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I was in the very first wave of Vive shipments and I got a Rift at the very beginning of June. So at this point I've had both for a pretty decent chunk of time.
by nilkn 10y ago
I was in the very first wave of Vive shipments and I got a Rift at the very beginning of June. So at this point I've had both for a pretty decent chunk of time.
I haven't been using them much, but that's largely due to lack of content. I used them both heavily when they arrived, and the Vive in particular got a ton of playtime, but after a certain point I just don't want to fire up SPT again. Recently it got to a point where I'm not even all that excited to demo the Vive to others either.
I disagree strongly with those saying monitors are obsolete. They're definitely not, not right now at least. I've recently been playing The Witcher 3 and not only is it far more graphically impressive than any VR content available, but the game itself has a level of complexity that would be very hard to achieve in a VR game.
It's just too convenient and easy to play games on a 1440p or 4K monitor with keyboard and mouse. The extremely crisp resolution, the fantastic and complex and comfortable controls, the ability to trivially do stuff concurrently while playing the game, the fact that you're not blocked off from people around you... there are more than enough reasons to continue playing standard monitor-based games.
I feel I do need to emphasize how much VR blocks you off from friends and family who might be around. It feels very social when you demo it for the first time, but eventually I could definitely tell that my SO was starting to resent VR. From her perspective, it's the equivalent of me just disappearing into the garage and locking the door with little to no communication.
- arielweisberg 10y agoI haven't really had the blocked off issue. With the Rift I can hear things outside the headset and I can pop up one ear to talk more easily. The games are mirrored to our 65" TV so my spouse can see what I see and enjoy games vicariously the way she usually does. They enjoy when I play horror games and let loose with the color commentary. I actually pulled her into the game and play Elite with her now. I'm in VR and she is on a screen. I do agree there is a temptation to use a screen just for comfort and ease of context switching. I think a solid forward facing camera with stellar software support is table stakes for a VR headset. Not PiP, I am talking about always available full screen pass through that can activate and deactivate lightning quick. Heck give me a hardware button on the set. And wireless. I can dream right?
- irq 10y agoThe HTC Vive has this (instantly available full screen pass through of a camera mounted on the headset).
- arielweisberg 10y agoThat's great. Hopefully Oculus moves towards feature parity. Can you activate it using the wands or an Xbox controller? Does it work well if you are in game?
- lfowles 10y agoWands only (I think it may even be a beta feature or something I had to specifically activate in developer settings). Here are some screenshots of the various front camera uses: http://media.bestofmicro.com/P/6/571146/original/room-view-comparison.jpg http://media.bestofmicro.com/P/6/571146/original/room-view-c... - This view is overlaid on the game when you doubletap the system button on the wand. Edit: It can also be overlaid automatically when you approach chaperone bounds, but it's incredibly distracting when set up that way. http://cdn.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mini-camera-640x446.png?b34c28 http://cdn.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mini-cam... - This view is available when in the "pause menu" when the front camera is enabled. It's a little weird, because the view is attached to the wand but the camera is attached to your head.
- irq 10y agoI haven't played with an xbox controller on my Vive yet, but yes you can activate it with the wands, you double press the lowest button. This feature isn't enabled by default though, you have to turn it on in the SteamVR settings (it's easy to find).
- raptorpark 10y agoIt's not a clear camera though like we were led to believe. Unlike your phone camera, it draws the room in weird wiggles in black and white. It also creates a performance impact so most people prefer to brave without it.
- chenster 10y agoHow does VR do to your eyes after wearing it for a long time?
- nilkn 10y agoI personally haven't felt any effect on my eyes, but my SO says that it dries her eyes out after a while and makes them burn a bit. I think she's the only person I know who's experienced that though.