Copied over from my post on the MTBS3D forums:
TLDR: This is about the Oculus Rift - just read it already!
INTRODUCTIONHello! Recently I had the opportunity to spend two hours trying multiple demos on the Rift, and I thought I would share my experiences! A little bit of background - I am not a game developer and haven't been following the Rift or VR/3D gaming until this past January, so you can kind of consider me a future consumer. I learned about the Rift through CES coverage and have been OBSESSIVELY following it ever since. When a thread popped up on the MTBS3D forums about people receiving developer kits who were willing to demo them to others, I constantly checked back to see if "Washington, DC" popped up on the list.
And then he appeared: rmcclelland - here on out known as "the coolest guy I know"! Not only was this guy getting a dev kit and willing to demo it in my area, he was #101 in line to receive it, which means he was in the first batch! We PMed back and forth for a few weeks, and finally set up a time for last Thursday. I was nervous. Should I bring a 6 pack of beer? No wait - Palmer said no alcohol. This guy was kind enough to invite me, a stranger, into HIS HOME to show off his toy. Seriously the coolest guy I know. I showed up about 8:20 (I couldn't help but be early) and spent the next two hours powering through everything he could show me in the Rift!
Please note that my time in the Rift was without any calibration. He switched it to A cups and in I went.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONSRMC and I talked for a bit about the Rift and our backgrounds in VR enthusiasm. I tried to hide my impatience to just throw the thing on my face, but when he finally handed it to me to look at, I instantly went to put it on my face. "Whoa, there's nothing to see there yet!". Ok, I should take it all in anyway.
The thing is light, like everyone says. He loaded up the Tuscany demo and I jacked in. A flood of information entered my brain. It's hard to describe what I noticed first. I was in the middle of the Tuscany house, staring at the stairs. It looked completely different from all the videos I had seen. The colors were toned down a bit, and yet seemed very realistic. The 3D was perfect. It seemed like I was peering through binoculars, and my first impulse was to see if I could increase my FOV. I knew to expect limited FOV horizontally, but I could see "the mask" at the top and bottom as well. This locks out most of your peripheral vision. No problem - I just need to look around with my neck more than with my eyes.
The head tracking was spot on - I didn't even think about it. I looked up and the room was so big! I had no idea. As most people have heard, the sense of scale is hard to describe. I had seen this room a million times in demo videos, but it seemed like a completely different room. The fire, the chairs, the chandelier ... I looked where RMC was talking to me from - an empty bench. I turned around to a doorway leading to outside. I saw the fountain in the distance with leaves (or whatever they are) floating around. I probably spent 10 minutes not moving and just looking around.
I had heard about the screen door effect, but it wasn't really noticeable unless I focused on something for too long. Staring in one place for too long could cause the black lines to come into focus, but only when I was really looking for it. The rest of my time in the Rift I didn't even think about. The motion blur is a different story, though. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I tried Tuscany, RMC's space station, Rift Rush, Epic Citadel, Epic Citadel Flying, Museum of the whatever, Tuscany+HYDRA, and Epic Citadel ROLLERCOASTER!!! I'm going to take you along my journey through each of these demos.
TUSCANYI started out in Tuscany. After spending about 10 minutes just looking around in one place, I finally got brave enough to move. It took a little getting used to moving around. As soon as I used the analog stick to turn left or right, I could feel the uneasy sensation that comes with the motion blur. I didn't like that at all, and tried to turn more by moving my head than using the controller, though this isn't always possible. I walked outside, stopping to admire the door frame. I felt that I could touch it, and really wanted to have the Hydra demo to try that - later, though! Going through the doorway felt like going through a doorway. Haha, simple but effective. There was so much beauty to just look at. I looked at the sun through the trees. I went back inside and upstairs to the balcony. There I stopped again, just looking out.
At this point I commented about how I feel I could just relax in the space. I imagined having a virtual laptop on the ledge and wanted someway to track my beer in the real world. I wanted to sit on a beach and just relax. I commented about how the world didn't need more detail to appear realistic. Our graphics are already there, and the Rift tricks my brain to accepting the textures of the world. RMC disagreed with me here. He said he notices the inconsistencies more. I moved around a bit more and then starting "feeling it". The left/right movements and blurriness were getting to me, and I jacked out to take a quick breather.
SPACE STATIONNext RMC jacked me into a space station he had sort of thrown together. I immediately noticed that it didn't have as much detail as Tuscany, and so it was harder to accept it as a "reality". The first thing he pointed out was that I had a body. I looked down, but didn't see it at first. I tucked my head into my chest and finally saw it - my binocular vision had been obstructing it. He led me over to a ledge to jump down from. Gravity was turned down (because I'm in space!), and so I gently floated to the platform underneath. I noticed that heights didn't really bother me - at least not in this demo. Beside me was another astronaut, only he was huge. I went up to him, his arms outstretched. He would have been intimidating except it looked like he wanted to give me a hug. Ok, over another ledge and falling away - time to jack out!
RIFT RUSHNow it was time to get completely away from realism. Rift Rush is a simple platformer game. The goal is simply to jump from platform to platform before time runs out. One thing I noticed immediately was the UI. The options would float in front of me. Sometimes it would track with my head. Sometimes I could use my head to choose an option. The 3D UI was very cool, even though it was simple. Despite jumping from platform to platform, I didn't find myself feeling uneasy as quickly in this demo. Again the sense of scale was dramatically different from the monitor to the Rift. This game acted as kind of a proof of concept that casual games have a real place in the Rift. Even if your computer can't handle Skyrim in stereoscopic 3D, you could probably play Rift Rush. The platforms seemed so much larger in the Rift! I was a natural, but got cocky and kept falling! Ok, enough of this! I gotta try as much as I can!
EPIC CITADELOn to the classic Epic Citadel. No snow. No knights. But still the Citadel! This was the first demo that really was showing things from a distance. I noticed that signs were hard to read and details were hard to make out when they are far away. The limited pixels means that things become kinda fuzzy when they are far away. Still, it didn't stop me from enjoying a running stream and banners flapping in the breeze. I started to get my VR legs a little by now and did a bit more walking around and exploring. I found myself wanting to have things to interact with - enemies to shoot or other people to look at. The castle was huge - again the sense of scale. All this moving around was starting to get to me, though, so it was time to jack out for another break.
EPIC CITADEL - FLYINGI got a glass of water and waited for the uneasiness to subside. As soon as I was feeling better, it was right back into the Epic Citadel - this time for a no clip flight! Flying was surprisingly natural in the Rift. I steered with my head as much as I could, weaving in and out of thruways, alleyways, and whatever other way I could find. It sort of felt like controlling a cinematic 3D movie camera. I didn't feel vertigo or the sense that I might fall. In some ways there was a disconnect, but still a wonderful feeling of freedom.
I also noticed and commented on the lack of detail from far away. Flying high into the sky and looking back down at the citadel, I wanted to be able to see it sharper - clearer. RMC commended that he didn't notice this as much, so perhaps it's a part of not having the Rift calibrated for me. I more think it has to do with the lack of pixel density - there just aren't enough pixels to see details from a distance. You could compare it to being slightly near-sighted. Up close you can see perfect detail, but far away things are slightly out of focus. I flew around for quite a while before the uneasiness came back. I was afraid of pushing myself too far, as I wanted to last as long as I could, so I jacked back out and into reality.
MUSEUM OF THE MICROSTAROk, I had heard this was impressive, so I wanted to try it out. I jacked in and waited to be released from my chamber. The particle effects were cool, but I was already getting a slightly uneasy feeling. I remember hearing that 60 FPS is harder to achieve with the Museum, and RMC asked if I was noticing a dip. I couldn't consciously tell, but it wasn't long before I felt like I was groggily walking through a dream. The door opened onto a platform. There was a huge machine in the middle. Cool! There were signs everywhere, but it was blurry unless I stopped and focused on it. RMC threw headphones on me so I could hear the dialog. Hmm, information about wood. Ok. Again just feeling uneasy and weird. I pushed on, wanting to see more of the demo. I didn't get far before I just couldn't take anymore. Out I went for another break. Consciously I couldn't tell what was off with the demo - the 3D seemed fine and I didn't notice any stuttering, but I couldn't last long at all. If I had to guess it was the FPS combined with having to use the analog stick to turn (my head movement was independent of the direction I would move, meaning I had to turn with the controller). Sorry Microstar - maybe I shouldn't have been flying around before I dropped in for a visit!
TUSCANY DEMO - HYDRA STYLEOk, enough of just walking around. I wanted to interact with the world. I persuaded RMC to boot up his Hydra. I went through the calibration and he showed me a gun firing demo with the Hydra (without the Rift). Hey, turns out I'm a natural shot, shooting a can up into the air and then shooting it again in mid-air! Kick ass! But I wanted to combine it with the Rift, so into Tuscany I went.
Having hands in the Rift adds a whole new level of immersion almost immediately. I could pick things up and bring them to my face. I dribbled a basketball - much better than I can in real life! I'm a VR natural! Throwing was a little harder. We learned that the Hydra's slight latency had us releasing too soon. Waiting a millisecond longer to release seemed to give better results. I picked up a log, put it in the fire, and brought it to my face. I was inspected the log when the fire suddenly danced towards my face, causing me to jerk back and drop the log! Very cool. I picked up a baseball and treated it like an apple, bringing it to my mouth. This was all very realistic. I felt like the ball was heading towards my mouth.
Hydra's Tuscany had the option to auto-crouch when reaching down, and this caused a kind of simulated positional tracking. I think this is one of the reasons I was able to stay in this demo much longer. It wasn't long before some of the limitations of the Rift+Hydra combo started to come through, though. Despite trying to re-calibrate my hands to my shoulders, my hands were never quite where I expected them to be. Sometimes they were a foot higher, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. Because of this, I couldn't just rely on reaching where I thought something was. My virtual hand was more of a robotic hand in a cube that was mimicking my real hand. This made me really desire the ability to positional track the Rift and both my hands all together, so that my virtual hands are exactly where my real hands are in relation to where my Rift is.
Still it was very promising, and even without it being a perfect 1:1, having a way to interact in the virtual world definitely upped the immersion. I was trying to find a plank that someone had used to escape from Tuscany. I found it, but by the time I did, it was time to jack out again and catch a breather. I had been in the Rift for nearly two hours, with only 2-5 minute breaks in between. RMC commented that I lasted much longer than he did his first night, though it's easy to lose time in the Rift. Still, I had one more demo to try.
EPIC CITADEL - ROLLERCOASTERIt was getting about that time to leave, but I refused to move until I tried one last demo - a rollercoaster that someone had thrown together in the Epic Citadel. This was the most realistic demo I had in the Rift. I jacked in seated in a wooden rollercoaster. As it slowly escalated, I could see some of the falls and turns that awaited me. I had that same sense that I get in real rollercoasters. It was the calm before the storm. A turn and then I was coming up on the fall. My excitement grew as I got closer and closer - everything was so real. Something about being seated in one place in real life and in the Rift simultaneously really helped my brain connect the two. The coaster peered over the edge and then down I plunged. I screamed, completely forgetting RMC's kids sleeping in the next room. I was completely in the roller coaster, speeding through the Citadel. I couldn't speak. I just sped along, leaning into turns and having the complete feeling of speed. It wasn't long before I was back at the beginning, climbing again. I jacked out immediately, knowing I needed to get going and wanting to end on that high note.
CONCLUSIONLooking back on it now, my journey through the Rift feels like a
dream, in almost every sense of the way. Was it real? Was it not? It seems a little too hazy to be real, and yet I can pick out specific moments that felt real. It's like when you are trying to read something in a dream. You really have to stop and concentrate to read it - it's kind of like that in a Rift. It's a trip in which at times you think it is real, all the while in a sort of weird dream state.
The Pros - Head tracking, 3D, and light-weight.
I didn't even think about the head tracking. I had zero issues in all the demos with it. It was simply a non-issue. During my journey, I took it for granted, but it really is an accomplishment that the thing never stuttered. The stereoscopic 3D was also spot on. I hadn't really played games in 3D, so it was a big leap for me. So realisic. The Rift was also very light, another thing I took for granted.
The Cons - FOV, motion blur, and resolution.
Ok, so FOV doesn't really belong in the "con" category when you compare it to HMD's normal 45 degrees. The binocular effect did take some getting used to. Not being able to use my eyes to dart around the scene and instead have to move my head presented a bit of a learning curve and a slight disconnect from what I was seeing being a "reality". Now the Rift also wasn't tuned to my eyes, which are set into my head a good bit. I tried pressing the Rift tighter onto my head, but that didn't help. Want to know what it looks like? Make binoculars with your hands (two circles) and put them around your eyes. Now try to look down at your chest. You'll find you have to look down pretty far before you come into view.
Motion blur was my main source of sickness. Using the analog stick to turn left and right never felt "good". Subtler movements with my head were ok, though. To simulate this, hold your thumb out in front of you while standing. Now twist your torso all the way to the left and all the way to the right, bringing your thumb with you and only focusing on your thumb. Keep your head stationary to your torso as you twist. The blurry world going by behind your thumb is what it looks like in the Rift, only without your thumb there to focus on. You can also just naturally blur your eyes and do the same twist. You'll probably find you can't do it very long before you don't feel well. Generally our eyes focus from point to point as we rotate around, but when everything is blurry, there is nothing to focus on.
Resolution is noticeable when viewing things from a distance. It just feels like you're near-sighted and can't quite see things far away. Things up close are just fine. This is easily fixable with a higher resolution panel, but it was more noticeable to me than the "screen door".
AS A CONSUMERSpeaking as a consumer, I feel the Rift shows promise of what could be. I don't want to feel sick in it. I want to do the marathon gaming that I can do on a monitor. I want to see my hands in the game and just be able to interact naturally. I didn't get to try shooting with a cursor, so I can't speak to that. I REALLY want to have someone else in there with me. I want to talk to my friend on Teamspeak or Skype as we explore a world or have a conversation. I want to have a guild meeting at a virtual round table. I want it to be clear and crisp.
I don't think the consumer will get everything they want immediately. Resolution can be fixed, but perhaps at the expense of performance. Motion blur is a big obstacle. Maybe if there was some sort of floating UI to focus on (like my thumb in real life), I wouldn't feel as queasy - not sure. A natural controller scheme would be nice - I want to have 1:1 virtual arms/hands, but still be able to shoot and move.
I also didn't experience all of what I consider to be the three big pillars of VR. You need the visual, the control, and the audio. I got most of the visual. I got a taste of the control. My audio was always turned down to very quiet. If I'm able to do this again, I want to try to experience all three at once and see what the difference makes!
In the end, the current Rift, Dev v1, is a dream machine. It transports you into a different reality - one where dream rules apply. You can do and see anything, but with the detail of a dream. It's a bit hazy and at times you feel off, but it's a trip nonetheless, and one I already want to take again! Will I buy the consumer Rift? YES, DEFINITELY! Will the masses buy the Rift? I think it depends on the fixes that are made between now and then.
SPECIAL THANKSSpecial thanks to rmcclelland, who invited me into his home to experience the Rift. He officially is the Coolest Person I Know. I feel honored to experience what I think will ultimately will be a huge part of the history of technology! Any questions?
Veterans Day
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