Interesting comment made by Palmer Luckey the 20 year old developer of the Oculus Rift on Forbes the other day. The new prototype has caused quite a stir at CES 2013. I still remain a little sceptical, but the press certainly seem to be lavishing praise on the device. Would really like to try it with a flight simulator.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseackerman/2013/01/11/will-oculus-rift-be-the-coolest-gadget-ever-an-interview-with-creator-palmer-luckey/

 

"What games are you most excited to play on the Oculus Rift?

We already have support for two games, Doom 3 BFG Edition and Hawken. Both of those games are a blast in the Rift! I can’t comment on specific titles in the future, but I am particularly excited about titles that allow you to fly. Looking down from the sky in VR is a very powerful experience, one that I can’t wait for other people to try as well."

 

Definately have to keep my eye (or should that be eyes?) on this hardware.

 

Rhydian

Thanks for the heads-up on this.

 

About 20 some years ago I was asked if a game design I was working on would support virtual reality. In those days, it just wasn't possible. How cool is it that a workable system is just around the corner?

 

Hook

You want to see it in action? Lockergnombe AKA:(Chris Pirillo) gives it a try in Las Vegas...

 

You want to see it in action? Lockergnombe AKA:(Chris Pirillo) gives it a try in Las Vegas...

 

 

Brilliant video. That enthusiasm for it seems to be everywhere. I just read an article on the newscientist singing its praise. I wonder how many flight simulator developers are interested incorporating the device.

I wonder how many flight simulator developers are interested incorporating the device.

It will be interesting to see who will take the plunge and develop for this!

 

As he said in the video, the SDK is being released somewhere around March. That is only available to developers, the consumer product will be available soon! (maybe next year!?)

 

Give it 3-4 years and we might see something from an FS developer. Thats my prediction...

Been following and covering this from the start, it'll be revolutionary. Really good video here of Chris, first one I've seen where you are hit by the enthusiasm.

 

Having flown MS Flight and FSX with crappy anaglyph 3d, yes this will be truly amazing for flightsims!

Would this be compatible out of the box with FSX? Its seems like a ground breaking product. One issue I can think of however. How will one be able to see the keyboard and controller buttons and paperwork when flying?

 

Alex

Would this be compatible out of the box with FSX?

 

Given how much they said in the video about the developer having to integrate support into the product, there's probably no chance at all.

 

However, imagine integrating this with TrackIR with the sensors on the VR headset and the video fed into the VR device. That one may be doable, somehow.

 

Normally with VR you'll be able to look below the display to see things like a real world keyboard.

 

Hook

Would this be compatible out of the box with FSX? Its seems like a ground breaking product. One issue I can think of however. How will one be able to see the keyboard and controller buttons and paperwork when flying?

 

Alex

 

I don't think it will be able to be compatable. As others have said it needs to be coded to work with the Rift and surely with no ACES around it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible. Although I think I remember the Prepar3d team being interested though. Which sounds promising. I read a forum post on the DCS World website about support for it. At this stage though they don't sound all that convinced. They were worried about how it would work with software that relies heavily on the use on the keyboard. I can see their point.

 

Rhydian

So, a few more weeks until I'll be getting my hands onto the Oculus Rift. Any idea if anyone is working on a driver for FSX compatibility? TrackIR manages to 'tap' into simconnect to provide XYZ coordinates; so it shouldn't be too hard of a task?

ooh, keep us informed as to progress, impressions etc!

Looks like I'll never be leaving my house when this comes out.

Cool tech. My only concern in flight sim would be cockpit operation when you can't see your yoke, throttle quadrant and instrument panels...

Yoke and throttle you can feel. For the rest, use he mouse!

Cool tech. My only concern in flight sim would be cockpit operation when you can't see your yoke, throttle quadrant and instrument panels...

 

Yes I think the producers of DCS: World has similar concerns as written in their forum.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1538788&postcount=5

 

I'm with OmniAtlas though, I would have thought the mouse could be used to operate controls within the sim, while still using feeling for (probably sometimes unsuccessfully) a throttle and yoke setup to control the aircraft. It's the frame rate that will be the big problem for most flying games. 60fps - split to 30fps for each eye, may be difficult to achieve with a modern flight sim with all the bells and whistles.

 

As long as it doesn't go the way of the edimensional E-D glasses of course:

 

http://www.edimensional.com/products/edglasses.htm

 

I own one of these! Using it with flight simulator and other PC games was pretty wild. The depth perception of these was also quite convincing (hmmmm, kind of). But it was the motion sickness that was the problem. I personally couldn't use it for a long length of time without feeling a little nauseous. But to be honest, the Oculus, with its extremely low latency and high refresh rate should (in theory) counteract that problem. We'll see. (sorry for the pun)

 

Rhydian