TV seems to be inundated lately with commercials for virtual reality hardware and software. In the commercials (and some clips that I’ve seen on Facebook/Youtube), people seem to be really into it. Every experience that I’ve had has been decidedly “meh”. Granted, I haven’t paid a hundred dollars for a Samsung headset. I’ve only used a Google Cardboard and whatever it was that my daughter bought (it wasn’t expensive).
What have you thought about it so far? If you’ve been blown away/really impressed, what was it that did it for you?
I’m subscribing to this thread because I’d love to hear others responses.
When my wife got a new Samsung phone we got a VR headset as a freebie. We’ve tried it a few times. But the documentation that came with it is virtually non-existent: basically just how to strap your phone to the headset. I’m confused as to where the software resides…on the phone? on the headset? and how do I get new stuff?
And who makes it – is it Samsung? Who is this Oculus entity?
Corded controllers or headsets would be a danger if you are playing any of the games offered because you’ll wrap your legs like [del]Antman in a bad MARVEL Movie[/del] an Imperial Walker on Hoth and fall over.
“A hundred dollars for a Samsung headset” isn’t likely to get you all the much either. The only one I’ve tried is the HTC Vive which is probably the state of the art in consumer headsets right now. I’ve tried it with about 6 or 7 different games or experiences including the Apollo mission, the sunken undersea wreck, the robot lab, and a few others. It’s really quite remarkable but it costs $800 which is what it takes for high quality optics, 70 different motion and position sensors including infrared lasers mounted in the room that track the wearer’s position, and wireless controllers. And as I mentioned elsewhere, you also need a fairly powerful computer to drive it. It’s really lots of fun, though. One could argue how much content is really available for it – there’s lots of individual titles, but most of them are in the nature of demo-like VR experiences rather than full-fledged games.
I tried Google Cardboard with a couple of apps and it was … ok. An interesting novelty, good for a few minutes of goofing around, and that was enough. There may be better apps than the ones I used, I dunno.
But I also got Playstation VR, which is a huge step up from Cardboard but not quite the pinnacle of virtual reality tech. I did the “shark dive” and it was surprisingly immersive, definitely a unique experience and fun to demo to friends. I think it’s pretty cool but I haven’t yet seen a game that is a revelation in VR (some say Rez?), so I’m not sure what to make of it yet.
