Nope Nope Nope
October 3, 2013 1:08 AM   Subscribe

 
The second video really cracked me up. The third wasn't bad either. I kind of want to play one of these. But I suspect, given my inability to play resident evil from the fear factor that I'd see one scary thing and be "nope". And thus would end my experience in immersion 3d gaming.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 1:56 AM on October 3, 2013


That last one, Alone, is pretty great. I liked what he said about how the game within the game disassociated him from himself.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:19 AM on October 3, 2013


Yeah the whole concept behind Alone is utterly mind-blowing to me. So much potential.
posted by empath at 3:26 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also, re:don't let go -- that is begging for an accomplice to add the appropriate tactile stimulation.
posted by empath at 3:27 AM on October 3, 2013


Something I haven't understood about the Rift is, can you use it with existing games, or only games that have been designed around it? I read an RPS bit where they were playing Doom3, but didn't know if it had been specially adapted or something.

I liked that Alone idea. It's going to be really easy to rely on "Eek look what jumped out at you!" for games...the more developers that can instead rely on our instincts to look around to find the source of a troubling noise or a shadow out of the corner of the eye, the better!
posted by mittens at 4:42 AM on October 3, 2013


The game needs to be adapted to support it, but since many games use off the shelf rendering engines that already support it, adding support for individual games is relatively simple for the developer (or even modders).
posted by empath at 4:48 AM on October 3, 2013


Oh man, oh man, yes. This is fantastic. I don't know that I'd want to play a whole lot of traditional "games" with the Rift, but I sure as hell would have some horror experiences.

I haven't been following at all: what's the status of the consumer version?
posted by uncleozzy at 5:01 AM on October 3, 2013


Can't read the article as it's blocked by work, but the Youtube videos look great. I'd love to get a rift once the consumer version is ready. No idea when that will be, though. I'm guessing 2015 - they had a consumer prototype at E3, but that doesn't mean much.
posted by YAMWAK at 5:15 AM on October 3, 2013


That Alone link is great but i'm curious if we ever finally learn what is the fuck?
posted by hal9k at 5:20 AM on October 3, 2013 [5 favorites]


Once they get this down into contact lens form, it'll be a fun way to gaslight someone.
posted by fungible at 5:24 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


There should be a subsection of the military crewed by people with little horror game experience that plays these to train for outside context problems. DARPA could even fund game developers to make especially creepy, non-intuitive, and thought provoking pieces that the rest of us could eventually enjoy.

Now, I'm not thinking of the games where you have to run around shooting scary things (though that's certainly a part of what this should be) but rather the games that don't allow you to fight and insist that you piece together a solution with what's at hand.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:37 AM on October 3, 2013


Outlast would be absolutely horrific with this.

I have real issues with survival horror games. I tried to play a demo (a 15 minute demo!) of Condemned 2 a few years ago. It literally gave me fight-or-flight freak out palpitations. Had to turn it off. So, yeah, probably not the target market for this stuff.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:10 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


I want a music visualiser.
posted by jaduncan at 6:19 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


to guys on videos - SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I don't need to hear your stream of consciousness rambling and real-time spoilers.
posted by Mr. Big Business at 6:30 AM on October 3, 2013 [3 favorites]


Maybe mute mute mute?
posted by jaduncan at 6:33 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


I thought the commentary was actually quite useful. It gave a much better idea of what they were experiencing and so gave a clearer impression on why this was so interesting. Without the commentary there was a lot of blocky graphics and low volume sound that really didn't communicate that this was a new experience.

In the 'Alone' video, for example, without the commentary I wouldn't have known about the sounds that had such an impact on the player, and as mentioned above, the game-within-a-game mechanic was a powerful effect in this context which wouldn't have been clear without the commentary.
posted by YAMWAK at 6:37 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


I kind of want to play one of these. But I suspect, given my inability to play resident evil from the fear factor that I'd see one scary thing and be "nope". And thus would end my experience in immersion 3d gaming.

...that's all well and good, at least until that inevitable day when nameless, faceless government-sponsored medical treatment specialists arrive at your door and lock the straightjacket (straighthelmet?) version of Oculus Rift to your face with your eyes propped open a la Clockwork Orange as treatment for a disease you didn't even realize you suffered from...
posted by fairmettle at 6:47 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Alone is kind of interesting as a solution to one of the problems with oculus, which is that when you wear it, you want to move, because it feels real. But moving with the thing is problematic. So they came up with a situation where you'd normally be sitting down, which is when you're playing a video game. So bizarrely, it's completely natural feeling despite being totally contrived.
posted by empath at 6:53 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


The planters on either side of the TV in 'Alone' have the famous Shining-hallway-carpet pattern.

This is great - thank you for posting.
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 7:24 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


I want to play a Spider-Man game on it. Oh man. Especially if you had some gloves with sensors to aim and shoot webs from each hand. I'd feel like a 12-year-old again.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:29 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


It's weird how videogames can induce that horror response, either deliberately or, in at least one case I can cite, accidentally because the player gives the game too much credit for realism.

Back in the day, I was playing Resident Evil II, alone, in the dark, etc. And you're exploring this abandoned police station when you discover the interrogation room with the one-way mirror through which people in the next room can watch you unseen.

So I look at that and I immediately go - okay, something's in the next room and it's going to see me and come crashing through the mirror at me. Fuck that. So I backed out of that room and went down the hall to the next room. Where, sure enough, there's a licker (nasty quadruped with a ranged attack that takes quite a bit of ammo to take down) prowling around on the ceiling. So I fight it and kill it and heal myself up, and think, okay, that went well. Now this room is clear.

So I went back to the first room and started happily searching the cabinets for useful stuff... when the mirror shattered and the licker exploded through it and attacked me. Because that's a scripted event and the game doesn't care that you already killed the licker in the next room. You could have sterilized that room with bleach, burned everything in it, and sealed over the one-way mirror with bricks and rebar. That licker is coming through that mirror at you come hell or high water.

I shrieked loud enough to frighten the neighbors and thrust the controller across the room (which made it that much more difficult to deal with the monster) and I remember being so... betrayed, I guess, that the basic tenets of reality had been violated. And in retrospect, that's kind of what horror is.
posted by Naberius at 7:35 AM on October 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


"VR Brotherhood?" I mean, I understand knowing your (traditional) audience and all, but jeez I wish this community would open up the possibility of women being interested in this stuff.
posted by gorbichov at 7:48 AM on October 3, 2013 [3 favorites]


jaduncan, the potential for hypnotic, meditative, trance-like states with this are amazing... Imagine something like Rez in the Oculus...
posted by PigAlien at 8:26 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


Imagine something like Rez in the Oculus

There would be a lot of ducking as corners came rotating at your face!
posted by mittens at 8:38 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


Sync that up with headtracking for the shooting and you have quite the game.
posted by jaduncan at 9:37 AM on October 3, 2013


The only Rift game I would consider playing. But the idea of being cut off from my surroundings still creeps me out.
posted by MaritaCov at 9:41 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I can't wait for this thing. Lots of potential for both traditional "kill all the things" type games, and more experimental/arty type games.

I wonder how much of the visceral impact will wear off as gamers get used to it, though.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 9:42 AM on October 3, 2013


MaritaCov, I have a new crush! That Markiplier guy has got an amazing voice!
posted by PigAlien at 9:48 AM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


I didn’t know what Occulus Rift was, but if you’re playing Kairo on the Mac don’t click that button on the options page. The screen went black and I had to edit the preferences file to get it back.
posted by bongo_x at 10:10 AM on October 3, 2013


Outlast would be absolutely horrific with this.

Having just played through Outlast, this is the first thing I thought of. And it's already absolutely horrific -- I literally could not play most of that game alone, even in the daytime. And coming home to a dark apartment after having played a couple hours the previous day? It took all of my inner resolve just to be able to step inside far enough to flip on the light switch. I don't think I'd last past the first real shock (you know the one, if you've played it) on Occulus Rift.
posted by treepour at 10:45 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is going to be so good. I want a space horror game where getting sucked out of the ship or what ever would mean falling towards a planet. I'm getting sweaty palms thinking about Jupiter spinning in and out of my vision....
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 12:08 PM on October 3, 2013


I am fascinated by the ideas in horror games, but even watching other people play them gives me the jumbo jibblies. Especially in Outlast, when they're climbing into a vent with someone right behind them it makes my whole body tense up and my claw-hands convulse uncontrollably. I would probably have an actual heart attack if I tried to play with a Rift.

That said, it looks super awesome, and I would love to make horror games for it.
posted by lucidium at 12:18 PM on October 3, 2013


It's weird, this coming up while I was watching Tim-from-Ctrl+Alt+Del's stream of him playing the whole of Outlast - which I highly recommend for both entertainment in itself (girly screams! Ghost penii!) and for a good look at the game.
And now I have another interactive horror notion to look at... well, at least my insomnia will have a good excuse this month.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 1:18 PM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


empath: "Alone is kind of interesting as a solution to one of the problems with oculus, which is that when you wear it, you want to move, because it feels real. But moving with the thing is problematic. So they came up with a situation where you'd normally be sitting down, which is when you're playing a video game. So bizarrely, it's completely natural feeling despite being totally contrived."

If you've got a lot of money to throw around you can actually solve this problem by combining the Rift with an Omni treadmill.
posted by invitapriore at 1:29 PM on October 3, 2013


I am eagerly awaiting consumer models of the Rift and the Omni treadmill to be released. I'm planning an all-walking, no fast-travel playthrough of Skyrim.

It'll probably take all year to finish, but the exercise will be worth it.
posted by rifflesby at 8:35 PM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


This video of a guy playing Team Fortress 2 with an Oculus Rift, an Omni treadmill, and some kind of gun controller is exactly what I've dreamed of since that time I played Dactyl Nightmare. It may or may not change the games we play, but in terms of human-game interaction? It's revolutionary.

And this is just the first generation.



I am eagerly awaiting consumer models of the Rift and the Omni treadmill to be released. I'm planning an all-walking, no fast-travel playthrough of Skyrim.

It'll probably take all year to finish, but the exercise will be worth it.


Set up a powerful fan with a remote control so that you can really get the full-sensorium experience. :D
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:08 AM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


Not even the first generation. This is like beta software and hardware made by hobbyists. Imagine when actual money gets thrown at it.
posted by empath at 2:21 AM on October 4, 2013


I would, but I'm at work and some things are just not professional behavior.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:36 AM on October 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


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