Geeking it up, gadget style...

Another month has just flown by. I have been preoccupied with the Oculus RIFT lately and new wonders are still being found frequently in this virtual wonderland. A very active community is still serving up some impressive tech demo's and there is, at the time of writing, a VR Jam (with prizes provided by Oculus) currently underway. Some works-in-progress (WIPs) are already showing up on the dev forums and each of the five grand prize winners get $10k each, flown to demo their game at IndieCade later this year and get a meet-n-greet at Oculus HQ.

So that this doesn't turn into another post entirely about the RIFT, in other news, the LEAP motion finally shipped (third times a charm). I have only had a brief amount of time with this new motion sensing input device and I must admit that further testing is needed before I can draw any solid conclusions. The "LEAP" installs easily enough and sets up/downloads some free demo apps from the "airspace" store, however, you have to create a free account as well. I must say that, while impressive, I was a little underwhelmed by the whole device. Don't get me wrong, I realize I need to spend a bit more time using this thing before passing final judgement, however, the early signs aren't very promising. While there are some free apps, most cost $2-$3 dollars and currently, the marketplace is populated by more MAC apps than those for PC. In some ways, I can see why. The LEAP's whole look and style match Apple's approach very closely, with similarities in how they market their device and other not-so-obvious ways. With time the marketplace will improve, populated by more choice as developers get stuck into the SDK. Whilst not really intended as an input replacement (more like an augmentation) extended use could see fatigue develop far quicker than the traditional input methods as you must hold your hand in the air to manipulate the controls and/or write. There are also reports of trouble with using the LEAP in bright areas/rooms and I do have some concerns surrounding occlusion, although these are things I am yet to test fully.

LEAP motion sensor

My new Razer HYDRA also arrived. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to make the purchase via e-bay as Razer were out of stock and unable to provide any sort of ETA on when they would be back in.Whether this is simply because Sixense is focusing on their new wireless version, remains to be seen, however - the Oculus dev forums (and  a recent news post on the company website) suggest that this could be a reality sooner rather than later...

Tatical Haptics wrote:

" Danny Woodall from Sixense, at the Silicon Valley VR Meetup, announces that Sixense will put their wireless dev kit (which they are calling STEM -- Sixense Tracking Embedded Module) on Kickstarter in August, and that it will support tracking up to 5 points (2 of their controllers and 3 other points with pager-sized devices). Their kickstarter will allow backers to get just the 2 controllers, or add up to other tracking modules to their dev kit. They suggested that they would also have tracking modules available separately." — at Hacker Dojo.

It would be entirely possible that they could end up offering haptic feedback, considering some hackers/engineers have been working with such technology using a modified Razer HYDRA to offer more immersive interaction in virtual spaces (LINK)

unboxed Razer HYDRA +Portal 2 DLC

The Razer HYDRA I purchased via e-bay for under $100 (inc. shipping) was one I expected to be old stock. Left over hardware that a retailer hadn't been able to shift to the public, so they were selling them for less than the RRP of $125. To my surprise, I discovered it was in fact, new stock. How could I tell? Because it came bundled with the Portal 2 DLC - which was the last promo Razer ran on their website. This content would have cost me about $50 - so all up I got the HYDRA Portal 2 bundle for nearly half price :)

Obviously, there are some limitations with the hardware. It is a magnet based positional tracker with two controllers (one for each hand) and using the various buttons or thumb-sticks you can control various elements in-game. It can also be used as a keyboard/mouse replacement, although this is not what it is intended for, nor would I recommend it unless you have a large amount of patience :) Using the HYDRA, I was able to see my real hands represented in real-time in virtual reality, which was rather cool. Being able to pick up something with my hand and then throw it was quite immersive, however, the disconnect I felt because I was pulling a trigger or pressing a button instead of actually grabbing the object was still present. How much of a disconnect seemed to depend on how convincing the rest of the immersion was, or, even how well calibrated the HYDRA ended up being. Razer provides little to no documentation on this process and it took me several aborted attempts and some google-fu on optimal calibration procedures before I could really test it properly.

So, further testing of both the leap Motion controller and HYDRA remains, while the recent boom in both software and hardware solutions will be keeping me busy on the research front. I do still plan on developing my own content for the RIFT, have been experimenting with UDK and looking at some custom-hardware input devices for VR of my own. I have also backed a few RIFT-based Kickstarter campaigns for software, although not usually ones with RIFT support as a stretch goal. However, it is swiftly becoming apparent that, unless I actually schedule some "study time" soon, I may be limited in how effectively I can produce content. It may be time for a course via a reputable online university, one that will give me the refresher I need in order to turn my old-school programming skills into virtual reality. To finish this post, I can confirm that HAWKEN is actually finally getting native Oculus RIFT support in the next patch, which is due to land at the end of August.