Rift, Vive, and Virtual Reality

[pcchen]

Always thought Bethesda/Zenimax were a bit suspect at best for the way they launch seriously bug-infested games on the public and then prematurely abandon the titles still riddled with game-breaking bugs after them having sold millions of copies.

This latest development just reaffirms that belief in me, lowering my opinion of the company from "suspect" to "bag of cocks".

I have no insider knowledge about this, but you have to be careful on statements from both sides, especially when lawsuits are involved.

The whole affair is, of course, rather unfortunate. John Carmack is certainly rich enough to leave id software at any time. I don't know the reason why he didn't leave Id software when he started working with Oculus VR, but I guess that it's hard to leave a company you founded (especially when all other founders already left).

After the tragic death of then lead engineer of Oculus VR Andrew Reisse, combined with the fact that Zenimax couldn't make a deal with Oculus VR, likely played a major role in John Carmack's decision to leave id software for good.

 

[Grall]

Your cautionary point given its due diligence, I would still say I trust John Carmack more than Zenimax, that's for sure. I was thumped about one FKING MILE UP in the air by a giant in Skyrim, and then I read they liked that bug so much they deliberately kept it in. Jesus wept!

Maybe they also really REALLY like the bug that lets you pick up multiple quest items of the same type but not let you drop them, or finish certain quests at all, or fall through the world, or, or, or...

They're dicks. Only dicks could do this.

 

[Zeross]

The whole affair is, of course, rather unfortunate. John Carmack is certainly rich enough to leave id software at any time. I don't know the reason why he didn't leave Id software when he started working with Oculus VR, but I guess that it's hard to leave a company you founded (especially when all other founders already left).

After the tragic death of then lead engineer of Oculus VR Andrew Reisse, combined with the fact that Zenimax couldn't make a deal with Oculus VR, likely played a major role in John Carmack's decision to leave id software for good.

This is not only a question of having enough money, when a company buys another one, key executive people are often given incentive to stay a certain amount of time. It was certainly the case when Zenimax bought id software:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24183

id's principal employees, certain to include Hollenshead and Carmack, have also signed long-term contracts guaranteeing their tenure at the company for an unspecified period of time.

Since id software was bought in the summer of 2009, it seems fairly logical to assume that the long-term contract they signed was 4 years since Hollenshead also left in the summer of 2013.

 

[Dangerman]

Always thought Bethesda/Zenimax were a bit suspect at best for the way they launch seriously bug-infested games on the public and then prematurely abandon the titles still riddled with game-breaking bugs after them having sold millions of copies.

This latest development just reaffirms that belief in me, lowering my opinion of the company from "suspect" to "bag of cocks".

Don't forget some of the backstage stuff they do, development hell of Prey 2 anyone?

 

[Davros]

They're dicks. Only dicks could do this.

They are but so is carmack

 

[pjbliverpool]

They are but so is carmack

How can you say this? You worship the gaming Gods and he's like, King of the Gods!

 

[Davros]

remember the big standoff at id with carmack doing a "I'm making doom 3 if you dont like it fire me"
well as soon as it was finished everyone who took his side was fired, how did carmack repay the loyalty and support people has shown him ? He didnt...

 

[Zeross]

remember the big standoff at id with carmack doing a "I'm making doom 3 if you dont like it fire me"
well as soon as it was finished everyone who took his side was fired, how did carmack repay the loyalty and support people has shown him ? He didnt...

That's not the way it happened, first of all it concerned just one person: Paul Steed and according to Kevin Cloud it wasn't for this reason that he was fired.

John Carmack .plan: http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/finger.pl?id=1&time=20000601040557

Kevin Cloud .plan: http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/finger.pl?id=4&time=20000602123941

Although Adrian and I alone made the decision to fire Paul, it
is the general opinion among the rest of id that we made the right
decision. Paul was not fired as a result of his support for DOOM.
Other people at id supported DOOM in the exact same manner. For
several reasons it was time for id software and Paul Steed to
part company.

Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack had the majority of the company back in those days, they didn't need John Carmack's approval to fire someone.

 

[Davros]

your right, it was just cloud, I miss remembered it, but still this guy put his job on the line to support carmack, where's john saying "hey if you fire him you have to fire me
and as for id management "we will fire you, but not the ringleader cos he's a genius"

I like the if you want a job where the management is spiteful and lack principles sent you cv in

ps: dont worry the gaming Gods will not be dishing out any demotions it's still Saint carmack patron saint of eyecandy
they are also wondering if there should be a saint gabe patron saint of pies...

 

[silent_guy]

I don't think people like us have all the info required to make a sound judgement about some guy being laid off at some private company...

 

[Billy Idol]

Nice demo:


http://m.ign.com/videos/2014/05/08/project-morpheus-the-deep-direct-feed-gameplay

Project Morpheus The Deep

 

[eastmen]

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/k6dayf/oculus-rift-e3-2014--all-access-interview

palmer says the consumer kit will be lighter , smaller , higher res , high frame rate and higher field of view

dk2 is 76 hz low resistance oled , he says you see improvement up to 90hz. So doesn't go so far as to say it but it sounds like it will be 90hz at least.

 

[Arwin]

That matches my personal experience of back in the old CRT days, where I could see flicker up to a little over 80hz, particularly in my peripheral vision. But that was redraw flicker on static CRT screens only.

 

[pjbliverpool]

New article on Oculus Rift - some awesome news in here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-01-oculus-answers-the-big-rift-questions

Some highlights:

• Resolution will be a big increase from 1080p
• Refresh rate will be AT LEAST 90hz
• Possibility of a major new feature to be added in the same vein as head tracking on DK2
• The headset will be lighter
• Gaming is 100% the driver for everything they're doing

Start saving for your new GPU's people!

 

[DieH@rd]

Samsung has just unveiled Gear VR, new "shell" headset that will be powered by Note 4 [Snapdraggon 805, 1440p scren]. They brought to the stage John Carmack to describe the way he has creating very optimized Android Oculus VR SDK for this system. They got full support from Samsung for crafting better VR-ready hardware [better orientation sensors, low persistence screen] and software [better work thread management, FIXED clocks, low-level graphics API access...].

John Carmack and the mobile team here at Oculus have spent the last year spearheading this effort. That time was split between developing a new Oculus Mobile SDK and optimizing Android and the underlying GPU drivers for virtual reality. Several of the key improvements include:

- Allowing custom calibrated sensors to talk to a dedicated kernel driver
- Enabling real time scheduled multithreaded application processes at guaranteed clock rates
- Context prioritized GPU rendering, enabling asynchronous time warp
- Facilitating completely unbuffered display surfaces for minimal latency
- Supporting low-persistence display mode for improved comfort, visual stability, and reduced motion blur / judder

It is important to note that Gear VR supports one very nice feature - video passtrough. Users can get the feed from Note4's back camera, enabling them to see the real world while they are using device [perfect for quick looks to find something, talk to someone, etc].

edit -

 

[Karamazov]

hmmm video passthrough

one step closer to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdh4TqWFfX4



is it just some prototype thing or will it be really commercialised soon ?

anyway looks really promising.

 

[pjbliverpool]

I wouldn't be surprised if the "possible major new feature" of OR was video passthough.

 

[eastmen]

Really getting tired of the waiting. I know this helps them get screens but I'd really just like the Consumer kit Asap. Would have been great for this holiday but looks like that wont happen

 

[orangpelupa]

how the camera ee thru that tranluscent lastic?

 

[Rurouni]

Nice! But the pricing will be insane. I'm thinking based on previous phone pricing in my country, it will cost at least $1000 (phone and the headset kit). At this price I'm expecting an external DVI/DP/HDMI port so it can double as regular monitor and not just content from the phone. Better yet, they should have an option to change the optic from 3D use to 2D use. It would be nice to use all the pixel for viewing movie in 2D! And better for gaming for those that don't want the 3D.