BPX070: Virtual Reality - 6 Years On

[Neon Ignition]

A bonus round ahead of what will be a quiet week of updates next week, whilst VR is much older than the title states we're focused on the modern era incarnation of the tech that users were able to bring into their homes and enjoy since the original Rift unit commercially launched.

It's been six years and it's taken two distinct directions. Either big companies took over the tech and its pursuit or they completely passed it over. Each successive iteration of the hardware sold better than the one before and refined the headset and controllers more and more, the PC versions eventually leading the next best selling unit - the PSVR. Following this Oculus released the Quest and then the Quest 2 which along with the pandemic's shift in peoples buying decisions brought in VR's highest selling hour.

We're now approaching the equivalent of a console generation in length and the latest incarnations 'new' period is over, to consumers VR is no longer the new trend. Companies that didn't get involved early appear to have committed to staying well clear of VR but those who did get in there are continuing down that path with PSVR2, new Quest models and other companies iterations all being lined up for future release.

How have you found the experience of home based Virtual Reality so far?
Where do you currently stand on VR?
Does the future of VR look bright to you and will you buy future VR headset models?

[Atticus]

The home experience of VR absolutely knocked my socks off ... I was not expecting how good it was. I had a ton of fun with PSVR but haven't used it for a while. Mainly because I wear glasses pretty much full-time now. It's weird, the VR image is actually clearer without my glasses but it's still not crystal ... so there's compromise there which takes the edge off a bit.

I won't ever sell my PSVR unit though. I need my portal into Rez to be there whenever the mood takes. And I have a feeling I'll get onboard with PSVR2 too.

[Asura]

How have you found the experience of home based Virtual Reality so far?
Where do you currently stand on VR?
Does the future of VR look bright to you and will you buy future VR headset models?

As people have probably realised, I'm a big VR fan, even though I'm fully aware that the space has many problems.

I tried most of the major VR-themed things back in the 90s. I went to one of the Battletech attractions and a huge VR arcade in Chicago in around '97, and from that point, as well as several Virtuality cabs, and I was always interested in it. Tried the i-Glasses and VFX-1 (two of the more successful early products) but they were just really flawed, and would never have gone mainstream. Actually, as a kid, my main memory of Virtuality's headsets is that they were VERY heavy, and I remember having neck pains the next day.

Fast-foward to 2012, and someone I knew got an Oculus DK1, so I got to have a try. Right away, I was invested in the idea, but I wanted to wait just a bit until someone had a more retail-friendly, user-friendly experience for it. This was also around the time that Facebook bought Oculus, which I remember as very disappointing news.

But still, soon I was able to get PSVR.

To say it was transformative would be under-selling it. It was, truthfully, the most exciting thing I've done in videogames since the Saturn/Playstation era; or perhaps the most exciting since the early growth of online gaming in the early 00s. Both those were times of major expansion of gaming as a hobby, where we were regularly (on a monthly basis) seeing new and exciting games, often terrible-but-interesting. To explain; VR was so new and so disruptive that no-one knew "the rules" yet. You could have two FPS games and they were totally different, with different controls, different approaches to things... Like in the early online era, or the Saturn/PS1 era.

I love how games are made. I've always loved understanding the design and craft which goes into them, mentally breaking down their systems and seeing how those contribute to the emotional experience they're trying to give. Suddenly I had an entire wing of gaming with brand new rules, emerging conventions... It was a very exciting time which still hasn't subsided.

I eventually sold my PSVR when the releases started to dry up and I'd played the best it had to offer (Wipeout, Blood & Truth, VRWorlds, etc.) and it was just ports of multiplat games which I wanted to get for Steam.

Shortly after, Oculus released the Quest, and with it being wireless, that was just a paradigm shift. You could take it into work and people could try it at lunch, streaming the gameplay to a Chromecast. Seriously I've "sold" about 10 Quests just through having people try Richie's Plank Experience. I sold my Q1 just in advance of the Q2 (I had a stong suspiscion an announcement was imminent and CEX offered me a very good price, and I nailed this one as the Q2 was announced less than 2 weeks later) and would, a long time later, upgrade to a Q2, and that's what I'm presently using.

As to where I currently stand with VR; it's still in that wild-west phase, though some of that has started to calm down. I'm still a really big fan of things like AppLab and SideQuest, where small developers are releasing tons of experimental games and demos, many of which are trash, but some are treasure (and all of them, even the trashfires, have something worthwhile about them that the developer wanted to try and it's fascinating to see how it turned out).

As for the future, I'm not sure. The Quest 2 was a huge success for Meta, but it was also a problem - because the Q2 sold so well as to utterly destroy all perceptions of VR success that came before. It's kinda like World of Warcraft; companies thought it was ushering in an age of MMORPGs but in practice, it just ushered in an age of a ****-ton of success for World of Warcraft. This success came during the pandemic and it remains to be seen if it'll last.

VR's going nowhere, it's going to continue. But at the same time, there are always people who love the yo-yo, disco, arcade gaming - but those aren't necessarily mainstream successes. I'm concerned the sector might contract, then expand again in ~5-10 years when the technology makes another big leap.

It still has a lot of problems; sometimes I think many who are deep in the space don't realise. When I use my headset, I actually use it in an office room with a closed door, because unless you're screen-sharing, it's really distracting to be in a room with someone else using VR/knowing someone's in the room with you. And the ergonomics of the headset (both physically, and in software terms) mean that "dipping in and out" is difficult. Generally when you use a headset, you want to ringfence an hour to use it, unlike with console gaming where system-OS pause functions have made it really easy to jump in and out.

[Dogg Thang]

I have been an easy sell on the VR concept. I love the idea. Have always loved the idea. I can honestly imagine a future where we spend so much time there and applications go well beyond games. I feel like a huge amount of work and education will take place in a VR space in the future.

But for me, having wires tethering me to a PC or console was always a huge barrier. So the Quest was the real game-changer for me. I have the Quest 2 and, Facebook concerns aside (which is actually a pretty huge thing to dismiss), I adore it. The handiness of just having it all contained in the unit is fantastic. It's what VR needs. With the Quest, it doesn't have a massive amount of games and it still feels like there is untapped potential there but, overall, I think it's fantastic. The immersion is incredible. It really is like being there and it's amazing how quickly I got used to that - it became normal for me to be in a game.

And it completely changes game experiences. The Climb, for example, would likely be hideously dull on anything else. In VR, it's exhilarating and beautiful. Even something like Battle Sister, which on PC would likely be a pretty average shooter if not a touch below average, is a superb experience when you're in it and walking around that world. Everything is enhanced in VR just by being there.

And then there are the rhythm games. I'm in the best shape of my life at 47 and some of that is down to the VR rhythm games. I strap on a couple of wrist weights and play through some music games and it's a hell of a workout. Like I say, the applications go well beyond just gaming.

So I'm totally sold on VR and love it so far.

[Asura]

Even something like Battle Sister, which on PC would likely be a pretty average shooter if not a touch below average, is a superb experience when you're in it and walking around that world. Everything is enhanced in VR just by being there.

I love how Battle Sister feels like a PS2 game. Not even a great one. But one of those weird ones, like Dropship or Gungrave, where they're clearly not great, arguably not even good but they have something to them.

[Dogg Thang]

I love how Battle Sister feels like a PS2 game. Not even a great one. But one of those weird ones, like Dropship or Gungrave, where they're clearly not great, arguably not even good but they have something to them.

Yep, that's exactly it. And when you're in it and are standing among that visual design (which I do think is pretty cool), you just go with it. I really enjoyed the experience. I'd never argue that it's a great game but it's an enjoyable one.

[Neon Ignition]

I had the similar initial bellcurve to VR. I'd played the arcade units back in yesteryear that were curiosities but left little impact. I'd briefly experienced the weirdness of Virtual Boy and I can still easily recall that Craig Charles series from the 90's.

It was at a games expo I tried DK1 and DK2 units with some early sci-fi horror title that didn't leave a great impression either so I think PSVR was the first one where I spent proper time with it and it was a two-fold experience. First is the visual impact, it's amazing even with that earlier hardware. VR is like a a novelty experience where the novelty somehow never wears off. It's impressive every time the headset goes on. However, the second is the games and so much span around 'experiences' that the PSVR's shelf life was short and I sold it on.

Then Alyx happened and I had a PC capable of running it. A moment of weakness and a big expenditure later and I have the Vive headset. Alyx isn't a perfect VR title, it still has its issues, but it's still a great experience that expands the usual short lived nature of VR games and gives a great adaptation of that world. The trouble again though was that whilst PC VR is a wider world, it still feels like effort so it went too but the experience and passage of time meant I picked up the v2 version of PSVR again and by this time titles like Astro Bot and Blood & Truth were out.

Even though it's still a bit of a faff those games are perfect. Longer titles but not too long, 5-6 hours is probably the sweet spot for a satisfying VR title. When I recall VR they're my go to experiences, they are that good. But after a while it was also clear that PSVR is in its death throws. And then we roll into the Quest 2 era.

Quest 2 fixes most of the issues past VR headsets had. Various improvements will come but I feel Quest 2 is the one that pushes it to a point where it's 'there', someone is either on board or not at this point and clearly it opened the market given its sales. It's at a point too where it's an affordable access point to PCVR as well meaning there's very little you can't play if you don't have a unit. Perhaps the catch here is that an upgrade has to be really worth it to shell out again which remains to be seen for the more casual user.

That being said some issues just seem to be inherent to the tech. Take today, I won't play VR because the weather is so unsuited to it, a position I don't feel I have to take on any other gaming system. I don't suffer from all the sickness issues some do either and yet I won't play it for more than 30m-1hr because it's such an uncomfortable form of gaming in several regards. Even without cables it's still bound by the environment you're in which binds the games as well in many ways and it's very clear that the software development investment is moving away from VR rather than towards it.

VR is more like the most amazing peripheral ever made - well, except for those who really love their Rez Trance Vibrators. I don't think that's going to change either. If Quest 3 came along now I'd be looking at the tech spec updates but there'd be no software reason to upgrade unless existing titles are gated off the Quest 2 which would largely feel like a manufactured scenario and likely overcome by using its PCVR connectivity anyway. I think the PR moment is gone too. An update of the tech would either need to be disruptively advanced or be done in a way that forced people to it such as Nintendo making a Switch successor exclusively around VR.

PSVR2 is very interesting but it's almost entirely because it's potentially going to be the only steady avenue of new purpose built quality key VR titles coming out. I really don't want two headsets but the ecosystem forces it because Sony won't port them. I imagine the releases will dry up again though and I do suspect that as the last six years saw growth, the next six will see decline. Enthusiasts and small devs will keep releasing things because the tech is never endingly fascinating to use but without another VR Revolution I think it's safe to close the door on it from a 'future of gaming' angle within any reasonable time frame. As it stands though it's amazing to have to hand... when the situation is right.

[Asura]

That being said some issues just seem to be inherent to the tech.

Agreed, there are some fundamental issues.

Some of these come from the various things in normal videogames that we kinda take for granted. For instance, it's difficult to make a Devil May Cry-style action game in VR because most people can't do double-backflips or shoot reliably at two targets at the same time. It's also a bit tricky in terms of how the game can "move" the player; in a regular game it's very easy for the main character to, I dunno, jump on top of a crashing airship and have it spiral to the ground, but that's complicated in VR because moving the frame of reference causes so many issues.

Even a game like Sea of Thieves might be difficult because the motion of the boat would be tricky to emulate.

[dataDave]

It's difficult to make a good Devil May Cry style game full stop, even if you're Platinum/Capcom.

[dataDave]

I sold my Vive, but I'll definitely get another headset one day. They have a long way to evolve before I'm going to be satisfied.

[Brad]

VR works best when you play the part of a normal human being. This doesn't just mean first person stuff though; a board game simulator with friends works well. A zombie apocalypse where you and a bud take out the hordes. The controllers have come on leaps and bounds and are starting to get to the point where they can be your hands in games, which is awesome.

The absolute best VR experiences though (IMO) are those where your player is naturally ins a seated position as this allows you to play for hours without getting tired e.g. Wipeout, Formula 1 and Flight simulations. You don't even need the waggly controllers for these experiences.

My best experiences have been (in order):

DCS (duh)
Half Life Alyx
Wipeout
Arizona Sunshine
Farpoint
Astro Bot

Yes I'll be buying a new headset at some point I imagine. Mine alreasy has > 4K resolution but I'd like a larger FOV and a larger sweet spot (where everything is in focus).

[nonny]

I'm sitting on the sidelines. I'm waiting to see how PSVR2 pans out when it releases.

I don't have a capable PC and I missed out on the original PSVR so really as I've yet to experience any home system VR I'm happy to wait it out and see what happens in the space.

As an outsider looking in I very much feel like the logistics of the hardware are pretty much known now and advancements are now really in the pursuit of mitigating the known flaws and boosting the fidelity of experience... maybe bar actual 3d traversal with walking etc...

It's really the software that's playing catch up.

[dataDave]

The absolute best VR experiences though (IMO) are those where your player is naturally ins a seated position as this allows you to play for hours without getting tired e.g. Wipeout, Formula 1 and Flight simulations.

On the flipside, my favourites are the ones where you have to get up and walk around a virtual environment. Budget Cuts is best for this, where you have to hide under desks and stuff to avoid killer robots. Also, actually crawling under the guide rail on Thumper never got boring, what a novelty that was!

[Asura]

On the flipside, my favourites are the ones where you have to get up and walk around a virtual environment. Budget Cuts is best for this, where you have to hide under desks and stuff to avoid killer robots. Also, actually crawling under the guide rail on Thumper never got boring, what a novelty that was!

Yeah; I almost always play VR games standing and rarely sit down.

[MartyG]

Flight Sims and Racing games. Without VR they are an inferior experience.

Also, Beat Saber is worth the investment into VR all by itself.