Vive, Rift, and other VR

[Matti]

Home Virtual Reality systems are the real deal right now. Vive isn't the most feasible in my broom closet, but my brother's house has nearly empty room of sufficient size. It has rank of closets which are just of the right size for PC, monitor, VR set, game controllers, table with foldout legs (for joystick and wheel controllers), and anything else needed. Kitchen & refrigerator are nearby ;)

Right now plan is to buy HTC Vive and required PC in November when hardest workload of autumn (harvest season) calms down and before Christmas season begins. I'm going to drag the set around to small cons (hundreds visitors, not thousands) and some other events. Vive seems to have a reputation with straightforward installation and is (relatively) reliable, so it is my choice despite of the price (over 900 € in Finland for the new set). In events I'm also going to charge for its use, maybe with voluntary donations at first with encouraging words next to donation box: "Greater virtual experiences with a small donation". Last Friday I received game collection Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition. It'd be awesome if I get those games to work with New Retro Arcade Neon

Do you have plans to get new home VR systems? Or do you already own one or have other kind of experience?

[Bedwyr]

At some point. I have a friend with Vive and he says the viability of the system depends on the game. Different people are differently sensitive in the ear, so you cut off a number already. Otherwise most games are kind of party trick demos.

The new FP games like Fallout 4 coming are going to be a bit awkward. To manage nausea most companies have eliminated head bobbing with some other tricks. But my friend says the overall feel is of being an avenging angel floating gently within shotgun range of thine enemy.

Really the primary use case ends up being cockpit experiences. This is right up my alley as a pilot and flight instructor eagerly thinking about X Plane and Elite Dangerous. Other than that I'm going to hold off.

And possibly sell my nVidia 1060 to buy a 1080 for *less* because there's an etherium mining rush going on.

[Matti]

Otherwise most games are kind of party trick demos.

I have found out older games get VR upgrades through mods & hacks. Quake II has got VR upgrade. Wish someone would make one for Starshatter :'(

[pheonixstorm]

Ah to revive a dated industry... I remember playing MechWarrior 2 with a VR headset. That was fun but the headset was really heavy. Then there are the full dive systems in the iron ball as it were.

But, for VR treatment in the 90s my fondest memory was hacking the Nintendo Power Glove to work with the PC for the very limited number of VR games that used a sensor glove and headset. Using Wii like controls seems like the entire VR setup has taken a step back especially at $800 a pop. I found one article that shows a slim number of offerings from the 90s https://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/a-trip-down-virtual-reality-road-6-systems-of-the-past.html/?a=viewall

[pheonixstorm]

Finally found another article that shows off the difference between then and now. https://www.cnet.com/news/2016-vr-meet-1993-vr/

I have two VR books from the 90s that included CDs called VR Madness, they were pretty good for the time and had a lot of information about the technology from then.

The nice thing about have VR trying to go mainstream again is the power of modern PCs and how much smaller electronics have become, though price still seems to be an issue for entry.

[Matti]

The nice thing about have VR trying to go mainstream again is the power of modern PCs and how much smaller electronics have become, though price still seems to be an issue for entry.

New ones have better headsets that are lighter and have better displays. Some people over at YouTube tell they got headaches from previous VR tech but have nothing serious with new ones like Rift and Vive. One reason is improved frame rate, which goes up to 90 frames per second. Not every VR set is as expensive as Vive ($800 - €999): some cost less than $500, but aren't room scale. Used VR set may cost half of the new one, and I have seen used Vives go for 500 €. Even mobile smart phone can be used as improvised VR set with cheap headset addition.

[Matti]

On another forum is discussed about movement in first-person VR games. Apparently movement with (Rift's) hand controller makes some people feel sick. One has played short sessions with that, and each time he can play little longer than last time. Movement by teleporting (point VR controller to location and push a button) is less strenuous.

[Matti]

Look up Star Trek™: Bridge Crew. That looks interesting.

[Matti]

Look up Star Trek™: Bridge Crew. That looks interesting.

Gameplay video of that one. Looks cool. Might have more players than Artemis.

[RunandFindOut]

Looks cool but the implementation seems a bit lacking.  Whatever they do next will probably be much better.