Virtual Reality

[MartyG]

I've seen a few reviews for the Quest Pro now and the general impression is the controllers are good (but not worth the premium for the upgrade) as are the lenses, everything else is a bit meh. Both the VR Oasis and Tyriel Wood mentioned it's not comfortable and feels like a devkit currently.

Underwhelming given the cost seems to be the trending feeling. Still, the tech in the Quest 3 at a more consumer-friendly price might be more promising.

[Asura]

the controllers are good (but not worth the premium for the upgrade)

I think that depends on the individual. I've now spoken to several people who have gotten to use them in a non-demo context (i.e. in their own time) who are raving about them.

There's a great video online of a guy playing Population One, and he climbs a wall with one hand while looking the other way and firing with his other hand. This is literally impossible using the Q2 controllers. Prediction time; I think the hardcore competitive VR shooter players are going to snap them right up.

The other thing I'm hearing is they make it very easy to throw objects in VR, something the Quest (and PSVR) have always struggled with.

[Asura]

Downloaded the Last Call DLC for Star Wars: Tales from Galaxy's Edge this week, and I'm really happy I did.

On the one hand, Tales from Galaxy's Edge miffed me a bit because the game was so short. I rinsed through it in two evenings and upon killing a boss (which I would rapidly discover was the final boss), I felt ready to start the game after an extended prologue, only to see the credits roll.

The game itself was fine. Simplistic in many ways but very polished in others. It's definitely the best game of its type on the Quest 2, i.e. linear, story-driven action-adventure. Kinda the closest the Quest 2 has to Alyx though to be clear, it never reaches those heights.

Then I discovered that a fairly large bit of the game was behind a DLC pack, which, given, was a fair bit cheaper than the base game, but it still felt disingenuous.

But it's Star Wars and I'm a sucker for Star Wars. When they released the free DLC, where you got to do a short story as a Jedi, and Yoda shows up to bail you out when you get into trouble, actually voiced by Frank Oz... There's something about VR storytelling which is pretty amazing. One thing, which doesn't get enough credit (and that's a shame, because I know how difficult it is to do) is that in good VR games, the AI characters, when addressing you, look you in the eye - and they'll meet your gaze even when you're moving around the room. It's surprising how immersive this is. So when Yoda's dispensing Jedi teachings, and it's to you, not just a glassy-eyed puppet talking to a vague direction in the room, it has real "punch".

So the base game consists of a campaign where you play as a droid repair crewman on a freighter, which is attacked above Ba'tu, and crashes near the Black Spire Outpost, and you play through a story during which you meet some well-known Star Wars characters. As a fun aside, also, Ba'tu is also the fictional setting for the Galaxy's Edge theme park at Disneyland/World, as well as the novel Black Spire, and parts of the game within the outpost share the layout. Plus it also came with the short aformentioned chapter where you play as a Jedi. This content is, laid end-to-end, about four hours long; it depends on whether you storm through it or take your time.

The DLC consists of a new campaign for the droid technician, a new chapter for the Jedi, and two more - one where you play as the bounty hunter IG-88 on Ord Mantell (the location and boss for the mine-cart level in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on the N64), and another where you play as a Stormtrooper on their first day on the job.

So far I've played a bit of the droid technician campaign; it's effectively more of the same, which is fine. I don't mind a few more hours of that content.

I also did the Jedi part, which I played through to completion; though it takes the form of your Jedi character taking their padawan through a series of exercises, and you can do them again at higher difficulty levels if you want. The stand-out one for this was a section where you had to use the force to stack irregular shaped objects; the force movement controls were really well-done and the experience was fantastic fun. Also great design as it was one of those things like making a house of cards; you can't do it in a rush, you have to take your time, and if you screw up you had to start over - and this had synergy with the plot, where the Jedi is trying to teach their student about patience. Still, again, only around an hour.

I've gone back to the droid tech now, and I'm going to finish that before I do the others (I think you can do them in any order), before I finish with this and go onto Red Matter, which I've heard is meant to be fantastic.

[Lebowski]

The possibly only good thing about WMR headsets is that all WMR controllers work with any headset. They work badly across the board admittedly but they do work.

I think it's overstated that they work badly, Ive never had a problem with mine i find them to be massively more reliable than say a Move controllers on the psvr, yes their never gonna be as good as a satellite system but for games like beat sabre or job simulator their performance is 100% fine.

[Brad]

I think it's overstated that they work badly, Ive never had a problem with mine i find them to be massively more reliable than say a Move controllers on the psvr, yes their never gonna be as good as a satellite system but for games like beat sabre or job simulator their performance is 100% fine.

I used to have a Rift S (also inside out tracking) and compared to that they are pretty crap really. MUCH better than move controllers though!!!!
I started Alyx with a Rift S, then my Reverb showed up and I switched to that but then quickly switched back.

[MartyG]

for games like beat sabre or job simulator their performance is 100% fine.

Not if you play on the real difficulty levels. No chance you're going to be competitive with inside-out tracking on Expert/Expert+.

For most stuff, they're absolutely fine, but you won't 100% anything on Beat Saber outside of Med reliably. There is a reason for this - to maximise scores in BS, the swings have to be long arcs with straight and accurate centre cuts, and long arcs do not always register properly with the inside-out tracking, especially with the speed required on expert and expert+.

The new Meta Quest Pro controllers on the other hand could be very interesting for that game.

----------

Had a play with the original Quest this eve over wireless to the PC with Virtual Desktop. It definitely has better performance than Air Link (I have a wifi 6 mesh, tho OG Quest is wifi 5) - pretty flawless experience and I do think the image quality is better. Just run the streamer on the PC and launch the app in the Quest.

If you want a cheap entry into PCVR, it's not a bad option (if sub £200). You can pick up the Rift S for under £150, but make sure it comes with a working cable as these will set you back £100.

Biggest downside for both of those is the max refresh rate and you will likely notice some screen door effect with them.

[Neon Ignition]

[fuse]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7kbq/palmer-luckey-made-a-vr-headset-that-kills-the-user-if-they-die-in-the-game

Started reading this on Vice thinking that "Palmer Luckey made a VR headset that can intentionally kill people" might be a parody or at the least, slightly sensationalist, but no, here it is on his own actual blog site. That he willingly published himself.

What, I ask of you, the actual **** is wrong with this man.

[briareos_kerensky]

The world does not need more Sword Art Online, in any form.

[Asura]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7k...ie-in-the-game

Started reading this on Vice thinking that "Palmer Luckey made a VR headset that can intentionally kill people" might be a parody or at the least, slightly sensationalist, but no, here it is on his own actual blog site. That he willingly published himself.

What, I ask of you, the actual **** is wrong with this man.

He did it as a piece of sculpture; it's not meant to actually be used It's just because the anime franchise, Sword Art Online, which initially revolved around a VR videogame where if you die in-game, you die in real life - it started in 2002, but the fictional start date was 6th November 2022, or last Sunday.

But I don't want to defend Luckey. He's an odd sort, to put it lightly.

[fuse]

He did it as a piece of sculpture; it's not meant to actually be used It's just because the anime franchise, Sword Art Online, which initially revolved around a VR videogame where if you die in-game, you die in real life - it started in 2002, but the fictional start date was 6th November 2022, or last Sunday.

But I don't want to defend Luckey. He's an odd sort, to put it lightly.

Oh! Thanks for clarifying! I had missed all of this context entirely having just read the two articles that I posted above.

[wakka]

Honestly I kind of dig that he made it lol.

[Asura]

I had missed all of this context entirely having just read the two articles that I posted above.

The first article you linked was the one I read, where he says it's just a piece of office art. He owns a weapons contractor so this is the perfect internet-engagement-PR-stunt. It is a parody, of sorts. It's not like it's a real product or something he plans to sell

[Asura]

Meta's laying off 13% of their workforce, which amounts to thousands of people.

[QualityChimp]

Meta's laying off 13% of their workforce, which amounts to thousands of people.

The problem is that these companies are all about growth.
Unsurprisingly, during Lockdown, Facebook experienced growth and now they're expecting that year-on-year.
They've spent billions on Meta, but it's the workforce that suffer.

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