Oculus Rift developer kits started shipping out earlier this week , but a few games already offer a user-level taste of THE FUTURE. The most notable playground is Team Fortress 2 , mystical land of hat fanatics and now disorienting camera movement. Tech site Tested , hosted by PC Gamer alumnus Norman Chan and former Maximum PC editor-in-chief Will Smith, stepped into the Rift and played a few Payload rounds while discussing the 3D effects, the ease of acclimatizing oneself, and calibration.
Tested's video is pretty long and comprehensive, so skip forward to around 5:50 for a direct feed of Oculurized TF2 play. Notice that TF2 uses third-person gun and player models from a first-person perspective and the independence of mouse and keyboard controls from head tracking. It's unknown what an observed Scout will look like with his head cranked to the right, but in first-person the head movement may lend a feeling of realism to the cartoonish FPS. Plus, you'll finally get to feel what it's like to wear your exclusive in-game goggles .
Some more highlights:
- Try not to hurl when Smith zooms in the Sniper's scope at 22:10
- Double-jumping as a Scout looks exhiliratingly vertiginous at 25:35 ( cough Mirror's Edge cough )
- Yes, you can actually kill other players. Smith does so at around 31:00
Do you see an advantageous benefit to six-axis viewing angles, or does the Oculus come off as a lame gimmick? Also, why is the Heavy so fat?
