One cold morning in November of 2013, I woke up and thought to myself, “Man, I sure would like to dig into some virtual reality gear”. A half hour later and $300 poorer I emerged from a what turned out to be a deep, dark hole with a new toy on the way. Within the black case was something that looked like a Johnny Mnemonic prop and a by proxy, waves upon waves of strange surreal feelings. All it took was a product request that stated “Hey guys, I develop video games and I sure would like to develop a video game for the Oculus Rift”. Now, I most certainly do not develop video games, but I’m not above claiming to be someone I’m not if it means I get my hands on some new gear at a halfway reasonable price. About a month later I opened my front door to find an ominous package resting on my doorstep. This package contained a black case. Within the black case was something that looked like a Johnny Mnemonic prop and a by proxy, waves upon waves of strange surreal feelings. I connected everything up and tested out a few demos, one of which being “Dumpy: Going Elephants”, places the subject in the body of an elephant on a set path through a world in which many of the standard laws of physics do not apply. There isn’t any particular goal to the demo. The subject creates their own goals through exploration of the main mechanic which is to swing your trunk around and interact with the objects in your reach. Dumpy in his natural habitat. Here is where the limitations of the rift come into play. Being that this was the first development kit released, it was not a perfect product. Issues with the hardware itself and even with the human brain are evident when using the rift as a beginner. The first of these issues is this; The human brain is not accustomed to being told it’s experiencing something that is not actually happening. Whether it be riding a roller coaster or walking through a haunted mansion, sitting still in a chair is not the same as moving in an environment. When both things happen at the same time, the brain gets very confused and this causes intense nausea. This feeling is not in any way alleviated by the fact that this imperfect piece of hardware does not have a perfect 1:1 movement tracking ratio meaning there’s a slight delay in the time of you turning your head to that being represented on screen. It’s almost like being drunk and having an out of body experience at the same time. It’s extremely intriguing until it becomes unpleasant. The second problem is the screen resolution in the rift. The first development kit has a resolution of 1280p by 800p which allocates 640×800 pixels per eye. Unfortunately, this is much too low for a virtual reality headset to be comfortable as it makes everything seem blocky and blurry as if looking at the world through a screen door. The DK2, Oculus VR’s second development kit addresses many of the issues presented by it’s predecessor. It’s resolution is now 1920p by 1080p (960×1080 pixels per eye). It also has a higher refresh rate and more reliable head tracking which help reduce the nauseating effects of extended exposure. It is possible that through extensive use of the rift, you may train your brain not to get so worked up over being in two places at once, but I have not yet been able to pull it off. Fifteen to thirty minutes of rift use followed by ten to fifteen minutes of not feeling great is pretty much par for the course as I’ve seen but some may react differently than others. However, if you ask me, this is a small price to pay for a piece of hardware that some people would consider “basically magic”. It should be noted that the DK2 is (at the time of this being written) $350 through the Oculus VR website. Will Smith experiencing what I assume is unbridled joy. The future of the Oculus Rift remains uncertain at the moment and with its recent purchase by Facebook Inc. some consumers are in protest of the direction it may be going. Setting all that aside for a moment, here are some things I think the Rift needs: 4k and higher support… Higher resolution means less screen door effect. Put your face about 2 inches from your computer monitor. See all those pixels? That’s pretty much what looking through the rift is like in its current state. Perfect (or as close as we can get to it) head tracking. It’s extremely difficult to fool the human brain into thinking you’re somewhere you’re not and delayed reactions certainly aren’t helping the process. WIDESPREAD SUPPORT. One of the biggest problems with the rift right now is the lack of software that utilizes it in interesting ways. More people creating useful content (Simulation software, teaching tools, etc.) for the rift, means it gets into more hands and gets tweaked and improved along the way. The Oculus Rift is not a perfect product and it will take some time before its practical applications come to light. That being said, I’m very hopeful about the future of the rift and I’m excited to be alive in a time when you can strap a monitor to your face and go on vacation in the Bahamas without leaving the den.
