Doom god John Carmack teleports from id Software to VR upstart Oculus Rift

Doom coder and notoriously clever graphics programmer John Carmack has left id Software to focus on a virtual reality gaming startup Oculus Rift. The departure was announced on Friday and will see Carmack focus full time on his role as chief technology officer at Oculus Rift. Carmack joined the company in August, but at the …

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, here's what I don't get. If these are perfected, how many will use these and for what? I REALLY hope they get them perfected, but a void is remaining in my mind for it's practical application to make it worth wild for the masses. What I see for it's applications are almost solely in the field of engineering: Aviation, Medical, Mechanical etc... Of course there is perversions too like pornography and spying.

Dunno. If I had a fully functional set here before me would I be addicted to it, or would it turn into that thing that is explained to visiting friends as being "really cool", but really dusty.

[HippyFreetard]

If it has any applications in porn at all it will be a roaring success. You just need that "excuse" application to send it on it's way. That'll probably be something simple like gaming. It's a big industry, and just about ripe for another paradigm.

[Anonymous Coward]

Porn.

It's all about the porn.

[NomNomNom]

for what?

what's it for?

Hmmm ahhhhh I dont know...what can it be for?? if only there was some kind of clue in the article. They bang on about this "virtual reality gaming upstart Oculus Rift" but they never explain what it's for.

maybe they will use it to filter immigrants or maybe it will be used to force pandas to conceive

god if only the article had provided some kind of clue about the intended use. It just ends with:

"Carmack recently put his rocket company Armadillo Aerospace into "hibernation", so that combined with the id departure will let him focus on the VR goggles full-time, and hopefully create a product that puts the frighteners on a whole new generation of gamers"

No clue at all what it might be used for.

[Not That Andrew]

Simulators. If they get it working properly with a decent resolution it will be perfect for hobbyist flight sims and flight sim type games. I imagine driving games will also benefit.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Simulators. If they get it working properly with a decent resolution it will be perfect for hobbyist flight sims and flight sim type games. I imagine driving games will also benefit."

Formula 1 / racing games in cockpit view would be sick with this thing. Being able to properly look into a bend / head movement in the cockpit would make the experience massively more realistic.

[Professor Clifton Shallot]

" If they get it working properly with a decent resolution it will be perfect for ... flight sim type games"

And spaceships. Elite:Dangerous is going to support it.

I want one.

[Grave]

i wouldn't worry about its worth for the masses. once they start setting up demo booths in malls, people will go into mass hystery about it. this is one of those things you HAVE to try for yourself thats how much unbelievable experience it really is.

first of all this is the next major milestone in gaming, there's no doubt about it

how about watching movies in a virtual theater with a movie being shown on a huge theater sized canvas, while irl you're relaxing in your chair or bed.

education, science, etc you name it. once you tried "Blue Marble" demo (it simulates a short flight through space around the Earth), you will be just sitting there in awe, there's no way back thats how awesome it is.

if you have the chance to try it (conventions, friends, etc), do so and you will be blown away. (and if you try one of the rollercoaster demos like riftcoaster, get a paper bag before :))

[phuzz]

It could be used for, I dunno, gaming perhaps?

You may not have heard of the hobby before, but it's enjoyed by one or two people, who occasionally spend the odd bit of money on it.

If only the XBOne/PS4 had a practical application, then they might sell more than a handful right?

[bfeist]

Have you tried the dev kit? Try it and your mind will race with possibilities.

[Gene Cash]

I'll use it for gaming at least

It'd be awesome for Kerbal Space Program EVAs! As well as first-person shooters and the rest of the usual suspects.

Edit: right now you can look around the cockpit as you fly, but the UI is clunky and not much use. This would be a natural fit.

I'm a complete uncoordinated gimp and I suck at FPS, so in HALO there would be a lot of swearing when I'd get hung up on things behind me. Now I'll be able to actually look around a lot easier just by moving my head.

That presupposes however that they get it to WORK, and that it's fairly seamless and user-friendly.

Heck, I'm going to be buying a $300 3D mouse from 3D-Connexion solely because KSP announced they'll be supporting it and it's a perfect tool for a lot of the 3D manipulation in that game. For example, building rockets in the VAB is not far from CAD, and manipulating maneuver nodes, camera angle and Kerbals on EVA are also good uses.

[frank ly]

Re: I'll use it for gaming at least

"... I'd get hung up on things behind me."

It should be easy enough to put a rear-view mirror at the top of the display? Everybody who drives a car would be able to accept that.

[Oh Homer]

Good luck to him

Unfortunately id has been operating in "Bethesda mode" (as Carmack once put it) for far too long. It's time for him to join a company that actually wants to make decent games more than once a decade.

[Not That Andrew]

Re: Good luck to him

They were in "Bethesda Mode" even before Xenimax bought them. What was the excuse then?

[Shane 4]

YES, Yes you would be addicted to it. It isn't like 3d glasses, This puts you IN THE GAME!

It is a whole new gaming experience, It is so realistic that quite a few people get motion sickness from it and they are still trying to figure out a way to get around that.

If the price is right it will be the next biggest thing in gaming without a doubt. Then of course there are many other uses for it, medical, engineering, military training and yes probably porn.

Only let down is the low resolution but I hear the final consumer version will have a HD version when it's released.

Many out there are willing to fork out $500+ on latest graphics card so they wont have any problem doing the same on something that will totally change their gaming experience.

Bring it on!

[David Webb]

It makes people sick because you're sticking two screens directly in front of your eyes, so if there is even the slightest misalignment between the two screens your brain gets confused and you want to throw up, which is basically travel sickness, your inner ear and eyes disagreeing over what it being shown, end result, vomit.

[the spectacularly refined chap]

...if there is even the slightest misalignment between the two screens your brain gets confused and you want to throw up...

We have over a hundred years solving that problem with binoculars and stereomicroscopes: you can call that one "sorted" and move on. The primary problem isn't miscollimation or even the proximity of the display - there are established techniques to deal with both. Carmack cites instead motion sickness as the problem which is a different issue altogether: the acceptable latency between moving your head and the display updating is positively minimal. It is the sheer processing power needed for those real-time updates that is the problem at present.

[NomNomNom]

all they need is nausea feedback, a pipe that feeds into the users mouth and on the detection of vomit juices posts an interrupt into the device which readjusts the stomach juice stabilizer. Might take a few hours but eventually it would calibrate correctly, so long as the tube doesn't clog up with sick.

[mafoo]

Doom 4

I bet he looked at what's happening to doom 4 development, /facepalmed, and said "this is the new duke nukem forever, isnt' it - I'm going to go do something cool"

[Zmodem]

hes running around dressed up like buck rogers porting this to oculus

[i like crisps]

All they need is MADMEN.

Couldn't the yanks market the ' Motion Sickness Problem' as

a ' Feature' for all the Bulimic Gamers out there?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: All they need is MADMEN.

Mad Men? As in, it needs to feature Christina Hendricks somehow?

[Pascal Monett]

Everything needs to feature Christina Hendricks somehow.

[John Smith 19]

So motion sickness because it's *too* realistic?

People getting sick by turning their heads too suddenly?

I don't think so.

Still thumbs up for his joining them and hope his work (or as CTO his direction) will solve this soon.

[h3]

The Treadmill like addon for the occulus rift does look really interesting.

[Grifter]

I really want to get one of these when they're finished, but don't forget the other side of the VR spectrum: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/technicalillusions/castar-the-most-versatile-ar-and-vr-system

I want to get these as well when they're out.

[Dick Emery]

Needs a joystick?

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/11/oculus-rift-turned-into-a-working-sex-simulator-nsfw/

[Daniel B.]

So...

Who's left in id Software then? Most of the original team had left, IIRC John Carmack was probably the only one left. Sadly, I'm guessing this means I won't be getting my Doom 4. At. All.

[Zmodem]

Re: So...

doom will always exist, its their only franchise, like half life is valves, there will always be another sometime or another

epic dont care about UT until someone beats unreal engine with licences, and they need to release another and sell by hype