The Oculus Rift launched in 2016. Let's discuss the state of VR

[ZedClampet]

I was an early adopter and have had several VR headsets. Right now I have the Quest 2, but I don't use it. Really, the reason I stopped using it was because I couldn't walk very well, and standing up during play was exhausting, and it still would be even though I've improved physically. Vision is also a problem area, as I'm sure this would be terrible for my constant eye strain issues.

Moving on from me, the selection of VR games is good, and new and interesting games seem to be coming out all the time.

Virtual Reality Titles

Content Hub - VR Games

store.steampowered.com

Some of the games even have a tremendous number of user reviews, like Blade and Sorcery:

Blade and Sorcery on Steam

Blade & Sorcery is a built-for-VR medieval fantasy with full physics driven melee, ranged and magic combat. Become a powerful warrior, ranger or sorcerer and devastate your enemies.

store.steampowered.com

And this is only on Steam. The industry leader seems to be Oculus, which when I was playing always had some great exclusives. Lone Echo was the most fun and most immersed I've ever been in a game, and Wilson's Heart was also fantastic.

So give your thoughts on VR and include your current VR status and whether you have any future VR plans.

ps...one thing I really enjoyed back in the day was watching short VR movies. Not sure if that side of it has taken off or not. You used to be able to find a few in the Oculus app.

 

[BeardyHat]

My wife and I picked-up an Ouest 2 around Black Friday last year to serve as an early Christmas present to ourselves. After the initial honeymoon period, it's pretty much just sat on a shelf and either of us have maybe used it once or twice this year at all.

Which is...pretty much what I expected. I'm well aware of how I like to play games and having to have a bunch of rigamarole in order to play something was always going to be a barrier for me and I knew it. I play games in short bursts and VR was always going to be an impediment to that; not to mention, the games are expensive on the Quest store and I've been too lazy to drill a hole in my wall to run the cable through to play the few VR games I own on Steam.

My wife and I bought Half-Life Alyx, as we really want to give it a go, but by the time we've got the kids to bed, it's 9pm and we're both tired; the last thing we want to be doing is jumping around and being physical. We just want to watch our hour of TV and then go to bed.

 

[Brian Boru]

your current VR status and whether you have any future VR plans

Don't have it, no plans—just doesn't interest me at the moment. I don't have AR either, but that's of interest to me.

Total speculation: VR is in an interim stage now, and won't make the mainstream breakthru until we can control the action with out thoughts. Which for those unaware is already here, but still mainly in experimental and developmental stages. Second half of next decade

 

[Alm]

I've just got a Quest 3. I used to have a Quest 2, but I do find graphics very important (I didn't like videogame graphics until the PS1 came out) and the Quest 2 wasn't very well defined when watching Netflix for example. The main reason I sold the Quest 2 was that playing Skyrim in VR made me feel very ill though. I think the Quest 3 graphics are the minimum I'd want to play in VR, but having that anyway is very exciting for me because I've longed for clear VR since I first saw VR in the Science Museum in London in the 90s, and things are only going to get better.

I never played it in the 90s though as the queues were too long, but from what I hear the graphics were pretty blocky.

Unfortunately I don't have too much room for room-scale VR. I've got Half Life Alyx and I don't know how well it would play stationary. I've been playing Halo on Xbox Cloud app and I've been doing a bit better than I did with Skyrim so hoping I can train the sickness out of me.

As you say there are loads of new games coming out. If I can afford a steering wheel I'd love to try Project Cars 2 in VR, and crossing my fingers that Gran Turismo 7 might make its way to PC.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've never tried VR and I suspect I wouldn't like the feeling of wearing the headset, at least not for long periods of time. I already don't like wearing headphones.

But I'd like to be able to give it a try some time.

 

[DXCHASE]

I've just got a Quest 3. I used to have a Quest 2, but I do find graphics very important

Cant you play PC games with good graphics on the VR or is it stunted? I remember playing Half Life: Alyx from my pc and it looked great.

As for me with VR, we bought our son a Quest 2 when it came out and he used it pretty constantly for a while, i would try out games from time to time and overall i enjoyed it, but i couldnt get used to playing games with that headset on all the time or any longer than maybe 3 hours? It also depended on the game. Half Life: Alyx was the only one i could really work my way through in the headset. Mostly everything else i played id just do some quick stuff and be done with it.

Since we bought our son a pc though, one that can handle modern games (and goin to school/work etc.) hes all but stopped using it. Not because the same reasons i havent used it, being older and all but simply because gaming on a pc is still the preferred choice over anything gaming. He says he has friends that use theirs constantly to socialize.

So im thinking that VR isnt all that great outside of being a small novelty for most people over a certain age and with a younger generation coming up, its use is still going to climb and VR is still in a relatively infant stage.

 

[Alm]

Cant you play PC games with good graphics on the VR or is it stunted? I remember playing Half Life: Alyx from my pc and it looked great.

I haven't tried HL Alyx yet, but my impression from netflix and in game text was that it was fuzzy. VR does have quite a fine sweet spot for focus though so it might be that I wasn't able to find it. I also wear glasses that doesn't help.

 

[Zloth]

I got the original Occulus and yeah, the glasses were a BIG issue. I could barely get the set over them, and playing without them just wasn't working well. Steaming up was a problem sometimes. Queasiness was... weird for me. It took it a couple of hours before I would start to feel it but, once I did, the feeling took several hours to fade away.

I love the graphics, though, and the sense of scale.

As I mentioned before, I used to play many games with NVIDIA's 3D Vision. They ended support for the technology with the 3000 cards but, all in all, I think it was the better solution. The 3D could get "ghosting" (the image for one eye wouldn't fade all the way out before the other eye switched on) and only appears on the monitor itself instead of filling your whole field of vision, but it was vastly more convenient. I could just wear the special glasses over my existing glasses and could switch the effect on and off with a keypress.