Oculus Rift is Virtual Reality for $350 and the latest is to roll out in the first quarter of 2016.
Frankly, we're not all that blowed away. We'll ripple through the general, mechanical reasons we don't need it and the first is it needs Windows. I don't need Windows so it's out on that basis alone. We assume it will evolve to include Apple support but it's likely Apple has another version and I'll expect better integration by Apple with more useful things (e.g. engineering, Computer-Aided Design, medical, etc).
Note: please bag any fanboy responses as I'm coming in on forty years with any kind of computer you want to name. This isn't about fanboys.
Many gamers prefer Windows computers so it's sensible for Oculus to go after that market but we have seen a number of high-end video games at first-hand and they get boring after a while. How many tanks do you have to destroy in World of Tanks before you can call yourself Rommel and get on to something else.
So, at present it's Windows-only and applications seem to be generally trivial although there is some unknown number of Oculus-ready videos / films available. That could be an exceptional 3D experience in something like "Avatar" but it's not clear how much software of that nature exists.
Still the biggest crusher for me, as a musician, is I can't see the instrument and still see the VR world. The biggest attraction of such a device is real-time Internet jams with people from anywhere in the world. Internet speeds rise quite fast and propagation delays reduce correspondingly thus it should be possible at some relatively-near time to really be able to jam with others online and get all of the things I know I need and assume others need because everyone I know does it that way.
In jams, you need to talk with your instrument and also your eyes. There are clues between each other as it goes and, for me, this is a huge part of jamming and always has been. When it's possible to get a close duplication of this online then, for me, the Internet has truly arrived.
How it will be possible to see both worlds at the same time without degrading the VR experience is likely a deeply-scientific problem. Perhaps there is yet another video cam which feeds the Oculus headset to give the musician the image of the instrument. Isolating the instrument from anything else in that video feed should not be insurmountable, a gigantic pain the ass, maybe, but probably not impossible.
For my needs, I must be able to see the guitar's fingerboard because sometimes I need to confirm my fingers are really where I think they are. Maybe if I were perfectly secure in my play that would not be necessary but it's been a while now so I won't be sitting about waiting for that to come.
Side-note:
Yevette came back now and said you've got to see this video, it will bring tears to your eyes because people everywhere protest the wars around the world. I told her I couldn't handle that just now as my head is full of virtual worlds and hot babes on motorcycles. She understood immediately and gave up big laugh. Better things to do, huh?
Well, take a look at Rebecca Ferguson riding in "Mission:Impossible 5" and you tell me.
So, yep, better things to do just now.
Frankly, we're not all that blowed away. We'll ripple through the general, mechanical reasons we don't need it and the first is it needs Windows. I don't need Windows so it's out on that basis alone. We assume it will evolve to include Apple support but it's likely Apple has another version and I'll expect better integration by Apple with more useful things (e.g. engineering, Computer-Aided Design, medical, etc).
Note: please bag any fanboy responses as I'm coming in on forty years with any kind of computer you want to name. This isn't about fanboys.
Many gamers prefer Windows computers so it's sensible for Oculus to go after that market but we have seen a number of high-end video games at first-hand and they get boring after a while. How many tanks do you have to destroy in World of Tanks before you can call yourself Rommel and get on to something else.
So, at present it's Windows-only and applications seem to be generally trivial although there is some unknown number of Oculus-ready videos / films available. That could be an exceptional 3D experience in something like "Avatar" but it's not clear how much software of that nature exists.
Still the biggest crusher for me, as a musician, is I can't see the instrument and still see the VR world. The biggest attraction of such a device is real-time Internet jams with people from anywhere in the world. Internet speeds rise quite fast and propagation delays reduce correspondingly thus it should be possible at some relatively-near time to really be able to jam with others online and get all of the things I know I need and assume others need because everyone I know does it that way.
In jams, you need to talk with your instrument and also your eyes. There are clues between each other as it goes and, for me, this is a huge part of jamming and always has been. When it's possible to get a close duplication of this online then, for me, the Internet has truly arrived.
How it will be possible to see both worlds at the same time without degrading the VR experience is likely a deeply-scientific problem. Perhaps there is yet another video cam which feeds the Oculus headset to give the musician the image of the instrument. Isolating the instrument from anything else in that video feed should not be insurmountable, a gigantic pain the ass, maybe, but probably not impossible.
For my needs, I must be able to see the guitar's fingerboard because sometimes I need to confirm my fingers are really where I think they are. Maybe if I were perfectly secure in my play that would not be necessary but it's been a while now so I won't be sitting about waiting for that to come.
Side-note:
Yevette came back now and said you've got to see this video, it will bring tears to your eyes because people everywhere protest the wars around the world. I told her I couldn't handle that just now as my head is full of virtual worlds and hot babes on motorcycles. She understood immediately and gave up big laugh. Better things to do, huh?
Well, take a look at Rebecca Ferguson riding in "Mission:Impossible 5" and you tell me.
So, yep, better things to do just now.
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