Oculus

Oculus Competition

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A company named True Player Gear, based in Canada, is making a competing or what will be a competing VR headset.  They call theirs Totem, which is a name taken from the movie Inception.

Totem VR Head Set
Totem VR Head Set

It looks neat.  The show Road to VR has an interview with the companies CEO, Bertrand Nepveu. Check it out here: Exclusive: ‘Totem’ VR Headset to Compete with the Oculus Rift, CEO Shares Inside Details.

The specs for this head set are similar to Oculus’ DK2. However the field of viewer is only 90 degrees. We have recently heard developers talking about how important it is to have a wide field of view. So, that may be a slight disadvantage.

They are going for the 1080p screens. That should give good resolution. Still, it is at the limit of what Michael Abrash thinks is acceptable for a good immersive feel. They say they are low persistence, but they don’t put a number on it.

They are planning to do a Kickstarter and put out a development kit.

Their claim to fame right now is they are  not owned by Facebook. Those that are abandoning Oculus because of the FB purchase now have a place to run to.

Microsoft VR Headset

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Yeah, you knew this was coming, right? Well, there were two versions announced on April 1st  about Microsoft putting out home and enterprise version VR headsets. The enterprise version would be named:  Microsoft Office© Oculu 2014 Enterprise Edition™, yeah… that is a name the MS people would come up with. The home or consumer version is named Project Neo. OK, that is a bit more user friendly.

What supposedly leaked about Project Neo is:

  • 640×480 LCD Screen
  • 37 degrees Field of View
  • Custom 2DOF Tracking System called “DOF Mode”.
  • Exclusive to the Xbox One
  • Minesweeper VR to be launch title

I suspect using a Project Neo headset with specs like these would be like looking through a tube.

The enterprise version Oculu would be more Oculus Rift like. But, they tell of some nutty idea that looking at a flat Excel spreadsheet in a virtual environment is going to get an accountant’s panties…  er… heart throbbing. It’s not gonna happen. OutlookVR 2014… I don’t think so.

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Jo Yardley About Oculus

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Jo got her Oculus Rift DK1 working and tried out the CtrlAltStudio Viewer and the SL Oculus Beta Viewer. She relates her experience of being IN, as INSIDE, Second Life™ as opposed to seeing it on a computer screen. Her story is well worth the time to read. I suspect we will hear more in this week’s Drax Files Radio Show.

Her article is here: My first Oculus Rift experience in Second Life.

Image by Mathew, Flickr
Image by Mathew, Flickr

From what she says things were pretty awesome. But, there are a number of problems, which she gets into. The big problem as I see it is the complexity of Second Life. New Oculus users coming in are likely to be overwhelmed by the massive number of viewer controls and the complexity of basic tasks. Jo’s solution is to create viewer-user-levels, beginner, moderate, and advanced that can easily be switched between. She remembers when the Lab tried the basic viewer. But, she still believes the approach would help player retention.

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VR Forecast

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We have an ongoing debate… or maybe it is just a voicing of opinions… in Second Life™ about VR and the Oculus Rift. Will it be a game changer or a minor fad? Perhaps like the Space Navigator. A few people use it, but the majority have ignored it. And when will it arrive? We have no guaranteed answers, but we have some good predictions coming out of the game industry.

In January 2014 at Steam Developer Days Michael Abrash gave a talk about the state of VR and what he expects to happen over the next two years. The video runs about 28 minutes. I cover some of the points from it below as well as some other information.

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We are starting to hear of industries that will support VR headsets ramping up. Companies have leaks and there are some dandies. See: Massive leak regarding Sony VR headset? The competition is heating up.

Of course the thing with leaks is they usually cannot be verified and are often from anonymous sources. If there is anything politicians have taught us, it is anyone quoting an anonymous source is not to be trusted. So, we do need to salt such information pretty heavily. But, we are starting to get more rumors and hear more little leaks. This we call smoke and smoke usually leads or at least alerts us to the fire, the reality.

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Oculus… Facebook?

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Jo Yardley has an article up about Facebook buying out Oculus Rift. It would be nice to know the details of that deal. But, an upfront US$2 billion… that is a deal. See: Facebook buys Oculus Rift for $2 billion.

Is this a good thing for Second Life™ users? At this point there is no way to know. Everyone on both the Facebook and Oculus sides are talking about how great a deal this is. Companies always do that.

Putting $2 billion in Oculus’ pocket is a good thing for them. Having access to Facebook’s resources is a good thing for them. But, they had to give up some measure of control. Only time will tell if that works out. Remember the movie? Still that is a lot of money for a tech company that has yet to prove the tech will be as popular as hyped.

For Facebook they get the Oculus tech. They obviously think they can to something with it. Strongly enough they shelled out $2 billion. But, what they say they will do with it is pretty vague.

We do know Facebook is NOT privacy oriented. Nor are they a game company. So, where will they take Oculus development? Minecraft developer Markus Persson is backing off plans for teaming with Oculus because Facebook creeps him out.

I just want a ‘retail’ Rift to play with.

Drax, Jo, Widely, and the Rift

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I haven’t been taking the time to listen to Drax and Jo’s Drax Files Radio Show. Just too many other things to do. But, the information about the Oculus is of interest and I wanted to hear it. Waking up far too early this morning I took the time.

As always this synopsis is what I heard. Before reacting to anything written here take the time to listen to the original audio of the show: Show #10: Oculus!!!

Time marks are approximate, but they should get you into the audio before the subject’s start point.

Synopsis

00:00 Intro and description of the show contents: Oculus Rift – SL Oculus Viewer version goes to Beta. The Show gave away a LEAP Motion controller. They are giving away another. You need to answer a question to win. Instructions are related between time marks 03: 00 and 04:00.

04:00 More discussion about show content to be covered in this episode.

05:00 Discussion of the ToS. It is apparent from this part of the audio that Jo and Drax are accepting of the verbal position the Lab has stated: ‘We do not intend to steal your stuff and sell it.’ It is obvious that for Jo, Drax and many others this is believable and the problem is with the legalese of the ToS, which I think is a reasonable position.

The show moves forward and presents what I’ll call the state of the industry/things, showing this is the way things are and the Lab is conforming to a generalized behavior of the industry with its ToS.

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A clip from South Park and clips from the movie Terms and Conditions May Apply (movie trailer above) is played.

At 07:00 at the end of the clips they start talking about Emily Short, of Versu, being in a future show.  ??? 

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