Rift / Vive / VR General

[Venser]

Just swapping to Odyssey face mask adds 14 degree extra FOV. Since G2 uses magnetic swappable face mask, there's a great potential for custom face gaskets.

 

[Doktor Best]

Sooo Medal of Honor Above and Beyond is shit apparently. Little bummed out by this. I was hoping for another HL Alyx quality game judging from trailers.

Seems like Facebook dropped money supply for the development of the game and so Respawn released it half finished. Its a strange move to drop one of the biggest Oculus exclusives like a hot potato and just throw it out onto Steam. Maybe they will pull out of PCVR and focus on standalone completely. Would be reasonable from an economic perspective given the enormous Quest 2 sales numbers. Oculus headset now make up for over 50% of all SteamVR headsets, and there are many more who use it standalone exclusively.

 

[Venser]

Just wait till Sony releases PSVR2 on PS5. I have no doubt it's gonna overtake Quest, it's gonna have some great AAA VR exclusives and 3rd parties will follow, which will benefit PCVR too. Also the VR controllers with DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers are gonna be sweet.

 

[Dexter]

https://www.roadtovr.com/facebook-germany-bundeskartellamt-oculus-login/

Germany Opens Legal Action Against Facebook Account Requirement for Oculus Headsets
By Scott Hayden - Dec 10, 2020

Today, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) announced it was initiating formal abuse proceedings against Facebook for its controversial policy of requiring new Oculus device owners to use a Facebook account.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the competent authority when it comes to regulating national competition, today announced that it’s opened an inquest to examine “the linkage between Oculus virtual reality products and the social network and Facebook platform.”

Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, says that since all new users of Oculus devices must also have a Facebook account, forcibly linking its VR products and its social network “could constitute a prohibited abuse of dominance by Facebook.”

“With its social network Facebook holds a dominant position in Germany and is also already an important player in the emerging but growing VR (virtual reality) market,” said Mundt. “We intend to examine whether and to what extent this tying arrangement will affect competition in both areas of activity.”

Back in September, Facebook halted sales of all Oculus products in Germany. At the time, it wasn’t clear whether it was the Federal Cartel Office or Facebook itself that initiated an anticipatory halt in sales ahead of litigation proceedings.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has found itself in hot water in Germany, Europe’s largest economy. In early 2019, the Federal Cartel Office imposed extensive restrictions on Facebook regarding the processing of user data, and its role in creating so-called ‘super profiles’, which aim to collect and merge user data from its various products. Litigation is still pending in that country, however the next hearing is set for March 26th, 2021 at Düsseldorf’s Higher Regional Court.

Should a similar situation happen regarding Facebook’s VR devices in Germany, it’s very likely customers there won’t be able to directly buy Oculus headsets for some time. Customers in Germany are currently only capable of purchasing Oculus products from neighboring countries and importing them for personal use.

In the meanwhile, Facebook is also now dealing with United States Federal Trade Commission, which announced yesterday that it had filed a lawsuit with the Washington, D.C. US District Court alleging similar anticompetitive practices, which would constitute an illegal monopoly on “personal social networking.”

A possible outcome of the suit could include spinning out Facebook’s larger social networking properties, Instagram and WhatsApp. Oculus wasn’t named directly the suit, however it’s clear the case’s outcome could have wide ranging repercussions for all of Facebook’s business segments.

 

[Dexter]

Quest Mobile Footage...:

 

[Venser]

Mortal Blitz: Combat Arena (PSVR exclussive)

A free to play PVP arena cover shooter (matches with bots also available). You move between covers and to kill an opponent you have to shoot them through the openings in their cover or gradually destroy it. 4 players enter the arena and the one with the most kills wins. Playing this game felt a lot like playing laser tag. The weapons feel pretty good and correspond well with the Aim controller position.

I was pleased to find there are a lot of player skins and customization options until I realized it is PAY TO WIN. Different skins can raise weapon stats (damage, range, rate of fire, magazine size) and you can even chose a better starting weapon. The amount of unfair advantage a player can have if he spends money on lootboxes is insane. You get 1 such loot crate after installing the game that drops 3 random items. Also the powerup that appears during the match is too overpowered. It one-shots everything so even tho you dominated all match long, someone can get lucky with the powerup and turn the game around in a matter of seconds.

All in all it's a fun game with interesting cover concept ruined by pay to win element. I get they need to make money somehow but maybe sell the single player portion and cosmetics without compromising the core gameplay. I still recommend trying it out, especially if you own Aim.

 

[Dexter]

Some Cheep Sheet aside from the stuff that already was during the Autumn Sale: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/rift-vive-vr-general.109448/page-17#post-7043523





https://store.steampowered.com/app/396750/EVERSPACE/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/356400/Thumper/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/396900/GRIP_Combat_Racing/

 

[Venser]

 

[Doktor Best]

Post launch support for Boneworks surely is impressive.

Medal of Honor also seems to be patched up to a decent state. Still gonna wait though.

 

[Mortmal]

BROS THANKS FOR RECOMMENDING!?

AND OF COURSE ILL WATE FOR CHRISTMAS SALE

Recommendation For your kids ? Population one if they are into battle royale, there's lot of them, its pretty much fortnite vr, also work as quest standalone. Rec room, work on standalone, free with microtransactions, even more suitable for kids . Also depends highly on the kid and their age...If you have a link and decent pc gaming lone echo is absolutely fabulous , not even a bit of violence there, some passages might be hard to do for them although . Asgard wrath highly recommended too, cartoony style graphic great gameplay, however might be too hard to finish too even on easy.Gorn very easy to play , require a link too but not very demanding on the pc.
By the way have you check if their IPD is right ? the minimum is 58mm and its already far too much for young kids, might be very blurry and uncomfortable.

 

[Dexter]

Top Selling VR Games of 2020: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2020?cc=us&tab=3

Spoiler

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS THANKS FOR RECOMMENDING!?

AND OF COURSE ILL WATE FOR CHRISTMAS SALE

Recommendation For your kids ? Population one if they are into battle royale, there's lot of them, its pretty much fortnite vr, also work as quest standalone. Rec room, work on standalone, free with microtransactions, even more suitable for kids . Also depends highly on the kid and their age...If you have a link and decent pc gaming lone echo is absolutely fabulous , not even a bit of violence there, some passages might be hard to do for them although . Asgard wrath highly recommended too, cartoony style graphic great gameplay, however might be too hard to finish too even on easy.Gorn very easy to play , require a link too but not very demanding on the pc.
By the way have you check if their IPD is right ? the minimum is 58mm and its already far too much for young kids, might be very blurry and uncomfortable.

BRO THANKS

MY DAUGHTER AND SON HAS A HUGE HEAD SHELL BE FINE MAYBE MY WIFES KIDS WILL HAVE ISSUES BUT KIDS ARE ALL ELEVEN PLUS

PC SHOULD HANDLE MOST ANYTHING I BOUGHT THE LINK CORD AND I DONT WANNA GIVE MOVEY TO FAGBOOK UNLESS I HAVE TO

 

[Mortmal]

BROS THANKS FOR RECOMMENDING!?

AND OF COURSE ILL WATE FOR CHRISTMAS SALE

Recommendation For your kids ? Population one if they are into battle royale, there's lot of them, its pretty much fortnite vr, also work as quest standalone. Rec room, work on standalone, free with microtransactions, even more suitable for kids . Also depends highly on the kid and their age...If you have a link and decent pc gaming lone echo is absolutely fabulous , not even a bit of violence there, some passages might be hard to do for them although . Asgard wrath highly recommended too, cartoony style graphic great gameplay, however might be too hard to finish too even on easy.Gorn very easy to play , require a link too but not very demanding on the pc.
By the way have you check if their IPD is right ? the minimum is 58mm and its already far too much for young kids, might be very blurry and uncomfortable.

BRO THANKS

MY DAUGHTER AND SON HAS A HUGE HEAD SHELL BE FINE MAYBE MY WIFES KIDS WILL HAVE ISSUES BUT KIDS ARE ALL ELEVEN PLUS

PC SHOULD HANDLE MOST ANYTHING I BOUGHT THE LINK CORD AND I DONT WANNA GIVE MOVEY TO FAGBOOK UNLESS I HAVE TO

No doubt giving money to facebook is dealing with satan , however some oculus exclusives are very very very good . Lone echo is absolutely wonderful , really that good on par with alyx, had my father try it and saw him smile, briefly , but still he smiles . Asgard wrath worth it too.You can still play them using revive third party program on non oculus devices.
There's not a lot of choices for headsets, it all comes to index, G2, or quest 2 too . Index is good but base station are a pain to install , plus drilling holes in the wall to fix it, no... G2 is good on paper but look on reddit ,launch was a disaster , preorder not fulfilled (girlfriend ordered one in july, it still not there), controller tracking issues, ton of technical issues. Quest 2 is selling your soul to the zuck , but you plug it everything works even standalone, and also can support wireless pc gaming (not by default ) .

 

[Venser]

G2 tracking is terrible so I'm still leaning toward Index. No need to drill holes, just put base station on the shelf or get a light stand. It offers the best tracking. I'm really hoping for Index 2 to get announced soon cause the resolution is already subpar. I'm planning to buy a VR headset in the next 3 months but if something better gets announced, I'll wait. Till then I'm stuck with PSVR.

 

[Doktor Best]

I bought the wizards bundle on steam sale and i can recommend it. It reminds me of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, only that you are limited to spellcasting. You cast spells with hand gestures, which sounds gimmicky at first but its actually an interesting combat mechanic as it adds some sort of natural "cast time" to each spell that you have to take into account.

 

[Doktor Best]

I played a bit more of Saints and Sinners. Its great. They really nailed the setting and survival mechanics are not so convoluted that they ruin the pacing. It kind of plays like an immersive sim.

The second most fun time i currently have in VR is with To the Top. Its a fast paced FPS platformer/climbing game in which you use extendable hands to grab onto blue surfaced objects and leap off off them. Do it with the right timing and you will gain more and more momentum (bit like strafe jumping in oldschool fps). You need really steady VR legs, but if you got those, its an absolute sleeper hit.

 

[Jenkem]

giving away keys for Raw Data and I Expect You To Die: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...s-a-minor-offense.78755/page-753#post-7102429

 

[Venser]

I can already see how dumb the enemy AI is. They don't notice you when you're literally staying next to them. No peripheral vision and reaction time of a sloth.

 

[Perkel]

I wanted get back to VR gaming since i sold my PSVR like 3/4 year ago and since cryptocoin gave me some money to spare on stupid shit i did some research past 2 days and it seems like Oculus Quest 2 is the way to go:

- resolution   : 2k per eye
- screendoor   : none
- refreshrate  : 60hz/72Hz/90Hz
- FOV          : 90°-100° so like Gen1 VR
- tracking     : Inside out
- connection   : 1 USB3 for PC,  none for standalone.
- controllers  : 2 you can use for days instead of hours
- battery      : standalone around 2-3 hours.

Seems like proper Gen2 and doesn't cost arm and leg. The biggest thing about it is 2k per eye. The resolution is everything in VR in my case. On Gen1 devices you basically had to lean to read stuff and i hope that with 2k per eye which gives you around 1000ppi this problem will be much improved.

through the lenses comparison:

 

[Dexter]

https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-steam-vr-2020-new-users-revenue/

Valve: Steam Saw 1.7 Million New VR Users in 2020, 71% Increase in VR Game Revenue
By Ben Lang - Jan 13, 2021

Valve today shared a handful of new stats revealing the growth of VR on Steam over the course of 2020.

In an 2020 year-in-review recap of Steam, Valve took note of SteamVR’s growth over the last year.

The company said that Steam saw 1.7 million users experience a VR game for the first time in 2020, while SteamVR users overall jumped into more than 104 million VR sessions.

Playtime increased as well, Valve said. VR sessions on Steam in 2020 have averaged 32 minutes, which the company said represents a 30% increase over the year prior.

Perhaps most interestingly, the company said that VR game revenue grew by 71% on Steam in 2020, with a whopping 39% of that coming directly from Half-Life: Alyx—further cementing the game’s mark on the industry.


Image courtesy Valve
Valve didn’t share any sales figures for its Index headset, but said demand was “consistently high” throughout the year, and noted that it had struggled to keep up with demand until late 2020.

– – — – –

While these stats represent a look into only the Steam portion of the VR landscape, 2020 appeared to be a big year across the industry with the launch of new headsets, like Quest 2 and Reverb G2, Beat Saber going double platinum, and Quest 2 exceeding the original Quest’s number of monthly active users less than seven weeks after launch.

Panasonic also showed these off again at CES, although they're "VR Viewers" with a lower FoV than normal HMDs (rumored around 70°) they now apparently support 6DOF and come with two 2,560×2,560 micro OLED panels with HDR that will likely be good for viewing media and diopter adjustment built-in for glasses wearers, they can be connected to a mobile phone or PC via tether and also work with SteamVR:

 

[tritosine2k]

https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-steam-vr-2020-new-users-revenue/

(...)

Panasonic also showed these off again at CES, although they're "VR Viewers" with a lower FoV than normal HMDs (rumored around 70°) although it apparently comes with two 2,560×2,560 micro OLED panels with HDR that will likely be good for viewing media:
(...)
.

That's cool, and chinese can easily copy that , too bad OLED is shit and and can't support the wavelength requirement of holographic pancake optics
https://research.fb.com/blog/2020/06/holographic-optics-for-thin-and-lightweight-virtual-reality/

otherwise it kinda esacpes me how is 70-80° not enough to play ordinary games with the added bonus of "missing out" on tacky, unwieldy VR motion control.

 

[Dexter]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-to-be-niche-precursor-to-eventual-ar-glasses

Apple’s First Headset to Be Niche Precursor to Eventual AR Glasses
The company’s first major new product category since the Apple Watch faces development hurdles.

By Mark Gurman
21. Januar 2021, 12:00 MEZ

An attendee uses a hand tracking feature with Facebook’s Oculus Quest VR headset during the Oculus Connect 6 conference in San Jose, California, on Sept. 26, 2019.

Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg

Apple Inc.’s first crack at a headset is designed to be a pricey, niche precursor to a more ambitious augmented reality product that will take longer to develop, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The initial device has confronted several development hurdles and the company has conservative sales expectations, illustrating how challenging it will be to bring this nascent consumer technology to the masses.

As a mostly virtual reality device, it will display an all-encompassing 3-D digital environment for gaming, watching video and communicating. AR functionality, the ability to overlay images and information over a view of the real world, will be more limited. Apple has planned to launch the product as soon as 2022, going up against Facebook Inc.’s Oculus, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation VR and headsets from HTC Corp., the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private plans.

Apple’s typical playbook involves taking emerging consumer technology, such as music players, smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, and making it reliable and easy to use for everyone. This time, though, Apple isn’t looking to create an iPhone-like hit for its first headset. Instead, the company is building a high-end, niche product that will prepare outside developers and consumers for its eventual, more mainstream AR glasses.

The plans suggest that Apple’s first headset will be far more expensive than those from rivals, which cost about $300 to $900. Some Apple insiders believe the company may sell only one headset per day per retail store. Apple has roughly 500 stores, so in that scenario, annual sales would be just over 180,000 units — excluding other sales channels. That would put it on par with other pricey Apple products, such as the $5,999 Mac Pro desktop computer. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Attendees visit the Sony PlayStation virtual reality gaming stand at the Gamescom computer games industry event in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 20, 2019.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Apple is aiming to include some of its most advanced and powerful chips in the headset along with displays that are much higher-resolution than those in existing VR products. Some of the chips tested in the device beat the performance of Apple’s M1 Mac processors. The company has also designed the headset with a fan, something the company usually tries to avoid on mobile products, the people said.

The headset, codenamed N301, is in a late prototype stage, but is not yet finalized so the company’s plans could change or be scrapped entirely before launch. The AR glasses, codenamed N421, are in an early stage known as “architecture,” meaning Apple is still working on underlying technologies. This product is several years away, according to the people, though Apple has previously targeted as early as 2023 to unveil it.

The powerful processors and the inclusion of a fan initially led to a device that was too large and heavy with some concern about neck strain in early testing. Apple removed the space VR gadgets usually reserve for users who need to wear eyeglasses, which brought the headset closer to the face and helped shrink the size. And to address consumers with poorer eyesight, it developed a system where custom prescription lenses can be inserted into the headset over the VR screens, the people said.

This may expose Apple to regulations governing the sale of products with prescriptions. The company typically sells its devices in dozens of countries, many of which have different prescription rules. Apple is also discussing how it would implement prescriptions at the point of sale online and in retail stores.

Apple originally planned to include less powerful processors and offload much of the work to a hub in a user’s home that would wirelessly beam content to the headset. But that idea was squashed by Jony Ive, Apple’s design chief at the time, Bloomberg News reported last year. The headset is designed to work as a standalone device, meaning it can operate on a battery rather than be plugged into a wall or a Mac. That’s similar to Facebook’s latest VR product, while Sony’s requires a PlayStation gaming console.

To further reduce the device’s weight, Apple is planning to use a fabric exterior. That’s a departure from the metal designs Apple uses for most products, though it has used plastic for devices like AirPods, that need to be light, and fabrics for the HomePod speaker to improve acoustics.

Prototypes of the headset, some of which are about the size of an Oculus Quest, include external cameras to enable some AR features. The company is testing using the cameras for hand-tracking and is working on a feature where a user can type virtually in the air to input text. It’s unclear if that function will be ready for the first version of the device or if it will ever leave the exploratory stage.

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted some development with Apple hardware engineers only being able to work on certain days from the office. The company has also faced delays conducting user testing and data collection. That has slowed some decisions in the engineering process.

The company is also still grappling with what content and functionality it intends to ship with the device. Virtual reality is still a somewhat nascent technology, with content beyond games still relatively limited. Last year, Apple acquired a company called NextVR, which recorded events such as concerts and sports games in virtual reality. It’s also discussed bundling an App Store with the device, which runs on an operating system dubbed “rOS” inside the company.

If Apple goes ahead with the VR headset, it would be a precursor to an eventual pair of AR glasses — a product that the company sees as far more mainstream but also more difficult to launch. Microsoft Corp.’s HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap’s headset, which emphasize AR over VR, retail for $3,500 and $2,295 respectively. HoloLens mostly focuses on work use cases still, while Magic Leap fell well short of the early hype and slashed jobs last year.

A visitor tries a Magic Leap One during the Virtuality Paris 2019 show on Nov. 21, 2019 in Paris, France.
Photographer: Chesnot/Getty Images Europe

Apple first added AR to the iPhone in 2017, allowing new mobile games and apps like those for virtually placing furniture in your living room before buying it. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has said both virtual and augmented reality have potential, but that AR is the larger opportunity.

AR glasses must be packed with small, powerful and efficient electronics to overlay notifications, map directions and other information while supporting internet connectivity and strong battery life. That’s a huge technical challenge. Even Oculus, which released its first all-in-one VR headset in 2019, won’t include AR features in its first glasses this year.

Getting to that point requires years of work on lenses, hardware and software, component miniaturization, production techniques and content creation. Critically, getting most people to wear a computer on their face, even a small one, is difficult. That, in part, doomed Google’s early attempt at consumer AR glasses several years ago.

By developing a less mainstream initial headset, Apple can invest in the underlying technologies, consumer education, content development and developer relations to give its eventual AR glasses the best opportunity to be successful — when they are ready.

 

[Perkel]

Just ordered new Quest 2. Used ones were slightly cheaper but i heard a lot early quests had lenses issue where Oculus contracted someone to produce extra lenses that were shit.

I also upgraded from GTX980 to GTX1080 so i hope i will get full res going on my PC.

 

[Doktor Best]

I got an 3080 and i can't run it on full res on every game. Quest2 resolution is a huge step up from first and even second gen headsets.

It does still look great on 1.5 resolution however (you need 1.7 for true native render resolution due to barrel distortion)

 

[Perkel]

for comparison what looks GEN1 (VIVE) change to GEN2 (HP Reverb G2) (ignore haze and color difference because it is mostly due to camera)