HTC/Valve's Vive

So, I've been missing off the face of the planet for about three days now - because my Vive arrived.

Let me preface this by stating that I was one of the first few hundred kickstarters for the Oculus Rift; and have had the DK1, DK2, and CV1. All signed editions, in fact. Loved my DK1, and loved developing for it too. The DK2 was a nice iteration on top of it, but not quite what I was expecting in terms of tech advancements. The CV1 was a major let-down; Oculus/Facebook's walled garden techniques were disgusting, the tech was only a minor iteration on top of the DK2, and the software was plain and simple, bloatware.

So, onto eBay it went, and I picked myself up a Vive.

Man oh man. It's insane. The Vive was for me, everything that Oculus promised to be. The display is better, the motion controls are so pinpoint accurate that I could juggle them inside the headset, and room-scale VR (running around my living room) is legitimately more fun than it has any right to be. I had a few friends up last night, and we wound up playing VR Pool in my living room, while having a couple of beers. It almost felt like a weird dystopian future - where I couldn't afford an actual pool table, but hey, it's cool, just put on this headset and get transported into my giant mansion with pool tables and neon lights. But, well, a little more exciting, and a little less depressing.

Has anyone else been playing in VR lately? Any good recommendations for titles to try out?

Oh wow...that sounds fucking awesome! I was waiting until they released a version that covered the eye viewing angle 100%, but after reading this, I might just have to pick one up. I can't wait until it really starts to take off with some breakthrough games...

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Originally Posted by AOD_HUMAN1ST1C

Oh wow...that sounds fucking awesome! I was waiting until they released a version that covered the eye viewing angle 100%, but after reading this, I might just have to pick one up. I can't wait until it really starts to take off with some breakthrough games...

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I'd strongly recommend it. 100% viewing angle would require a massive screen, and some insane rendering power. You'd really want a 4K display to cover that angle, and remember that it has to run at about 90fps to maintain presence. But with the Vive, honestly, I didn't notice my peripheral vision was lessened. I did on the Rift, but not on the Vive. I think it's hit the sweet spot. No screen door effect either. With supersampling (if you've got multiple GTX1080's/Titan XP's), you can get insanely crisp images on it.

I'm playing some mini golf on it at the moment. What's strange is that it doesn't matter how good I am at video games - I suck at mini golf in VR, because I suck at it in real life. Similarly, I suck at shooting games, because I'm not much use with a real gun. Your real life skills matter, rather than your gaming skills.

Man, it's an insane time to be alive.

Not really, I'm not getting any VR anything, at least not for the cost of what they're priced at now, till they are directly connecting to the user's brain like in the anime SAO and such. I'd only pay like 200 at most for a HTC, Rift got left behind awhile ago, most if not all games are made for the HTC.

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Originally Posted by AOD_TekNicTerror

Not really, I'm not getting any VR anything, at least not for the cost of what they're priced at now, till they are directly connecting to the user's brain like in the anime SAO and such. I'd only pay like 200 at most for a HTC, Rift got left behind awhile ago, most if not all games are made for the HTC.

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You may find yourself never buying one then. It'll be a long, long time until you can purchase VR tech for less than €200. I mean, you're looking at 2160x1200 resolution display with a 90Hz refresh rate, dual tracking stations, dual zero-latency motion controllers with trackpads, and full positional/rotational tracking built-in. Then there's all the little stuff like ergonomics, in-built mic, front-facing camera, software costs.. etc etc. I mean, you wouldn't even find a monitor that does that resolution/refresh rate for €200, let alone a full HMD.

I mean, I get that they're expensive - they are, and there's no getting around that. But I don't get why people are confused as to why they're so expensive. Both VR headsets are an insane tech leap. The Vive moreso, with full room-scale and motion controllers which are so low latency that they might aswell just be.. well, in-game extensions of your hands. I imagine the current pricepoints will hold steady, but the tech will likely become more advanced. I would say a higher resolution screen will be the next step forward. Beyond that, I'm guessing more wireless connections. Potentially a switch to lithium-ion batteries for the display power too, to make it fully wireless. Once we hit 4K/90Hz and go fully wireless, I can see prices starting to drop at that stage.. but that'll likely be 6-7 years away.

There'll likely be more budget devices like the GearVR within that time period, however.

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Originally Posted by AOD_Time

You may find yourself never buying one then. It'll be a long, long time until you can purchase VR tech for less than €200. I mean, you're looking at 2160x1200 resolution display with a 90Hz refresh rate, dual tracking stations, dual zero-latency motion controllers with trackpads, and full positional/rotational tracking built-in. Then there's all the little stuff like ergonomics, in-built mic, front-facing camera, software costs.. etc etc. I mean, you wouldn't even find a monitor that does that resolution/refresh rate for €200, let alone a full HMD.

I mean, I get that they're expensive - they are, and there's no getting around that. But I don't get why people are confused as to why they're so expensive. Both VR headsets are an insane tech leap. The Vive moreso, with full room-scale and motion controllers which are so low latency that they might aswell just be.. well, in-game extensions of your hands. I imagine the current pricepoints will hold steady, but the tech will likely become more advanced. I would say a higher resolution screen will be the next step forward. Beyond that, I'm guessing more wireless connections. Potentially a switch to lithium-ion batteries for the display power too, to make it fully wireless. Once we hit 4K/90Hz and go fully wireless, I can see prices starting to drop at that stage.. but that'll likely be 6-7 years away.

There'll likely be more budget devices like the GearVR within that time period, however.

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Not really complaining about the price, but just the VR tech in general as I see/imagine what VR should be to me.

More or less the VR I have in mind is like the anime Sword Art Online's (SAO) VR use [can't really think of any other media for examples]; as in the VR gear is basically a helmet. If there is a screen over your eyes, it's more or less a start up deal for s system start or whatever (SAO didn't show anything like that, but I would think that would be common sense to do, especially for a first time use at least deal). As in once in game (or whatever you are going to do in VR) the screen is blank as the device is connected to your mind/brain. Which means no need to keep your eyes open, stand up and actually move around to move in game or such; the user can be sitting down or laying in bed while playing a game or whatever. Now that is the VR I want. And I'd pay 500+ for that system, and not 500+ for some system that pretty much makes you do the real thing without the actual real stuff (aka a pool table/balls/cues for the OP's VR Pool for example, might as well gone to a pool hall or bar with a table to actually play pool and wouldn't even have to share cues [hopefully]).