Oculus Rift (VR Headset) - Kickstarter is now available.

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kraken0698

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I thought this might be of interest to some.

The Kickstarter for the Oculus Rift VR Headset is now active.

I know some of you have been following this project like me and are very excited to see what this device can do. Some may look at it and scoff, but I personally believe that it has the potential to revolutionize the gaming industry.

Just from watching the video on the Kickstarter page it looks like there is already a lot of support from some major game developers.

Who knows, maybe this will the next big thing and we will all be using these in a few years...
 
Meh, minimum funding for an actual prototype was $275 and it's sold out.

The thing looks basically done...why do they need $250,000?
 
Those don't do head tracking, but yeah, so far I'm not seeing it as some revolutionary technology.
 
It's evolutionary, not revolutionary. They aren't joking when they say that better HMDs are only available at the $10k price point, because that's totally accurate.

The only current shortcoming with the Rift is its very midrange display resolution, but I'm hopeful that'll be addressed before the consumer version is available. For now, it's about packing on as much AA as possible to try and get that to look better.
 
One issue I can see with this (which may be addressed later, but for now) is that it looks incredibly front-heavy. I could see getting some massive neck strain, though after playing with it for a week or so you'd probably build up your neck muscles from moving your head around with it on so long.
 
piscian18 said:
I haven't watched the video yet but I'm little confused. You can already buy VR headsets from these guys

http://www.i-glassesstore.com/
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The video points out why it's unique.

The thing looks basically done...why do they need $250,000?
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The video mentions that the kickstarter is to push the dev kit to get it in the hands of devs so a commercial ready version can be under way.
 
This is actually something I am going to buy. If you check out the videos on it they've done a ton of work to eliminate the problem you find in existing head mounted displays like stupid latency, poor resolution, crappy FOV, etc.
 
This is one of the rare kickstarters where the video is full of some of the top who's who's in the industry announcing their enthusiasm and support.
 
Spare-Flair said:
This is one of the rare kickstarters where the video is full of some of the top who's who's in the industry announcing their enthusiasm and support.
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The oddity is that these guys have a TON of money combined, yet there is still a Kickstarter...
 
MavericK96 said:
The oddity is that these guys have a TON of money combined, yet there is still a Kickstarter...
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Why would they throw money at someone else to fund their project? Even if they like it, they are businesses, not charity. They'd want return on investment and other business baggage that the creator probably doesn't want anyway.

Kickstarter is the best choice. He's getting all the money he needs and isn't shackled to a company.
 
MavericK96 said:
Meh, minimum funding for an actual prototype was $275 and it's sold out.

The thing looks basically done...why do they need $250,000?
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250k is not a lot in terms of a start up. Employees pay, insurance, r&d, rent, supplies, bills, etc... Not sure why it's a big deal anyway. People already can see how much they make, they just feel that they deserve it.
 
Sweet - I remember chuckling over Carmack only being interested in showing off 120hz 3D glasses at E3, the con that is basically moneymaking AAA stuff. The idea was awesome though.

Carmack might fund or back the project due to is own fondness of stuff like this, but Gaben and all the other devs shown in that Kickstarter video is only backing it by showing their serious intentions of making it work with old and/or upcoming games. Portal 2 had those Razer Hydra levels as well, the tech worked - but I doubt they have funded that product beyond the mutual marketing
 
MavericK96 said:
If they believed it was going to be successful, and since it's a gaming peripheral, I wouldn't say it's that much of a stretch.
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I may be wrong here, but IMO, there may be other negative implications later on when a gaming company financially back a hardware product. People may accuse the product to favor certain company, or the other way around. There's also the exclusive issue ie. the hardware being exclusive to the companies who financed it.

Its probably best that they stay independent.
 
Hornet said:
I may be wrong here, but IMO, there may be other negative implications later on when a gaming company financially back a hardware product. People may accuse the product to favor certain company, or the other way around. There's also the exclusive issue ie. the hardware being exclusive to the companies who financed it.

Its probably best that they stay independent.
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Yeah, that's possible. You would think, though, as a game developer, if you really thought this was going to work, you would invest and try to secure that exclusivity before anyone else... (Though maybe they did try? I don't know.)
 
I have always been interested in these but with price and what was available I never bothered to delve heavily into it.
Judging from the video I would say that this might shape up pretty well. I will be picking one up if it holds true to what the video shows.
I remember my gaming center back in 96 having a stereoscopic VR style headset and we played Descent II in 3D with them and I was blown away at how it looked and those were pretty elementary.
 
The Kickstarter seems geared much more towards getting this into the hands of devs and the media. The resolution and I imagine many other specs will be improved when it is released commercially, so it you just want one to play games on it is likely better to wait...but its so tempting!
 
MavericK96 said:
One issue I can see with this (which may be addressed later, but for now) is that it looks incredibly front-heavy. I could see getting some massive neck strain, though after playing with it for a week or so you'd probably build up your neck muscles from moving your head around with it on so long.
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I'd be willing to bet it's very light. They seem to have paid particular attention to using very lightweight screens and components. The whole thing probably weighs less than a pound.
 
Parja said:
I'd be willing to bet it's very light. They seem to have paid particular attention to using very lightweight screens and components. The whole thing probably weighs less than a pound.
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It says ~0.22 kg which is about a half a pound. Not what to compare that to, but I still think if you were trying to game with this for any extended length of time, you might get neck strain.
 
An iPhone 4 is 140 grams, so the Rift is 57% heavier than an iPhone. Assuming it's strapped on pretty tightly, I don't think it'll be a problem. I imagine they could shave off another 20-30 grams for the consumer version, or potentially make a high-end carbon composite version and shed even more.
 
It works for everybody. Just don't expect more than one title to support it.

Pallmer's urged consumers not to contribute to the Kickstarter if they aren't developers, for what it's worth.
 
I would think a strap that went over the top of the head would alleviate a lot of the possible fatigue of wearing it for long periods of time. Wouldn't surprise me if we saw changes like this in the "fit" of the Occulus before it hits retail.
 
MavericK96 said:
It says ~0.22 kg which is about a half a pound. Not what to compare that to, but I still think if you were trying to game with this for any extended length of time, you might get neck strain.
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i think anyone that games with a bulky headset on all day wont have too much issue in the neck strain department.
 
Wildace said:
i think anyone that games with a bulky headset on all day wont have too much issue in the neck strain department.
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my headset weighs way more then this thing. but i think what he is saying is the front end is the heavy part. you wear headphones on top of your head.. not on your nose.
 
An update indicates that they've shaved additional weight from the Rift devkit since then, so we're looking at less than half a pound.
 
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