Virtual Reality

[bob]

I read some pretty scathing reviews about the PSVR motion controls today. It's 2010 technology being used in a 2016 product. That alone could put people off

[Shorty]

This bed only weighs 30KG. I could easily just lift that and the mattress up against one wall for VR sessions!

 

Totes having a HTC Vive room in 2016

[bob]

A 30kg, £100 bed sounds like a recipe for a fantastic night sleep. Go for it!

[Shorty]

Well, not to get too far off track for the VR thread :p but that's just the frame, the value of a good bed is in the mattress...

[bob]

Sounds like unnecessary weight to me.

[Blade]

Can you imagine playing something like Alien Isolation using VR.

 

I would definitely not be able to cope with shit like that.

[Hero-of-Time]

Can you imagine playing something like Alien Isolation using VR.

 

I would definitely not be able to cope with shit like that.

 

Did you ever finish that game?

[somme]

Can you imagine playing something like Alien Isolation using VR.

 

I would definitely not be able to cope with shit like that.

 

I would both love and hate this. Would totally try it though.

[Blade]

Did you ever finish that game?

 

I wish mate. I decided that it was better for my state of mind and general health that I stop playing.

[Cube]

Can you imagine playing something like Alien Isolation using VR.

 

I would definitely not be able to cope with shit like that.

 

Doesn't Alien Isolation already have VR support?

[Esequiel]

Just pre-ordered my VR and was told there will be a bundle with a new style PS4 and a VR unit.

[V. Amoleo]

Doesn't Alien Isolation already have VR support?

 

Alien Isolation did have VR support when they were showing it off pre-release. But they dropped support for it. It used to be possible to unofficially add it back in on the PC version though.

 

Just pre-ordered my VR and was told there will be a bundle with a new style PS4 and a VR unit.

 

Who told you that?

[Esequiel]

Alien Isolation did have VR support when they were showing it off pre-release. But they dropped support for it. It used to be possible to unofficially add it back in on the PC version though.

 

 

 

Who told you that?

 

The lady I preordered with at game.

[Fierce_LiNk]

The lady I preordered with at game.

 

She's either just regurgitating what she's read on the internet or she's giving out info that she probably really, reeeeeally should not be divulging. Naughty.

[killthenet]

Palmer Luckey hand delivered the retail Occulus Rift to the first customer.

 

Palmer Luckey is only 23. 23 and he's already worth the better part of $1 Billion. Prick.

[killthenet]

Sony executive has been asked whether PSVR will be compatible with PC's in the future and said it's something they're looking into, but that providing games and experiences on PS4 with VR is their current focus.

[Helmsly]

Giantbomb are live streaming VR games all day

 

http://www.giantbomb.com/chat/

[bob]

Got to try the consumer version of the Vive at the Gadget Show. It really is fantastic. The motion controls are incredible!

 

The only downside is the cable which kept wrapping around my feet, and the fact that it's going to be well over a grand if I want one...

[Dcubed]

Just tried out a HTC Vive... Really impressive stuff, big improvement over earlier versions of the Oculus Rift that I tried out. I wouldn't say that it feels real, still feels like you're looking through a viewfinder (which I suppose is pretty much exactly what you're doing here), but it is cool and the way that it sets movement boundaries is really impressive. You can walk and move around as you'd expect to be able to and it feels like you're moving correctly to room scale.

 

It's still blurry though and you can still see a bit of the screen door effect, but it is a big improvement over the DK1 and DK2.

 

What is REALLY impressive though are the controllers. They're amazing! Despite being really annoying and impractical to set up, they're incredible! They're pretty much motion controls perfected (outside of having no recoil, which is impossible, or a speaker for simulating sounds). I was able to reach out and grab them with the helmet on and was able to juggle with them; that's pretty much says it all.

 

While their gameplay possibilities are limited by virtue of the lack of buttons and analog sticks, there's some really cool interface possibilities with them; the Tilt Brush demo was a particularly good example of what you could do with them. I bet you could make some beautiful light shows with it!

 

Not being able to see your own body is really jarring though; just goes to show how important the controllers are to the VR experience I suppose. Though that being said, it does present a problem with them... You can't see where your hands are on the controller and as such, it's easy to lose track of where your thumbs are on the touchpad - there are some haptics to help with using them, but I kept finding myself losing "sight" of them. It's an issue, as is the fact that you can just "walk" through objects that you would think that you can't (but of course I'm asking for the impossible there). Lighthouse is a huge step forward in motion tracking tech, if only it could apply to your body... But then you'd still be walking through objects, you still wouldn't be able to sense the environment around you (touch, taste, smell etc), a true Star Trek style VR experience is obviously still very much sci-fi. The uncanny valley effect applies not only to visual fidelity, but also the VR experience...

 

Long story short, can I have Wii Remotes and a Gamepad with that Lighthouse motion controller tech please?

Edited April 3, 2016 by Dcubed

[Ronnie]

Reading the poor Lucky's Tale reviews has me a little sad. The VR tech is obviously amazing and it's got a huge future. I'm just a little disappointed that there's no Super Mario Bros, or Mario 64 type groundbreaking 10/10 game to usher in this era. Eve Valkyrie seems to be the best VR game out there but otherwise none of the games are being billed as must play, which is a shame.

[Shorty]

Well sure, it's not a console, it's a new interface, new tech that games need to align with over time.

 

Yeah you can't buy one now and get stuck into a single epic experience rivalling the kind of games you mentioned, but you can probably get even more mileage out of it by different means. Hundreds of homebrew experiences, trying games you loved in the past in new ways, mods, experiments. Heck, you could play Super Mario 64 using it if you wanted.

[Retro_Link]

I'm loving the idea of SuperHyperCube. A puzzle game like that is just the sort of thing to get people hooked.

[Happenstance]

I was really impressed with Foo VR from Will Smith (formally of Tested.com not Fresh Prince :p ). That kind of tech where VR shows are actually quite simple to do will do a lot for the entertainment part but also watching Giant Bomb's livestream which just had Will's avatar chatting with them in the Firewatch tower showed me just how well this kind of stuff could eventually work with VR multiplayer and chatrooms.

 

[Ronnie]

Well sure, it's not a console, it's a new interface, new tech that games need to align with over time.

 

It may as well be a new console, similarly priced, new tech, new experience. Homebrew and experimental games are all well and good, they'll be fun to wade through but it's just a shame there isn't that one must play VR game to launch this new platform like what Nintendo did in the N64 era, that's all. All the reviews seem to be talking about how cool the tech is, rather than how cool any of the games are.

[Ashley]

But on the bright side the average price of a Vive game on Steam is $12. The games may not be Mario 64, but they're 1/6th of the price so its a decent balance in my opinion.

 

There's always an adjustment period with new tech, including new consoles. The fact there are so many people excited by it and trying it out (both on a developer and consumer perspective) is great for the industry.