Forum Discussion
Potentially useful hardware addition
New here, haven't even had an opportunity to touch a Rift; though I am excited to do so once they become commercially available. I was just thinking about actually, ya' know, USING the rift and began to realize how much of an issue tom-foolery may become for anyone playing with friends, or in an apartment with roommates, or in a dorm since it does relieve the user of all sight. Which made me think, and maybe this is dumb but I thought I'd put it out there...
It may be desirable to place wide angle front facing camera on the Rift which the user could switch to with the press of a button (similar to the PS button or home button; it'd pause the game and show the feed from the front facing camera). The camera doesn't have to be a high quality one, cheap and from China would be fine. Low latency would be good, but not entirely necessary. I could see it being a nice feature, though, to be able to see what was going on in front of you (in the real world) without having to remove the whole headset. It sounds a little petty, but it'd be nice so you could see who just came in your door or where you put your drink down or where there is clear space on your table to set your controllers etc.; plus, the additional hardware cost would be equally petty (cameras are cheap these days). It looks to me like there is enough space in the case to accommodate the camera, anyway, so it's not like there would have to be a complete redesign either.
I understand they would have to re cast molds, add a new button and software (or at least double script a button with software alterations, press to do one thing, hold to change to outside view) and such, so maybe this is more of a gen 2 addition; just though I'd throw it out there and see what people think. Who knows, maybe the whole headset is less bulky than it looks and will be easy to remove, rendering the camera pointless.
It may be desirable to place wide angle front facing camera on the Rift which the user could switch to with the press of a button (similar to the PS button or home button; it'd pause the game and show the feed from the front facing camera). The camera doesn't have to be a high quality one, cheap and from China would be fine. Low latency would be good, but not entirely necessary. I could see it being a nice feature, though, to be able to see what was going on in front of you (in the real world) without having to remove the whole headset. It sounds a little petty, but it'd be nice so you could see who just came in your door or where you put your drink down or where there is clear space on your table to set your controllers etc.; plus, the additional hardware cost would be equally petty (cameras are cheap these days). It looks to me like there is enough space in the case to accommodate the camera, anyway, so it's not like there would have to be a complete redesign either.
I understand they would have to re cast molds, add a new button and software (or at least double script a button with software alterations, press to do one thing, hold to change to outside view) and such, so maybe this is more of a gen 2 addition; just though I'd throw it out there and see what people think. Who knows, maybe the whole headset is less bulky than it looks and will be easy to remove, rendering the camera pointless.
