Anybody considering picking up an Oculus Rift..?

[FaeMinx]

of course you'll also need a Galaxy S6 or S7.

Therein lies the rub.

I actually hadn't intended on getting another 'smartphone'... was holding out on the Pyra being all the mobile communications I needed... or this aging Note 8.0 which I have taken appart and repaired twice already (as long as parts are available, should be able to keep this little baby going indefinitely).

So the price of entry is about the same in my case...

Your reports do give me some excitement, but I will still wait a few years...
... perhaps if the Surface phones are any good and Microsoft makes a competitor to the GearVR...

but who knows... I'm not putting my eggs in any basket... I'm more than happy to patiently watch how this all unfolds over the next few years.

 

[pmprog]

http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2016/04/oculus-rift-tracks-user-data-and-sends-it-to-facebook/

 

[rygD]

http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2016/04/oculus-rift-tracks-user-data-and-sends-it-to-facebook/

I will read the article later. The info in the title should have been guessed from the beginning since that is what Facebook does.

 

[SNESFAN]

AFIK steam collects similar info, and has been for quite some time. One could ask if valve is in the same business as Facebook with that info. I don't like how that article tries to paint the picture that the vive is somehow excluded. I can however see PSVR coming out clean on this, however you are locked down to their walled garden which could be seen as another problem entirely.

I'm personally more sold on steam's infrastructure, so I'll likely be using the rift with steam rather than oculus's first party stuff where avoidable.

 

[pmprog]

I don't like how that article tries to paint the picture that the vive is somehow excluded.

Are you reading a different article to me? Because the vive isn't mentioned anywhere. Anyhoo...

 

[_jr_]

According to the article, currently this is just a blanket privacy policy, just like the one people agree to when they sign up with steam or actually pretty much any online service. Some people on this board have argued that policies like that are necessary to provide innovative services and aren't a problem as long as the company in question plays nice. I don't agree, but until now it isn't clear whether the OR package is actually sending any of the data mentioned on its own. I suspect this is just an attempt to create a policy that encompasses any software that will enter the store and is not an indication of what a random piece of OR software will actually do. (I still wouldn't get one

 

[SNESFAN]

Are you reading a different article to me? Because the vive isn't mentioned anywhere. Anyhoo...

If privacy is a legitimate concern of yours and you don’t want corporations knowing everything about you, then you may want to consider an alternative VR headset.

I'm contrasting the 3 main VR headset options available (Rift, Vive, PSVR). The lack of including of the other two major options as possible offenders, and in fact even suggesting otherwise as the solution, leads one to believe they are saying other options are safer bets if privacy is a concern. Painting the picture, not direct mentioning them, but indirectly.

EDIT: available options are not limited to those three, there's OSVR, Google Cardboard, GearVR, StarVR & Cortex and other lesser known ones. However, the VAST majority of the field seems to be focused entirely on the those 3 major players.

Also to note, the hardware is not tracking your data, it's the software distribution outlet that is in question. Oculus has their outlet really integrated into their headset, as does Valve and to a lesser degree SONY for obvious reasons. Those other hardware manufacturers would also need to either tie into one of those outlets with the privacy problems, or create their own, which hasn't even been hinted at yet, let alone scrutinized to this degree.

 

[elvissteinjr]

AFIK steam collects similar info, and has been for quite some time.

To be fair, in contrast to Oculus' privacy policy, Valve's sounds a lot nicer. Their shared collected data is anonymized and the usage of the personal one's is pretty restricted.
Of course, everyone is free to doubt how much of the policy is effectively enforced on both sides. But Steam hardware surveys are opt-in for example. They don't just take that data just because they can.

 

[ElPoco]

Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies aren't really useful as an indication on what data will be collected and how it will be used. It only shows to what extent they can go. For some companies, it's only there to protect themselves against lawsuits and there's no real usage of the data. For others, everything that's in the terms is used and abused.

The most telling things are the updates, since the update is always driven by a demand: if the service provider gives itself a new right, that's because it wants to use it.

 

[_jr_]

To be fair, in contrast to Oculus' privacy policy, Valve's sounds a lot nicer. Their shared collected data is anonymized and the usage of the personal one's is pretty restricted.
Of course, everyone is free to doubt how much of the policy is effectively enforced on both sides. But Steam hardware surveys are opt-in for example. They don't just take that data just because they can.

But Valve makes up for this undeserved niceness in it's EULA

 

[elvissteinjr]

But Valve makes up for this undeserved niceness in it's EULA

We're still talking about privacy concerns, right? Because the SSA/EULA doesn't quite contain anything about it and just refers to the privacy policy.
No, the SSA is not perfect. You don't own the games (personally negligible with all these sales) and they secure rights on the user generated content you upload. Still a better situation than what you get with the Rift imo.

I don't even want to defend Valve here, but both policies aren't just the same. And they aren't that long to read either, actually. So please don't claim things that aren't written there or haven been proven to be a concern otherwise.

 

[_jr_]

Actually I don't agree with your assessment. AFAICT the difference you are perceiving is caused by Valve's privacy policy just covering Valve's use of information and not third party products (e.g. games), while OR's privacy policy tries to cover all 'services' of the platform including the ones provided by third parties. But I may be reading this wrong.

 

[Klumpen]

Actually I don't agree with your assessment. AFAICT the difference you are perceiving is caused by Valve's privacy policy just covering Valve's use of information and not third party products (e.g. games), while OR's privacy policy tries to cover all 'services' of the platform including the ones provided by third parties. But I may be reading this wrong.

Of course, it's owned by Facebook after all.

 

[elvissteinjr]

It may be a difference in perception, but it also opens up different scenarios.
You are forced to agree to both policies when using either headset, even when not using the additional services. Steam doesn't need to run to play non-steam VR titles. Games that want to use your data in a more exploited way need (if they do is a different matter) to ask you to accept their separate EULA before installing. One of the games with such an EULA that comes to mind is Killing Floor 2. The existence of it is marked on the store page (somewhat prominently in fact) and can be read beforehand.
Legally, with the Vive you don't have a 24/7 background service being able to monitor your activity with 3rd party software. And even if 3rd party software on Steam is collecting data, it is only doing so when running as opposed to background services which are active all the time.
On a side note, Valve doesn't change the SSA that often and you need to accept the new version only when installing new games or doing paid transactions.

Again, what's really being done is a different matter. What OVRServer_x64.exe appears to be doing is somewhat concerning, though.

 

[Christoph.Krn]

Apparently there is a new(?) miniaturized time-of-flight 3D camera (think Kinect) that will be in (Google) smartphones later this year (they claim that it's also the "most capable" 3D camera in the world). If you watch that video (it's in German, but they're also doing a demonstration), you can see that they also have a kind of Frankenstein VR headset setup with such a 3D camera, about which the one person is saying: "This is a virtual reality glass from a company we work with that is Google". I don't know if this headset is maybe just a demonstration gimmick, but if this camera really is small and good enough for use in VR headsets, then it's not difficult to imagine it being used for VR hand/arm tracking in future VR devices by other manufacturers, too.

Maybe this isn't really news, but I hadn't heard of it before.

 

[SNESFAN]

So my preorder finally arrived yesterday after a bunch of delays. I gotta say, it's pretty freaking fantastic.

 

[Caine]

So my preorder finally arrived yesterday after a bunch of delays. I gotta say, it's pretty freaking fantastic.

Sounds good. I am amazed you can tear yourself away from it to post about it

Whenever I hear people talking about it, they describe it as an experience which simply cannot be translated into video or writing.
It really seems to aid immersion. Though I have become a bit sceptical due to 3D movies (which don't add all that much in my opinion) and the failed implementation of motion controls (more often they detract from the experience instead of adding to it).

 

[pmprog]

What have you played with it? I originally planned Elite: Dangerous, though I cancelled my backing. Apparently Strike Suit Zero has support (which I have a copy of). Think it'd also work well for driving/racing games especially if you have a wheel controller.

Edit: Are there any of the Doom engines built with support these days?

 

[SNESFAN]

It has been hard to pull myself away, but I got work and real life responsibilities. Typing this out on my phone at work ATM.

The first party content is quite impressive visually, but lacks a bit in the fun area on everything I tried. Pretty VR games, but not fun VR games. If you want VR eye candy then lots they have to offer will impress. Eve Valkyrie made me feel a bit weird doing loops and stuff at first, but I'm one of the lucky people that aren't effected badly if at all with motion sickness.

I personally have been using vorpx to play skyrim and borderlands in 3D and it's amazing as hell even though they weren't meant to be played like that. Between a fun nonVR game in VR and a nonfun VR game, I'm hands down choosing fun nonVR. Also virtual desktop to make a 10ft tall computer monitor in a virtual environment. Playing hearthstone and watching YouTube and movies as weird as it sounds is what I'm enjoying the most with it.

Unlike 3D movies that do take away from the experience, and not to mention the obvious 3D plug scenes (shameless 3D) playing like borderlands in 3D actually greatly enhances the experience. I can see the woolymogs throwing rocks, accurately gauge their distance in the air and dodge them correctly, see the bats flying overhead, lead their trajectory and shoot them very effectively. When being shot at, naturally tell where from and seek appropriate cover. Things you would do in real life, but found a disconnect in that concept when playing in 2D flat screen. Situational awareness is another natural concept in the real world that translates well so far in VR, but you have to think about where things are when playing in 2D.

The problem with describing VR to someone who hasn't used VR is a frame of reference. I'm colorblind, how do I describe to you what I see to a non colorblind person? How do you describe what you see to me, or a blind from birth person? Describe a what a primary color looks like. You can't because we have different frames of reference. Imagine your view of the world if seen through a CRT monitor (pixelization). Imagine if the world around you was the video game you are playing, that's VR.

I can't wait till the touch controllers come out and a game that allows you to not have your aim to interact not tied to your gaze (like reality) will make things even better I feel.

Get a google cardboard, imagine the view to be about 10 or so degrees bigger all around, image sharper, less pixelization, less pixel grid (screen door), give it 6 degrees of freedom movement, make it buttery smooth, and actually comfortable to wear and you got a rift.

Unity and unreal have oculus rift support. I don't know about id tech.

 

[ZXDunny]

I have both Doom (1, 2 and expansion wads) in VR, as well as Quake. It's something else entirely to actually be inside those worlds. You're no longer staring at a screen which acts as a kind of window-pane looking into them - you actually are in there, so much so that even in Doom when you walk between two closely packed walls you can almost feel them on your shoulders as you move forward.

Puzzles in Quake (such as the zig-zag walkway in E3M1) which you would laughingly run straight over are jaw-droppingly intense as you feel you actually could fall off into the lava.

Though did anybody really stop to think how big the health packs in Quake really are? They're enormous!

There are showcase games, but even then some of them are stunning. Being stuck in a shark cage in Rift Ocean, with the Great White battering the cage is awesome - and so is diving in the murky green waters of prehistory looking at the aquatic dinosaurs is ... well, amazing.

Loving it