Date played: October 14th and 15th
Platform: PSVR
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the future.
Virtual reality has always been a technological fantasy. Early attempts at virtual reality have all failed miserably, from Nintendo's infamous Virtual Boy to the Sega VR, they all sucked. The processing power wasn't there, the tech wasn't there. Not yet. But this year, things have changed. Earlier this year, the Occulus Rift and the HTV Vive were released for. They seem to work really well, but the cost is exorbitant. I kept an eye on them, but I couldn't justify the amount of money required... That's where Playstation VR comes in.
While the PSVR is still rather expensive, it's a lot more reasonable than the other two and is still a high quality product. I got mine in the mail on Friday and set it up. I've gotta say, even though it's trivial, and unimportant, the packaging is really nice for this thing. Anyway, I took it out plugged in everything. There's a shit ton of cabling to deal with, but it was all rather easy. I then spent some time calibrating the headset using the built in software. Again, everything was super easy.
I bought the launch bundle, which includes the headset, the camera, two move controllers and one game, VR Worlds. It also comes with a demo disc with many demos. I also downloaded a few free games and a few apps. Two of my brothers were with me for the first night, so it was really cool to share this experience with them.
Putting on that headset is nothing short of amazing! It's incredible comfortable and very easy to adjust. There's enough room for my glasses too, which is great. We began with Playroom VR, a free collection of multiplayer games from Sony. It's impossible to describe it well with words, but there's a wonderful sense of scale and place when wearing the headset. Even the game's main menu is awe-inspiring...
The first game was a little 3D platformer. I control a little robot who must gather coins, destroy enemies and jump on platforms. If this weren't in VR, it would be just a normal ass platformer. However, VR adds an incredible sense of depth and place to it. I was turning my head to look around the 3D world. It's just such a weird, but fun feeling. My brother played this with me. He controlled a little character who could help me find coins and defeat enemies. What he saw on screen wasn't even close to what I saw in the headset, which was a lot of fun .
Next, we tried another mini-game where the player wearing the headset is a cat hidden in a cupboard, The players without the headset control 1 of 4 mice who must gather pieces of cheese. The VR player can move his head to peek outside of the cupboard, pushing his head through some curtains. If he sees the mice moving, he catches them. The mice players must try to gather all the cheese then stop moving when the cat pokes his head out. This was a lot more fun than I expected. It's also very cool to be "cat-sized" in VR.
I then swapped VR Worlds, the only real game I own. It's actually a collection of 5 small games, so we began with Ocean Descent. This isn't exactly a game, it's more of a cinematic ride. Basically, you're put in a diving cage and lowered to the depths of the ocean. Again, the sense of scale and place is like nothing I've ever played. There's a shark attack and it's really cool to see the shark swoop in and rattle the cage.
Next, we tried a really cool recreation of Pong called Danger Ball. This was one of the coolest experiences so far, as it's basically Pong in first person. To aim, you just move your head to move the cursor. The bombastic music and trippy visuals make this one a lot of fun to play for a few minutes.
We then tried Scavenger's Odyssey, a game where you control an alien in a spaceship. Aiming is easy, as it uses head tracking. There are little creatures that attack sometimes, and it kind of auto-aims as long as I'm facing the right direction. There's an awesome jumping mechanic also to jump between meteorites. This was the first time I experienced a weird feeling in my body. I felt slightly dizzy, so following advice from people that had played lots of VR, I closed my eyes and quit the game.
I think the reason I got dizzy was because of the fast movements in the game. So far, I definitely prefer games that don't move too much. I've always been prone to motion sickness. For example, I just don't do any rides where I spin around or I get sick. I have a feeling that I'll prefer slow moving games for VR. Maybe I'll get better with time too, like how it was hard to play 3DS at first, but got easier with practice.
We then tried a couple of short movies, Invasion! and Allumette. Invasion! was kind of bad and low quality, but Allumette was very special. It's almost like watching a puppet show in a lot of ways. It's really hard to describe, but being able to move around the scene and get close to characters was something very very special. I feel like there's a lot of potential for new kinds of experiences here.
We also tried a demo disc, though we didn't play many games on it yet. The first stop was Thumper, a game described as rhythm-violence. There's a scarab-like creature that is riding a road at very high speeds. There are pads where I had to press X to the beat of the music, and corners where I had to hold X and turn at the same time. The gameplay is simple, but extremely fast and difficult, even in the early levels. It has a very unique visual style and amazing music. I definitely want to play more of this, though I also got a bit dizzy when there were too many corners in a row.
My favorite demo was Wayward Sky. It was a very short demo, but it was so cool. This is a little adventure puzzle game. I control a young boy who must rescue his grandfather. What made this game work for me is the static perspective. It moves slowly and is viewed from a bird's eye view. To control the hero, I had to aim the controller's light bar to where I wanted to go. I solved a few simple puzzles and avoided a few enemies. It's a simple game, but so far, it seems like the kind of game I could spend a lot of time with.
I still have many demos to try on this disc, including a driving game, a horror game and a multiplayer arena shooter. I can't wait to try them out, I just hope my body can take it.
Finally, I played a good portion of London Heist, one of the games that are part of the VR Worlds game. This was easily the most impressive game so far. There's real characters this time, and they talk to you as if you were there. I played this with the Move controllers, each controlling one of my hands. There's a bar scene at one point where I could pick up objects with my hands. This was so fucking weird, but also very very cool. There's a real sense of "being there" that is great.
Another portion of the game featured a full on shoot out in a jewelry store. I aimed with one hand, and reloaded with the other. I had to duck around a counter to take cover and get line of sight on enemies, it was fucking cool. Then, we had to escape, which led to a big car chase. I shot at motorcycles and SUV's with an Uzi as we drove quickly on the highway. Surprisingly, I didn't feel nearly as dizzy as in other games, even if it moved quickly. I still had to take a break after, but I felt ok. It was very exciting!
I still have a lot to learn and play with Playstation VR, but so far, I am impressed. I'm conscious that the price of this thing is still very high for what I'm getting, but I'm happy to be there for the start of a new technology. I just hope I don't get sick from this stuff. So far so good, but breaks are important.
Platform: PSVR
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the future.
Virtual reality has always been a technological fantasy. Early attempts at virtual reality have all failed miserably, from Nintendo's infamous Virtual Boy to the Sega VR, they all sucked. The processing power wasn't there, the tech wasn't there. Not yet. But this year, things have changed. Earlier this year, the Occulus Rift and the HTV Vive were released for. They seem to work really well, but the cost is exorbitant. I kept an eye on them, but I couldn't justify the amount of money required... That's where Playstation VR comes in.
While the PSVR is still rather expensive, it's a lot more reasonable than the other two and is still a high quality product. I got mine in the mail on Friday and set it up. I've gotta say, even though it's trivial, and unimportant, the packaging is really nice for this thing. Anyway, I took it out plugged in everything. There's a shit ton of cabling to deal with, but it was all rather easy. I then spent some time calibrating the headset using the built in software. Again, everything was super easy.
I bought the launch bundle, which includes the headset, the camera, two move controllers and one game, VR Worlds. It also comes with a demo disc with many demos. I also downloaded a few free games and a few apps. Two of my brothers were with me for the first night, so it was really cool to share this experience with them.
Putting on that headset is nothing short of amazing! It's incredible comfortable and very easy to adjust. There's enough room for my glasses too, which is great. We began with Playroom VR, a free collection of multiplayer games from Sony. It's impossible to describe it well with words, but there's a wonderful sense of scale and place when wearing the headset. Even the game's main menu is awe-inspiring...
The first game was a little 3D platformer. I control a little robot who must gather coins, destroy enemies and jump on platforms. If this weren't in VR, it would be just a normal ass platformer. However, VR adds an incredible sense of depth and place to it. I was turning my head to look around the 3D world. It's just such a weird, but fun feeling. My brother played this with me. He controlled a little character who could help me find coins and defeat enemies. What he saw on screen wasn't even close to what I saw in the headset, which was a lot of fun .
Next, we tried another mini-game where the player wearing the headset is a cat hidden in a cupboard, The players without the headset control 1 of 4 mice who must gather pieces of cheese. The VR player can move his head to peek outside of the cupboard, pushing his head through some curtains. If he sees the mice moving, he catches them. The mice players must try to gather all the cheese then stop moving when the cat pokes his head out. This was a lot more fun than I expected. It's also very cool to be "cat-sized" in VR.
I then swapped VR Worlds, the only real game I own. It's actually a collection of 5 small games, so we began with Ocean Descent. This isn't exactly a game, it's more of a cinematic ride. Basically, you're put in a diving cage and lowered to the depths of the ocean. Again, the sense of scale and place is like nothing I've ever played. There's a shark attack and it's really cool to see the shark swoop in and rattle the cage.
Next, we tried a really cool recreation of Pong called Danger Ball. This was one of the coolest experiences so far, as it's basically Pong in first person. To aim, you just move your head to move the cursor. The bombastic music and trippy visuals make this one a lot of fun to play for a few minutes.
We then tried Scavenger's Odyssey, a game where you control an alien in a spaceship. Aiming is easy, as it uses head tracking. There are little creatures that attack sometimes, and it kind of auto-aims as long as I'm facing the right direction. There's an awesome jumping mechanic also to jump between meteorites. This was the first time I experienced a weird feeling in my body. I felt slightly dizzy, so following advice from people that had played lots of VR, I closed my eyes and quit the game.
I think the reason I got dizzy was because of the fast movements in the game. So far, I definitely prefer games that don't move too much. I've always been prone to motion sickness. For example, I just don't do any rides where I spin around or I get sick. I have a feeling that I'll prefer slow moving games for VR. Maybe I'll get better with time too, like how it was hard to play 3DS at first, but got easier with practice.
We then tried a couple of short movies, Invasion! and Allumette. Invasion! was kind of bad and low quality, but Allumette was very special. It's almost like watching a puppet show in a lot of ways. It's really hard to describe, but being able to move around the scene and get close to characters was something very very special. I feel like there's a lot of potential for new kinds of experiences here.
We also tried a demo disc, though we didn't play many games on it yet. The first stop was Thumper, a game described as rhythm-violence. There's a scarab-like creature that is riding a road at very high speeds. There are pads where I had to press X to the beat of the music, and corners where I had to hold X and turn at the same time. The gameplay is simple, but extremely fast and difficult, even in the early levels. It has a very unique visual style and amazing music. I definitely want to play more of this, though I also got a bit dizzy when there were too many corners in a row.
My favorite demo was Wayward Sky. It was a very short demo, but it was so cool. This is a little adventure puzzle game. I control a young boy who must rescue his grandfather. What made this game work for me is the static perspective. It moves slowly and is viewed from a bird's eye view. To control the hero, I had to aim the controller's light bar to where I wanted to go. I solved a few simple puzzles and avoided a few enemies. It's a simple game, but so far, it seems like the kind of game I could spend a lot of time with.
I still have many demos to try on this disc, including a driving game, a horror game and a multiplayer arena shooter. I can't wait to try them out, I just hope my body can take it.
Finally, I played a good portion of London Heist, one of the games that are part of the VR Worlds game. This was easily the most impressive game so far. There's real characters this time, and they talk to you as if you were there. I played this with the Move controllers, each controlling one of my hands. There's a bar scene at one point where I could pick up objects with my hands. This was so fucking weird, but also very very cool. There's a real sense of "being there" that is great.
Another portion of the game featured a full on shoot out in a jewelry store. I aimed with one hand, and reloaded with the other. I had to duck around a counter to take cover and get line of sight on enemies, it was fucking cool. Then, we had to escape, which led to a big car chase. I shot at motorcycles and SUV's with an Uzi as we drove quickly on the highway. Surprisingly, I didn't feel nearly as dizzy as in other games, even if it moved quickly. I still had to take a break after, but I felt ok. It was very exciting!
I still have a lot to learn and play with Playstation VR, but so far, I am impressed. I'm conscious that the price of this thing is still very high for what I'm getting, but I'm happy to be there for the start of a new technology. I just hope I don't get sick from this stuff. So far so good, but breaks are important.
