Though most devices haven’t actually hit shelves yet, no one would fault you for calling the head-mounted display market a bit “overcrowded” already.
First, there was Oculus. Then came Samsung’s Gear VR. Not long after that we got a glimpse at Valve’s Vive, and now a new company on Kickstarter claims they’ve got an even better device which will feature eye-tracking technology to incorporate a unique set of controls into upcoming games.
Called the “Fove,” the headset will come equipped with a 2,560 x 1,400, 5.8-inch screen that runs at 60fps, with a 100+ degree field-of-view. The idea behind the addition of eye-tracking is that using only the movement of your eyes, you’ll be able to aim at enemies, “make eye contact,” and shift the amount of focus on a particular object just by changing where you look.
“Fove enables eye-tracking by incorporating custom small form-factor infrared sensors inside the headset. These sensors bounce light off the retina to register how the eyes are angled,” the Kickstarter page explains. “Our unique algorithms can calculate the parallax between the eyes to track and measure depth-of-field focus.”
The eye tracking feature is unique, however both Valve and Oculus have learned the hard way that at least 90 frames per second is an essential requirement of head mounted devices if you want to clear the hurdle of motion sickness. Anything under that and the VR effect becomes overwhelming after about 30 minutes, and can cause the user to lose their lunch quick.
Considering that this company is begging for pledges on Kickstarter with a lot of “in the future” promises (namely the jump between 60fps and 90fps) while Oculus soaks up $2 billion in capital from Facebook, we wouldn’t put too much stock in the idea of the Fove unseating the reigning champ anytime soon.
