‘Oculus Rift’ VR headset Kickstarter launched, reaches 275% of goal in one day
By Tim Colwill on August 2, 2012 at 2:27 pm
You might have seen the Oculus Rift VR headset floating around at E3, when John Carmack blew people’s minds by showing it off running Doom 3 in it. Now the developers want to take it a step further, and so they asked Kickstarter for $250,000. Now, 24 hours later, they’ve got $688,000. And there’s still 30 days to go.
The Oculus Rift is a VR headset designed specifically for games. With 6 degrees of freedom, a 110 degree FOV, and two separate screens at 640×800 each, it’s an impressive piece of tech – especially since you can get one for as little as $300. If it sounds like your thing, click here to check it out.
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What do games developers think about the Oculus? Find out inside.
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I would buy this so hard.
If it was good, I would too. I’ve been after VR since seeing Lawnmower Man all those years ago!
Would? You can! Pre-orders for the dev kit are there right now :)
I’m keen to see what the price will be like for the consumer version once that get’s finalised.
Me too! As inane as that film is, that’s definitely the film that brought the potential of VR to the masses. I remember thinking how amazing the graphics were, but I’m sure they are now utter rubbish by today’s standards.
I’m excited about this tech, but the only thing that concerns me is the relatively low resolution of the displays. 640×800 is pretty low resolution for displays that are right in front of your eyes. Surely pixel structure would be visible and it would look rather blurry due to low detail?
I guess you have to start somewhere and this would keep the cost down. Hopefully the next generation brings at least 1280×720 per eye.
There is a sony one that’s got 1280×720 (IIRC) But that retails for $700+ and it’s a bulky as all getout. Given the price and the nature of this one, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could simply hack in newer higher-def screens down the track with a little soldering.
mrthumpy,
I enjoy my Sony Headset.
Very interested. My one concern is will they make it to suit people with glasses? I have enough trouble going to a 3D movie.
From what I’ve read it specifically won’t work with glasses, as the focal length of the optics requires that there be a very small gap between the eyes and the screens.
I’d put down money for something like this, but they’ll have to bump up the resolution a bit. Still there’s quite a few influential investors already, Carmack, Gabe Newell and Cliffy B, and the software needed to get the right rendering effect for the wide viewing angle is going to be built into both the Unreal and Unity Engines.
Hmm, needs freelook. Moving the gun with your head / neck would be a bit funny.
Teamed with a motion sensor for the gun would kick-ass.
People with glasses would probably be ok. I’m quite short sighted, but can easily see things in detail that are an inch away from my eyes. :)
Lonmg-sightedness may be an issue, though.
“A VR display with twice, that’s right 2x, that of the Virtualboy of 1995!”
Take my money…please I don’t want it. Can I buy a bridge or some swampland as well?
Twice the Res…
C’mon…no comment edits?
this, its got to be good if these guys are involved and those engines used as reference
Hopefully this will finally be the actual start into something great down the line. Since tonnes of people have tried over the years and have not succeed in the VR realm.
Goddamn, they just passed 1 million!
These are perfect for sims, hope you can see out the bottom to view your keyboard though.