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Day One With the Brand New Oculus Rift DK2: the Good, the Ugly and the Games

Posted by timothy on from the he-was-there dept.

muterobert (2927951) writes Paul James goes hands on with one of the first next-gen Oculus Rifts in the wild: "After much hacking (and some kind developer linkage) I stepped into a DK2 enabled version of Technolust and lost myself utterly! The stunning attention to detail, neon on black really lets the OLED panel shine here. In fact, this experience was the closest I think I've ever some to presence in virtual reality thus far. Leaning in to check the myriad retro objects, gawking at the lighting and just generally being blown away by the experience. This game was fabulous on the DK1, it's utterly compelling now."

48 comments

  1. What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    hypnosis adventures?

    Why does it have to be games? Wouldn't it be fun to use hypnosis in order to have a 3D adventure?

    1. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Porn?

      Why does it have to be games?

      There - I fixed it for ya.

    2. Re:What about... by Cryacin · · Score: 2

      Yeah, "motion tracking" and "ducking and leaning forward" has a whole new meaning.

      --
      Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    3. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An OLED display ensures that you'll be buying a replacement every two years as your colours turn to crap. They should have stuck with LCD.

    4. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given how fast these VR headsets seem to be improving, you'll probably want to upgrade every 3 years anyway. I'm not saying I love planned obsolescence, but these things were never meant to have the staying power of high end speakers, which can last half a century before they're obsolete.

    5. Re:What about... by MindPrison · · Score: 1

      An OLED display ensures that you'll be buying a replacement every two years as your colours turn to crap. They should have stuck with LCD.

      That statement is not true at all!

      I was one of the early adopters of items with an OLED display, my HTC Legend (A cellphone with OLED display). I use it every day, surf with it all the time - and it's now 4 years old, and colors as brilliant as it was new, the Red, Green and Blue is absolutely perfect (to my eyes anyway, and I'm a graphics artist for whatever it's worth).

      And besides... how often will you use some headgear VR equipment? It's not like you'll use it 8 hours a day, not even the most hardcore gamer would use a thing like that for THAT long, it's very tiring to have a device like that stuck to your face like a CPAP mask. Just wear a diving mask....even a light one, for ONE hour...and you'll catch my drift.

      --
      What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
    6. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're either full of shit or your eyes are crap. I have a media player with an OLED display and it's basically turned a dim yellow because the blue pixels have all worn out and the others are in the process of dying. On the other hand, I have LCDs that are many years old with no problem at all.

    7. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Within a year, you will start noticing the degradation of OLED. After two years it will be unusable. If they were $50 I wouldn't care but at a minimum cost of $300, you'd be a fool to buy one.

    8. Re:What about... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      You're either full of shit or your eyes are crap. I have a media player with an OLED display

      I don't suppose it occurred to you that, perhaps, not all OLED displays are created equally?

      Try engaging your brain before spouting invective next time.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    9. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh yes, I forgot about that magical version of OLED that defies the laws of physics...

      Go read a book, junior.

    10. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      considering it's a gradual change, I wish you coudl look a before/after picture cause I can pretty much guarantee you, it doesn't look nearly as nice as you think it does mr 'I'm a graphics artist'. Being a graphics artist doesn't somehow make you immune to missing changes that occur gradually over time.

    11. Re:What about... by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 2

      I thought OLED's biggest problem was UV stimulating chemical decomposition. If so, surely the laws of physics say an OLED display in a black box with two small eyeholes is going to last much longer than a mobile phone display that is often used in direct sunlight...?

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    12. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The degradation happens regardless of exposure to external light, I mean what do you think the OLED itself is emitting? Not only degradation, but burn-in, something that hasn't been common on displays since the days of 1980's CRTs. Thanks to OLED, you can easily have that nostalgic Pac-Man board burned into your brand new "high tech" display.

    13. Re:What about... by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      How long is anyone realistically going to be using a VR headset for daily?

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    14. Re:What about... by Detonia · · Score: 1

      What was the reason for the switch to OLED? Surely they knew the downsides to it (unless of course they want you to buy one every two years... hmm...)?

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      Comment received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
    15. Re:What about... by renoX · · Score: 1

      > An OLED display ensures that you'll be buying a replacement every two years as your colours turn to crap.

      Depends on the OLED: a WOLED shouldn't have this problem..

    16. Re:What about... by Detonia · · Score: 1

      With Facebook integration: some people I know would be on it all day.

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      Comment received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
    17. Re:What about... by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      It's not physics, it's chemistry; the current generation of blue OLED materials have an order of magnitude better lifespan.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    18. Re:What about... by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      I have a PSVita I use for an hour each day, which has a screen that's several years behind the technology going into the Oculus. It hasn't noticable degraded after a year.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    19. Re:What about... by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      A far faster response time than LCD, which means far less blurring. One of the outcomes of Oculus Rift testing is that motion blur causes a lot of motion sickness.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    20. Re:What about... by DrGamez · · Score: 1

      Adding on a second PS Vita mention, does it use a different kind of OLED? I use my for at least an hour or two a day (since day 1 release) and still haven't noticed anything out of the norm with the screens vibrance?

    21. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Much more than the two second screen on time I used my media player for switching tracks. The next time you get a new device with an OLED screen, take a picture of it. A year later, take another picture from the same angle and with the same photography setup. You WILL see a jarring difference.

  2. Please like this game to continue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Click here.

    1. Re:Please like this game to continue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing happens when I click??

    2. Re:Please like this game to continue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Were you wearing an Oculus Rift DK2 when you tried to click? It's an exclusive link.

  3. Attention Editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    The only link in the story "... closest I think I've ever some to presence in virtual reality" does not make sense.

    Come, yes.
    Some, no.

    Please correct.

    1. Re:Attention Editors by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      It's a direct quote - you don't copyedit errors out of direct quotes.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    2. Re:Attention Editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You might use "[sic]" then. At least it gets rid of people complaining about spelling ;)

    3. Re:Attention Editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly.
      Obviously the editors didn't even see the error.

    4. Re:Attention Editors by ArcadeMan · · Score: 0

      The editors don't even see the errors anymore. All they see now is blonde, brunette, redhead...

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    5. Re:Attention Editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Article was written by english-second-language types.

    6. Re:Attention Editors by Kjella · · Score: 1

      The reason to use [sic] is to indicate that you didn't introduce a typo, it made sense for scribes, typewriters and citing dead tree sources but when you're copy-pasting another electronic source perfect reproduction is the norm and pointing out spelling mistakes is typically mocking, like you're making a point that the one you're quoting can't even spell properly. So I wouldn't use it and if people complain, well then they don't understand the concept of quoting. You don't change someone else's words and it's obvious from context who made the typo so the [sic] is completely redundant.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    7. Re:Attention Editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering how basic the situation is, I would simply correct the obvious typo without notice. There is absolutely no point in keeping or remarking it. What is important is readability.

      If the writer takes offense of this, he would take offense of the two other possibilities anyway.

  4. Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook. Facebook. Facebook.

  5. does it still cause motion sickness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bought the first rift with no expectations. It was awesome and I didn't care about the pixelations. But I would get a nasty case of motion sickness after only 10 minutes of use. After trying to get over it, I ended up giving it away to a friend who didn't seem to get motion sickness. If there is even a small chance of this happening I cant use it. Any idea if this problem has been fixed?

    1. Re:does it still cause motion sickness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If anything, the problem is now worse due to the graininess and blur introduced by the OLED display. Colour degradation is another serious problem.

      Overall with the low quality of the tech, the high pricetag, the lack of developer support, the ridiculous amount of time getting it to market and the sellout to Facebook, Oculus Rift is a failure.

    2. Re:does it still cause motion sickness? by grumbel5969 · · Score: 1

      The motion sickness on the first Rift was in large part caused by the lack of position tracking that resulted in mismatches between what you saw and where your head was, that's now fixed. The DK2 has IR markers and a tracking camera that will track your head position. The DK2 also has a low persistence display that removes a lot of the motion blur that happened with the first Rift. For most people the DK2 seems to eliminate motion sickness almost completely. There might still be issues when the game itself is extremely fast paced, but most games build for VR are using a much slower and more realistic pace, so it should be fine for most part.

    3. Re:does it still cause motion sickness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It's still crap.

      The OLED panel and it’s artefacts: Darker scenes show what looks like an oddly static green haze over the image. It’s not noticable in most situations, but in the darkness of the Technolust demo it was very evident. Also, I’ve noticed a rather worrying looking smearing when high contrast areas are in motion – the visual effect is like a cross between old fashioned LCD blur and overdriven LCD pixel trailing (evident on some early TN based 120Hz monitors). But at this stage it’s not yet clear as to the cause.

      Positional tracking – place your camera carefully. Mine was placed atop my primary monitor for the duration and honestly the cameras field of view became challenged on too many occasions to keep it there. It’s quite a disconcerting feeling to lose positional tracking mid way through a head movement. I’ll probably try a below monitor placement tomorrow to see if this irons things out.

      Low persistence of vision stutter. I noticed this during my brief demo of the Crystal Cove prototype at CES 2014 in January. During fast pans of the head, the image would stutter frquently in some demos. I suspect it’s an artefact of in consistent frame rate but it’s quite jarring to go from super smooth tracking to judder.

    4. Re: does it still cause motion sickness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's called a developer kit for a reason, you dumber than rocks dipshit.

    5. Re: does it still cause motion sickness? by Draugo · · Score: 1

      You're just wrong (and also an asshole). They're trying to attract developers for their API, not the specific unit.

    6. Re:does it still cause motion sickness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh.... the sweet smell of agenda in the morning...

    7. Re:does it still cause motion sickness? by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      They've switched to a higher-resolution display with a much better response time and you think that causes "graininess and blur"?

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    8. Re: does it still cause motion sickness? by DrGamez · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure you understand what a DevKit is and is not supposed to be. This is not a Release Candidate.

  6. DK2 by zacherynuk · · Score: 1

    Had my notification of shipping last week - hoping will be here soon.

    If you have the DK1 and want something new to try with it, and have the $$ - this is the daddy of FPV remote controlled fun - I've been loving it for a good long while now. : http://emrlabs.com/index.php?p...

  7. They made it seem so simple... by issicus · · Score: 2

    These guys need to hurry up and release this thing ... I need my face closer to my computer screen.

  8. Executive summary of review by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "It got a lot better and is awesome, and it's still imperfect. Looking forward to more games/demos."

  9. What an idiot. by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

    He decries the lack of games. Does he not understand the purpose of Developer Kits? The whole point, as I understand it, is that Games Developers should get a DK2 and Make Their Game Compatible With It.

    You shouldn't be a gamer buying a DK2 and then pouting that there are currently no games supporting it. You wouldn't do the same if you had your hands on a Developer version of a next gen console.