Just had my first experience with the Oculus Rift and Touch controllers!

[Anonymous]

OH... muh... god.... I wanted to just gush about this as soon as I got home. I went out today with my mom to an appointment and out to eat, and I wanted her to go with me to Best Buy to try the Oculus for herself. I've kept up with the Rift back since it was just a concept in development, and only read/studied/imagined how it would be like... IT'S SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER. I went to Best Buy where they luckily have a demo setup on the weekends to try it out (didn't expect them to let you try the touch controllers too). I met David, who was pretty eager to push the sale I'm sure(I was already sold looking at it) and was showing people how to do it, taking all the safety precautions, and strapping people in for the experience.

I tried it and... it's much bigger than you initially think it would be. I was staring at a menu and to my surprise he tells me to turn around, and I'm just thinking "really?... but I see grey background behind this menu of windows... isn't it just more- OOOOOOOOO!!!!!!". I turn around and see this huge pond area with all these interconnecting sections that made it look like you stepped into someone's backyard wonderland. I found myself turning around, keeping in mind where I was and he still helped me face frontward after my amazement, and I just knew I was in for a trip. I went through the demo I recognized from watching some videos on youtube already, but he took me through being on a city tower, face to face with a T-rex in a huge museum, an alien taking a sniff of me(how, there's no oxygen in space, wouldn't all my smell be gone?), and then the rock climb. The rock climb I actually did a lot better than I expected, I found a spot you could grip onto that even had him a bit surprised I could even grab it. Of course he told me to look down and after I did I guess I let go and that's when I was ready to let the next person go XD.

My mother tried just the headset on because she had wanted to see the Eiffel tower and I wanted her to experience how far we've come in technology to feel like it was real. She was amazed and to my surprise didn't have any motion sickness or react in any odd way like whenever I have to teach her something on the computer(she's not as tech savvy but that's okay).

In general, I guess what surprised me was just how much bigger it really is than you think. When I adjusted the headset just right, everything looked crisp and clear, and the controllers feel so natural to hold in my hands. It might've just been because I was in the middle of Best Buy standing in front of a demo of it, but I kept getting the feeling that I could go even further even when I thought I already did. Having it in public I imagine is much different to the comfort of your home where you can feel like a fool reaching out as far as you can without worrying about everyone around you or bumping into something. The rock climb especially made me feel immersed and like I could keep on reaching if I just look around and physically take my hand outward and reach for it.

The only thing I hope for in the future after trying this, is maybe having the controllers more form fitting to all your fingers than just stopping at your index, grip, and thumb. To be able to really feel like the entire hand is yours to move or change positioning of with the fingers and all. Which, I don't mean to go gushing again, but the touch sensitive tech on the controllers amazed me. I imagined it would be more like gamecube controllers where you just press in the triggers slightly or you can push them all the way in... I couldn't have been more wrong. Just leaving my thumb or fingers resting on the buttons naturally let the game know my hand gestures. I thought I was going to have some weird positioning or thinking I would have to hold my controllers in some odd way with a certain amount of pressure, but it genuinely felt like I could just relax my hands/fingers around the controllers and whatever I did, would respond accordingly without any awkward movements or feeling. I noticed this first with the tutorial with the light beams coming out of my fingers, I pretended to give a thumbs up to my mother and I didn't even have to think "which button is it" when I did it. I was concerned about the idea of using the joystick to move around and how that would affect you putting your thumb on top of it to mimic your thumb's movements too, but the contour of the controller makes it so if you move the joystick, you use the tip of your thumb to control it, while if you want movement with your thumb, you just place it over the smooth circle of the joystick. I didn't have any problems and unlike my Wii Remote, the straps felt good to wear and light. The headset and controllers all in general felt much lighter than I expected and fit better than I thought.

tl;dr: I NEED a Rift and controllers ASAP. I haven't felt this kinda giddyness since I was 13 getting a Wii for my birthday. I genuinely can't express how happy I was after only trying it for about 5-10 minutes. I've been pretty happy trying a new game or a new console but it's been a while since I felt like the lil kid I used to be on a Christmas morning. What was your first experience with the rift like? How about with any VR controllers?

[Syrellaris]

Nice story! enjoyed reading it.. Got to admit though.. from the first alinea i thought you were still a youngster going with his mom to best buy xD..

The first time I tried on the rift was when i finally had my pre-order of the CV1 delivered, no touch controllers back then yet. Playing games like Adrift made me aww in wonder.. I think I spend the entire evening just trying out demo's and so forth.

Getting the Touch controllers opened up a whole new world for me as well, getting to play games like Dead and Buried, Arizona Sunshine etc and just aim, take cover and move my entire body to play a game.

[Brendan110_0]

I always knew we'd get to this point, even when I saw the monstrosity of VR in the 90's. I really can't imagine playing with flat screens again. Sure won't be long until the first case of VR generated shell shock becomes reality.

[Anonymous]

Syrellaris said:

Nice story! enjoyed reading it.. Got to admit though.. from the first alinea i thought you were still a youngster going with his mom to best buy xD..

The first time I tried on the rift was when i finally had my pre-order of the CV1 delivered, no touch controllers back then yet. Playing games like Adrift made me aww in wonder.. I think I spend the entire evening just trying out demo's and so forth.

Getting the Touch controllers opened up a whole new world for me as well, getting to play games like Dead and Buried, Arizona Sunshine etc and just aim, take cover and move my entire body to play a game.

I admit, I do kinda sound a bit young with being impressed by something as simple as a rock climb lmao. I'm taking care of my mother atm who's going through some stuff, so no worries, I get that often when I tell stories lol.

That sounds badass though. I actually haven't even looked at as many games as I should for VR. Probably because I have my hopes low in case I can't get one or a suitable comp for one, but so far VRchat when I tried it on my desktop was pretty fun and friendly(friendlier than I imagined the source of a lot of memes) and looking into Super Hot. And of course Robo Recall, but considering my reaction at acknowledging I can grip my fingers onto a cliff's side and pull myself up, maybe I need to think simpler and just look for basic VR demos lmao.

[LZoltowski]

This is the review I posted when I got it .. 

https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/40040/well-finally-my-rift-review-you-will-not-beli...

[Anonymous]

The Climb is an awesome game, and one of the best looking games too so don't be too embarrassed at being blown over by it, especially seeing as you hadn't experienced the Rift before.

I spent a couple of years saving up so that I could build my PC and get the Rift and Touch controllers, cost me a bloomin fortune but it was worth every penny. B)

[Anonymous]

Brendan110_0 said:

I always knew we'd get to this point, even when I saw the monstrosity of VR in the 90's. I really can't imagine playing with flat screens again. Sure won't be long until the first case of VR generated shell shock becomes reality.

I'm actually quite disappointed that we haven't seen a VR horror game causing the first VR related death. Instead it was some dozy Russian bloke that fell on a glass table.

I was personally expecting Dreadhalls to kill someone in the first 6 months.

Yes, I'm going straight to hell. >:)

[Anonymous]

I think starting with Gen2 we will start having people really pee their pants from all the new VR graphics + higher res support that will becoming with it. I think the human brain is going to have a really tough time splitting the real and virtual soon enough xD 

I want to see a Alone In the Dark VR game:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsLTbWDlBw

[Fazz]

Was a bit blurry in DK1, but I played Outlast and shit my pants when I opened a door and a bloke dropped down hanging by a rope. That was the scariest thing I've seen in VR and I just can't understand why we haven't seen scary shite like this since the DK2. Plenty of people have played Resident evil in the PSVR and I haven't heard of anyone suffering a heart attack playing that.

I do realise people can be scared to death, but you can just be overly exited and the same can happen. That's why I just remain a miserable sod most of the time. I try to keep my adrenaline in check..

[LZoltowski]

Valic7 said:

tl;dr: I NEED a Rift and controllers ASAP. I haven't felt this kinda giddyness since I was 13 getting a Wii for my birthday. I genuinely can't express how happy I was after only trying it for about 5-10 minutes. I've been pretty happy trying a new game or a new console but it's been a while since I felt like the lil kid I used to be on a Christmas morning. What was your first experience with the rift like? How about with any VR controllers?

When you get your rift, you HAVE to play Lone Echo, it will blow your mind ... imagine being Sandra Bullock in the movie Gravity ... it changed me ...