Renault on 28/9/2022 at 02:39
Definitely cockpit view, as much immersion as possible. I'm now in Ravensholm which is amazing as well. The mod overall is just great, I think this game was made for VR. Here's hoping they'll come up with a VR version of Black Mesa too.
Renault on 8/11/2022 at 22:10
Probably not that exciting for the folks here, but I saw that Sony announced the details for releasing PSVR2. Looks like it will run a hefty $550, and is slated to come out on February 23rd, 2023. Didn't see too many exclusive titles listed, so I'm guessing anyone who already does PC VR won't have much interest in this. Not too sure about that price point of theirs though - I'm sure the specs are good and the price is somewhat justified, but it's odd that the headset will be more expensive than the actual PS5 itself. Maybe in a couple of years for me, but at the moment I'm more focused on what the Quest 3 will have to offer.
(
https://blog.playstation.com/2022/11/02/playstation-vr2-launches-in-february-at-549-99/)
Komag on 9/11/2022 at 12:21
That's exciting news to me, if I can find a PS5 by then, sign me up, I'll sell my old PS4 Pro and get a streamlined quality controlled unified VR experience at high resolution! The future is coming, and quite affordable compared to a quality PC VR setup.
heywood on 9/11/2022 at 15:37
Quote Posted by Brethren
I'm sure it'll do gaming too, but I think Cambria is the super high end (like $1500) headset that Meta wants to introduce for Enterprise usage and incorporating their multiverse (whatever that is) and/or for AR. Their next actual dedicated gaming headset is likely going to be the Quest 3, probably out next year.
Meta just announced an across the board 13% layoff including the Reality Lab which finally made me curious enough to check out what Horizon Worlds is all about.
[video=youtube_share;XGJGduxtbC0]https://youtu.be/XGJGduxtbC0[/video]
It looks like a $1500 headset is the least of their problems. Have any of you poked around in it yet?
woah on 19/12/2022 at 15:25
Been a while, some more recommended games/mods:
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2081470/Red_Matter_2/) Red Matter 2
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1683340/Kayak_VR_Mirage/) Kayak VR
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2059670/Moss_Book_II/) Moss: Book II
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1408230/Walkabout_Mini_Golf_VR/) Walkabout Mini Golf
(
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2881604879) Levitation (HLA mod)
(
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2892886970) From Here To There (HLA mod)
(
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2600534901) Gunman Contracts Ch1 (HLA mod)
(
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2730771410) Gunman Contracts Ch2 (HLA mod)
(
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2428091041) Return to Rapture Ch1 (HLA mod)
(
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2659941008) Return to Rapture Ch2 (HLA mod)
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/658920/HalfLife_2_VR_Mod/) Half-Life 2 VR mod
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1908720/HalfLife_VR_Mod/) Half-Life 1 VR mod
Feel pretty much the same about VR overall. Interesting medium and a lot of potential, but there are still a ton of problems as the technology exists right now: eye fatigue (VAC and lack of gaze contingent rendering), many ergonomic issues (weight, heat, compression), perceptual limitations (clarity, focus depth, optical aberrations), major input limitations (few inputs and limited feedback leads to clunky/unwieldy controls), and it's very clumsy for non-immersive contexts (anything related to text/symbolic input or selecting things is excruciating, so you feel rather "muzzled" when in VR). I really think at least a few of these problems will need to be addressed before VR can move out of its gen 1 phase, it has certainly improved since the vive/rift but overall it's still the same fundamental experience. I generally find that I play VR games maybe once or twice a week, but I have to push myself. Interestingly I find it's more useful as a socialization device, in fact that is what I see the "most hardcore" users coalescing around. There is so much interesting stuff happening in VRChat.
Recently tried the quest pro and pico neo 4. Pancake lenses have excellent edge clarity, quite similar to aspheric optics in this sense, but also like aspherics there is more edge distortion. They also move the center of mass much closer to the head, which is excellent for comfort. However, the qp has an awful headstrap, it presses so hard on your forehead and results in headaches after 15 minutes or so. I've heard the same from many other people so I don't know how they messed this up on a premium $1500 device. The pico neo 4 is a mixed bag as well. The MR stuff is truly a gimmick, I mean it augments the VR experience by eliminating some friction issues, but otherwise I have no idea why there is so much hype around this (outside of it being a way to shift VR resources/the VR industry toward augmented reality). So, for now, back to the index for me.
Renault on 19/12/2022 at 20:09
I think part of what is killing VR is the lack of quality games. This year was pretty disappointing for releases, there were so few great ones, really all I can think of is Red Matter 2 and Ultrawings 2. I heard Wanderer and Moss2 were decent as well, but haven't tried either yet. Bonelab was supposed to be the thing, but I've heard it's mediocre. Seems like majority of 2022 releases fit that category. All the PC mods are nice, but I think most people want brand new stuff to play and get excited about. VR needs more system sellers on the level of Alyx to get people stoked about putting on their headsets.
Personally, I have a large backlog of stuff from the past 2 years, so I'm not hurting. I do still play fairly often, but eventually the supply will run out. And I feel like when PSVR2 is released next year, it's just going to be more of the same - PSVR versions of Beat Saber, Superhot, Pistol Whip, Skyrim, etc. Hopefully all these studios bought by Meta will start producing soon and we'll get some new blood for the platform.
Aja on 19/12/2022 at 20:22
Yeah, I was excited when they announced PSVR2, but then it turns out the flagship game is an on-rails Horizon title, and that's pretty much it. I want Half Life. I want more than anything to play Gran Turismo with a headset and be able to look out my side windows. Or give me Deathloop or Demon's Souls. VR to me still kinda feels like the Wii remotes; a fun gimmick that never developed into something substantial. Full disclosure: I've never actually tried VR, so maybe I'm completely wrong, but at present it seems like it's had to make too many compromises to be truly compelling.
Renault on 19/12/2022 at 21:38
Aja - If you've never tried VR before, PSVR2 should be perfect for you. It's not that there aren't any good games, it's just the 2022 was a bit dry. But as a new user you'd have a large library of older games to try out (assuming they're all ported to the Playstation). There's even a rumor that (
https://earlygame.com/gaming/half-life-alyx-playstation-vr2#:~:text=According%20to%20The%20Leak%2C%20Sony,it%20will%20launch%20shortly%20afterwards.) Alyx will come to PSVR2.
And I'd definitely put VR on a different level than something like the Wii. When it works, it's incredible, and it feel like it does have the potential to revolutionize the gaming experience. Someone here called it "magical" and I think that's appropriate. There's definitely some growing pains, but I'd say overall it's worth the investment.
catbarf on 20/12/2022 at 16:13
Quote Posted by Brethren
I think part of what is killing VR is the lack of quality games. This year was pretty disappointing for releases, there were so few great ones, really all I can think of is Red Matter 2 and Ultrawings 2. I heard Wanderer and Moss2 were decent as well, but haven't tried either yet. Bonelab was supposed to be the thing, but I've heard it's mediocre. Seems like majority of 2022 releases fit that category. All the PC mods are nice, but I think most people want brand new stuff to play and get excited about. VR needs more system sellers on the level of Alyx to get people stoked about putting on their headsets.
Everything I've heard from developers for the last couple of years is that focusing on VR drastically curtails their market, and so most are reluctant to make VR-only titles. This is why I tend to think the popular implementation for the next few years will be VR support, not VR-exclusive titles. Modern engines are making it easy to implement VR without having to rebuild the game from scratch, and it avoids restricting the playerbase to just people with VR.
The problem of course is that it means the games can't be designed around VR, like most of the current VR exemplars are. Bit of a catch-22 since it's those standout VR-only experiences that sell headsets. Though I still consider it something of a no-brainer for certain genres- I don't think I'll ever go back to non-VR flight or driving sims, for instance.
When cost comes down and the tech limitations Woah described start to get ironed out, then I think we're going to see VR as a mainstream product rather than an enthusiast niche.
Aja on 24/2/2023 at 20:17
Well, I did a silly thing and got a PSVR2. Thankfully I had $300 in Best Buy gifts cards that they inexplicably gave me for upgrading my phone on Boxing Day, so it wasn't such a huge hit.
And, uh, it's wild. First thing I did was boot up the Horizon demo, and when they pulled the bag off my head, I started giggling like a child. It is a whole new and very weird experience for me. I had a great time clinking plates against a piece of a wood. And then I spent about 20 minutes examining my bow and trying to get the lens focus right.
Never having used VR before (literally not once), I wasn't expecting the sweet spot to be so small or hard to maintain. It seems to be getting easier the more I try it, but a slight raising of my eyebrows or shake of my head and I can start to see chromatic aberration and blurring. It can be sharp right in the very center of vision but it gets dramatically blurrier toward the edges. It's funny that they advertise it as "4K visuals" on the box because it sure as heck doesn't look like a 4K TV; maybe more like a 720p viewed through an aquarium. That said, colours look good and contrast is good, too. It's just overall a much dirtier image than I was expecting. I guess sharpness is relative in VR land.
Still, that kinda goes away when you start getting into it. Sitting in a car in GT7 for the first time was truly startling; it felt perfectly to scale, materials looked real, and seeing things like mirrors and paint reflections in 3D is so much more lifelike than on a flat screen. Then I started driving, and -- oh boy -- I could hardly process what was happening. Tracks that I know well suddenly had so much more depth -- they felt like real (albeit blurry) places -- and the sense of speed so much greater than in 2D. I had to stop the car, and I ended up parked next to a track marshall, who turned to stare at me, and even though he's just low-poly scenery, it was eerie as hell. Then I started to feel nauseous and had to stop. I think I'm going to have to work my way back up to this.
There's a RezHD upgrade that uses eye tracking for aiming, which works surprisingly well. I also tried Puzzling Places, where you assemble paper-like models of buildings, and that was relaxing and fairly sharp, too. And I dipped into demos of Star Wars (the first time I ever killed someone in VR!) and Cosmonious High (big weird cartoon characters and science experiments) but realized I have to take it slow or else I'm going to have a permanent mild headache/nausea combo. I've also been getting a weird sensation like I'm a little bit in VR when I'm not, which I understand is common but goes away over time.
So I guess I'm not 100 percent sold on VR as being a thing I'd want to do regularly, but it is still undeniably cool. I wish the image quality was better, but if wearing glasses and having cheap windshields installed over the years has taught me anything, it's that your brain can adapt to visual deficiencies in powerful ways. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to now catch up on this 58-page thread.
