News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World by james33 on Friday January 18, 2013 @05:45PM (#5081528)
I think a more compelling idea for having a camera on the outside is to allow for hand tracking within the game. Imaging if Leap-like functionality were added to the Rift. Flying through space in your star ship, you could reach out and actually interact with the controls in your cockpit. I think that could be a lot more compelling than what we are seeing with games on Kinect today.
Re:Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World by jcurbo on Friday January 18, 2013 @09:16PM (#5082344)
Actually I think just having the head tracking for your view, while sitting in a fixed cockpit with your hands on static controls (HOTAS), will make this a killer application for flight sims and similar simulations. There's already head tracking for flight sims that lets you move your view around (TrackIR, Freetrack) and having relatively static controls like a HOTAS means you don't have to worry too much about looking at your hands. I ordered one of these dev kits and am looking forward to trying it out like this.
Re:Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World by tarice on Friday January 18, 2013 @07:10PM (#5081934)
That would be quite tricky, since both the camera (attached to your head) and your hands could be moving in different directions at the same time.

A stationary, secondary observer (like a Kinect) would be several orders of magnitude more reliable. All that's left is for someone to make a game that actually utilizes that idea.

Re:Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World by Osmium on Friday January 18, 2013 @06:04PM (#5081625)
Lack of tactile feedback will always be an obstacle to that. Still, I share your optimism. Sounds like a great idea in principle, and we're closer to it than ever now.
Re:Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World by jwpeddle on Saturday January 19, 2013 @08:55AM (#5083370)
Maybe even closer than you think. We've already done simulated tactile feedback in monkeys! http://io9.com/5846275/biotech-breakthrough-monkeys-can-feel...
Re:Oculus Rift Will Change Your Gaming World by antihero on Saturday January 19, 2013 @06:14AM (#5083124)
I think the real future of this is some sort of spinal substitution where you can override the nerve response for the entire body.