Got rid of the rift

[Alderson15]

I bought the rift about 6 weeks ago, played a variety of games on it, got bored of it within 2 weeks.

The technology just isn't there yet, not for the price and hype currently. 

Wouldn't recommend buying one.

[madamluck]

Sucks you got bored with it and that it didn't meet your high expectations/ standards. Vr isn't for everyone...but just because it wasn't "your thing" doesn't mean it isn't someone else's. Silly reason not to recommend. How you cant be even mildly impressed with how far tech has come I don't get.. i for one think it's amazing and look forward to the future.

[Anonymous]

  Alderson15 said:

I bought the rift about 6 weeks ago, played a variety of games on it, got bored of it within 2 weeks.

The technology just isn't there yet, not for the price and hype currently. 

Wouldn't recommend buying one.

Don't let the door hit you on your way out 😄

[Jagdfox]

I was one of the first (non-backer) pre-orders. VR has always been something I had dreamed of experiencing, and I had been following the development of the Rift back when it was still being crowdfunded. However, today's VR is seriously lacking in what it should be (both the Rift and the Vive). Some of the issues I was told would be fixed by Oculus reps at FanExpo (like the infuriating pixel pitch that makes everything slightly blurry/fuzzy) have been overlooked. So far there aren't any experiences that really draw me in so it just sits on my desk and collects dust. It isn't that VR isn't for everyone, it's that VR isn't as great as it should be with today's available technology. I sincerely hope the next iteration of home VR systems delivers on what many of us had hoped for, if not the technology will just die again like it did in the 90s.

[Sharpfish]

As someone who was very disillusioned with GEN1 as an ex DK2 owner and waiting 20 years for VR since the 90s, I can say I've now been very happy with the Rift, I sold all the others (vive and PSVR) as each was awful in its own, spectacular way. With Rift though about the only thing that annoys me is god rays (very occasionally). Other than that I can say for £400 the tech very much IS there and it's awesome what we are getting (inc the quality build of the HMD and touch controllers).

The only thing is, it depends on what you use it for? If I only played a few cartoon platformers or gimmick games then yeah maybe I'd be bored. Instead I play things like Pool in SportsBar VR (I love pool) and it's almost as good as owning my own table there, I play with some other games too that have replayability. Mostly though I get my excitement/value from making my own stuff in Unreal engine, both VR games for the future and just dabbling with cool scenarios like loading up high poly models of cars I love then animating the interiors to work with touch (to turn stuff on and off), using a model of my real life car (a sporty one) it's like really being there but feeling empowered to do anything with that machine. I'm addicted. 

VR's value will often come down to the imagination and desires of the end-user, I can certainly understand people not 100% happy with FOV or resolution but for me even those are almost unimportant right now when I'm fully immersed, VR *IS* doing what VR should at those times and is a great price for that feeling. In the 2000s you couldn't buy anything even 1/10th as good as these for 4 times the price, it was very bad tech back then. Rift has changed everything.

[Sharpfish]

" It isn't that VR isn't for everyone, it's that VR isn't as great as it should be with today's available technology."

VR *IS* as great as it should be with TODAY'S technology (For £400), sure, if you want to pay £4000 then it could be a lot better right now. For me I'm happy until gen 2 or other makers step up with better stuff. I honestly think you guys just haven't found your own VR killer app, the tech even with its current flaws is there if you find the stuff that puts lead in yer pencil. I forgot to add google earth VR to my above list, that's another reason I'm already glad to have the rift.

I definitely felt like you guys did with VIVE (it had awful ergonomics, bad controls and bad SDE) and PSVR (bad bad tracking and low res in-game gfx) but rift? with some creativity and imagination and a load of quality software out there already? Sorry but can't see what's to complain about for £400 (if you bought it in the sale). The flaws don't impede me from having fun right now (unlike in vive and psvr). Rift is the only system that reaches the bare minimum base level of 'acceptable' for VR. Often things will look so real and high res I forget this is gen 1 with "low res" screens. Maybe it's cos I've been using VR for 3+ years since DK2 that I already knew the flaws and appreciated the pros instead. I even loved DK2 and spent many happy hours creating stuff in it (and DK2 sucked by comparison including no real VR input!)

Also you had it 6 weeks, you may have a slow PC, you may have tried a load of shovelware, you may not have really got used to the flaws (tuned them out which happens almost automatically after enough time) or you may just be really down on VR for other reasons. Not everyone HAS to love VR, some of us waited decades for this to be a reality and now it is, and Rift is there doing it.

[blanes]

You did not like it ?  You sold it ?  Care Factor / Fukks Given = NIL  ...  Next ! 

[Morgrum]

Each to their own.
I can see where you are comming from but its all about preference.

Myself I think its amazing for the price of the immersive experiences I can take part in with the Rift.

[Fri13]

We do not have content for VR that should be there by the amount. 

So far Oculus has done many things right, but not the HTC and Valve.
Main thing that Oculus has done right has been CONTROLLING the content by investing to the companies making the few games and really supervising that the content they are paying is optimal. Titles like Robo Recall or Lone Echo. Yes, it makes then exclusive titles, but I take that if it is only way to get good VR content.

But then when a titles like Robo Recall has SO LITTLE content compared to what a average FPS game even from 90's had, it just ain't enough! Up for now, I would have thought that Robo Recall kind title would have at least a 30-40 missions, a 3-4 different kind locations (now we have just a single city with few streets/crosses and few rooftops) and very small places really. And they released the modding tools so the community would be there to create the additional content, but lets be honest, if you don't get paid then the minor userbase ain't going to help so much. So far almost every title that is out there are more like a demo-level with few hours content. Amazingly great when you want to let a friend to come by and play a game through in one evening. But that's like a watching a 2.5h movie!

A other thing that Oculus got right too was the hardware. The finishing touches about the look (singe cable, integrated headphones etc) and usability. And then the latest six week sale bundle price and the camera setup. So many things right at the 2016-2017 time VR setup bundle. And look the touch controllers, they are just marvelous! I would almost buy them alone if they could simulate the XBOX controller (yes, little difficult to use mini-stick and press all ABXY buttons but...) and adding the sensors to detect when you just touch the buttons or triggers instead press/squeeze them. Can't wait what really many gets to do with them!


But let be honest about the lack of the content. We can't just slap a VR functionality (stereographic camera) to major games. Even with the Tridef 3D it is just... Not there. The problem just is the human physiology how we get motion sickness with HMD but not with normal displays. And then how the experience is there. 
  Example I was already waiting that Bohemia Interactive would have released ARMA 3 with VR support, after all they have excellent TrackIR functionality since Operation Flashpoint (2001, that is 16 years ago!) and the aiming system, theme and such just "designed" for VR. But we don't have anything from them, yet. 

I just yesterday bought and finished "Vanishing Realms" RPG game, went thoroughly through places etc and it gave me 4h 15min worth gaming. I can subtract 45-90min from it just for going around places searching secrets and turning around every single bottle or candle I could find. And so far it has been one of the best VR titles that was there because the immersion and approach, but it could be far far better (and likely will be as developer is making more) and it is single developer game, who said that it took 2500 hours to develop a content for 3 hours gameplay!

Now, of course everyone should understand that most logical and natural titles for the VR are racing and flying simulators and games. You are naturally sitting in a chair and not moving, just turning head and using game controllers like racing wheel or HOTAS. 
  The other logical title to use the touch controllers are RTS games. You could be sitting in a chair and using touch controllers to move around and command units. If you don't get what I mean, go and check out Google Earth and then check RTS game titles like Wargame from Eugen Systems or their previous R.U.S.E where both uses their "IrisZoom" engine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgMtI3YrTW8 (both their games were designed originally be used with the Intel touchscreen laptops, why buttons and commands are so big and clear).

Then another genre that is waiting VR are the other RPG games like Lord of the Rings, Dragon Age or Divinity: Original Sins where you could be above the characters etc. Many titles like Homeworld or Nexus: the Jupiter Incident -kinds could be as well amazing with the VR. Even i we could get the old school rail shooters like Virtua Cop, House of the Dead, Time Crisis etc. It would be great!

But we don't have content. 

So we buy a PC to run the VR, we buy the VR hardware and then we get lack of content even after years of the first demoing. 
  I would say that VR has 1-2 years time period to really take off radically, meaning we need to get at least 30-40 high end titles out in 3-4 years but first 15-20 in these 1-2 year period, or it will die like it did at 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. 

VR is well known and well tested and researched technology, that has been waiting two things, and only two things.

1. Hardware capable to run something more than a wireframe games like a Battlezone 1. And this we have now with GTX970 or higher graphics cards and plenty of memory.
2. Content to be used with motion controls or "virtual glove" etc. 

And we are still lacking the second one. A few small titles like Super Hot VR or Lone Echo and Robo Recall etc are not enough. No more technological demos and more about clever stories and content like a "Budget Cut"


The Augmented Reality is very well tried technology as well. Well presented in popular culture even at 1994: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJcakDNtHDA and so many companies were started at early 2000 to add AR features to smartphones and it even blowed out of the hype when larger smartphone screens came out like iPhone and Nokia N9. But here we are, so limited use with it, as people don't really dare to rotate around with phone in front of them to find stores, restaurants etc. They want the list or map. 

Microsoft is trying to push that out, but let's be honest, it doesn't fit for common gaming and will be more like a fancy toy with special games like virtual chess or table top kind games like what CastAR company co-founder Jeri Ellsworth was developing for Valve (that finally ended the project and headed to VR that became HTC Vive) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpmKq_qg3Tk but that would work great for different games than VR because they can add the physical player characters on board like in table top games.

I like very much about Rift as what it is now (there is always room for improvements but now it is "good enough") but lack of content is just killing it. Everyone who I have demoed the Rift, have came to same conclusion that VR future is not in room scale games so much as it is in seated or standing games. So Oculus is in good track with their tracking method (external cameras instead cameras in HMD) firstly about that so few really has the space of minimal requirement 2.2x2m size to be so great, and then that majority of people/gamers are lazy. After day of work, after all day tasks that leaves you that 30min to 4h gaming time, you are not so willing to jump around inside your home.

Give us the content that has lots of replayability like RTS games, RPG games and some FPS games and VR has some good changes to get few years so we get more special great story titles like Lone Echo. 
Personally I would be ultra happy if I could play wargame series or ARMA 2/3 or get far more content to Robo Recall with multi-pathway story.

 

[Anonymous]

Good grief. Again with this 2 hours worth of content in a game claim. The average length of time for a play through of a 'flat' game is 5-6 hours. The Oculus-funded games generally have the same sort of play through time. The only one that doesn't at the moment is Killing Floor Incursion and they're adding more content via a Horde Mode in the not-too-distant future.

Now if you were talking about the amount of time it takes to play the average VR game on Steam then you'd have a point, but the Oculus Store is a different kettle of fish altogether.

And Oculus have been bringing us AAA quality games every month this year so far and will continue to do so until the end of the year. There's PLENTY of content.