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Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

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71–80 of 112 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#71
I use my Oculus Rift basically every day. I prefer it to tv or other entertainment. I thought it would fade but there are new apps released all the time and I love the feeling of being transported to another world.

I would say about 50% gaming (I'm a fan of puzzle games personally) but the other half is entertainment- 360 videos and immersive education experiences from Vrideo, Jaunt, and several standalone apps are phenomenal and I can't get over the fun of "being there".

I can't wait for the market to grow and additional content to come out.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#72
I think Nintendo is going to be the one to knock VR out of the park next year with the NX.

That's what I'm waiting for because I believe it's going to not only be a handheld device/home console in one, but also easily support the holy grail, untethered VR. With first-party support from the world's premier game developer.

Of course, it will be Nintendo art style, easier to render than faux reality. But that style is ideal for the relatively weak VR resolutions that systems have today. Personally, I prefer artistic or cartoonish graphics. If I want reality, I don't want it rendered. I'll walk outside. Go play paintball and obliterate the desktop or HMD VR experiences.

If you want to dip toes in the water and start now, I'd get yourself a Google Cardboard setup. Nintendo is going to make Oculus/Vive and the 90's VR stuff (including VirtualBoy!) look silly as they bring this to mass market. It's going to be the games, simplified setup and console pricing that will win it. There won't be anything else like it.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#73

I work at a makerspace and we just got our 2nd vive. We also have a Rift and a Hololens. The Vive gets the most use. I go through periods of use and then ignore it for a bit. But as long as games continue to be released, I think I would be using it regularly. I am real excited for more multiplayer games. PoolNationVR is a great example of a quality polished VR experience that you just cant get in any other medium. Ca…

You might be interested to know that Rec Room has a multiplayer VR ping-pong / beer-pong game - just head to the upstairs loft area.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#74

Nope. I bought an HTC Vive because Valve promised linux support. It's 5+ months since release and there's still not even a hint that they're working on it. It was a huge mistake to buy hardware based on promises of software support.

> there's still not even a hint that they're working on it

The 64 bit version of Linux binaries have been updated on every OpenVR[0] release since the Vive was released. And it seems it works since the version 1.0.1. It's just there's no games for it. The ball is currently on the game and game engine developers. The only things Valve could release other than SteamVR and the API is Robot Repair (the only part of The Lab that is not Unity) and Dota 2 VR spectator mode (released just a few days ago).

Also, most games are currently using DirectX. In the near future when most VR games use Vulkan it will be easy to run them with Wine at full performance (basically impossible with DX because of the high API overhead and game specific optimizations in drivers). That's assuming game devs don't compile for Linux, of course. And if most use DX12 instead of Vulkan, it would be still much better than previous versions of DX and OGL.

[0] https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#75
post #33

I don't think I've heard a single person say elite dangerous is better without VR. It's just so much better with it than without, I can't not use it. Mind you, I just have google cardboard, but it's kinda similar, right?

My brother did say this. But only because the text is fuzzier in his DK2 than on his giant monitor.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#76
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite that bad. Assuming base stations are already plugged in, I'm generally up and in Steam in 1 minute. Only step necessary to detect controllers is turning them on. Straps are annoying if you play with others though. IPD is easy once you know "the trick": close one eye, adjust IPD until lines as viewed straight ahead are sharp.

Do you let your base stations sleep? I have mine set to (yay moving parts with limited lifespans), and I agree that there's a noticeable delay between when I click the VR button and when I'm ready to put my headset on. I did not know the IPD trick. I'm tempted to go try that right now. Which kind of aligns me to cven714's point - mine sits there. I have fun when I play, but I just got up off my couch after deciding n…

I have mine set to sleep and wake up when I launch SteamVR, there's a delay but not much longer than it takes me to pull the headset out of the bag and hit power on the two controllers.

re: IPD, I'm sure this is why the default environment has the grids, because it makes it easy to check how sharp a single line is. Too bad there's no indication anywhere of how to do this...

My biggest problem with pulling out the Vive is that my play area is pretty cluttered :(

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#77
Former oculus owner here. I wear eye glasses and it's just a giant hassle. Ended up giving it to a friend. The times that I got it up and running and having fun could be counted on one hand.

Most of the use I got out of it was introducing friends to VR for the first time. Everyone thought "cool!" No one asked for me to pull it out a 2nd time.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#79
post #69

Have a vive, I use mine whenever I get a block of an hour+ for setup and actually playing. It's not something you can just impulse play. That said I haven't found many games that really do vr right. Job simulator nails it I think. I tried Elite Dangerous out briefly and it looked quite amazing. I just don't have the controls down enough to play comfortably with a headset on. American Truck Simulator is okay once you…

Have you tried Cosmic Trip?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/427240/

Re: Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

#80
post #56

I play it a few times a week. Project Cars and DiRT are what I spend most of the time with. I'm also enjoying Chronos right now, which is more of a RPG. Echoing what a few others have said, there are not a lot of great AAA titles for either the Vive or Rift. This will change over time. Are you excited about VR, or are you looking somewhere just to make money? If you're into this, then yes, I would recommend you learn…

Out of interest, I've heard that acceleration I'm VR games is a big cause of sickness, have you experienced this in your racing games at all?
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