I want one.

Back in '96, I bought a Forte VFX-1 which was a VR headset with stereoscopic vision, very comfy over-the-ear headphones, and motion tracking. All for about $1000.

Each eyeball had it's own little LCD screen (263x230) and I can tell you that it looked like pure ass. Despite it's shortcomings, I played the original System Shock with it and I still have very fond memories of skulking through Citadel station with that thing strapped to my melon.

While I'm not interested in contributing to a kickstarter campaign (after all, that's why we have venture capitalists), I may be interested in a finished retail product.

Let me first say, I'm happy to see this. Any push on getting 3D gaming into the hands of more people is a good thing. However...

From their website: Resolution: 1280x800 (640x800 per eye)

Hmm, this is why I went with the Asus 1920x1080 Lightboost monitor over the Sony OLED head mounted display (added benefit: the monitor's a lot less dorky). While I hear the black levels on the OLED are incredible, it's a 720p display.. and I've read owners already regretting the "low rez" of the unit.

3D may not be everyone's bag for movies, but it's great for immersive gaming. Titles like Skyrim and Witcher 2 are freaking awesome in 3D.. but that low a rez is hard to go back to unless the unit's cheap(ish). At least with the monitor it serves well for gaming and everything else, and if a game doesn't work in 3D you get the 120hz, which is really nice for fluid gaming. These head units use 60hz per eye because there's no nead to flip between two images.. each eye gets it's own.

I'll be interested to hear how the huge FOV affects the experience though.

And for anyone getting into stereo gaming with an NVIDIA set up, this web site's invaluable. Someone figured out how to modify shaders in just about any game, and the community here modifies games to make them close to perfect in 3D, even some that were unplayable...

http://helixmod.wikispot.org/gamelist

edit-Alright, just read this in their FAQ

"While it’s true that the developer kit uses a relatively low-resolution screen (1280x800), we promise it delivers a compelling, immersive 3D experience. And to be clear, we plan on improving the resolution of the screen for the consumer version. Stay tuned for more details!"

>> ^shuac:

Back in '96, I bought a Forte VFX-1 which was a VR headset with stereoscopic vision, very comfy over-the-ear headphones, and motion tracking. All for about $1000.
Each eyeball had it's own little LCD screen (263x230) and I can tell you that it looked like pure ass. Despite it's shortcomings, I played the original System Shock with it and I still have very fond memories of skulking through Citadel station with that thing strapped to my melon.
While I'm not interested in contributing to a kickstarter campaign (after all, that's why we have venture capitalists), I may be interested in a finished retail product.


Ha! I, too, bought a VFX-1 headset. (Had to buy a separate Number Nine S3 Virge card as well so the interface cable would work). I never did play SS1 on it, but I did roll through Quake 1 and all of it's mission packs, as well as used it for Looking Glass' Flight Unlimited. I never used the Cyberpuck controller, as it wasn't very intuitive to me. Once GLQuake came out (which had to run at nothing less than 512x384) that was the final nail in the coffin. But fun times while it lasted.

Oh shit, I forgot about the cyberpuck, which sounds like a robotic Shakespeare character. <- boom goes the dynamite.
And the whole 1280 x 800 smacks of bs to me in the same way Forte's claims of 512x460 did: adding together the per-eye resolution. Granted, they seem to be upfront about the vertical resolution of 800 (which isn't great for 2012 either) but that horizontal res? Boolshit! It might be 1280 for an iguana with eyes on either side of it's head, looking at different shit per eyeball all its life. But for we humans, each eyeball pretty much looks at the same thing, not accounting for parallax of course. So I'd say the actual horizontal resolution might approach 800, depending on how much they want each eye to "share" as it were. So it's essentially a giant square.

Naysaying/partypooping aside, it still looks promising. There's nothing quite like moving your head around to observe a virtual world: it affords the kind of immersion you can't touch with a standard monitor setup, I don't care how big it is. <- that's what she never says. Boom again!

>> ^probie:

>> ^shuac:
Back in '96, I bought a Forte VFX-1 which was a VR headset with stereoscopic vision, very comfy over-the-ear headphones, and motion tracking. All for about $1000.
Each eyeball had it's own little LCD screen (263x230) and I can tell you that it looked like pure ass. Despite it's shortcomings, I played the original System Shock with it and I still have very fond memories of skulking through Citadel station with that thing strapped to my melon.
While I'm not interested in contributing to a kickstarter campaign (after all, that's why we have venture capitalists), I may be interested in a finished retail product.

Ha! I, too, bought a VFX-1 headset. (Had to buy a separate Number Nine S3 Virge card as well so the interface cable would work). I never did play SS1 on it, but I did roll through Quake 1 and all of it's mission packs, as well as used it for Looking Glass' Flight Unlimited. I never used the Cyberpuck controller, as it wasn't very intuitive to me. Once GLQuake came out (which had to run at nothing less than 512x384) that was the final nail in the coffin. But fun times while it lasted.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Wow - SnowCrash, here we come - and they got Gaben to say nice things about it.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Friday, August 3rd, 2012 12:14am PDT - promote requested by dag.

Hm, I'm cautious yet optimistic about this. If Nvidia and AMD could shoehorn support with their current 3D drivers this could really take off.

When the Gabe speaks, we listen.
>> ^dag:

Wow - SnowCrash, here we come - and they got Gaben to say nice things about it.

Isn't Carmack the guy to take note of? Apparently to impress him you have to be doing something right.

Yeah, because Carmack never made a mistake. <cough>Doom 3<cough>Rage<cough>
>> ^Deano:

Isn't Carmack the guy to take note of? Apparently to impress him you have to be doing something right.

Hey, I kinda like Doom 3 for what it is.. but dear lord.. Rage.... /cracksmoke

Doom 3 Monster Closet 3 was the last iD game I ever bought. Or ever will buy. Worry not, though: they're working hard on Monster Closet 4.>> ^Drax:

Hey, I kinda like Doom 3 for what it is.. but dear lord.. Rage.... /cracksmoke

1:55 - David Helgason: "I just tried the new prototype, and it was so immersive it blew my collar right off my shoulders."

It's been said before, but iD (read: Carmack) makes great engines, but usually mediocre games. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to tech, though.

so basically this is a funding drive for a product that eventually may be good.

Carmack didn't make any mistake with Rage, because he's not the game designer, he developed the game engine, and did a hell of a job.

This would be killer for Minecraft (and the low rez wouldn't be an issue). Imagine combining this with Leap hand/finger tracker. http://leapmotion.com/

>> ^shuac:

Yeah, because Carmack never made a mistake. <cough>Doom 3<cough>Rage<cough>
>> ^Deano:
Isn't Carmack the guy to take note of? Apparently to impress him you have to be doing something right.



Carmack is a technology wizard. He's all about the engine, and I'm not sure there's anyone in the games industry right now who has anywhere near the same knack for the technical side of development.

...must not comment on David Helgason's douchemode collar...

I'm not convinced yet, but this does look more promising than the average historical VR headset offering. Not that that is saying a whole lot...

John Carmack, Michael Abrash and Palmer Luckey (Founder of Oculus) talk about VR and AR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gaqQdyfAz8

id software makes tech demos of their engines, not games. (at least everything after Quake 3)

I pledged $300; they said I would receive the headset and the SDK by December 12. I can't wait until I get my hands on the SDK.

My un-professional two cents in two words: retina tracking.