Oculus Rift thread - £399 Rift & Touch controller bundle!

HSH28 wrote:What was the 90s VR arcade tech called?

The company that produced it was called Virtuality, and their machines were actually constructed from top-of-the-line Amigas!

It's actually difficult to believe that these used to be state of the art:

They used PCs on Cyberzone - I know this because I saw it being filmed and the PCs kept crashing.

We saw the command prompts and everything.

So yes! Not only was I in the "Awooga Posse", but I got to meet Inspector Morse's boss. How cool is that?

NickSCFC

Fatal Exception wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:
HSH28 wrote:What was the 90s VR arcade tech called?

I think with modern tech it might have more of a chance at working now, not sure about a home device though.

Considering how far we've come since those early 90s concepts have come this could bring total immersion. Those old sets just had people navigating areas full of cubes with a fighter jet style joystick. Imagine the headset mixed with Kinect or Move with full headtracking and photorealistic graphics.

I'm imagining people who are now blind in the real world flailing about like idiots and trashing their living room.

Or sitting in their armchairs playing Battlefield 4 and just moving their heads around.

Octoroc wrote:They used PCs on Cyberzone - I know this because I saw it being filmed and the PCs kept crashing.

We saw the command prompts and everything.

So yes! Not only was I in the "Awooga Posse", but I got to meet Inspector Morse's boss. How cool is that?

Very cool.

I imagine that Virtuality went where the price/processor grunt was, just like everyone else. I mean, they started using the MC68030 based A3000, and Commodore never really went beyond the MC68040 based A40000. and this was the point at which Doom started arriving and the PC started taking off as a gaming platform. In a very real sense, technologies like 3D accelerators were driven by the VR boom... people wanted this tech in their own home.

The problem is, now we've got stuff that was beyond the wildest dreams of the VR pioneers... what now does VR realistically have left to offer us? We've got most of the truly great parts of the dream.

TheTurnipKing wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:
HSH28 wrote:What was the 90s VR arcade tech called?

I think with modern tech it might have more of a chance at working now, not sure about a home device though.

Considering how far we've come since those early 90s concepts have come this could bring total immersion. Those old sets just had people navigating areas full of cubes with a fighter jet style joystick. Imagine the headset mixed with Kinect or Move with full headtracking and photorealistic graphics.

Any sense of immersion will be quickly lost thanks to a complete lack of haptic feedback.

Who says you can't have VR with haptic feedback?

In fact you could probably do a VR machine with some kind of complete haptic feedback integration in a way that isn't possible with screen based tech.

Not really related, but I've just come across this...

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are currently working on adding haptic feedback to holographic projections. The feedback allows the user to interact with a hologram and receive tactile response as if the holographic object were real. The research uses ultrasound waves to create a phenomenon called acoustic radiation pressure, which provides tactile feedback as users interact with the holographic object.[15] The haptic technology does not affect the hologram, or the interaction with it, only the tactile response that the user perceives. The researchers posted a video displaying what they call the "Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display."[15] The technology is not yet ready for mass production or mainstream application in industries, but it is quickly progressing, and "industrial companies" are already showing a positive response to the technology.[23] It is important to note that this example of possible future application is the first in which the user does not have to be outfitted with a special glove or use a special control, they can "just walk up and use [it] " which paints a promising picture for future applications.[23]

...clearly there is research that could be integrated into VR tech going on.

HSH28 wrote:
TheTurnipKing wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:
HSH28 wrote:What was the 90s VR arcade tech called?

I think with modern tech it might have more of a chance at working now, not sure about a home device though.

Considering how far we've come since those early 90s concepts have come this could bring total immersion. Those old sets just had people navigating areas full of cubes with a fighter jet style joystick. Imagine the headset mixed with Kinect or Move with full headtracking and photorealistic graphics.

Any sense of immersion will be quickly lost thanks to a complete lack of haptic feedback.

Who says you can't have VR with haptic feedback?

In fact you could probably do a VR machine with some kind of complete haptic feedback integration in a way that isn't possible with screen based tech.

Not really related, but I've just come across this...

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are currently working on adding haptic feedback to holographic projections. The feedback allows the user to interact with a hologram and receive tactile response as if the holographic object were real. The research uses ultrasound waves to create a phenomenon called acoustic radiation pressure, which provides tactile feedback as users interact with the holographic object.[15] The haptic technology does not affect the hologram, or the interaction with it, only the tactile response that the user perceives. The researchers posted a video displaying what they call the "Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display."[15] The technology is not yet ready for mass production or mainstream application in industries, but it is quickly progressing, and "industrial companies" are already showing a positive response to the technology.[23] It is important to note that this example of possible future application is the first in which the user does not have to be outfitted with a special glove or use a special control, they can "just walk up and use [it] " which paints a promising picture for future applications.[23]

...clearly there is research that could be integrated into VR tech going on.

it says itself that it's not ready for mass production or mainstream application.

Don't get me wrong, it'll be cool if they can do it, but its surely likely to take a long time to filter down into consumer gear.

though... surely holographic projection would be Augmented Reality (putting virtual objects in real space), not Virtual Reality (putting real objects into virtual space)? So it kind of supports my initial statement in any case.

TheTurnipKing wrote:though... surely holographic projection would be Augmented Reality (putting virtual objects in real space), not Virtual Reality (putting real objects into virtual space)? So it kind of supports my initial statement in any case.

You could just as easily use it in VR too. I don't think holographics is necessarily AR either, AR implies you are using reality in some way, rather than having a fully artificial environment projected into real space.

That tech might not quite be ready, but it there is haptic tech that you wear that could be used with VR.

What I'm saying is that a lack of feedback isn't something that has to be part of a VR experience. It could be incorporated into VR the same as anything else.

NickSCFC

Precisely, they may as well have stopped with Pong with that attitude. Fact is all the technology is available to converge and finally make a worthwhile cost-effective VR experience unlike the gimmics of the 90s.

Except the tech you're referring to isn't realistically available yet and almost certainly not in time for Sony to make a VR gaming push.

Also in the news: Ford tells us that flying cars "are going to be strawberry floating rad".

NickSCFC

TheTurnipKing wrote:Except the tech you're referring to isn't realistically available yet and almost certainly not in time for Sony to make a VR gaming push.

Also in the news: Ford tells us that flying cars "are going to be strawberry floating rad".

The only problem I can see is dealing with eye-strain, other than that motion control, head tracking, accelerometers, gyroscopes, 3D, HD, graphics, ect are all available.

NickSCFC wrote:
TheTurnipKing wrote:Except the tech you're referring to isn't realistically available yet and almost certainly not in time for Sony to make a VR gaming push.

Also in the news: Ford tells us that flying cars "are going to be strawberry floating rad".

The only problem I can see is dealing with eye-strain, other than that motion control, head tracking, accelerometers, gyroscopes, 3D, HD, graphics, ect are all available.

And how many of those will be you willing to strap to your body before you start a gaming session?

Because for me, the figure is 0.

edit: Well, OK. I might be willing to go as far as one HMD. Because yeah, head tracking is a pretty neat idea.

NickSCFC

TheTurnipKing wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:The only problem I can see is dealing with eye-strain, other than that motion control, head tracking, accelerometers, gyroscopes, 3D, HD, graphics, ect are all available.

And how many of those will be you willing to strap to your body before you start a gaming session?

Other than the motion control device the rest can easily be built into a small lightweight headset. And an advanced version of Kinect could detect hand/body movements 1:1 without the need for an 'on-body' device.

NickSCFC wrote:
TheTurnipKing wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:The only problem I can see is dealing with eye-strain, other than that motion control, head tracking, accelerometers, gyroscopes, 3D, HD, graphics, ect are all available.

And how many of those will be you willing to strap to your body before you start a gaming session?

Other than the motion control device the rest can easily be built into a small lightweight headset. And an advanced version of Kinect could detect hand/body movements 1:1 without the need for an 'on-body' device.

Except that Kinect offers ALL the functionality you're talking about : the only reason you need the head mounted display at all is to keep the image of the virtual world in front of your eyes no matter what orientation you twist your body into.

But this still leaves the issue of any kind of haptic feedback from the virtual world you're inhabiting. Without it, you're a ghost.

I'm not dismissing this stuff to be a party pooper. Believe me, I've thought long and hard about VR and AR. I was on the Wii from day 1 because I could see the promise.

NickSCFC

TheTurnipKing wrote:But this still leaves the issue of any kind of haptic feedback from the virtual world you're inhabiting. Without it, you're a ghost.

And the problem with that is? No one's ever claimed Virtual Reality is the be all and end all, but it's another leap just as 3D was for the PS/N64 and motion control was for Wii/Kinect. It's another paradigm shift.

Edit: When I'm playing Virtual Battlefield or Virtual Fight Night, I don't want to feel like a bullet's just torn through my flesh or Ali's just taken my head off my shoulder's, a small vibration would be fine.

It boils down to the troubles inherent in trying to bodily inhabit another avatar in a virtual world while you've still got your ugly meatspace puppet is tripping over the cat in the real world.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:
NickSCFC wrote:
Somebody Else's Problem wrote:So now it's Sony's turn to make a Virtual Boy. Of all the Nintendo things to copy, Sony.

Hardly copying the Virtual Boy is it!

Yeah, this one's white!

Wow, you really are a pessimistic stick in the mud. Considering the tech involved will be be almost 2 decades more advanced than the Virtual Boy and that a fair few innovations have been made in that time maybe you could wait until some concrete details emerge before you shoot the idea down completely.

TheTurnipKing wrote:It boils down to the troubles inherent in trying to bodily inhabit another avatar while you've still got your ugly meatspace puppet tripping over the cat in the real world.

They solved that problem on Fringe with flotation tanks.

NickSCFC

TheTurnipKing wrote:It boils down to the troubles inherent in trying to bodily inhabit another avatar in a virtual world while you've still got your ugly meatspace puppet is tripping over the cat in the real world.

Some games will require full body movement, others like FPS can be just you sitting on the sofa with head-tracking and a controller. So much variety is possible.

Peter Crisp wrote:
TheTurnipKing wrote:It boils down to the troubles inherent in trying to bodily inhabit another avatar while you've still got your ugly meatspace puppet tripping over the cat in the real world.

They solved that problem on Fringe with flotation tanks.

It's a hell of a lot of work to go to just for a round of Halo.

Ideally we'd just substitute the flow of sensory data into the brain from the real body with phantom data from the in-game avatar. But yeah, looooooong way away.

What about that floaty spinny thing from the film Lawnmower Man?

Oculus Rift thread - £399 Rift & Touch controller bundle!

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