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Ask HN: Do you still play with VR actively?

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

#41

Post by swalsh »

serg_chernata wrote: post #3

I had a DK2 but decided to hold off on purchasing the new headsets. I know that everything has gotten much, much better but even then the novelty was wearing off for me. Motion controllers may have changed that. I can't really describe why the excitement wore off for me. I'm still optimistic and will end up purchasing current gen once the price comes down or simply wait for the next iteration.

I went from a DK1 to a vive, so the transition was even more dramatic... but for me the motion controllers have been EVERYTHING. Everything I love about playing on the vive is about having my body in the game, not just my head.

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

#42

Post by super-serial »

Had a Vive for months, still play it 4 times a week.

That's not going to stop because it's pretty much replaced my workouts. Instead of doing a 30 min intense workout, I do two hours in the Vive. It used to be more Holoball, Holopoint, Zenblade... but now it's RecRoom, BattleDome and Pong Waves VR. More stuff comes out than I have to try with a full-time job and a minimalist social life.

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

#43

Post by troymc »

phodo wrote: post #30

Putting this out there: This is one of those threads that would be interesting to go back and read 3 to 5 years from now... at that point we'd have at least one killer app that redefines what VR is, we would have a sense of what the emergent mechanics that resonate with folks are, etc. Similar to reading old mobile threads, before the inflection point hit and we got the killer apps / patterns we have today. Or readin…

It's also possible that there is no killer app, and the whole thing just stays niche, like 3D movies or Second Life.

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

#44

Post by arielweisberg »

malnourish wrote: post #29
arielweisberg wrote: post #24

By play do you mean as a consumer of content or a producer of content? I have a Rift and play Elite Dangerous several times a week. Otherwise the software situation is quite dire with no content that can match the depth of typical AAA titles. The lack of motion tracked controllers is a problem right now as it blocks access to a lot of Steam games.

Are the Oculus Touch controllers motion tracked? And by motion tracked do you mean e.g. how the Vive controllers perform?

Yes they are motion tracked. They have inertial sensors and are tracked by cameras just like the Rift headset. Early reports are that they work about as well as the Vive controllers.

We'll know more towards the end of the year when they are slated to be widely available.

The great thing about Valve's approach to VR is that they have been very open and committed to compatibility with Rift hardware and aren't playing favorites with hardware. To Valve a motion tracked controller is a motion tracked controller.

People are using stuff like Razer Hydra to play Steam games with tracked controllers and the Rift today.

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

#45

Post by dogma1138 »

Both Oculus and Vive have been shelved after 1-2 weeks of use. Played some of the launch titles, Adrift was amazing, the steam VR workshop was nice, some of the creative stuff was pretty darn cool.

But "hardcore" PC gaming on them is just god damn awful once you get pass the "omg it's so fucking cool in in awe" period.

They are heavy, comfort levels aren't there, sweat is an issue especially in the summer, they put strain on your neck and since they give you a considerable smaller viewing angle than what you can do with a display (not to mention an ultrawide/screen spanning setup) they are disadvantaged in just about every game.

Replacing a wide viewing angle and a quick mouse look ability with turning your head is just harder and slower (and after 45 min painfull).

Losing the ability to switch to 3rd person views, zoom and pan the camera or detach it is a huge disadvantage in just about every game that supports VR.

Losing the ability to disconnect from the game for even a second and to focus your eyes on something else, turn your head without affecting the game, take a drink of water, stretch and pretty much just be free to do what you want puts so much stress on you that after 30min you just stop enjoying it.

Overall VR seems to be nice for very very specific applications, ones that are completely impossible to do without it, for everything else it's just worse it turns a completely detached leisure activity in a real life activity and that's a problem. The holodeck concept might sound cool until you figure out that it's actually hard work. Personally I don't think VR would go much further, AR on the other hand (Microsoft Hololens) has a bright future, if Google comes out with a slightly less sucky version of Google Glass and you mate it with Pokemon Go it's game over.

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

#46

Post by swalsh »

phodo wrote: post #30

Putting this out there: This is one of those threads that would be interesting to go back and read 3 to 5 years from now... at that point we'd have at least one killer app that redefines what VR is, we would have a sense of what the emergent mechanics that resonate with folks are, etc. Similar to reading old mobile threads, before the inflection point hit and we got the killer apps / patterns we have today. Or readin…

I don't think it's going to be a "killer app", I think it's going to be adding the missing "feature". Which is probably locomotion. The teleportation stuff is a handy hack, but it's not immersive. Games are very limited in capability while the locomotion issue still exists.

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

#48

Post by irq »

arielweisberg wrote: post #28
nilkn wrote: post #25

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 poi…

I 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…

The HTC Vive has this (instantly available full screen pass through of a camera mounted on the headset).

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

#49

Post by moron4hire »

malnourish wrote: post #29
arielweisberg wrote: post #24

By play do you mean as a consumer of content or a producer of content? I have a Rift and play Elite Dangerous several times a week. Otherwise the software situation is quite dire with no content that can match the depth of typical AAA titles. The lack of motion tracked controllers is a problem right now as it blocks access to a lot of Steam games.

Are the Oculus Touch controllers motion tracked? And by motion tracked do you mean e.g. how the Vive controllers perform?

Yes, they are, but very few people have them. Oculus hopes to have 5,000 copies out by the end of the year, whereas HTC has already sold over 100,000 units. Oculus Touch is a great device, but your just not going to see it available or supported very well for a very significant amount of time.

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

#50

Post by swalsh »

troymc wrote: post #43
phodo wrote: post #30

Putting this out there: This is one of those threads that would be interesting to go back and read 3 to 5 years from now... at that point we'd have at least one killer app that redefines what VR is, we would have a sense of what the emergent mechanics that resonate with folks are, etc. Similar to reading old mobile threads, before the inflection point hit and we got the killer apps / patterns we have today. Or readin…

It's also possible that there is no killer app, and the whole thing just stays niche, like 3D movies or Second Life.

I can see it staying niche just because of the fact that any new advance makes the thing more expensive. It's like boating, if you have one they're great fun... super useful, but they're money pits. I think VR is going to be a money pit for a while. Each additional step of immersion linearly increases the price of VR.

If it could actually fake the signals sent to your brain, whatever that means... maybe it would be possible to improve it via software, but that's far future stuff.

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