Talk about Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), augmented reality, wearable computing, controller hardware, haptic feedback, motion tracking, and related topics here!
I remember Dactyl Nightmare being the coolest experience I had so far in VR, but I expect most available games to be rather weak.
It so was. Did you ever get to go on the 'alternate' version of the game? It had a shield, axe, and crossbow. Swinging the axe into my friends head and watching it explode caused me to laugh uncontrollably for quite some time afterwards.
I'd loveto make a homage Rift game that was basically Dactyl Nightmare done a bit better. I'd keep the chessboard level etc and many of the design ideas and graphical look, but improve the weapons a bit...
I remember Dactyl Nightmare being the coolest experience I had so far in VR, but I expect most available games to be rather weak.
It so was. Did you ever get to go on the 'alternate' version of the game? It had a shield, axe, and crossbow. Swinging the axe into my friends head and watching it explode caused me to laugh uncontrollably for quite some time afterwards.
I'd loveto make a homage Rift game that was basically Dactyl Nightmare done a bit better. I'd keep the chessboard level etc and many of the design ideas and graphical look, but improve the weapons a bit...
No - the only place where I could play it (that I know of in Germany) was an Arcade in Berlin, and that was quite the trip. I went there twice with a year in between, but the game was the same both time. And it was really expensive for me, as I was still in school. But it sounds fun ... having exploding heads is something I will keep in mind.
@geekmaster - once I get to play with the Rift I will try those for sure!
Indeed, something like that Quake level, with the addition of independent gun and user movement (using the Rift Q3 mod?), is all that is required. It wasn't a particularly complex level/game, so I think it should be one of the easiest to 'Riftify' it as Geekmaster says.
The level itself always reminds me of one of my favourite maps, E1M7... visibility of everywhere from everywhere, upper and lower level.
Speaking of Virtuality games, did anyone else ever play Legend Quest? That was probably the best single player game I played on the Virtuality system.
Oh, just a bit of info about Dactyl Nightmare the 'alternative' edition. You had a crossbow, an axe, and a shield. I thinkyou had to pick up the weapons. The crossbow and axe could be blocked with the shield, which got shot away with each bit of damage. There was some way you cuold alternate between the axe and shield, can't remember how as I think Virtuality only had two buttons on the controller, and one was to move forwards? Anyway, it was a lot better than the standard game. Melee combat was fun, and the crossbow bolts flew a bit faster than the standard Dactyl bullets. The only problem was the standard bullets were easier to see, as they were pretty big and bright.
I am about 65% sure that the ability to shoot/knock off heads was only in this version.
maboo63 wrote:now we just need such an offer here in europe...
Look on the previous site, some dealers sell the Hydra in Poland for 47€
and almost all of them ONLY sell IN Poland - no shipping to the rest of europe
Indeed
I remember seeing videos of the Hydra combined with Portal 2 / Left 4 Dead a good while ago, and at the time I thought that it looked kind of nifty but it did not appeal at all. Combined with a Rift, however, that awkward device suddenly feels like a "must-have" peripheral.
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.
I was browsing Woot again and saw a "Razer gaming accessories" mini-sale, and sure enough the Hydra was available again. $45+$5 shipping, for anyone that missed out the first time.
I just posted this on the Oculus reddit but I thought I'd post it here to in case people on the fence want a reason to get it:
I picked it up when it was $40 the other day. My honest opinion, it's a nice toy to play around with. It has a long way to go in terms of integration in games. There's support for a good amount of games and if you play around in their MotionCreator GUI config editor you can make your own configurations pretty easily. I found that I wasn't quite satisfied with any of the existing "modes" as they were. I use the Dual Analog mode but I cranked up the Mouselook sensitivity and decreased the Joystick sensitivity in the MotionCreator preferences.
I think this will be great with Rift integration if done properly. I'm experimenting with TF2 but the way they limit the Hydra integration in the game makes it very challenging. I am trying to make it so that I can use the motion sensing to control just the gun and use the joystick to move the view. That is the ideal and IMO only way to properly control and enjoy the Hydra with Rift. As it currently is programmed into TF2, this isn't possible. I am going to make some posts on the Steam forums and try to get Valve's attention to address this. Hopefully they can adjust this by the time I get my dev kit.
I am also writing an extensive paper/article on motion controls with VR. The Hydra, along with many motion controls like the MAG II and Leap motion, does not address something that prevents motion controls from giving you the competitive accuracy of a mouse: the lack of a physical constraint and a physical point of reference. You have to rely on your vision completely to calculate the in-game displacement relative to the amount of physical movement. This makes it extremely difficult to develop the muscle memory that allows us to make those accurate twitch movements with a mouse.
All that aside, it's a fun toy and if you ordered a Rift dev kit for the sake of experiencing and experimenting with different styles of gaming, $45 for this is a pretty good investment.
For people not in the US, you can use a package forwarding service like shipito.com. Disclaimer: never tried them, just an example company. In NZ the national postal service has its own package forwarding service from the US so I use that.
You sign up with the service and they give you a US address to ship to. They then send it to you from their address. Obviously they add an additional postage charge so the cost increases, but most of the time it's still far cheaper than getting these things locally (for me at least). Example, Hydra to US address is costing me $56 NZD and the postage estimate from there to me from NZ Post is $20 NZD ($30 NZD in my worst case guess - package is 10% heavier than I think and 2" larger in all dimensions). Total cost $76-86 NZD. Cost to buy locally on sale from the cheapest possible NZ online store? $185 NZD.
The only other caveat when doing this is the site you are buying from needs to accept your international credit card which will obviously have a different address from the one they will be shipping to (and some plaes like newegg just won't accept international credit cards period). Not sure about credit cards through woot.com but if it doesn't work then credit card via paypal does.
Interesting, the hydra is getting dumped at these lower prices and the razer minisite for it now says "first generation". Wonder if there will be an announcement about a new motion controller (Hydra 2?) soon...
Current Rig: Intel i7 920 @ 4.0GHz, 6 GB ram, Geforce GTX670 -> Nvidia 3D Vision on LG 47LM615S (interlaced, spoofing Zalman EDID) + Oculus Rift
Control Peripherals: Novint Falcon, Razer Hydra, P5 Glove, XBOX 360 Controller, Wiimote, Saitek X52 Pro (flight control system), Logitech G27 (racing wheel), Logitech G15 (keyboard), Razer Naga Molten Edition (mouse)
Good eye! I imagine (after pressure from Oculus and Project Holodeck) that they would be pushing some kind of newer solution. The razer hydra doesn't strike me as a "one-off" thing.
Let's just hope it's not a HMZ-T1 -> HMZ-T2 level of improvement
Just some brief info for purchasers in New Zealand. I used the 'youshop.co.nz' service from NZ Post which gives you a US address (its a redirector service, basically).
I got my Hydra from woot for NZ$95 all up (around $45 shipping). Worth it to me since the Hydra is $170 here. Youshop service seems good... wish I'd used it for my Kickstarter, then i'd probably have my Rift by now!
Hey Geekmaster. I missed out on the Woot sale and I am in need of a Hydra. If you are selling any I live in Florida and would appreciate it. Awesome find btw. Thanks in advance.
