
Elite: Dangerous will support Oculus Rift - stevejalim
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous/posts/624594
======
stevejalim
I'm _deeply_ excited about Elite: Dangerous - it's pretty much the only
videogame I think that could these days, thanks to how it opened my eyes and
captured my imagination as a youngster.

The idea of OR on top is brilliant, too - seems like a great fit for a
cockpit-based game.

Question: only the OR dev kits appear to be available at the moment. Is there
a public roadmap for a consumer version?

~~~
TheCraiggers
Might want to temper that nostalgia-driven enthusiasm a bit. The path you're
on leads only to disappointment and regret.

To answer your question, not yet. I would expect to hear something later this
year on the time frame for the consumer version, which I'm also waiting for.
Not only for this game, but also to plug into a raspberry pi for a project.
Just waiting for that 1080 display.

~~~
jerf
I'm cautiously optimistic. The Elite series has had a lot of misfires, but
they do seem to have learned from them. And a lot of those misfires come from
single design decisions that seemed like a good idea at the time, like using a
true Newtonian physics model instead of the traditional "WWII fighter jet in
space" physics model. If you could get past that, Frontier Elite still had the
fun Elite stuff at its core, it's just that it was very nearly wrecked by that
decision. I would still consider this a risk, but it looks like at the very
least they have no intention of repeating that mistake.

Note I did not fund it, so this isn't just rationalization of sunk cost for
me. And I do mean "cautiously" optimistic... while I continue to believe that
procedural content generation is the way of the future, its continuing failure
to manifest is making me wonder if perhaps it is the way of the future in the
same way that, say, raytracing or voxels has been the way of the graphics
future for about 10 years now, without ever happening. Still, we'll see.

------
dagman
If my twelve year old self (who shut himself away for days on end with the
curtrains drawn playing Elite on a Sinclair Spectrum 128k +2) had this, I may
never have completed school.

Sounds like a great feature, hope it works smoothly and naturally!

------
Theodores
Virtual Reality headsets have had a long history of not being as successful as
they should have been. Anyone remember Virtuality, as in the company?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuality_(gaming)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuality_\(gaming\))

Their products were amazing for the time but they just did not catch on. I
never understood why. (However, I did subsequently learn that their games were
not actually stereo vision!) It is a bit like 3D - amazing cinema experiences
but the TV sets and cameras just did not find buyers. Actually VRML is in the
same category - excellent 3D but with nobody able to see the point of it,
develop content for it or share the vision of what it is all about.

Although the original Virtuality products were headline grabbing, they did not
generate any demand for the 3D headset market that did exist after they came
out. In the early 1990's there were several brands of affordable VR headsets
that were at a good technology level for the time (when TV's still had CRTs
LCD displays were impressive). I thought everyone would want these things, not
just gamers but normal 'soccer moms' (one brand of headset could work like a
heads up display so you could do things like the washing up whilst still
watching TV).

Based on previous history I expect this new fangled headset to fail. I hope it
does not, however, I don't believe that wonder technology or having
exceptional games is going to crack the nut this time round. A new killer
application is needed.

~~~
Theodores
Cheers for the downvotes!

Re: motion sickness.

Oculus (Rift) are aware that this is a problem with their product and they
have not solved it.

If you think about it, having better tracking sensors than the VR headsets of
the 90's does not do anything to fix the fundamental problem: your eyes
getting different inputs to what the body is getting. If your eyes are telling
you that you are falling but your stomach and ear canals are telling you that
you are still sat on your arse in your mom's basement then you just might
start feeling sick. Improved gyros in the headset are not going to magically
create some anti-gravity field for you, are they?

As for the 'you have not tried this particular brand of VR headset and
therefore you don't know what you are on about', line of argument, true I have
not tried these particular VR headset novelty devices yet. However, I have
also yet to try a 2013 model 3D TV but, from having seen how the 2010 3D TV's
had their failings I can fairly predict that the 2013 3D TV's have not
addressed the fundamental failings that the 2010 models had and are therefore
unlikely to take the market by storm.

I am merely sharing the same level of scepticism that the BBC had regarding
this particular product:

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23877695](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23877695)

We have seen it all before and people just don't want to wear some clumsy
headset in their living room, whether that is to watch a movie, to be 'in' a
game or anything else. Even without the motion sickness problem this product
would be only for a few gamers with more money and sense.

~~~
saturdaysaint
It's telling that the article you link to wastes several paragraphs on
Nintendo's Virtual Boy, which didn't have any head tracking, displayed only
red and black, and couldn't even render 3D models. Yep, totally applicable to
modern consoles that can render highly detailed cities, with convincing
physics, surround sound, and multiplayer connectivity that would be
unimaginable in 1995.

The first wave of VR headsets came out while 3D gaming was in its infancy.
Some genres (FPS, fighters) made sense early; platformers and RPGs were only
really honed after the VR craze was dead and buried.

~~~
Theodores
Picking holes in the BBC article, are we!

The BBC article is about the history of VR headsets hence it includes a
mention of everything that went before - simples.

This new fangled headset does not solve the problems - 1) motion sickness and
2) nobody wants to wear these things in their front room. As a consequence it
is only going to appeal to a few gamers rather than suddenly persuade millions
of people that do not game to rush out and buy VR headsets.

If 2) wasn't the case then, given how high resolution panels have been
available for quite a few years in affordable phones, we would have headsets
for a wider range of non-game applications - e.g. watching 2D/3D movies,
watching porn and taking photos. There are a few of these more basic headsets
out there but nobody is queuing up for them and none of the big companies are
desperate to sell them.

I wasted at least one whole summer playing the original Elite and the top 3/4
of the screen was black and white, mostly black with an occasional wireframe
model of some space ship. The lower quarter of the screen was four colour and
even chunkier graphics than the top due to how Bell+Braben did that cool mode
0/2 switch that had not been done before on the BBC Micro. I can still
remember most of the hot keys - S, X, <, >, H for hyperspace...

Elite was truly the most original and innovative game ever. In terms of rocket
science and pioneering innovation it was in an entirely different league to
this new fangled VR headset which is not really anything more than a mobile
phone strapped to some ski goggles.

------
bayesianhorse
I'm very excited about this technology. 2014 or 2015 might be "the year of
VR".

Let's hope that the technological challenges in commercialization are dealt
with swiftly. Then we will experience a boom in VR games and applications.

------
ergo14
This is really great news, both for the game itself and for occulus. I've been
waiting many years for next Elite.

