Steam Integration - how is this going to work.

OpenVR can already emulate a headset using a DK2 (and maybe CV1) but the other way around would be nice, so I don't have to rewire everything (no, 2*DVI, 1*DisplayPort and 1*HDMI2 is not enough)
So ++ from my side :)

Freekstorm said:

I realise that you can get them to work by setting some options in Oculus, but given that most users wont know how to do that and will simply declare the game doesn't work, how does that help.

They won't know how to do it?
When you run a game that isn't from the oculus store, a giant floating message is displayed in front of you on the rift explaining why the oculus are doing this and directing you to go to the general settings in oculus home to change it. If people are smart enough to download and install your game, they should be smart enough to tick a checkbox.

This is absolutely in no way a walled garden.
If you want metaphors then at worst it's one of those child proof gates around a swimming pool with a giant sign that says "not locked, just lift the knob to open the gate. We just don't want unsupervised children drowning".

If a message telling people that a program hasn't been reviewed so you need to change a setting to run it will scare them off, then they wouldn't make it through the health and safety warning with it's talk of injury, loss of sight and hearing, loss of balance, risks, etc without running away screaming. :)

I wish the health and safety warning had a checkbox in the settings, it's far more annoying.

Windows has it, Android has it, Apple has it. The message was clear in telling me how to disable it and i understood why i was disabling it. Its a common feature in mobile OS and desktop OS at this point and i thought implemented well. I think its reasonable for them to want to control the software that comes out like iOS did at iphone launch. You want to make sure there is a certain level of quality and if its not there, its made clear to the user that this is not representative of the vision of the product. Id just let it go unless your getting complaints about it. In which case, build your case and present it to oculus.

My 2 cents.

Iccanui said:

Windows has it, Android has it, Apple has it. 

My 2 cents.

The Rift is a peripheral, not an OS / self-contained computer.  If Saitek made you go in and check some special box to use a Saitek X-55 joystick with 'unknown apps', no one would be saying it was reasonable.  This is nothing more than a way to discourage people from using anything other than the Oculus store.

This is going to be interesting to watch over the next several months, the battle between steam and Oculus store, I've already clicked the box, and can't get anything to work with the headset under 1.3 that was even developed for DK2 or Cv1.  1.3 activated the HMD, and any app ran outside the store isn't detecting the HMD.. This maybe Oculus expecting dev's who want to support their HMD outside the store to use the latest 1.3 SDK. So for now its looks like we have Sony vs Microsoft but in the VR world..  

Even that simple checkbox is a barrier to the common user causing friction that doesn't need to be there.  If you don't understand that, then you don't understand what massive impact these little things can have on user behaviour.

It's obvious from this initial launch that Oculus needs to accept it's another display device on the PC and not their own console or mobile device platform.  It needs to graciously coexist with everything else - otherwise it is frankly badly designed PC software.

I think it would only be acceptable if the device was free and paid for by adverts - which is a horrible thought.

The ill advised push to have Oculus Home (that takes up a large HD install and 661MB of RAM running) jump open at any opportunity is very disappointing.  The people that don't see this as an issue don't get the nature of the PC platform or what this kind of behaviour leads to for companies in the long term.

We have a major problem of application bloat in the PC space which needs to stop.  I hope for major consumer backlash against this sort of thing, along with every application and it's pet dog wanting to install and run badly written auto-updating software that is always running etc.  There should be laws protecting consumers from this - I can but dream...

The fun and games with the health and safety warning is annoying too, and of course as soon as users figure out how to hack it off they will.  But to be fair there I can understand that this is a new product whose long term health implications are relatively unknown.  So I think Oculus can be forgiven that one.  But as a developer we need to be able to disable it as it actually makes us spend more time in VR during iteration!

Also to be clear I am not anti Oculus-Home or Oculus having their own store etc.  It just needs to be a more optional part of the experience and behave in a manner that respects how we use our PC's.

Hopefully this is all misguided initial teething problems and they will fix this quickly because otherwise I think they did a really good job with the launch.