News Razer's OSVR HDK 2 goes head-to-head with Vive, Oculus Rift

I might actually bite on this; even with VAT it's "just" cheap enough that I can live with the loss if current-gen VR turns out to fail totally in a few years...

 

It's still a mystery to me what u can actually run on these things? It's all very vague.

 

One thing to consider is tjhat you won't have much to do with it that you don't make yourself: very few, if any (as far as I am aware of) games support the OSVR API. While in theory there is a SteamVR-to-OSVR compatibility shim, it is a bit patchy in terms of actually working (and updates to either OSVR or SteamVR may cause things to break completely until somebody updates it) and you take a small performance penalty.
The HMD itself also lacks a feature the Vive and Rift have; the ability to track with the HMD facing completely the opposite direction, as the HDK does not have tracking LEDS on the rear. This means games designed with that assumption in mind may be an issue.

If you want a cheap HMD to hack about with, it;s perfect. If you want to run existing experiences, then you'd be better off with a Rift or Vive.

 

Yeah, I realise that there will be issues and limitations... but then I've got issues with Rift/Vive in that I simply don't have the room to spare to dedicate tens of square metres to 'move around in'. Any VR experience I have where I live right now will have to be firmly seated.

 

And that's my point too, (although not really an OSVR/Vive issue (but Rift seems to be a more 'sitting down' experience - am I right?) I'm a full time wheelchair user; I very much look forward to a 'cockpit' experience (I'm looking at you Elite Dangerous), not so much the 'walking around a space' one.

I would have thought there would be a market for those with their own disabilities who also want VR to bring the experience to them, because physically wouldn't be able to experience it, no?

 

It has near the same specs but is half the price, me not understand. No one on this planet will convince me head tracking is worth double the price.

With the state of games for VR patchy at best a wait and see approach is the way I am going.

 

I own a HDK1.3. If they don't include the hand controllers, I wouldn't consider getting the HDK2 worth getting, for consumer purposes. There are a lot of games out there that require the hand controllers. Head tracking and the camera still works, but the games are otherwise unplayable. Not all games, but a lot of them on SteamVR.

But, as is the intention of OSVR, it's great for developers. Being open source in both hardware and software, one of the reasons I got it was so I could upgrade my LCD to the higher-res models if I need to, without buying an entirely new kit. However, I think for now I'll pass on that. I'd rather wait for a 4k display.


I'd also like to point out that running this on Linux is very limiting. You'll have a lot of trouble installing it on newer distros (except Arch) and there's hardly any content available to test with. SteamVR doesn't work at all. I've been trying to get the Dolphin emulator with OSVR to work (because playing Metroid Prime in VR sounds amazing) but I'm getting problems building it. A lot of the Linux efforts seem very incomplete so far.

 

Their is a reason they stand up. The firrmly seated comment indicates to me you havent played with VR yet. The human brain doesn't take kindy to physically locked position (sitting) in visually free moving environment. It's not a VR limitation.

 

Head tracking isn't the valuable thing. OSVR offers head tracking, and it's very good. Room tracking and hand tracking are what the other platforms offer, and that's where the price really stands out.

Doesn't matter if you're standing or seated. If your vision doesn't correlate to the senses in your inner ear (which senses motion and orientation) then you'll get sick.

 

So how come I was able to play TF2 and HL2 with keys and mouse on DK2?

Or Ethan Carter VR with xbox controller on Vive...

Absolutely zero nausea.

And all those people who buy vorpx? Same.

 

Unlike racing drivers?