VR – hardware, software

With announcements coming out of GDC, is anyone interested in any of the VR hardware and the requisite games? Anyone planning to pick up an Oculus Rift or Touch, the HTC Vive or the PSVR? Are you excited about any of the launch titles?

Links:
PlayStation VR
Oculus Rift and Touch games
Oculus Rift launch titles

I think I am going to grab the PlayStation VR because it is the cheapest and easiest to incorporate into my current ecosystem. I haven’t looked at much in the way of launch titles yet. You?

I am pretty skeptical of VR, having lived through the last push and then ultimate failure of the technology. I am curious about its potential however and think that I may have to reconsider my skepticism in the near future. The PSVR makes entering the VR sphere a bit more attainable with its reasonable price point. I think it may be interesting to be part of something that will either fail spectacularly, or is the precursor to a paradigm shift.

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I am fairly skeptical too… at least this early on. That is why I feel PlayStation VR might be the best way to go. I don’t know how much I would use it either. Having never tried the technology now, it is hard to judge. Plus I am not sure how robust the games will be on them. I guess we will see. It seems so cool in theory at least.

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Agreed.

Fatigue may be a factor in how fun VR will be, and in its ultimate success. This is an interesting perspective: How I Felt After An Entire Day of VR

I’m super skeptical because every time there’s an accessory that attempts to overly involve or immerse people, it ends up turning into nothing more than a fad. (see motion controls, Kinect, DDR mats, Guitar Hero, etc…) As cool as a lot of it looks, I just can’t see the average person spending their gaming time wearing a headset and waggling motion controls. It does look cool in short bursts, though. If I were to get a headset, I’d go with PSVR. But it’s still a wait and see thing for me.

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I am cautiously optimistic for PSVR. Hopefully a post-Christmas price drop will put it within my price range. From what I gather you also need a PS Camera and Move Controllers to make it work, which is annoying, but if it delivers it will be worthwhile. I don’t know what the launch titles are, but between spinoffs of Until Dawn and Psychonauts as well as a remake of White Day (a South Korean surivival horror game) I can’t help but be excited.

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Move controllers are optional fortunately. Sony built the move capabilities directly into the DualShock 4. You can use whichever you prefer.

I’m definitely excited for the PSVR’s potential to deliver interesting experiences.

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I think VR will be a really hard sell, at least with the mainstream gamer. From ‘outside the mask’ it doesn’t look compelling at all, I think the critical step will be having plenty of demo units out and about with impressive content. I remember the first pass of VR in the arcades (the trocadero in London if I remember correctly) where their appearance, and the competition, was all very public. Since their aren’t any arcades left, maybe shopping-malls or at the very least cons.

That’s great news. I will wait for those reviews to roll in before I even think about a purchase. It could end up being nothing more than gimmicky nonsense, but if it can deliver… well, I look forward to immersive horror games and piloting fighter jets and all kinds of fun times.

It looks like there will be a pre-order bundle for $499 US including the VR unit, move controllers, the camera, and a game. Sony appears to have decided to only allow pre-orders for the package. People looking for the core VR unit (likely those who already own the camera and either have move controllers or plan to simply use the DualShock 4) will have to wait until release.

Source: PlayStation.Blog

I missed the pre-order when it went live Tuesday morning because I was training someone at work. Got it on the second round this afternoon on Amazon. Yay!

Very nice. I heard the first pre-order went exceptionally quick. It has apparently sold much better than Sony expected, or so I’ve read. I know it is a ways off but you’ll have to share your thoughts once you try it out.

While still reasonable compared to other VR units, the price for the PSVR where I am is a little high. I might wait until the end of the year to see if the price shifts and also survey the reviews.

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I got a chance to try both the Occulus Rift and the Samsung Gear VR today. If seeing is believing, as many articles on VR have claimed, I now believe that VR is about two generations away from being a viable mainstream item. It is Interesting and novel in its present form but it is definitely not yet ready. This first gen tech is important because it will drive the creation of software, films and applications that will in-turn push the evolution of the technology. It will take one or two more generations but will get there.

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PSVR reviews and articles:

The PlayStation VR is the most comfortable VR headset ever made

PlayStation VR review: When good enough is great

PlayStation VR: The Kotaku Review

PlayStation VR: nine launch games for Sony’s new VR platform

Something I want but have yet to find: a master list of PSVR games and whether VR is required or optional. Examples. Thumper is a PSVR game for which VR is not required. Wyaward Sky, however, requires PSVR to function. I would like to see that information for every planned and released PSVR game (without doing the legwork to create the list myself). This is not a request for Grouvee and its database. Rather, It is something I wish was on Wikipedia or some other info site. If anyone comes across anything like that, please let me know.

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I talked to my friend last night about options for VR. he has a few devices. His work (how nice is this lol) got him an oculus quest. He’s cracked it and able to sideload things into it as a developer. This is nice because you can actually play stuff on VIVE through the quest (if i understand it right) and vice versa using software hacks (REVIVE is the one that lets you play rift on VIVE i think). The quest has a lot of options too really, and the user experience is better: it’s lighter, has a much better screen, and the controllers are smartly designed and feel almost weightless. We have decided to do what he did with his purchase of the vive: to get one with a decent/trustworthy friend and trade it back and forth every few weeks. It’s not something either of us will want to play daily. So it seems like a good option for us.

He has done this combined purchase with a VIVE. he upgraded it with umm, the deluxe/enhanced kit thingie. i remember playing it both with and without the enhanced kit thingie upgrade is quite nice (particularly sound), but the thing is heavy, and the screen door thing is annoying. It’s by no means a disappointing or bad experience its just not as good as what the Quest offers. Oh also the oculus Quest sound system is something else. You won’t believe it until you experience it. It’s basically a no headphone system, open headphones of sorts, but its extremely immersive somehow.

The other thing about the Quest that should be mentioned is it is an optionally wireless device! And you can choose to stream the games from your computer using a third party program or hack (cannot remember which) if you do this it is recommended to have a wired connection to your router.

As I understand it, the Valve Index will not have this wireless option, which is kind of a dealbreaker for me personally. Those of you who have headsets and headphones know how the cables tend to twist up and combine with other things. With VR you are spinning and moving around in one of these devices when you use it so the ‘twisting’ of the cables is a problem, and its going to be more frequent. And having a cable management thing above you might prevent the cables from ‘getting in your way’ but its not going to fix the twisting problem! Considering that cables for these devices are pricey ($40 for generic cables as much as $80 for Oculus brand i think) it sorta sucks to think of having to replace them from twisting or other things… and i have been there with headphones many times now.

So I thought maybe i’d mention some of these things about the quest and what i’ve learned and my own strat for sharing it with a friend. When my friend quits his job we’ll pool together and get one if its available. I might even decide to get my own so i can play stuff with him. Many of us fall in this camp of ‘interested’ but not really sure where to go, or really wanting to pony up for the commitment. RN i’m a bit concerned about by GT 970. it works for many games and is a minimal spec for a lot.Many of the games are getting more serious and heavier requirements. My other concern is piracy. There is some concern about the killswitch discovered in the Quest and if this might be some kind of brickable device if they catch you. More minor is the fact that if you do pirate games its odd how it works.

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