Oculus Rift

[g5000]

If you do not have an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, go and get one now.

No, really. Get one.

Now.



You can fly a jetpack through a city like the Jetsons live in, and it is so realistic you will get vertigo!

I am rarely a first adopter of anything. I am not even a second adopter. But when I heard about the Oculus, I read as much as I could about it, and then pre-ordered one.

I am very glad I pre-ordered one, because only a couple weeks after they began shipping to the public, they are already twice the price I paid.


This is the way we will all be watching TV and movies and sporting events in a few years.

My biggest concern with the Rift was that it would induce motion sickness, but somehow it doesn't. It is amazingly smooth. What causes motion sickness is being a passenger who is unable to know which way the vehicle is going to move. The driver never gets motion sickness. Somehow, Oculus is so immersive, and feels so real, you don't get nauseous.

Nevertheless, there are some games which do induce motion sickness. Every game and app has an identification label which tells you the intensity of motion sickness it may induce. Most are "casual", meaning even the weakest stomach will have no problem.

But a racing game like Radial-G:Racing Evolved is rated as "Intense" and will have the novice ready to blow lunch if they aren't careful.,

I've only downloaded six or seven games so far. They range in price from 10 to 50 bucks. My favorite so far is a tower defense game called Defense Grid 2 by Hidden Path Entertainment.

Yeah, a tower defense game sounds weak, but wait until you play it on an Oculus Rift.

But let me tell you about Omega Man.

You get to fly a jetpack! You play a kind of cross between George Jetson and James Bond. So far, I've watched four other people play it on my system, and every one of them has flailed their arms and legs about as their mind tricks them into believing they are really flying a jetpack through a city. And every one of them laughs their asses off. They make all kinds of gobsmacked sounds.

This thing is a blast.

And there is a video app where you can watch 360 degree movies. One of the sample clips puts you in the middle of a soccer match, and that is when it hit me. This is the future of sportscasting and TV shows.

Get one. Now.

 

[g5000]

You need the latest and greatest computer processor with the latest and greatest video graphics card to use the Oculus.

And for some reason, games made by Steam won't work unless your video display AND your Oculus are plugged into the graphics card. I hate Steam, and bought a pinball game before I found out it was a Steam game.

Steam. Short for Steaming Pile of Shit. I've never bought a Steam product that wasn't a giant pain in the ass to boot up.

The problem is that graphics cards only have one HDMI port. The Oculus Rift has an HDMI cord and a USB cord which need to both be plugged into the computer. The USB cord must be plugged into a 3.0 USB port. The HDMI cord has to plug into the graphics card.

My display has an HDMI cord. My computer has a second HDMI port, but it is not part of the graphics card. This is no problem for any other game not made by the assholes at Steam. All non-Steam games work just fine with the Oculus Rift plugged into the graphics card and my display plugged into the non-graphics card HDMI port.

But to get a Steam game to work, you have to get an HDMI to DVI adapter so you can plug your display into the graphics card, too.

Assholes.