5 ms·

400$ and doesn't need a computer? God damn, how are they even able to run VR games like this considering how much a PC able to handle them costs?

mtgx 8y ago
It basically has a mid-range smartphone inside. Don't expect the games on this to look anywhere near as good as PC VR games.
- lallysingh 8y ago
  But I assume it's wifi only? Take out that hardware and beef up the screen/gpu a bit.
- nickik 8y ago
  Mid-range smartphone with a way overpowered GPU
wvenable 8y ago
The Oculus Go is $200 and doesn't need a computer either. Mobile VR has always required less power than PC VR.
- devilmoon 8y ago
  Of course mobile requires less power, but they mention Moss among the launch titles which is in no way a mobile experience. I'm thinking they are going to port and downgrade everything then?
  - andybak 8y ago
    Moss is one of the most beautiful VR titles out there. I'm very interested to see how it translates to a GPU a couple of orders of magnitude less powerful.
- drcode 8y ago
  The Go is pretty cool, but the lack of 6DOF and the limited game catalog really limit its viability. This new device addresses both of these issues (since many Rift games can now be ported over pretty easily)
  - cheeko1234 8y ago
    I don't know if that many games can be ported over easily. Most games on the Rift barely run on the highest consumer GPU's available.
    - drcode 8y ago
      I suspect that the developers of the top 100 rift games (i.e. the games that are actually pretty good and have made some money) will be enormously incentivized to find ways to scale down the visuals a bit because of the easy money they would make. The important part is that no changes in the game mechanics are necessary, given the identical controllers and similar 6DOF capabilities.
- laythea 8y ago
  "Mobile VR has always required less power than PC VR" Care to explain?
  - wvenable 8y ago
    You need quite a powerful GPU to do VR on a PC. But mobile phones (Gear VR, Google Cardboard) can do VR with much less graphics horsepower because the entire hardware stack can be controlled. The path from the motion sensors to rendering the VR scene on a phone is very fast. You still need a powerful mobile GPU to do good 3D graphics but actually rendering but the VR part doesn't require as much.
    - SahAssar 8y ago
      That sounds pretty handwavy though. > But mobile phones (Gear VR, Google Cardboard) can do VR with much less graphics horsepower because the entire hardware stack can be controlled. No, they just generally have a much lower expectation to meet of the graphics fidelity produced. > The path from the motion sensors to rendering the VR scene on a phone is very fast. What would you say slows this down on a modern PC? Is it the connections to the headset? Is it the OS? > You still need a powerful mobile GPU to do good 3D graphics but actually rendering but the VR part doesn't require as much. Why would this be different between mobile and a normal PC? Both need to render a image at 60fps (or probably 90), for two viewpoints, regardless of if it is driven by a PC or a mobile. What is different?
      - wvenable 8y ago
        The killer issue for VR is latency. If you have a lot of latency between the motion and the rendering people will throw up. And it's much easier to control that latency on a mobile phone platform than on a PC. John Carmack has written extensively on this subject if you are interested. One example he gives is that graphics card drivers will aggressively buffer draw commands to increase performance and image fidelity at the cost of latency. In a normal game that's no problem but that is terrible for VR. Even a little bit of delay between movement and the display reflecting your new position is nauseating. On mobile, the latency can be highly controlled from the driver, OS, and custom hardware even while sacrificing other performance.
pkaye 8y ago
Just like your smart phone doesn't need a computer.
- danellis 8y ago
  A powerful smartphone costs twice that, though, and that's without the fancy hardware.
  - pkaye 8y ago
    Form factor makes a big difference. When you need to cram things down into a small size it can get very expensive.
    - andybak 8y ago
      Yep. It's interesting to see how much cheaper some no-name Android tablets were from similarly specced phones.
giancarlostoro 8y ago
It likely wont look as nice as it would on a top end graphics card with a high end monitor (or two), but if it works it works.

mtgx 8y ago

It basically has a mid-range smartphone inside. Don't expect the games on this to look anywhere near as good as PC VR games.

lallysingh 8y ago
But I assume it's wifi only? Take out that hardware and beef up the screen/gpu a bit.
nickik 8y ago
Mid-range smartphone with a way overpowered GPU

wvenable 8y ago

The Oculus Go is $200 and doesn't need a computer either. Mobile VR has always required less power than PC VR.

devilmoon 8y ago
Of course mobile requires less power, but they mention Moss among the launch titles which is in no way a mobile experience. I'm thinking they are going to port and downgrade everything then?
- andybak 8y ago
  Moss is one of the most beautiful VR titles out there. I'm very interested to see how it translates to a GPU a couple of orders of magnitude less powerful.
drcode 8y ago
The Go is pretty cool, but the lack of 6DOF and the limited game catalog really limit its viability. This new device addresses both of these issues (since many Rift games can now be ported over pretty easily)
- cheeko1234 8y ago
  I don't know if that many games can be ported over easily. Most games on the Rift barely run on the highest consumer GPU's available.
  - drcode 8y ago
    I suspect that the developers of the top 100 rift games (i.e. the games that are actually pretty good and have made some money) will be enormously incentivized to find ways to scale down the visuals a bit because of the easy money they would make. The important part is that no changes in the game mechanics are necessary, given the identical controllers and similar 6DOF capabilities.
laythea 8y ago
"Mobile VR has always required less power than PC VR" Care to explain?
- wvenable 8y ago
  You need quite a powerful GPU to do VR on a PC. But mobile phones (Gear VR, Google Cardboard) can do VR with much less graphics horsepower because the entire hardware stack can be controlled. The path from the motion sensors to rendering the VR scene on a phone is very fast. You still need a powerful mobile GPU to do good 3D graphics but actually rendering but the VR part doesn't require as much.
  - SahAssar 8y ago
    That sounds pretty handwavy though. > But mobile phones (Gear VR, Google Cardboard) can do VR with much less graphics horsepower because the entire hardware stack can be controlled. No, they just generally have a much lower expectation to meet of the graphics fidelity produced. > The path from the motion sensors to rendering the VR scene on a phone is very fast. What would you say slows this down on a modern PC? Is it the connections to the headset? Is it the OS? > You still need a powerful mobile GPU to do good 3D graphics but actually rendering but the VR part doesn't require as much. Why would this be different between mobile and a normal PC? Both need to render a image at 60fps (or probably 90), for two viewpoints, regardless of if it is driven by a PC or a mobile. What is different?
    - wvenable 8y ago
      The killer issue for VR is latency. If you have a lot of latency between the motion and the rendering people will throw up. And it's much easier to control that latency on a mobile phone platform than on a PC. John Carmack has written extensively on this subject if you are interested. One example he gives is that graphics card drivers will aggressively buffer draw commands to increase performance and image fidelity at the cost of latency. In a normal game that's no problem but that is terrible for VR. Even a little bit of delay between movement and the display reflecting your new position is nauseating. On mobile, the latency can be highly controlled from the driver, OS, and custom hardware even while sacrificing other performance.

pkaye 8y ago

Just like your smart phone doesn't need a computer.

danellis 8y ago
A powerful smartphone costs twice that, though, and that's without the fancy hardware.
- pkaye 8y ago
  Form factor makes a big difference. When you need to cram things down into a small size it can get very expensive.
  - andybak 8y ago
    Yep. It's interesting to see how much cheaper some no-name Android tablets were from similarly specced phones.

giancarlostoro 8y ago

It likely wont look as nice as it would on a top end graphics card with a high end monitor (or two), but if it works it works.