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[PTTG??]

So I guess the fad's over? See you all in 10-15 years then.

[Cthulhu]

I think the games on offer weren't good enough for the cost of entry.  There were a couple standouts, like whatever that Matrix one with body-awareness was (Some obvious computer pun like all cyberpunk games, hard reset etc.) but overall it turned out pretty similar to the Wii.  A few interesting uses of the new peripheral, lots of gimmicky bullshit.

I still might get one, I want to play Il-2 in VR and coat the inside of my bedroom with vomit.

[Ibid Straydrink]

Just you wait until the third generation consoles roll out with crotch adapters.

The future is now.

[Cruxador]

So I guess the fad's over? See you all in 10-15 years then.

What were you expecting that we didn't get? I'm seeing a pretty solid showing here, and I expect the market will continue to have its niche, with a new round of offerings growing iteratively more mainstream over the course of the next ~5 years.

I think the games on offer weren't good enough for the cost of entry.  There were a couple standouts, like whatever that Matrix one with body-awareness was (Some obvious computer pun like all cyberpunk games, hard reset etc.) but overall it turned out pretty similar to the Wii.  A few interesting uses of the new peripheral, lots of gimmicky bullshit.

Some of the best games for it are mostly the ones that are also playable without VR. Subnautica, for example. But I agree with your assessment. Remember that the Wii was quite successful, despite launch woes.

[Cruxador]

Yes, but the Wii was successful because of its gimmick and its low cost-of-entry that let it advertise to people who didn't normally play video games. VR is the opposite: the only people interested are dedicated and with deep pockets.

That's really only true of the high end VR, the Rift and Vive. Lots of people are strapping smartphones to their faces. Hell, the President of the USA just showcased exactly that technology, he made a VR thingy of Yosemite for the National Park Service for their 100th birthday.

[Retropunch]

Yeah it looks to be doing well by any standard. The rift is constantly sold out/has a big backlog of orders to fulfill and phone VR is everywhere. It works as well as was promised, and pretty much every new first person game has VR support.

The only issue is the price point and the hardware required. In a year or two that'll drop enough that most people with an interest in gaming will be able to afford it, especially as more and more titles come out that utilise the tech.

However, I feel we've still not quite got the 'killer app' for VR. To truly get mass buy in, they'll need to launch a really, really good game - or possibly software - on it exclusively. Sort of Half-Life 3 calibre. That'll cause a massive migration over, but it's probably 3-5 years away.

[Scripten]

I bought a Vive last week. While it definitely still has an "early adopter" feel to the software, the hardware is pretty damned solid. I find the tracking works perfectly about 85-95% of the time, and when it doesn't, it's pretty easy to troubleshoot. I imagine that, as the software matures, it'll become its own niche of gaming. Additionally, as devs start moving away from either gimmicky (but still very fun) minigames and attempts to translate 2d experiences to 3d, I'm sure we'll start seeing entirely new genres pop up.

Also, pretty much any "sim" game benefits greatly from HMDs. Elite Dangerous becomes something entirely different with a headset. Once their code stabilizes, I'll likely never play the game outside VR again.

[Retropunch]

I bought a Vive last week. While it definitely still has an "early adopter" feel to the software, the hardware is pretty damned solid. I find the tracking works perfectly about 85-95% of the time, and when it doesn't, it's pretty easy to troubleshoot. I imagine that, as the software matures, it'll become its own niche of gaming. Additionally, as devs start moving away from either gimmicky (but still very fun) minigames and attempts to translate 2d experiences to 3d, I'm sure we'll start seeing entirely new genres pop up.

Also, pretty much any "sim" game benefits greatly from HMDs. Elite Dangerous becomes something entirely different with a headset. Once their code stabilizes, I'll likely never play the game outside VR again.

I've heard pretty much exactly the same from everyone I know who has one, and they've all said that sim games with VR are just on a completely different level. One of my friends plays flight sims just constantly now, and never really had much interest before.

I'm very glad devs are moving to more sophisticated attempts too - I was also talking to a game dev for a big company who said that a lot of work is going in to improving the dev kit and third party game engines ability to use VR directly and with less hassle in the hopes that they'll be able to bolt on or create VR versions of old/previous games much more easily. Whilst I hate the incessant money grabbing of game companies these days, I can honestly say that I wouldn't mind paying again for a game with full VR support. Alien Isolation would be absolutely incredible with it.

[Scripten]

I've heard pretty much exactly the same from everyone I know who has one, and they've all said that sim games with VR are just on a completely different level. One of my friends plays flight sims just constantly now, and never really had much interest before.

About the only problem is that you can get a decent amount of desync stuttering, which can make you nauseous quickly, while playing games with tacked-on VR. But the immersion is incredible. I can't say I much enjoy third person games, but anything with a first person camera would benefit from true VR support. I bought VorpX to try and get that experience in more games, but it hasn't quite gotten to the point of prolonged play yet. I expect it won't take long, and in the meantime, there's so much to do.

I'm very glad devs are moving to more sophisticated attempts too - I was also talking to a game dev for a big company who said that a lot of work is going in to improving the dev kit and third party game engines ability to use VR directly and with less hassle in the hopes that they'll be able to bolt on or create VR versions of old/previous games much more easily. Whilst I hate the incessant money grabbing of game companies these days, I can honestly say that I wouldn't mind paying again for a game with full VR support. Alien Isolation would be absolutely incredible with it.

It shows. VR support, in principle, isn't super hard to implement. There are some very nicely made APIs (one of the benefits of having nVidia, Valve, and other experienced teams providing tools) that even indie game devs can manage. Once the bigger studios start seeing the cash cow that is VR DLC or whatnot, I'm sure we'll see more support in general. I spent most of last night playing SOMA, wishing for real VR, even if I had to fork over a couple more dollars.

[Retropunch]

I've always thought VorpX was really weird - paying for a driver just seems wrong somehow. I know work has gone into it and it should be recompensed, but it still just feels odd.

Have you tried any of the cinema/theater things with it yet? I've heard mixed things.

[Scripten]

I find that the cinema mode works pretty well, but I've only used it in Fallout 4. (Which SHOULD work well in VR, but I'm finding it too fiddly atm. Needs some work before it'll feel right.) I also don't like the idea of paying for the driver, but they're not a hardware company and they're providing something unique. I don't think the company would be able to survive if they didn't charge for their product, honestly. They don't get profit from selling video cards or HMDs.

[Retropunch]

I find that the cinema mode works pretty well, but I've only used it in Fallout 4. (Which SHOULD work well in VR, but I'm finding it too fiddly atm. Needs some work before it'll feel right.) I also don't like the idea of paying for the driver, but they're not a hardware company and they're providing something unique. I don't think the company would be able to survive if they didn't charge for their product, honestly. They don't get profit from selling video cards or HMDs.

Ah sorry, I meant cinema things for movies or tv shows. Have you tried any of those? One person I know said it was amazing, but others said it was pretty rubbish, although could potentially improve with time.

Completely agree with your thoughts on the driver. My worry really is that they corner the market on the driver and it becomes a cost that everyone ends up having to pay.

[Scripten]

Ah sorry, I meant cinema things for movies or tv shows. Have you tried any of those? One person I know said it was amazing, but others said it was pretty rubbish, although could potentially improve with time.

Completely agree with your thoughts on the driver. My worry really is that they corner the market on the driver and it becomes a cost that everyone ends up having to pay.

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, in that case, I haven't yet tried a movie, mostly due to the necessity of watching it alone. (I usually don't watch media I can't participate in unless there's a group.)

As for VorpX, I imagine that they won't be able to corner the market. Worst comes to worst, they'll likely be absorbed by the bigger fish and their work integrated into video card drivers. I would imagine AMD would end up doing that, since nVidia is doing a lot of their own work.

[BurnedToast]

Edit: nevermind

[askovdk]

Bump because the Playstation VR is out, so let’s share impressions and recommendations.
I bought the set, spent the weekend playing around with it, and I am happy.

The illusion works! I haven’t tried competing systems, so I can’t say if it’s much better or worse, but the reaction to head movements is so good, that I always felt being in the scene. The motion controllers seems highly sensitive, - shooting a gun allowed me to both hit and miss a little, so I don’t think it’s cheating with auto-aim. I need to wear my real world glasses, but as promised, then there is room inside the visor for them, so no problem there.

There is no must have game yet. I can recommend the Batman VR game. The story is short (2 hours), but it is a breathtaking experience and a great piece to show off the technology to friends. I.e. as it has been said a lot, then most of the games are just (good) proofs of concept, so please share if you actually find a good game.

I only experienced motion sickness in one game. Most of the games handles the motion either by fixing the location of the player’s body in the scene (i.e. you can move your head around to look behind and into objects, but your center of mass is not moved).
My observation is that the nausea comes when the screen shows an acceleration and is not due to motion as such. I played a kind of hover tank game, where you are in (constant velocity) motion all the time without problem (yes, I know that a change in velocity direction requires acceleration), whereas playing another game where you jumped around was very bad due to the nicely calculated soft jumps.
I.e. my hypothesis is that as long as the eyes sees impossible momentarily velocity changes, then the brain will consider it unrealistic and not try to compensate, but if the game is so ‘good’ that it looks like realistic motions, then you get sick.