Oculus Rift VR headset

[rekrul 7]

Most of you seem to forget that the kickstarter-project is a dev. kit. The planned production/commercialization part of the project is 2015 at the earliest (although it might be pushed because of its success). Although I agree in its awesomeness, this kit is meant for game developers to add Oculus support in their games, and it isn't shipping until March. Then there will be a whole lot of feedback to Oculus which has to redesign their product and then start production development, get deals and financial support, etc before it goes into production. We might be waiting for Arma4 by then.

[.Taffy 10]

A man called Nathan Andrews has made some very impressive developments using Oculus Rift, especially considering he did this independently. In Half Life 2, he is using a model gun to control aiming and Oculus Rift to control head movements seperately. To my mind this makes it all the more exciting to think of how it may be used in Arma.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/11/half-life-2/

[Heradon 1]

Hi, i was just wondering if you guys at BIstudio could make Oculus Rift headset compatible with Arma 3. We already have TrackIR but this kind of VR headset would take this to a new level. 3D, 110 degree FOV, with headtracking. It would be real awesome if this could be done, I can't imagine how realistic the game would be with this VR-headset. This could make the gaming experience complete and perfect. I really hope you guys will support this technology.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Heradon

[Heradon 1]

Discussed ad nauseum here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?144694-Oculus-Rift-VR-headset&highlight=Oculus

And replace TrackIR? No.

Why wouldn't it replace the TrackIR?

[mr_centipede 31]

Why wouldn't it replace the TrackIR?

Because some people with TIR might not want to use Oculus? Rather than replace it, more like add-in into the engine. Just like TIR doesnt replace Freetrack

[Fuse 1]

Why wouldn't it replace the TrackIR?

Not everyone wants to or can wear the Oculus Rift, especially for extended sessions. It will probably be unsafe for use by children under 7 (maybe not a lot of them playing Arma, but flight and racing sims is a different story). It will also cost about twice as much.

[dmarkwick 261]

TrackIR won't be replaced by Occulus, but it may be an additional option one day. But not for a good long while if ever I think, it depends on the actual product that is released. TerackIR is simple & easy, and also I like to be able to see my keyboard & other controllers.

[jumpinghubert 49]

Because not everyone wants to wear a facehugging video display.

ok, every one knows that you´re not interested in head mounted displays in games. The disadvantages are obvious but the advantage is that its like putting your head into a holodeck.

not everyone wants a oculus rift. not everyone wants to play arma3. not everyone wants icetea.

Edited March 15, 2013 by JumpingHubert

[EDcase 87]

I love the idea of the Occulus and playing in 3d but there are a couple of things that are going to be a problem and they have been mentioned...

1) It will be VERY hard to play without ANY view of keyboard or other controls. (Anyone who claims to never look at the keyboard is lying or hasn't really tried)

Simple solution would be to have a small gap at the bottom so see a bit of your desk.

2) Since 3d stereo requires rendering two different viewpoints it does put about double the load on the GPU and an extra load on the CPU too.

We'll have to wait for the final product to see if this will be practical without a Titan....

One day it will be possible and I'm looking forward to it.

[MaxiM_PL 1]

Don't know if anybody mentioned this (because I'm lazy and haven't read the whole thread), but Rift's creator stated that it needs a stable 60fps with vsync to work as intended. Let's get get the stable 60fps first, even without vsync in ArmA III... yeah, one can dream, right?

Also, there would be absolutely no need to "replace" TrackIR with Occulus in the game engine. The game works fine with multiple head-tracking devices and controllers. OR could and should be just another option.

[chrisb 196]

There would be some drawbacks to using this, mainly I won’t be able to see my mug of tea.

But there again there could be some plus points, my wife makes lousy tea..

I will look at it for sure when it becomes available, the Rift, not the tea..

[sqb-sma 66]

I would definitely be getting this. I may wait a month or two after release, but I think it's a huge step forwards when it comes to immersion. My only fear is... I jump high enough when a tracer hits my camera now, seeing that in 3D may be too much!

[mr_centipede 31]

Here is the latest video that I could find. A nice honest interview I think.

[Vilos Cohaagen 1]

I would love to get the Oculus Rift for Arma3 were it supported. The Arma series are the only games in a long time that have made me want to buy additional hardware to further add to the already incredible experience. Combining the complete free vision with Arma's awesome new array of stances would add a level of immersion to the tactical gameplay that *might* even improve upon TrackIR - though TrackIR is also amazing and potentially could be combined with the Rift in some exciting and innovative ways.

[Athrins 1]

I'm expecting my Rift devkit sometime in april. I am incredibly stoked. I just hope Arma 3 will officially support it, because I can't think of a more fitting game/experience for the Rift. There is nothing that compares, it's the next level of immersion. Playing games with TrackIR compared to Oculus Rift is like watching a movie on your phone compared to watching it in the cinemas.

[WalkerDown 1]

pr0n?

[Psychomorph 1]

This gets me extremely excited. I call myself an immersion gamer, which is part of why I am a 1st person + Mouse fanatic (PC gamer), because moving the mouse to move your view is one of the closest accurate representations of looking around as you do look around in real life. TrackIR surely does a big step forward with this, but unfortunately I did not try it yet. The Rift, however, is like a whole new dimension.

A 1st person perspective on a monitor has limitations though, either you have a wide FOV or can see far, never both at the same time, which why ArmA is big with zoom. I hope the Rift gives you a very true to life image and FOV, so that zoom should be entirely removed from ArmA when using the Rift. This is like a revolution. Look around, move the gun with your hand/s (mouse or gun controller).

Can't wait. gonna spend a fortune to get this if necessary.

[andersson 285]

The best would be that BIS makes A3 3D-compatible, and later on figure out a solution for the "blind" Rift players.

If A3 would be truly 3D compatible (smoke, shadows, UI, sight alignment) then we could use shutter glasses or whatever tech we have. For Oculus Rift users the interface (not visible keyboard) will be a potential challenge, and I'm sure good solutions will come.

So please BIS, regardless of Rift or not, make A3 truly 3D compatible.

Personally I will buy a Rift asap if A3 can be played in 3D without any artifacts or problems. Even if I have to learn braille....

[Harry_Flashman 1]

Do want. But am concerned that I won't be able to see my keyboard.

[swiftn7 1]

I love the idea of the Occulus and playing in 3d but there are a couple of things that are going to be a problem and they have been mentioned...

1) It will be VERY hard to play without ANY view of keyboard or other controls. (Anyone who claims to never look at the keyboard is lying or hasn't really tried)

Simple solution would be to have a small gap at the bottom so see a bit of your desk.

2) Since 3d stereo requires rendering two different viewpoints it does put about double the load on the GPU and an extra load on the CPU too.

We'll have to wait for the final product to see if this will be practical without a Titan....

One day it will be possible and I'm looking forward to it.

3) Not to forget people wearing glasses... Such a device is absolutely nonsense for them (i.e. me)

[WalkerDown 1]

3) Not to forget people wearing glasses... Such a device is absolutely nonsense for them (i.e. me)

Most of the goggles (and i guess this too) has the adjustable lens inside, so you don't need to wear your glasses while using it.

[Devil_Inside 10]

Directly from Oculus Rift FAQ:

Can I wear glasses while using the Oculus Rift developer kit?

This really depends on the shape and size of the glasses. The developer kit is designed to sit as close to your eyes as possible which makes it a bit unfriendly for glasses. That said, we’ll do everything we can to make it as comfortable as possible for the developer kit and we have a lot of great ideas for supporting glasses in the consumer version (especially since huge portion of the Oculus team wears glasses every day!).

[EDcase 87]

3) Not to forget people wearing glasses... Such a device is absolutely nonsense for them (i.e. me)

Yes, I imagine it will either fit over glasses or with have a diopter adjustment.

[deepfried 1]

3) Not to forget people wearing glasses... Such a device is absolutely nonsense for them (i.e. me)

The developer version comes with 3 interchangeable eye cup lenses to allow of people with different visual acuity, it also has adjustable clearance precisely so that you can wear glasses under the goggles if you prefer. And thats just the developer prototype, never mind the consumer version.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game/posts/398230

Edited March 19, 2013 by Deepfried

[KeyCat 131]

Would love to see A3 support 3D devices and I would get an Oculus Rift ASAP if it did!

/KC