4 ms·
I recently got the PS4 VR system, and....wow. I expected a glitchy system that was too early to be useful but had neat moments. What I got was a glitchy syste
by ergothus 9y ago
I recently got the PS4 VR system, and....wow.
I expected a glitchy system that was too early to be useful but had neat moments.
What I got was a glitchy system that has some useful parts already and the neat moments really show the promise.
Despite it being not very realistic, my brain was happy to adjust. Playing Skyrim with peripheral vision and being able to reach out to the side and snag some item without changing the direction I was moving was surprisingly amazing. I found my body reacting as if the projection was real - flinching, trying to scratch my nose because I forgot I was wearing a huge mask, ducking, reaching out with an arm, peeking around a corner, glancing. I'm a terrible gamer, so "block" functions are something I rarely use...but pulling up my shield when someone is swinging a sword at me was natural - and seemingly worked.
Fruit Ninja VR is the sword/lightsaber game I've always wanted. Full angle and rotational movement, I could slice, slap aside with the flat of the blade, and even spear completely naturally.
Some games have the controller wands replaced by hands in the projection and I would occasionally drop the controllers because I was trying to use my "fingers".
Motion definitely makes motion sickness more likely. Smudges on the eyepieces are terrible, and getting just the right focus and calibration is finicky, especially vertical (some games have me stand at the same distance from the camera that other games require I sit). Teleportation movement broke immersion a lot, but constitutes an entire new genre of game as far as I could tell - I tried a demo of a shooter that had only teleportation movement, and the tactics it involved were totally new. Archery imitations fell very flat for me - motions a bit too imprecise to "nock" an arrow, and holding a wand in each hand is not close enough to a bow and sting. The lack of tactile feedback on the draw strength was surprisingly less important than I expected though.
The Star Trek Bridge Crew game and Battle(something involving tanks) gave me control panels to my immediate left and right that seemed perfectly natural in ways that a flatscreen display has not.
Honestly, we're a lot closer to a big interface change than I thought. I think the Input is now behind the Output. Get me Geek gloves so that I'm not holding a controller and can have my fingers in game and some more natural way to indicate walking/running/jumping and I'll call the package truly revolutionary even with the various caveats and finicky-ness of the VR display. (of course, I just listed some things I have no idea how to implement)
After a couple of hours, I was ready for the Singularity. Upload me and screw this physical limitations business. The VR wasn't real, but it was already close enough to make me very happy.
That said, while I have a blast each time I use it, I often elect to not go through the hassle of getting it all set up when I have some rare free time to play a game, particularly during daylight hours when the sun might wreak havoc with the camera's ability to find the helmet. I'm not surprised sales haven't been strong. I also won't be surprised if that changes dramatically when it's a pair of goggle-sized goggles, even without input changes, and with input improvements it's...surprisingly awesome.