Just can't stay away.
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Alright, after 1,5 years after the last post on this topic I have bought the Oculus Rift (and Oculus Touch controllers which came in the package). The tutorials were good for orienting yourself in the VR space.
WHY OCULUS RIFT
So far I've tried the HTC Vive with the Space Pirate Training FPS game and Job Simulator and the PS VR with DIRT Rally. With the HTC Vive I had issues with field of view (FOV) and resolution (turned out of be focus point like in cameras; some VR headsets have the focus point closer or further away). With PS VR I played Dirt Rally and it was great.
Right now the biggest players on the market are Oculus Rift, HTC Vive (Pro) and PS VR. The Rift and the Víve have a resolution of 1,080 x 1,200-pixel resolution for each eye with a 90 Hz (90 fps) refresh rate. This translates into 2,160 x 1,200 for both eyes, with a 90Hz refresh rate. The field of view is 110° for both. I think the Rift has a bigger field of view, but that may be be just because I haven't used the Vive to compare to in a year or more. Or maybe I just didn't have the Vive properly aligned when I did get to try it.
I don't have a Playstation so PS VR was pretty much out of the question. The Rift is around 450 € (400 € on sale!) and comes with a headset, two sensors and two Oculus Touch controllers. Officially it only supports 180° tracking (2 sensors in front of you, none in the back) but some have had success with placing one sensor in front and the other behind you.
The HTC Vive comes with a similar setup; a headset, two "lighthouses"(sensors) and two controllers. Some have said that the Oculus Rift controllers are the best but I can't say which are better. It's been over a year since the quick demo I had with the Vive. The HTC Vive with 2 sensors and 2 controllers are about 700 €. Some games only work with Oculus and some only with the Vive and vice versa but there are ways to overcome this. As far as I know, the Vive only needs one USB port for it to work, compared to the Rift's three. The headset is plugged in but the Vive "Lighthouses" only need power from a power outlet. This also makes placing the sensors easier, you can place them further away from each other, enabling a bigger play area.
The HTC Vive Pro comes with a headset with a resolution of 2x1440x1600 making it a double 2k monitor in a way and also making VR even more demanding for the computer than it is already. The price in Finland for HTC Vive Pro + 2 sensors + 2 controllers? 1500 €. For that money I could buy Oculus Rift for myself AND TWO of my friend WITH some games so we could play some multiplayer VR games together.
A good thing about the HTC devices is that the sensors can be used with many other headsets, not just with the Vive. But not with Rift. In practice this means that if you buy the Oculus Rift, you'll get a good headset and controllers but if you want to switch to anything else, you'll have to buy separate sensors and controllers along with whichever VR headset you wish to play with. This makes Oculus the Apple of VR headsets. Oculus is also owned by Facebook, and CAN be connected to your Facebook account if you so choose.
I don't think I would be playing that much VR games so price was pretty much the leading point in which VR headset to get. So I got the Oculus Rift. There are other, cheaper headset available, but the Rift is a still a very competitive choice. There will be an Oculus Rift Quest with a higher resolution available later. Pimax has a VR headset that sounds compelling, but after reading user reviews it isn't in the same league even with some higher specs.
SETUP
The basic oculus Rift requires quite a few ports from your PC; 2 x 3.0 USB for the sensors, 1 x 3.0 USB + 1 x HDMI for the headset and yet another USB, which can be 2.0, for an optional third sensor. In total, 3 x USB port and 1 x HDMI port for the basic experience, and 4 x USB + 1 x HDMI for a full 360° experience. Plug in a racing wheel while also keeping your mouse and keyboard plugged in for convenience and that's 6 or 7 USB ports! The two sensors included in the package are placed in front of you and the optional one or two (they come with a 5 m long extension cable!) sensor behind you.
A thing about VR games is the space requirement. Some games, like racing and flying simulators can be played while sitting down (also the game I Expect You To Die for example, but it does require some space around you). By moving some chairs around I can create a space of about 2 m x 2 m which has been mostly good so far. Also, there's the HDMI/USB wire coming from the headset to the computer. In hectic games I suppose you could get tangled up with wires.
As for the sensors, I put them on the computer table on both sides of the monitor. After a while with Superhot VR and other games I decided to prop them up so now they are both twice as high as they used to be. Meaning a smaller blind spot for the sensors, so in practice I can reliaby pick up weapons further away from the center in Superhot VR, for example.
Setting up the headset may take a bit. There's three straps so you can put it on your head comfortably, as well as a lense distance lever. At first it can be tough to get the right position for the headset but once you find it, it's easy to swap between two players with a similar head size.
There is a rubber band in the headset so putting it back on is easy. But there's a design fault in it; the headphone for the right earphone is very suspectible to malfunction. There are some duct tape solutions on the internet and you can also remove the headphones altogether (with the official Oculus headphone tool or a flathead screwdriver) and replace them with your own headphones if you like. I've had problems with the right earphone since the day I started using Oculus Rift but wiggling it works. Lately I've had no problems at all.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Putting the headset on the first time is quite difficult. You will flinch if an enemy/bullet gets close. Teleportation controls feel strange at first. Moving without teleportation feels even stranger. Moving your head around the 3d space make the sounds move around correnspingly just like with any other headset. Playing with speaker sounds can get disorienting.
GAMES
The game selection for VR games is a bit limited compared to the game market as a whole. VR is still a niche market. There are some VR only games and there are some that support a VR system as well as a monitor. I will be focusing on PC games as I don't have a Playstation.
With the purchase I got Robo Recall, an arcade shooter with teleportation movement. At first it was very difficult, but after a while/playing other games it got easier. Oculus Store and Steam have some free games to try.
- SUPERHOT VR (different from the regular 2d SUPERHOT)
"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." - Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999
The visuals may be simplistic, but the gameplay is pretty much The Matrix - The Game. Time only moves when you move. So you can plan your next move by just standing still, and of course dodging bullets is possible by moving slowly to the side or even by crouching. Each level has you against red enemies in a monochrome world and some weapons to take them down with. Weapons can be thrown at enemies, and so can various objects in the world, such as bottles and throwing stars. The enemies die with a single bullet that hits them - and so do you. I do think that you need some space in your room for dodging bullets and picking up weapons. May not work with a very small space.
Possibly the best VR game there is at least if you like The Matrix.
SUPER HOT
SUPER HOT
- I EXCPECT YOU TO DIE
This is a sitting down game. It's a humoristic spy game in which you are thrown into situations where you must use your surroundings to succeed. You can reach for items with your hands ( =controllers) but you must also master the art of telekinesis (point at an object and press some other buttons) to succeed. If you only have a small play area, you can use telekinesis for everthing. Rotating dials is much easier with telekinesis for some reason. It's basically a room escape game with some quick decisions to make. Sometimes I wished I had 360° tracking but I did manage to complete it anyway.
- BUDGET CUTS
A stealth game in which you use a teleport gun to first scout around and then to teleport to the next location. You can also hide behind corners, desks and whatever you find. I haven't played much, and even if it does ask you to select between 180° and 360° tracking and you can use the Oculus Rift Touch joystick to turn around it begs for 360° tracking to work properly. The controllers don't know where they are if your body is between them and the sensors. This will be fixed with an additional sensor, which I have ordered. Until then I don't think I can play this in the proper way. The additional sensor will help me with many othe games as well.
- ROBO RECALL
Back to the free game to all Oculus Touch (controller) owners. It's an arcade game in which you shoot robots. You can find pistols/revolvers in your thigh holsters and a shotgun/plasma rifle in your back holsters. You get points for completing certain objectives in each level. You can also grab a robot and tear a limb/head off or throw it away. New enemies show up after a few levels. There are simple boss levels. You can upgrade your weapons with various things depending on the weapon. Some weapons get a laser sight making aiming easier (aiming from the hip is still doable but you can also aim like with a real weapon by bringing it to eye level first) and you can even turn the shotgun into a rocket launcher! Lots of fun after the initial confusion.
- ASSETTO CORSA
After an hour of setting up Assetto Corsa, Logitech Profiler and other settings Assetto Corsa was finally ready to be used. One of the first things you will notice that adjusting settings in-game with the mouse is awkward to say the least. Then there's setting the in-game seat position so the in-game wheel matches the level of the real racing wheel. You can also hide the in-game wheel altoghether but I think that sounds pretty unrealistic.
As for the actual racing, it's much more immersive to be able to see nothing but the car and the track even if you move your head, but reading the dials is difficult with a relatively low resolution. This time I didn't feel like my chair and body was moving around in the corners but the audiovisual experience was very good. You can also lean out of the driver's door window like Ace Ventura or even inspect your car from any spot if you walk around a bit.
STILL NOT TESTED
Dirt Rally, Project Cars, ADR1FT, any other games that work with Oculus Rift. VR games I have not bought but will probably buy at some point: Belko VR: An Escape Room Experiment, IronWolf VR, Megaton rainfall, Pavlov VR, Virtual Virtual Reality, The Spy Who Shrunk Me, and Sairento VR.
From what I've gathered from reviews, the free Mission: ISS and the paid Lone Echo are really good space simulators where you grab and pull handles to fling yourself around zero gravity environments. I will probably try those once I get the third sensor and if Lone Echo goes on sale.
CONCLUSIONS
Whenever there's new technology, there are three types of people; the early adapters, the regular consumers and the late adapters. I think VR technology is still in the early adapter period. It's definitely not a thing most consumers have at the moment. The price is still quite high for the average person and most games can't just be converted into VR games with a touch of a button. So it's mostly just purely VR games with the occasional simulator you can use an expensive VR setup with. The thing is, it's very difficult to just use words, images or even full screen videos to show what VR is like. It really has to be experienced yourself to understand what it really is like. The next may be a subjective opinion, but picking up weapons with your hands and turning around to aim and shoot enemies while dodging bullets in slow motion in Superhot VR may be something that can never be replicated with a monitor and a mouse+keyboard in the same way. It just is completely different to press ctrl to crouch and to actually crouch yourself and then maybe blindly fire over cover or peeking over and taking pot shots than to click around with a mouse. In most FPS games you are restricted in how you can aim your weapons. In VR it's possible to shoot around corners and cover, and to shoot two pistols in any direction you wish at the same time.
But with the limited amount of VR content, how long will it keep us interested? The games I've played so far have been short. Will Half-Life 3 be a VR game? Will the multiplayer games such as Pavlov VR keep the VR community interested?
VERY SHORT VERSION
VR is expensive but fun in unimaginable ways, but for how long will the fun last? I don't think I will play any racing games without the Oculus after this. VR has changed racing games completely. There are also some VR-only games that could not be played in any other way. The immersion is a big factor. But most VR only games are pretty short with little replay value. As for normal 2d games like Battlefield or Arma VR does nothing unless the developers make their games work in VR. I strongly suggest you to try different VR headset systems with different games you'd like to find out if you'd like VR. With Oculus Rift I think you will soon figure out if you'd like a third sensor or not.
Posted on: 2018/12/8 0:20
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