Virtual Reality |OT| Follow the white rabbit

[FactsAreDead]

So VR, huh?

VR was something I had always wanted, long before it was feasible. I remember the great "Nintendo ON"-fake that promised something that would still take more than 10 years to materialize for real. And I had sworn that WHEN VR enters the console market, I will support it. So despite it being expensive (kinda), I bought a PlayStation VR shortly after it launched. Was a bit of a mess. First I wanted it, then I didn't. It launched and suddenly the urge was too big ... and PSVR was sold out everywhere. Got lucky and found one on Amazon Italy. And damn, was that a great experience!

I still think VR is the real nextgen, that most people haven't witnessed yet. And those who just tried it a bit never had the time to fully relax and enjoy it without worrying about making their friends wait or something. VR is more. It's truly more than just "better graphics" that the traditional gaming market follows. Just staying in the menu area of "PlayStation Worlds" was phenomenal. Using the 2 Move-controllers to interact with that ball that you could punch around and that would change its material depending on what world you selectet - when it shifted to diamond, it felt like i was holding a real object thanks to the Move-controllers' rumble. I also got Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Iswear I could feel the g-powers when I was driving in that rollercoaster! Another stunning moment: That VR-mission from Star Wars Battlefront! Omg, it was as if I were truly sitting inside a X-Wing. Best feeling ever. In my X-Wing, flying through space, fighting Tie Fighters. So awesome. And then my personal highlight: "Here they lie". This is PSVR's Ocarina of Time imo. Just masterful. I felt so incredibly immersed. And It had the right balance of exploration and dangerous/non-dangerous areas. And the world design was so truly bizarre, like wandering the depths of a H.P. Lovecraft hell. And I'm not gonna lie: The lady in the yellow dress ... hngg, if only she didn't disappear after some time. ;>

And that's my experience with VR. I then sold it because I was just sweating too much and I decided that I'd lose weight and then get me some fancy PC-VR headset. Now, I still haven't lost weight, sadlol, but VR also is still lacking a key feature that I'm waiting for: Eye-Tracking. This isn't just important for foveated rendering that allows the hardware to only calculate an image in the specific direction the user is looking (the rest will be lower res, but that wont be noticeable). It's also a real game-changer for gameplay! Basically, you'd be able to aim just by looking. Want to cast a magic spell? Look at your target and release it! Also it'd add real eye-contact for both interaction with npcs and other players, making for much more life-like conversation.

Anyway. that's my two cents so far. I'll link an article that recommends the latest VR headsets if you're interested, but more interesting than that would be your own experiences: Have you tried VR? Do you own one? What's your opinion? Let'S go!

Best VR Headsets

The best VR headsets for escaping to another reality in 2024

www.tomshardware.com

 

[mcz117chief]

I got Quest. It is cool the first time you play it but over the past two years I have barely used it. Mostly to play Battle Sister and Star Trek on occasion but there really aren't any games that would come even close to any PC game out there right now.

 

[Ferdinand the Cowfish]

It is cool the first time you play it but over the past two years I have barely used it.

I feel the same way.

I have a Valve Index and even though Half-Life: Alyx was great and there are other amazing VR games available, I barely use my headset. It's a pain to get out of the box, set up, etc...

 

[Falcs]

I hear VR porn is amazing.

 

[regawdless]

I hear VR porn is amazing.

It's certainly a different experience compared to normal porn.

I owned an Oculus Rift for two years. Fucking loved it. Played the shit out of it. Many amazing games. Even simple stuff like Eleven Table Tennis was so much fun. I worked out with BoxVR and Beat Saber. I had a whole room dedicated to it. I own a ridiculously huge game library.

Aaaaaand then my twin daughters were born and I sold it because I just can't totally zone out anymore. When they're a bit older and stop waking up at night, i'll buy a new headset.

 

[FactsAreDead]

I hear VR porn is amazing.

Not joking: I tried it. And it is amazing. Back when PSVR was hype, people recommended a certain VR porn video on Reddit or so. Found it, put it on USB stick and started it. O-M-G. It was a video where two chick go down on you, ride you, etc. and the guy in the video is lying on his back in bed, so if you yourself lie down in bed, immersion is PERFECT. I'm not that much into real porn, but that was hot. And I honestly thought: "Wow, wives won't be okay with their husbands enjoying that kind of porn" lol.

Definitely recommend giving VR porn a try if you haven't.

 

[Grinchy]

I hear VR porn is amazing.

haha it really is, but the quality of it varies. Some people try some really low quality shit and come (lol) away disappointed.

Some sites even just never knew how to quite dial the settings in and it ended up with what looked like a giant Amazonian woman in a fish eye lens riding you.

You really need to either buy the good shit legitimately or know how to torrent it. The files should be 4-12GB each, really. There's a site called Czech VR that does it right and the torrents for it are plentiful.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I hear VR porn is amazing.

It is.

I had a quest for one week, and then sent it back, I felt I became addicted to VR Porn.
No joke.

If they can get rid of that depth perception problem in VR, this will be perfect.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

If this gen continues the way it is, I'll likely sit out for awhile and then hop on PS5 VR or on a PC equivalent at that time. I hate how VR setups consume your TV room though.

If they can get rid of that depth perception problem in VR, this will be perfect.

Foveated rendering should complete the optical illusion for most people, plus it saves on resource usage.

 

[Toecutter]

I've had my Rift for a few years, starting from having a DK2 then getting the first consumer edition when it came out (which now has the padding falling off it, so I'm tempted to look into getting an Index as an upgrade).

I've gotten some good use out of it, but I find myself getting less enthusiastic as time goes on - there are a handful of decent first-person games, but graphically they're not impressive enough to carry the technology at its current level (e.g. Blade & Sorcery, Gorn). The exception to that would be Half Life: Alyx, which was stunning but I found myself not finishing it (possibly because I live in a tiny flat which doesn't allow full freedom of movement, or because I'm too lazy to stand up for long periods of time!)

I find that where VR really thrives is in games that are intended for a sitting position - for example, Elite Dangerous, Euro/American Truck Simulator & Star Wars: Squadrons are so much better in VR (coupled with a flight stick/steering wheel) that they're examples of games that I wouldn't want to play without it because it adds so much. The immersion is just on a different level, but as someone else has pointed out, it's a pain dragging all the stuff out to set it up rather then just being able to start up and go.

My wishlist for the future of VR would be:

1. A smaller, lighter frame that would make wearing it for longer periods of time more comfortable.
2. A AAA title with native VR support out of the box (e.g. Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty etc.). The demands of VR make that unfeasible in the near future though.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Most exciting aspect of VR (to me) is the innovation we're seeing in the control schemes.

I sincerely hope I can play all of my "normal" games with these, with a os-level settings menu to tweak sensitivity, aiming, gyro assignment, etc.

I'm a massive fan of the Nintendo Wiimote. I am happy to finally see more and more devs attempting similar ideas. Yes, the audiovisual aspects of VR are very cool, but I want to escape this prison of twinstick aiming and menu navigation.

 

[Toecutter]

Native controller support is something you really miss when playing a non-VR game that's been adapted, either unofficially through VorpX, or 'official' ports like Skyrim VR or Fallout 4 VR.

Although having said that, I've been meaning to go back and try this mod for Skyrim that goes some way to addressing that:




(Sometimes it can work well enough without it though - Alien: Isolation in VR is still the most terrifying gaming experience I've ever had, despite not being intended for full VR support)

 

[Zefah]

I have an original Oculus Rift, but rarely use it. Half Life: Alyx was amazing. I'll probably get a Valve unit once Facebook forces me to switch over to their login system to continue using the Oculus.

 

[XOR]

I hear VR porn is amazing.

I've not tried VR porn. I wonder how high rez does the best get. Some of the latest headsets like the htc reverb g2 already have crazy good rez, best headset I've seen on youtube. That was my problem with earlier vr headsets in gaming the blurryness, but htc reverb has excellent sharpness. I'm thinking of buying it, or waiting for a wireless revision.

The files should be 4-12GB each, really. There's a site called Czech VR that does it right and the torrents for it are plentiful.

Yeah but if you're gonna torrent I'd make sure to use some sort of trusted vpn. Last thing you want is, in the rare case it happens, to end up in court for porn torrents.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Bought into it years ago, loved it, but now I'm just waiting on better screens and to be able to cut the cord. I have a Vive w/ index controllers and it works well enough, but it does give me some eye strain. By the looks of it, screens have gotten a lot better, but I feel there's still a ways to go yet. For wireless, I've looked into various options, but they seem to still have issues (unless you go the Quest 2 route of streaming) with heat, battery life, etc.

 

[Test]

waiting for index+1 to reup gear

more uniformity among the platforms would be nice, the market is too expensive to harbor exclusive

 

[Test]

recs:

 

[Test]

 

[XOR]

Bought into it years ago, loved it, but now I'm just waiting on better screens and to be able to cut the cord. I have a Vive w/ index controllers and it works well enough, but it does give me some eye strain. By the looks of it, screens have gotten a lot better, but I feel there's still a ways to go yet. For wireless, I've looked into various options, but they seem to still have issues (unless you go the Quest 2 route of streaming) with heat, battery life, etc.

yeah supposedly there's rumor that new qualcomm chipsets might come with 5g capability allowing newer VR headsets to have fast wireless connection.

The reverb g2 if you look at the videos in 4k you'll see has excellent image quality. Still some ways to go before retina level, but it is said it is already good enough for replacing desktop use, and has comparable text image capability to a 1080p monitor, iirc.

Reverb g2 even appears to school the most expensive xtal 8k which I presume is 8k resolution.

I can't wait for retina quality displays indistinguishable from real world. But the reverb g2 seems basically standard hd rez monitor grade in image quality, which already blows earlier headsets out of the water completely.

edit:
I'm unsure about buying reverb g2, as a new htc headset rumor to be announced next month, iirc. And wireless would be a good plus if included in a revision. But I'd personally prefer, if it is wireless, for batteries to be removable. My biggest hate of many portable electronics is the non-replaceable batteries. Not only do they drop in the amount of time they retain charge over time, but if you leave them lying around for a few months with no charge the batteries potentially stop working due to chemical reactions. I really hate having to have all my portable electronic devices plugged lest I forget to charge some for too long and the battery expands and breaks the devices.

 

[Test]

 

[HE1NZ]

I tried PSVR a tiny bit. I should probably get VR for PC, but it's confusing as fuck with lots of models and exclusive games and shit.

 

[Toecutter]

Has anyone tried Hitman 3 in VR yet?




It looks like it would be really good and an ideal showcase for VR, but it's hamstrung by a couple of weird limitations:

• It's only available on PSVR (and only natively supported on PS4, not PS5
• It doesn't use motion controllers, but is only compatible with the DualShock 4 (hence the partial PS5 support)

I'm hoping that, assuming their exclusivity deal with Epic runs out next year, that they're planning for a full Steam VR version with motion controls built in for the Steam launch in 2022.

Can you imagine creeping around Hitman's beautiful environments while garrotting and shooting with full motion control? If they get it right, that could genuinely be the killer app that VR has been waiting for (pun only partially intended).

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Big problem is though, the moment I move through VR that is not my own body movement I get motion sickness so hard I have to puke my belly out.

How does Alyx get around this?

 

[Grinchy]

Big problem is though, the moment I move through VR that is not my own body movement I get motion sickness so hard I have to puke my belly out.

How does Alyx get around this?

Alyx, like many other games, gives you an option between teleporting or full locomotion.

I'm really glad I don't get any issues from VR games. It's actually kinda weird for me. It feels bad to me if it's not smooth turning and if the turning is too slow. Snap turning is just awful for me. But for people like you, teleporting with snap turning is probably the only way to play.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Teleportation is okay for me.

What do you mean by turning?
Does the game turn your POV into a direction?

 

[Grinchy]

Teleportation is okay for me.

What do you mean by turning?
Does the game turn your POV into a direction?

Just like in a regular game, let's say you turn the right analog stick to the right - it turns your camera to the right. VR games that use artificial locomotion will often have the left/right axis of the camera tied to a stick or buttons.

Some people have trouble with that, so they put in snap turning. That just means that the camera only turns a little bit at a time. It "snaps" a little bit at a time and you keep pressing the button over and over. I hate this method, but some people need it.

Smooth turning is what it sounds like - you press the stick or button the direction you want and it just smoothly transitions that direction for as long as you hold the input down. But this hurts some people.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Why not just move your head or turn your body?

I feel puzzled...

 

[Grinchy]

Why not just move your head or turn your body?

I feel puzzled...

It depends on which VR system you're using. Imagine a cable running down your back or hanging in front of you and you have to constantly rotate your entire body for every left/right movement you make in a first-person, full-movement game.

Think of traversing around in Skyrim where every 90 degree turn you'd have to make in a town, house, cave, anywhere, you have to rotate your entire body to the side and then back again, then turn all the way around, ect.

After a while you don't even know which way your physical body is facing and the cable is wrapped around you. It's not comfortable lol. Wireless situations are different, obviously.

 

[Makariel]

Have PSVR and a WMR headset for PC. Would wish there are more games that work with the PSVR aim controller.

 

[FactsAreDead]

Tbh I never understood why some people are so severely effected from motion in VR. The more motion, the more action, the better I hate the teleport-mechanic, it just turns an immersive game into a theme park-application imo. But as long as there's options, it's okay. Still, no better feeling than sitting in your mecha in RIGS and truly feeling like you're a tiny human inside that giant machine, beezing through an arena. <3

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Like several others already said, my favorite type of VR game is to sit in a cockpit or an in-game chair of a sort. I don't want to flail my arms around with a blindfold on unless I'm seated. I feel like the push for more immersive, first-person experiences is spinning the wheels of the VR market.

Bird's eye view and third-person are severely underused. Experiencing a game as a non-corporeal "observer" solves pretty much all of the motion sickness problems, and doesn't require teleporting. All "normal" gaming controls could be used, with the additional features of various 1:1 actions based on the type of game. Best of both worlds. VR itself is immersive. You don't have to be in first person to "get" VR.

I'm sure it already exists in mods, but I would probably get back into PC gaming + VR if I could play real time strategy games and city-builders in full VR, floating above the Populous map like a deity:

The various Microsoft AR demonstrations touch on this, but I have no interest in a blended Roger Rabbit augmented reality garbo. I want the full plugged-in experience or don't bother me.

 

[ExpandKong]

I'm thinking about picking up an Oculus Quest 2 in the near future just for kicks but I'm wondering how easy it is to get around the Facebook account requirement by using a dummy account.

I've got an account tied to my real name but I don't necessarily want that one tied to my game purchases either. I do have a dummy account I made a couple years ago for some reason or another but I haven't used it for anything so it's got a long period of inactivity on it.

 

[HariSeldon]

I love my Rift. Elite Dangerous, iRacing, Assetto Corsa, job done. Also one Eleven Table Tennis, Superhot VR and Beat Sabre (a legit workout).

 

[XOR]

 

[Pr0cs]

Love my Quest 2, upgraded from CV1 and man its impressive how far we've come in such a short period of time.
TBH VR is probably the most exciting thing to come out for gaming in the last decade or so for me, certainly a lot more exciting than the new consoles anyway. VRs biggest issue when it comes to sales is that it's impossible to convey the experience through videos or screenshots.
I've lost count of how many uneducated responses I've seen regarding vr "oh that looks like shit, graphics from n64 days, yadda yadda" the sense of presence is impossible to demo or explain without actually trying it.
I haven't had anyone try vr in person and not come away absolutely floored.

 

[Arc]

Love my Quest 2, upgraded from CV1 and man its impressive how far we've come in such a short period of time.
TBH VR is probably the most exciting thing to come out for gaming in the last decade or so for me, certainly a lot more exciting than the new consoles anyway. VRs biggest issue when it comes to sales is that it's impossible to convey the experience through videos or screenshots.
I've lost count of how many uneducated responses I've seen regarding vr "oh that looks like shit, graphics from n64 days, yadda yadda" the sense of presence is impossible to demo or explain without actually trying it.
I haven't had anyone try vr in person and not come away absolutely floored.

Yeah, the sense of presence, and things being real, is that you could genuinely paint everything in N64 visuals, and it would still be stunningly realistic.

Even the simpler kind of PS3/360 territory (maybe a bit below that?) Quest 2 operates at, stuff I wouldn't bat an eye at on consoles, looks pretty incredible when everything looks perspective correct, three dimensional, and you're wandering around inside it.

 

[HariSeldon]

Love my Quest 2, upgraded from CV1 and man its impressive how far we've come in such a short period of time.
TBH VR is probably the most exciting thing to come out for gaming in the last decade or so for me, certainly a lot more exciting than the new consoles anyway. VRs biggest issue when it comes to sales is that it's impossible to convey the experience through videos or screenshots.
I've lost count of how many uneducated responses I've seen regarding vr "oh that looks like shit, graphics from n64 days, yadda yadda" the sense of presence is impossible to demo or explain without actually trying it.
I haven't had anyone try vr in person and not come away absolutely floored.

The other issue is space, in the UK at least. I use it in my man cave but tbh that's only just big enough, and the wife likes to put the clothes dryer in there. I'm more fortunate than most - most people don't even have that spare room in the UK. Our houses are fucking tiny hobbit houses basically. No problem for seated experiences obviously but room scale is out for most.

 

[Pr0cs]

other issue is space

Yeah that's a good point, I'm spoiled with a big man cave where the old lady lets me do what I want with the furniture if I so desire. Mostly though I have an area around 8x8 feet where I don't feel like I'm missing out and don't feel like I have to worry about putting my fist through the TV.

In all honesty though I'm most excited for an office and working in VR. I have been playing with Immersed: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2849273531812512/

Basically it turns your headset into a giant virtual desktop. The keyboard integration is still a bit funky but since I'm coding all day long anyway I rarely need to actually see the keyboard .
I can totally see Oculus vision of people working and collaborating in this way, the Q2 still doesn't have `quite` the resolution I'd need to forgo my monitors just yet but it's damn close. With this COVID shit closing down a LOT of offices (myself included after 26 years of working in an office) there is still the occasional need to physically collaborate and have those social sort of gatherings and software like Bigscreen and Immersed I can see filling in that gap.

 

[DESTROYA]

As a gamer that has less and less time to enjoy my hobby I have zero interest getting into VR no matter how cool it seems to be.
I refuse to have another platform to game with when I look into my current backlog .

 

[HariSeldon]

Yeah that's a good point, I'm spoiled with a big man cave where the old lady lets me do what I want with the furniture if I so desire. Mostly though I have an area around 8x8 feet where I don't feel like I'm missing out and don't feel like I have to worry about putting my fist through the TV.

In all honesty though I'm most excited for an office and working in VR. I have been playing with Immersed: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2849273531812512/

Basically it turns your headset into a giant virtual desktop. The keyboard integration is still a bit funky but since I'm coding all day long anyway I rarely need to actually see the keyboard .
I can totally see Oculus vision of people working and collaborating in this way, the Q2 still doesn't have `quite` the resolution I'd need to forgo my monitors just yet but it's damn close. With this COVID shit closing down a LOT of offices (myself included after 26 years of working in an office) there is still the occasional need to physically collaborate and have those social sort of gatherings and software like Bigscreen and Immersed I can see filling in that gap.

Tbh the comfort level would need to dramatically improve for that to work for me - plus you get issues of bandwidth getting everyone's screens to use as textures in the 3D environment. It's a nice idea but there are practicaliies to consider. Also the video makes a point about multiple monitors - I can assure you that 3 is the practical maximum and that's stretching it at times as it involves more head turning than I'd like.