Is there something like a "Kinect" that can do 360°? I imagine pairing something like that with a Rift could make chat really quite cool if you augment all elements correctly.
We do a lot of stuff with the kinect + rift. It's an excellent combo as one of the first things you want to do wearing the rift are put your hands up in front of you but you can't see them.
With the kinect you control a character so you can move your arms in front of you and see them, you can look down and watch your legs move as you move them.
Biggest problem with the kinect 1 is it sucks ass at tracking rotation of limbs. I have a kinect 2 dev kit for windows but haven't had time to check it out, it's supposed to be much better and track rotations.
Also you have to stand pretty much in place as the cable for the rift is not very long. We're thinking of making backpacks with a micro computer and extension cord so you can walk around, but you have to hang the cord above you so you don't trip on it.
Here in Seattle there's a thing called Varcade which uses a better VR set than the rift along with a suit you wear with sensors all over it, and you play with a bunch of people in a big gymn that's wired with tons of sensors and you actually play out a FPS while running around shooting your friends in a big Gym. They actually worked with rift at the beginning and split off their own version which is better but isn't mass producible for a reasonable price....
I just setup a free rift experience at a convention going on this weekend in Seattle and spent a few hours showing it to people and it was hugely positive. From kids to parents and grandparents, it was hilarious to see old people try it on. Kids were sold immediately, even people 30-45+ were probably more into it than the kids....I had a chair for grandparents to sit in hah.
I contracted at another company for a project that made a "virtigo simulator" with a rift and kinect. They constructed 4' wide hallways with 1 rift and kinect per, you start at the far end of the hallway with rift + nice headset + kinect.
You started in an elevator that was a cage so you could see through the floor and it was open on the sides. It would shoot up to the top of a skyscraper, then opened up and there was a beam sticking out and you had to walk 10' across it to get to a helicopter waiting. If you stepped too far left/right on the beam it would drop you freefall 1k feet with all kinds of awesome visuals (nighttime city). Just looking down as you walk across made your heart jump.
