Virtual Reality is still something that a lot of people are still skeptical about, but Oculus Rift aims to change that with support from the likes of John Carmack and the creator of Minecraft, Notch.
We asked a bunch of questions to the tech’s founder Palmer Luckey in a yet to be published interview, and he had a lot to reveal and also dispelled fears of Rift being a safety issue.
When asked about the Kickstarter platform, he was all praises for it and described it as something that provides high visibility. He also talked about the games that one could expect to be used along with Rift, and we know for a fact that Hawken–the gorgeous looking mech sim–will be playable with it as well.
Founder of Oculus Rift
“Kickstarter really helped provide a high visibility, easy-to-use platform for launching our developer kits. Not just gamers, but a lot of technology enthusiasts as well, browsed the Kickstarter site looking for cool projects, and we got a lot of backers that way,” he said.
He also mentioned that it’s a comfortable product to wear and does not strain the eyes too much.
On side-effects and weight: “Side-effects heavily depend on the person, and how well they have calibrated the unit for themselves. There should not be any concerns safety wise – all the optics do is make it appear as if you are looking at a huge screen focused at infinity,” he said.
“This is actually a lot more comfortable for your eyes than converging and focusing up close on a standard 2D monitor.”
“We’re pretty certain that weight is one of the factors in the purchasing decision. Which is why we’ve focused on making the Rift extremely comfortable. It weighs 220 grams, not much heavier than many ski goggles. It weighs less than half of what some of the competition does, and it distributes the weight more evenly across the face as well.”
On games: “Without getting into specific numbers, we are confident that a lot of games are going to support the Rift. Our developer kits are being shipped to basically every large developer in the world, and many of them are talking to us about the projects they want to integrate with our headset,” he said.
“That said, we are leaving game announcements to developers. It’s really for them to announce, not us.”
He also said that gamers will be blown away and they’ve received a ton of positive feedback from people getting impressed at game conventions.
“I think most gamers are going to be blown away, as they have been in all the demos we have given at game conventions to over 1000 people now. Virtual reality is what FPS and other games have been trying to achieve for years, and the Rift is the best tech out there.”
It’s nice to see him being confident and having faith in his product, and based on all the positive impressions so far, Oculus Rift is shaping up to be a winner.
The dev kits will be shipped soon and people will receive it by December, but there is still a long way to go for the headset to be released for consumer use. Hopefully soon, as we cannot wait to get our hands on it.
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