Oculus Founder Defends $600 Price Tag

nysmo said:
I think the $600 price is hard to swallow because the next Rift doesnt seem to really offer any additional value over the previous versions. There's still gonna be a screendoor effect at that resolution, and the DK1 already had near perfect tracking of movement. It just seems like a minor bump in price for nearly double the cost. The positional tracking seems pretty pointless since you'll be playing seated in a chair most of the time, giving you the option to merely lean forward maybe 12 inches or so to inspect things, a novelty that will surely wear off quick. Being able to stand up and walk around in an empty room you have set up precisely for VR experiences is just unrealistic, and even if you did it the concept itself is still limited to whatever application developers provide for. I mean how many instances are you really going to want to walk around vs be seated in?

Ultimately your time using the Rift will be spent sitting down with a controller in your hand, the exact same thing you have been doing with all previous VR systems. It just doesnt feel like a $600 experience anymore.
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Sorry, but you are talking straight out of your ass.

People that have tried the latest Oculus hardware back to the Crescent Bay prototype have stated that the screen door effect has been eliminated. It has more to do with just the resolution. Pixel density, and optics have a lot to do with it as well. The hardware in the retail version is light years beyond the DK1 in every possible way.

The important improvement with head tracking is reduced latency, and higher frame rates.
 
It'd be pretty cool if sports events will introduce some sort of VR tech. IE: Special 360 ice level camera that would allow me to watch a hockey game from the bench.
 
I'll just leave this here:

http://allthingsd.com/20130606/ocul...s-progress-price-and-limitations-qa-part-one/

Luckey: I’m one of the few people where it’s different. I would spend whatever it was. Gamers are not known to be the most affluent population of people. If something’s even $600, it doesn’t matter how good it is, how great of an experience it is — if they just can’t afford it, then it really might as well not exist. We’re going for the mainstream, but time will tell what the market is.
 
SXO said:
I'll just leave this here:

http://allthingsd.com/20130606/ocul...s-progress-price-and-limitations-qa-part-one/

Luckey: I’m one of the few people where it’s different. I would spend whatever it was. Gamers are not known to be the most affluent population of people. If something’s even $600, it doesn’t matter how good it is, how great of an experience it is — if they just can’t afford it, then it really might as well not exist. We’re going for the mainstream, but time will tell what the market is.
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June 13, 2013. A lot has changed since then. It won't always be $600, and their target for "mainstream" has changed focus over to Gear VR.
 
x2 1440p screens for each eye personally, a headset, and a ton of sensors. Sounds about right ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
sboucher said:
No I don't have that backwards, that's actually precisely what I meant. Gear VR (as a platform) is run on the Galaxy S6 hardware.

As I mentioned, there is additional hardware in the Sony headset although we don't know details on that yet. I still not expect it to be able to compete with the rift though. Although we don't exactly expect a PS4 to be able to compete with a high end gaming PC either, do we?
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Again, the G.VR is not a platform, its a fancy pair of goggles, then you add the android phone to it, that phone is the platform and the display.
The Rift is an actual display for the PC platform that needs a high end system (platform) to use it, hence my question on consoles being able to deliver enough cpu/gpu power to compete with the Rift without an on-board cpu/gpu to help.
Todays smartphones cannot compete with current consoles, so Samsung's G.VR goggle/phone combo is not really in the same category as the Rift or what sony and MS will be offering.
Just because its a console driven VR set, that does not mean that people wont expect the visuals to look as good or perform similar to the Rift, even though we know that's a high bar to achieve.
 
cptnjarhead said:
Again, the G.VR is not a platform, its a fancy pair of goggles, then you add the android phone to it, that phone is the platform and the display.
The Rift is an actual display for the PC platform that needs a high end system (platform) to use it, hence my question on consoles being able to deliver enough cpu/gpu power to compete with the Rift without an on-board cpu/gpu to help.
Todays smartphones cannot compete with current consoles, so Samsung's G.VR goggle/phone combo is not really in the same category as the Rift or what sony and MS will be offering.
Just because its a console driven VR set, that does not mean that people wont expect the visuals to look as good or perform similar to the Rift, even though we know that's a high bar to achieve.
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Gear VR is a Platform specific to Samsung and the software is by Oculus. You cannot just plug in any old Android phone, that would be Google Cardboard. For Gear VR, you can only plug in a Samsung Galaxy S6 or Note 5 phone. Yes, it runs off the phone. I never said that it didn't.

Do people expect console visuals to be as good as a high end gaming PC? No, they don't. Do they consider them to be good enough for them at the lower price point? Obviously, they sell a lot.

How will the experience be with Sony's Morpheus headset? General impressions of it have been pretty good. But it's not at the same level as the Rift or Vive (as to be expected).
 
sboucher said:
Gear VR is a Platform specific to Samsung and the software is by Oculus. You cannot just plug in any old Android phone, that would be Google Cardboard. For Gear VR, you can only plug in a Samsung Galaxy S6 or Note 5 phone. Yes, it runs off the phone. I never said that it didn't.

Do people expect console visuals to be as good as a high end gaming PC? No, they don't. Do they consider them to be good enough for them at the lower price point? Obviously, they sell a lot.

How will the experience be with Sony's Morpheus headset? General impressions of it have been pretty good. But it's not at the same level as the Rift or Vive (as to be expected).
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Sorry, but G.VR is NOT a platform. The specific Samsung phones required for the special Goggles all run the Android.....wait for it..... PLATFORM! :D
 
tylertoast said:
Really?
I thought they were going to go with the 1440p.

lmao rip
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Originally planned a 2560 x 1440 single screen. Decided it wasn't good enough and that going with two separate 1080 x 1200 screens custom made by Samsung with improved pixel density and ability to adjust ipd mechanically instead of through software, was much better.

In other words, no more screen door effect and better fit for people with large IPD ranges.

So no... not rip.
 
cptnjarhead said:
Sorry, but G.VR is NOT a platform. The specific Samsung phones required for the special Goggles all run the Android.....wait for it..... PLATFORM! :D
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Android operating system.. not platform.

The Oculus software is the platform.

Smarten up.
 
sboucher said:
This is good too:

http://www.cnet.com/news/the-600-price-of-the-oculus-rift-is-worth-it-for-this-level-of-awesome/
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good read, the BFI is interesting
They explained that the black "frame" actually persists for a majority of the time, while the screen is lit for a much briefer period. Since brightness isn't an issue (your eyes are in a sealed, black container), the resulting drop in light output doesn't matter
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I had not even read about that until this article. very cool.
thanks
 
That been said, it is known that Apple is working on something VR related (patents issued / job postings), and Google Cardboard might actually turn out to be something good.
 
sboucher said:
Sorry, my post was a little hostile.

The simple point I'm trying to make is with Gear VR, the Samsung phone (S6 or Note 5) combined with the Gear VR headset, and the Oculus software / store is the platform.

The android operating system has very little to do with it.
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I hate to be an ass, but android the platform that the oculus software runs on, for the G.VR. yes exclusive to Samsung devices.
 
sboucher said:
That been said, it is known that Apple is working on something VR related (patents issued / job postings), and Google Cardboard might actually turn out to be something good.
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I really believe that to be true, VR seems to be pushing tech further since the start of the oculus, cardboard and others. Kind of how smartphones are pushing tech forward
As consumers, our Media will be viewed so differently in a few years, we will laugh at people with Big 8k $100,000 TV's. because we will be in a virtual theater or where ever we wish.
I am excited for the future of games and other types of Media.
 
This is why I never pay attention to products until they are at market or production is completed. If it isn't here yet and available for purchase then the product isn't worth paying attention to. I'll judge a product based on facts and merit, so please check your hype at the door.
 
sboucher said:
True, but irrelevant, could be running it over Tizen or Windows if they wanted.
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yeah, I'm an ass.
Speaking of platform, I would wonder if MS will have the advantage because the xbox will run the Windows 10 platform, i mean, DX12 might be able to utilize the rendering power of the console to yield better performance for VR. Not sure if Sony ps4 can run DX12
 
cptnjarhead said:
I really believe that to be true, VR seems to be pushing tech further since the start of the oculus, cardboard and others. Kind of how smartphones are pushing tech forward
As consumers, our Media will be viewed so differently in a few years, we will laugh at people with Big 8k $100,000 TV's. because we will be in a virtual theater or where ever we wish.
I am excited for the future of games and other types of Media.
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Exactly!

It's also why I believe VR via Smartphone will eventually be the mainstream product. Whether through VR, Google Cardboard (I really hope they change that name), or Apple's version. The entry cost will be much lower, since almost everyone will eventually carrying a compatible smartphone.

I'm very excited for the future of this technology as well.

Try to predict where it will be 10 years from now. Seriously, go ahead and try, make a personal note and look back on it 10 years from now..
 
cptnjarhead said:
yeah, I'm an ass.
Speaking of platform, I would wonder if MS will have the advantage because the xbox will run the Windows 10 platform, i mean, DX12 might be able to utilize the rendering power of the console to yield better performance for VR. Not sure if Sony ps4 can run DX12
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Given this partnership between Oculus and Microsoft, and that Microsoft has not even hinted at their own VR implementation outside of Hololens, I'm wondering if the xbox, at some point in time, will end up supporting the rift..
 
/usr/sbin said:
This is why I never pay attention to products until they are at market or production is completed. If it isn't here yet and available for purchase then the product isn't worth paying attention to. I'll judge a product based on facts and merit, so please check your hype at the door.
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Smart, and generally I would agree with you. In this case however, I have owned the previous version of the product (DK2), and was VERY impressed with it. Retail is known to resolve it's short comings.

Based on that I felt it was worth the price and risk associated with being an early adopter.

Sure, there is always the possibility it could flop or there will be issues at launch. But my gut in this case is telling me that won't happen.

Oculus has been very careful bringing this thing to the market.
 
Nenu said:
Holograms
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Holograms are already here didnt tupac and mj have hologram performances i want a holodeck with 100 32 core cpus and 200 sli/crossfire playing as geralt in witcher 3 or playins alien isolation or being gangster in gta.
 
sboucher said:
Exactly!

It's also why I believe VR via Smartphone will eventually be the mainstream product. Whether through VR, Google Cardboard (I really hope they change that name), or Apple's version. The entry cost will be much lower, since almost everyone will eventually carrying a compatible smartphone.

I'm very excited for the future of this technology as well.

Try to predict where it will be 10 years from now. Seriously, go ahead and try, make a personal note and look back on it 10 years from now..
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I would say in 10 years, the term display will be gone, and we will be looking at projections that are only in our field of view, spamming us or helping us get around like a virtual TomTom, then we will have to have projection free zones and such. Then we will need special glasses to not see the media being streamed at us, like voice canceling headphones, projection canceling glasses :D
 
MavericK said:
A completely useless statement without knowing how many were/will be produced by March.
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I respectively disagree,

We know there were almost 10,000 backers. Many of which will be receiving a free rift. How awesome is that btw?

They sold 175,000 DK2 units. Which were pretty hard to get.

My guess is 500k units at least.
 
Also, do you honestly believe a company like Samsung would accept small batch orders of the custom made displays driving this thing?
 
Even buying the consumer version of the headset is just still "beta testing" along with the manufactures now getting hands on with the current headsets.
Much cheaper alternatives will come like the one listed above
 
tylertoast said:
Even buying the consumer version of the headset is just still "beta testing" along with the manufactures now getting hands on with the current headsets.
Much cheaper alternatives will come like the one listed above
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$399 and doesn't have nearly the same amount of tech. Does it even have positional tracking?

We'll see how they stack up to the rift once all this stuff hits the market.

My money (literally), is still on the rift.
 
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