Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Now Open, First Shipments March 28

[yourbeliefs]

Took the kids by Best Buy yesterday.
They were demo'ing both the Oculus Rift and the Playstation VR.

My older boy tried out the Oculus Rift, and he, myself, and my daughter each tried a different game demo on the Playstation VR. My son tried out Batman Arkham, my daughter tried a carnival game, and I did a space flight game.

I was actually impressed in how well it worked. So it looks like the kids will be getting the Playstation VR for Christmas.

As for Oculus Rift, not so sure about that, as it's $200 more than the Playstation VR, plus it has some beefy hardware requirements, and I'm not 100% certain the computers we have are worthy of it, have to check, as the demo person gave me a card of the website that you can check out your hardware on.

The PS4 Headset is $400. You're also going to need at least the PS4 Camera, and for full game functionality you'll need a pair of motion controllers, so you're really looking at more like $500.

Don't forget that for the full experience of Oculus you're going to need to spend an additional $200 on the Oculus controllers.
As far as hardware, unless you have a gaming PC, odds are it's not going to be able to run it. If you don't have a $350+ dedicated graphics card, then odds are you won't be able to use it. Also, the HTC Vive is another option.

 

[Derwin0]

The PS4 Headset is $400. You're also going to need at least the PS4 Camera, and for full game functionality you'll need a pair of motion controllers, so you're really looking at more like $500.

We've had 3 or 4 move controllers lying around for years, no biggee there. Also, some games don't need move controllers, the one I demoed just used the dualshock.

Also have a camera, as my daughter wanted it for some singing/dancing type game a while back.

So other than games, it's a $400 pricepoint for me.

The thing I like about going the PS4 route instead of PC route, is the games are all written for the same specs, not like in the arms race you see with PC's. So no worries about things running well on my setup. Especially since the kids have bad habits of installing crap onto their computers.
Downside is no VR porn, I mean if I was so inclined that is.

 

[meStevo]

Even at this price point I have a hard time seeing them sell millions like they're protecting.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Derwin0]

Even at this price point I have a hard time seeing them sell millions like they're protecting.

Same here, that's why I wanted to try out some games before even thinking of buying it.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Not to tell you how to spend your money but why bother getting it now when the tech and game selection is at its worst and price is at its highest? Let's not forget that Sony has a very dirty past of getting into something then abandoning it within 18 months, like the PSP Go, PS Phone, PS TV, VIta, 3D Gaming, PS Move, PS Camera, etc. There's NO guarantee that Sony will be supporting this thing long term, because as of now they're just doing the same song and dance they've done for all the products I mentioned.

I say you wait a year. That way at least you'll have a larger library of games at your disposal that aren't merely glorified tech demos. Also you can gauge if there even is a lot of stuff out there. From what I've seen based on reviews there's maybe 4 games out now worth playing, and the rest are your typical launch title level of mediocre.

 

[Derwin0]

Because I'm a nice father, and can afford to burn $400 on a shared gift to my kids.

Otherwise I wouldn't have had the PS4 in the first place.

 

[meStevo]

Oh yeah, I'm all about the gifts for my kids that I get to enjoy too.

My son is 5, he's actually started to ask to play Xbox One games with me, need to line some up, because Forza is probably not a good first game.

 

[Derwin0]

Oh yeah, I'm all about the gifts for my kids that I get to enjoy too.

My son is 5, he's actually started to ask to play Xbox One games with me, need to line some up, because Forza is probably not a good first game.

When my oldest boy got into wanting to play games, I dug out some old favorites for him to play. Now though we can play all kinds of good games together.
Bad part is, he beats me at everything now.

Plus it's easier to justify the expense when "it's for the kids"

 

[yourbeliefs]

It's a weird balance in my house. My kids like playing with Mario Maker, but my wife is very much against them playing games. Overall I haven't encouraged them much but then this weekend I was at RetroWorld in town, which is basically a retro gaming convention, and seeing so many kids enjoying it with their parents made me think, "I want to share this mutual enjoyment of something with my kids." So I'll be trying to get them into games soon. I think I'll start with older co-op games like TMNT Arcade and games of that ilk. Not sure I want them to go with the same trial by fire gaming that I dealt with when I was younger. One thing that helped with my gaming acumen was that I was very much a loner and distant when I was a kid, so gaming was one of my main sources of enjoyment. I don't want my kids to invest the same amount of time into gaming as I did when I was their age. Then again with my wife in the house I don't see that happening anyways.

 

[meStevo]

Yeah, I'm torn between building a MAME cabinet, buying one of those little NES boxes and setting that up for him or just making an account for him on our Xboxes and setting him up with some games to start with (but he probably just wants to drive around into walls in Forza Horizon 3).

He's 5 and has had a Kindle for probably 3 years, think he's itching to 'upgrade' lol.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Speaking of MAME Cabinets, this is a thing. It's a VR game that basically recreates an arcade that you can load up with your own ROMs so you get the feel of playing the games back in an arcade. It's still pretty buggy right now but the concept is really cool. It also comes with some of its own games.

 

[king3pj]

So I may have just had a huge lapse in financial judgement and ordered an Oculus Rift. I am one of the people who has been super interested in VR for a long time but I've been holding out until there were actual games I wanted to play.

I have been watching all of Giant Bomb's VR features and there has been more and more stuff that actually looks cool each time they put up a new video. Seeing them play Superhot VR is what actually sold me though. The gameplay of standard Superhot was already very cool but Superhot VR looks amazing. It is not just the same game with VR support. It's a completely new game built from the ground up around VR.

Even with Superhot VR getting me more sold on VR than ever I still didn't really plan to jump in yet. I wanted to see more games or a price drop first. When I took a look at the Amazon page and saw that they were including a $100 Amazon gift card, EVE Valkyrie, Obduction, and Lucky's Tale my impulsive nature took over and I pulled the trigger. At $500 it's still pretty damn expensive but I felt good about getting the $100 off and 3 included games. The only real bummer is that the Oculus Touch controllers are back-ordered so I'm not sure when those are going to arrive. That means I will have to hold off on Superhot VR for a little while longer.

So why the Rift instead of the Vive? I always planned to go with the Vive because I would rather use Steam to buy and play VR games instead of installing yet another storefront. The motion controllers also seemed like a necessary part of the VR experience to me. How immersed can you actually be while holding an Xbox One controller?

A few things have changed that opinion for me. First, Oculus has quite a few exclusive games like Superhot VR and the VR game that Insomniac is working on. I know there are third party programs that can be used to trick the Oculus store into letting you play those games on a Vive but that seems like a hassle and it could end up getting blocked by Oculus at some point. SteamVR, on the other hand, is a much more open platform. SteamVR natively supports the Rift headset and now that the touch controllers are here most of the games are compatible with the Rift. Going with the Rift and touch controls instead of the Vive means that I should be able to play the best content available on both platforms.

Also, the Giant Bomb guys have done more VR coverage than anyone else I've seen and they seem to prefer the Oculus Touch Controllers to the Vive controllers. Apparently they are able to track your fingers instead of just the controller. I'm sure both headsets are great but the Rift just seems to make a little more sense to me now.

VR is still very expensive but I can handle the expense, even if I know that there are a lot more fiscally responsible things I could do with that money. I have the gaming PC to support it and my PC is already in a dedicated room that is big enough for VR. I'll check back in later this week after I get it setup and try it out for the first time.

 

[yourbeliefs]

And to think that today I physically restrained myself from getting a 1070 priced at $360

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Last week Best Buy had a computer on sale for $999 which came with the Oculus Rift for free so we got it for our son for Christmas.

My wife couldn't wait to give it to him so he got it already. (Argg)

He went and going to controllers last week for it which he likes much more than the XBOX controller.


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[king3pj]

And to think that today I physically restrained myself from getting a 1070 priced at $360

That's a great price for a 1070. The bad influence in me says you should have grabbed it.

Last week Best Buy had a computer on sale for $999 which came with the Oculus Rift for free so we got it for our son for Christmas.

My wife couldn't wait to give it to him so he got it already. (Argg)

He went and going to controllers last week for it which he likes much more than the XBOX controller.


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

Yeah, from what I've heard the Oculus Touch controllers are really needed to tie the full VR experience together. I wish I could have bought a cheaper version of the Vive that didn't come with the Xbox controller and wireless dongle because I already have those. Some games like EVE Valkyrie are probably better with the Xbox controller but the majority of them are going to be improved by the touch controllers.

 

[yourbeliefs]

That's a great price for a 1070. The bad influence in me says you should have grabbed it.

Well the big thing that deterred me was the fact that as of now I still only have a sub $200 HDTV hooked up to my system, and such a purchase would then force me to get a brand new monitor also, so now by $360 purchase is going to become $600+, and it'll be hooked up to an older computer. I'll just keep my wallet closed until I'm ready to do my big upgrade.

 

[king3pj]

I just got an email from Amazon with an update on the back-ordered touch controllers I ordered. It looks like they will be delivered on the 23rd. That's obviously longer than I would like to wait but it's much better than the unknown shipping date I had before.

 

[yourbeliefs]

 

[king3pj]

That would definitely qualify as a first world problem.

 

[king3pj]

So I messed around with the Rift last night. Not that this will be a big shock to anyone but VR is very cool. Last night was actually my first time seeing high end VR (Rift, Vive, PS VR). Before that my only exposure to it was about 10 minutes with a friend's phone and Gear VR. As soon as I put the headset on for the first time and their Dreamdeck demo automatically started up I could instantly see the difference.

I played a little bit of EVE Valkyrie. This game puts you in a cockpit and sends you out into space dogfights. It's easy to see why this type of game would make sense in VR. It's also one where the Xbox One controller actually makes more sense than touch controllers. Playing this made me wish that Forza Horizon 3 had VR support. I guess I'll have to grab Project Cars next time it goes on sale even though I would prefer a more arcadey racing game.

Next I played a few levels of the other pack in game, Lucky's Tale. This is a 3rd person 3D platformer in the vein of a lot of the games that were popular in the N64/PS1 era. I was skeptical about the reasoning behind playing a 3rd person game in VR and 3D platformers aren't typically my favorite games but it is actually pretty cool. It's bright and colorful and it's fun to look around at whatever part of the environment you want even if you aren't seeing it from the character's perspective. This is a game I probably wouldn't play without VR but I will probably end up finishing it because it's there.

I finished up the night by checking out ADR1FT in SteamVR. I got this game from a recent Humble Bundle and it just happens to support VR in addition to standard gameplay. This really feels like a game that is meant to be played in VR though. You start the game by waking up floating in space in an EVA suit outside a heavily damaged space station above earth. The sense of scale next to this space station is amazing and the graphics are highly detailed. The whole game seems to be focused around using your EVA suit to explore this space station in zero gravity and figure out how to get home. The first person perspective from inside a space suit with all the HUD elements being actual parts of the inside of the helmet is a very cool VR experience.

The game has mixed reviews on Steam but looking through them it seems like people playing the game in VR really like it while people playing it on a monitor think it's boring. I haven't seen much VR yet but out of what I have seen so far ADR1FT has been the coolest experience. This will be the first VR game I finish.

It is also the only game out of everything I tested that made me feel nauseous. I had to quit playing it after about a half hour even though I wanted to keep exploring. The disconnect between my brain seeing me float wherever I want to in zero gravity (sometimes upside down or sideways) while physically sitting still in a desk chair seems to be too much at times. You can hold B button down at any point to temporarily close off most of your view and help with the VR sickness but I didn't start taking advantage of that until it was already too late. At least I know better for next time.