Journal #8766

For all questions, I assume both tested VR sets and both games.

• How long did you try ?
• Did you get any "motion sickness" or anything else that is bad for health ?
• Between HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, what are the cons/pros ?
• Do you have any favorite VR set so far ?
• Did you had a weird feeling of wearing the VR set on your head ?
• Did you know the specs of the PC used for the demonstration ?
• Do you think we should stick to 2D/3D gaming as it is now or everyone should move to VR (or stereoscopic 3D with glasses) ?
• After that try, would you recommend VR to your family, friends, folks at TWHL... ?
• Will you invest into VR ?

One detail: only tried the Oculus with Project Cars, but I could tell HTC vive was worse for me after I switched from Oculus. I also got the feeling that the display was more pixelated, even from what I understand both run at the same resolution.

To answer your questions:

1. For 2 hours. Played about an hour with the Oculus Rift only Project Cars, then HTC Vive on Projects Cars and Hover Junkers.

2. Yes I did, in Hover Junkers. Even though you surely know you're with the feet on the ground, your equilibrium centers in the brain are getting rekt.

3. Oculus Rift pros: lighter, has integrated (audio)headset that has quite good quality.
Cons: manual lens adjustment

HTC Vive pros: comes with the controllers in one package, really ergonomic controllers and easy to use, has better spacial positioning due to external sensors
Cons: the displays seems more pixelated, it's quite heavy and leaves marks on the upper cheeks(you can feel its weight)

5.Oculus Rift... but I really like the HTC Vive controllers :)).

6. They were quite comfortable, but after some time I just felt I needed to take a break( after about 30 minutes).

7. I only know it used Nvidia GTX 1070. It wasn't a demonstration, I actually played for 2 hours.

8. eehhhh... I rather think VR is a genre of its own. Not all games we play today are transferable to the VR, at least not as it works today. Racing games and first-person shooters are probably the easiest to transfer to this type of experience, but an RTS wouldn't be suited for this. 2D games are definitely better played on a screen.

9. Yes I would. My first impression when sitting in the racing chair, grasping the wheel that opposed my hands in every cornering, and changing the gears manually while "being there" was: I was blown away.
In Hover Junker I almost wanted to put the controllers I was holding "on the table", and at the least moment I figured that's not a good idea! Also I wanted to sit on a chair. That didn't happen either. What happened was that me and my friends showed the finger a lot and spoke into non-existing microphone.

10. No. It is much too expensive for what it offers at this point. HTC Vive costs 900 euro, Oculus Rift is cheaper. Plus, although the immersion effect is good enough, you still see a pixelated "reality". I don't understand how such a high resolution those VR headsets use can still appear pixelated. Perhaps the video settings were adjusted but I doubt that. It definitely has potential and I can't wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation where lots of problems will have been fixed.
Perhaps I'm repeating myself, but if you ever have a chance to test them, do it. It will give you a taste of future gaming.

What's your opinion on the cables?

Did you die in VR, and did it cause you to die in real life?

(I already know pretty much everything I need to know from Giant Bomb.)

Had some hands on time with Vive and yes the image is quite pixelated, but after some time you stop noticing it, i think its due to the way the optics work that makes it hard to make a good clean image without distortion.
The controllers are great, sense of depth was as close to real life as it could have been. Played an indie dev game with a lot of physics elements so had a great chance to test the controllers.