrok]

I think it's just one piece of the puzzle towards a more immersive 3D environment, but clearly more development is needed for the ability to interact in that environment, with integrated hand tracking and other more ergonomic devices to prevent disorientation.

This isn't particularly new, VR headsets have been around well over a decade in various forms. More evolution will ultimately result in a sleeker, less obtrusive design. Once this type of VR device has run its course, perhaps the vision of a VR environment free of worn peripherals can be realised.

Of course, the other sticking point has been this: technology is much more image driven these days. Regardless of whether it's particularly good or innovative, would the smartphone generation feel this fits their image of what is cool?

[Adeon Writer]

I'll be getting one, full stop. This is the direction *I* want gaming to go. I funded the dev kits and I'll fund a consumer version Kickstarter if they propose one.

Most of the critiques here involved control schematics rather than the problems with the sensors or other hardware.

Things like resolution can be uped when the price is cheaper and can render it without adding latency. (reducing latency to instantaneous 1:1 motion is the most important part of VR. Then Feild of view. THEN resolution.

[Jo Yardley]

It seems that most of the issues with using the Oculus Rift are related to the software, the game.
Not the hardware.
Give it some time to develop, but I'm glad at least someone is working on consumer VR again after not having seen much of it for years.
Once the software is actually made for the OR, the experience will be different.

I've been trying to get Palmer (who I know via facebook) to try something with SL, because it would be a lot more interesting then games, to me anyway.
If only Rod Humble got his hands on one of these sets :)

[Connie Arida]

Those VR glasses are getting smaller and smaller but not there yet. Personally I would drop the controller for motion sensing/ gesture control that's available now in some latest laptops/monitors and as an addon.EG http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/01/10/f-video-ces-leap-motion.html
I wait for the day where individual bluetooth connected lasers attached to glasses paint the scene into the back of my eyeballs at HD resolution :)