Fool me, this is real good shit ! [the VR thread]

[Bod]

Microsoft announced project Scorpio at E3.
A 4K console with virtual reality capabilities.

[pogo]

...virtual reality capabilities.

Which means what, exactly? MS have not announced any VR devices (not counting Hololens for all sorts of reasons). My guess is they plan to support third party devices. Not Rift as it’s owned by FB, but maybe HTC Vive or any OpenVR device.

[gravy]

Before you even think about headsets you need to be able to render two screens worth of graphics at a minimum of 60hz

That's what VR ready means.

[Jamesac]

Yeah, MS and Oculus have worked together already with the Xbone controller being included with the Rift. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Scorpio VR solution is Rift CV2, or at least that it might be compatible with it. It would add strongly to the cross-buy Xbox One/Win 10 initiative they've got going. HDMI output, a couple USB inputs, and done.

[gilesgoat]

Before you even think about headsets you need to be able to render two screens worth of graphics at a minimum of 60hz

That's what VR ready means.

90 Hz

75 is "barely OK", 60 Hz you have annoyances, 60 hz is DEAD for VR

[edit] ... also check some "requirements" you'll see that 60 Hz won't do, "I know how pure 60Hz look like" .. it does not do, it's too little, you have "ghosting" and other shit.

[gilesgoat]

...virtual reality capabilities.

Which means what, exactly? MS have not announced any VR devices (not counting Hololens for all sorts of reasons). My guess is they plan to support third party devices. Not Rift as it’s owned by FB, but maybe HTC Vive or any OpenVR device.

It means that the current Xbox One has not graphics/cpu power enough to drive VR "at reasonable speed/complexity"

[pogo]

I doubt they would have mentioned VR, if all it means is Scorpio has enough GPU grunt for it. It’s an arbitrary and subjective metric: you can do VR with a high end PC or with a phone and a bit of cardboard.

A console is not a PC. Microsoft supply all the driver and OS software for the Xbox One. It’s not going to do VR unless they explicitly add support for it. Not just the video output but input drivers for the motion tracking, from the device and from VR controllers.

I would have guessed MS might have their own VR headset in the works, if it weren’t for Hololens. So a third party headset seems most likely.

[Jamesac]

...with a phone and a bit of cardboard.

You can also eat fast food every day. I mean it's technically edible, after all.

[Darkflame]

...virtual reality capabilities.

Which means what, exactly? MS have not announced any VR devices (not counting Hololens for all sorts of reasons). My guess is they plan to support third party devices. Not Rift as it’s owned by FB, but maybe HTC Vive or any OpenVR device.

A few weeks before E3 Microsoft showed people on a Hololens and people on a Vive in the same environment:
http://www.cnet.com/news/windows-hologr ... e-support/

While that wasn't to do with the Xbox, I think its safe to say they will have a similar approach across all their platforms.

[pogo]

[Rhythm]

I rode Galactica at Alton Towers a few weeks ago and it was dogshit. It's basically Air with a Samsung Gear headset. It didn't sync well, the framerate was iffy as hell and if you turned your head too far to the side (or up/down) you got treated to being able to see the black bounding box the whole VR projection was running in. It was a full 100 or so degree arc that was just constantly black

[pogo]

I suspect you will see a lot more of these. It’s an obvious fit in a way: one limitation of VR is you can’t move too quickly in the VR world or you’ll get nauseous. You can’t solve that by moving in the real world as you will hit a wall, or even trip over something and kill yourself. VR while strapped into a a moving carriage solves this problem.

Plus there’s no reason why they have to restrict it to Gear VR. With the capital investment required, budgeting for a dozen Rift or Vive headsets would not be a problem. You would need to build PCs into the ride, but again just add it to the budget and design.

[gumboot]

Does anybody else think "ride of steel" sounds a bit seedy?

[KlaxonCow]

Here's an unintentional lesson in VR etiquette.

Basically, before recording a YouTube "Let's Play" and smack talking / trolling your opponent constantly, first establish whether your microphone is open and they can actually hear you.



More generally, it does also implicitly demonstrate something I've yet to see elsewhere, which is VR in multiplayer mode, adding a whole new dimension to the VR experience where there's another human being's headset and controllers floating around... constantly trolling you with objects from the scenery, apparently.

[Jamesac]

Two VR games have gotten to me in differing ways lately- Polynomial 2 and Titans of Space 2.0. One is an early trippy space shooter, sequel to The Polynomial, and the other is the updated version of one of the earliest and most popular VR games.

Polynomial 2 is a nice little first-person free-roaming space shooter, but I've been finding its real value is in leaving a single enemy alive and flying away to trundle around the features of the universe, soaking in the atmosphere and reveling in the scale of things. It's just a wonderfully relaxing way to wrap up an evening.

Titans of Space is the opposite. Something about the size and mass of the suns freaks me out, to the point I had to take the headset off and watch on the monitor during the closest passes to their surfaces. When the view pulled back a bit I popped back into the headset, but something about the sheer overwhelming size and physicality of these things when in the headset gets a solid and undeniable NOPE! from a part of my brain I wasn't even aware had an opinion on this kind of thing.

Needless to say, both are going to be part of the VR tour when showing the system off to friends.