Technology wise, the Oculus Rift is much more like the FMD than it is the NerveGear. The Face Mounted Displays only real difference to the rift is the apparent main area of mounting, but then again, a face is technically mounted to a head so it's sort of still and HMD by extension :lol: The NerveGear's VR mechanism worked apparently by directly manipulating the brain to produce the intended image, a technology that remains well past our current abilities to replicate (I've got a video on it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijOVtA4Z8eM&list=UUKnUsZKY5doov9XhE_juIhQ</shamelessplug>. Funny thing is, the M2D "FMD" they describe may actually be weaker than the Oculus Rift. The current DK2 has a 1080 x 1920 resolution or 1080 x 960 pixels per eye compared to 1024 x 1280 of the M2D so it seems to be weaker at first. However, the minimum being expected resolution for the DK2 is 1440 x 2560, or 1440 x 1280 per eye so one could say we'll actually have outpaced the dates of dotHack whose M2D was slotted for 2017. By 2017 4k HMDs (2160 x 1920 per eye.)should be well within the standard (Samsung seems to be aiming for 4k next year, I'm uncertain about the resolution race continuing much past 4k for phones unless 5k becomes a reasonable selling point thanks to Apple and Dell).
VR wise, the method doesn't matter as long as the result works. Our current HMDs and the BCI of the NerveGear are both methods of achieving VR, they just achieve the effect a different way. 2+2 is not the only way to achieve the number 4. There are an infinite amount of ways that we can accomplish it, it's just a question of finding the most efficient method. I personally don't see neural interface based VR immersion method like the NerveGear being a thing anytime soon due to the technical and legal hurdles, but a BCI control system doesn't seem too farfetched considering how much progress has been made with them (they're starting to be used for exoskeletons and prosthesis, 2 areas where I'd imagine control problems wouldn't be particularly tolerable).
By what John Carmack has said, HMDs like the Rift were possible years ago, we just never stumbled across it until Palmer came along. I think Brain Computer Interface VR will be the eventual future, but I honestly think that the time period wouldn't necessarily be all that conducive to questions of how we'll be enjoying VR (neural manipulation of that degree seems like post signularity tech to me, a period where I'm putting time travel, true AI, reality warping and hoverboards on my expectations list.
Just my 2 cents on the matter. I'm honestly surprised we don't here about .hack as much on this forum considering just how close to that technology the Oculus Rift is. I'm not to big on that fanbase though so I wouldn't know.
