VR is dying

[theshadowcult]

The decamove thing seems sweet.

[Trunks0]

Yea it looks a very nice addition and apparently works with just everything (including Quest1/2)

[azalea]

I won some CSGO skins out of nowhere recently, and given you lose huge value trying to cash them out, I was thinking of selling them on the Steam Community Market, and using the funds to buy a Valve Index instead.

Any Index owners, was it a worthwhile buy? Given that I'm happy to sit, wireless isn't a big concern for me (Quest 2), and I loved PSVR, but that was low res and low refresh.

Or is it not worth the $1k asking price?

[John C Flett]

I started with a Vive and upgraded my headset to an Index so I can't comment on the knuckles but I think the headset is well worth it.


A lot was made of the improved FOV but I didn't really notice that. The image clarity was a big step though. My main game is DCS World and I was flying the Huey at the time. With the Vive I found the displays mostly unreadable. With the Index they're fine. Still less than at 4K but sufficient that I have no gameplay problems. Image quality also improved in that god-rays and the screen door effect also dropped off greatly.


Comfort is also far improved, its easier to wear and the inbuilt earphones are good quality and a lot less of a nuisance than seperates.



The key question is going to be how many hours will you put into it though. I've passed 1000hrs and will keep at it for a long time, mainly on sims and racing titles so in an hours per pound it's been worth it.

[azalea]

I did it. Sold those intangible funking skins and ordered the index Had a few hundred left over to rebuy a lesser knife for csgo, RE village.

[John C Flett]

I look forward to hearing how you get on with it.

[JohnnyFlash]

How is the Index if you just want to control with keyboard and mouse? I'm on the fence as well.

[twonha]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlash

How is the Index if you just want to control with keyboard and mouse? I'm on the fence as well.

I think you'd be limiting yourself severely, because a lot of VR games can't be played with MKB.

[JohnnyFlash]

Originally Posted by twonha

I think you'd be limiting yourself severely, because a lot of VR games can't be played with MKB.

Possibly, but I'm more interested in FPS games, especially older ones. Also, big fan of not standing.

[SubCog]

DecaMove released their app today, so you can run it on your phone. Looks sweet.

[John C Flett]

I've just had the latest Steam hardware survey and its showing VR ownership up 1.34% to 24.25%.


That, of course, is of people who took the survey so might not entirely reflect the full user base but it still seems pretty impressive to me. What might be more intersting is to know how that breaks down across user type.


It's fair to assume your COD and LOL players probably have very little interest but how far has VR penetrated into the Flight/Racing sim market?

[Mangler]

Isn't it 2.3%?

24.25% of the Steam VR users has a Quest 2.

[John C Flett]

Yeah, your totally right. I read it as 24.25% users (seemed surprising) with Quest as most popular.


I see now that their was an expanded tab. Okay, colour me dumb! What can I say, it's late.

[Nagorak]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlash

Possibly, but I'm more interested in FPS games, especially older ones. Also, big fan of not standing.

The experience playing older games won't be good. Motion sickness is a big problem. You move ridiculously fast in FPS games and the disconnect between your eyes seeing motion and your ears not feeling it throws your body for a loop. Even if you don't get sick, the interface and hud, etc can be weird for VR (FOV too narrow or too wide). Basically getting flat screen games to work in VR is a hack that requires a third party program to get it to work, and it's all pretty wonky. Originally I was also interested in playing older games in VR, but the poor experience caused me to quickly get over that desire.

The other thing is while you say you don't want to stand now, you'll find that once you have a VR headset that standing and interacting with motion controls is a lot more immersive and intuitive. There's a reason that Oculus's original concept of sitting with a game controller died a very quick death. If you can see something in front of you (which is what it feels like in VR), the natural thing is to reach out and grab it, not push a button on a controller. There are a few seated games designed for VR, and they may even be good, but for the most part that isn't the best experience. Obviously racing or flight simulations are an exception.

With all that being said, my personal recommendation for a HMD is currently the HP Reverb G2. It takes a lot to run it, and the WMR hand tracking still isn't quite as good as lighthouse, but the higher resolution is really a major improvement for the experience. In fact, my advice is to never even use a HP Reverb unless you intend to buy one, because going back to lesser resolution is really tough. Also, if you do end up playing seated, the hand tracking obviously doesn't matter, so you just get the best resolution.

[azalea]

Originally Posted by John C Flett

I look forward to hearing how you get on with it.

I was totally blown away. HL Alyx is amazing, and even in the first area, grabbing bottles and throwing them over the balcony seemed like the most novel and entertaining thing ever.

That, and also Walking Dead Saints and Sinners - shoving a blade through the tutorial zombies' heads was totally new, and shooting numerous tutorial end people was darkly hilarious.

And, Superhot VR - never has such a limited color environment been so immersive. I was there ingame.

Just wow.

Bit spoiled for games right now, though, because I also have RE Village and Metro Exodus Enhanced to binge when I'm not CSGOing for hours on end. Horrible problems in life.

[John C Flett]

Delighted to hear it. I wish you many more immersive hours in VR.

[Trunks0]

Originally Posted by John C Flett

Yeah, your totally right. I read it as 24.25% users (seemed surprising) with Quest as most popular.


I see now that their was an expanded tab. Okay, colour me dumb! What can I say, it's late.

Take those numbers with a grain of salt however. Despite having SteamVR installed and setup, have VR games installed in steam AND have all the software for Oculus installed. It didn't detect me as having a VR headset when I did the survey because my Oculus Quest was not physically connected when I took the survey :\

[John C Flett]

I do take them with a pinch of salt but since I proved incapabale of reading them anyway it probably didn't matter much.

[Nascar24]

Picked up the $299 Quest 2 today. Already have the Quest so wasn't really planning on it but figured the price wasn't that high so I picked it up, Its a nice upgrade all around, Definitely notice a difference in the stand alone games. Clearer/smoother and added graphics. Do notice the blacks to a point as not OLED but other then that its a nice upgrade from the original for the price and all the new features since release. My old one was already tied to my facebook account so really didn't care on that part.

[andino]

I'd like to give a VERY positive review for Demeo. The only downside is that they only have one quest for now. It's three levels. More quests are apparently coming though!

Freaking love this game! I've set up VR in the kiddos room and we have played this for hours on end.

[Eisberg]

Originally Posted by andino

I'd like to give a VERY positive review for Demeo. The only downside is that they only have one quest for now. It's three levels. More quests are apparently coming though!

Freaking love this game! I've set up VR in the kiddos room and we have played this for hours on end.

The new set, "Realm of the Rat King" is coming out on June 28th.

[Evileh]

I hope none of you get suckered into the Earth2 bs going on right now.

[andino]

Originally Posted by Evileh

I hope none of you get suckered into the Earth2 bs going on right now.

That's got scam written all over it. LOL

[Evileh]

Originally Posted by andino

That's got scam written all over it. LOL

I've been watching bigfry and his peeps cover it. It's so entertaining lololol.

The idea is awesome but feasibly not realistic. That's not what I have a problem with. Why in the living eff would you need to sell land and make a cypto currency meta out of it if it's just supposed to be a game. Classic pyramid scheme lol.

[CyanBlues]

Valheim VR update mod, now supports motion control

[Nascar24]

They definitely should have kept OLED on the quest 2. After going between both Q1 and Q2 everything just pops with OLED. The other complaint is the FOV seems smaller with the Q2 as my vision keeps seeing like a line on the edge where I don’t see the same thing with the Q1. Beyond that yes the Q2 definitely has the more power and plays the games dedicated to the headset much better.

[SubCog]

Originally Posted by Nascar24

They definitely should have kept OLED on the quest 2. After going between both Q1 and Q2 everything just pops with OLED. The other complaint is the FOV seems smaller with the Q2 as my vision keeps seeing like a line on the edge where I don’t see the same thing with the Q1. Beyond that yes the Q2 definitely has the more power and plays the games dedicated to the headset much better.

Yeah I think maybe in the future they should release 2 tiers of the same headset, a cheap one with LCD etc., and a more expensive one that has OLED and whatever.

The Quest2 screen is really remarkable in most ways, but yeah the black levels are kindof terrible.

[Nascar24]

Originally Posted by SubCog

Yeah I think maybe in the future they should release 2 tiers of the same headset, a cheap one with LCD etc., and a more expensive one that has OLED and whatever.

The Quest2 screen is really remarkable in most ways, but yeah the black levels are kindof terrible.

Yep, I would have definitely paid $50 more for an OLED screen on the Q2.

[12Bass]

Bit of a tangent, but I've been playing my New 3DS XL quite a bit lately and was thinking that OLED would really take it to the next level. Even though mine has an IPS top screen, the poor black levels and color temperature really detract from the experience (was able to get the white balance closer with CFW). Wish someone would make a new portable system with a larger OLED glasses-free 3D display. Even 1080p would be awesome. Once you've experienced OLED, LCD is such a step back....

[andino]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/21/2...-games-blaston

Last Wednesday, Facebook announced that it would begin testing ads inside of Oculus Quest apps and said that the paid title Blaston from Resolution Games and apps from “a couple other developers” would be the first to include them. For many fans of Blaston, that wasn’t welcome news, leading to a wave of negative reviews criticizing Resolution Games for planning to test ads in a game that they paid money for. Now, following the blowback, the studio has reversed course, saying that it actually won’t test ads inside of Blaston (via UploadVR).

“We appreciate all of the feedback and thoughts on the Oculus ad test for Blaston and other games that was announced last week,” Resolution Games CEO Tommy Palm said in a statement shared with The Verge. “Some good points have been made, and we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test. Therefore, we no longer plan to implement the test in Blaston.”

While Resolution Games won’t test ads in Blaston, it may still test ads in another of its games — but it will be a free title instead of a paid one. “As an alternative, we are looking to see if it is feasible to move this small, temporary test to our free game, Bait! sometime in the future,” Palm said.

Looks like Facebooks Oculus ads aren't going over as well as they thought.



Freaking Facebook.