What happened to Experience Preview / Game Demos?

[Anonymous]

Dear Oculus,

I distinctly remember at some point during the development phases of Crescent Bay, Oculus saying something like or certainly alluding to the idea that Home would include experience demos or game demos.

I think all here can appreciate that it just simply isn't good enough to put a few pictures or a video about the experience. What looks completely flat and spiritless as a video may end up being one of the most compelling immersive experiences in VR.

A good example of this is BlazeRush which is arguably one of the best titles available and yet, if you watch it in 2D it just doesn't translate what the experience is like.  

I have fond memories of game magazines with tapes stuck to them, then the 3.5 floppy, then CD and DVD... All understood that the best way to sell games and fun experiences is to actually give the prospective buyer a real taste of it.

If you want to increase your sales through Home... This will do it of that I am more than sure.

All the best,

Tim,

[vannagirl]

That section was great it was what got me into vr, i remember getting the rift coaster also the demo of technolust 

This blew me away at the time it felt as if i was standing in blade runner even if it made me feel a little sick

I am guessing though devs now want to get paid but bringing back a version of this and the showcase etc would be awesome for vr

[Anonymous]

vannagirl said:

That section was great it was what got me into vr, i remember getting the rift coaster also the demo of technolust 

This blew me away at the time it felt as if i was standing in blade runner even if it made me feel a little sick

I am guessing though devs now want to get paid but bringing back a version of this and the showcase etc would be awesome for vr

I love technolust, its a future full wonderland of fun things to discover... its also a puke fest.... 🙂

I think the devs would get paid more if they sold more and this surely would do that, so I can't understand why this wouldn't be included. a small  3-5 minute demo is all that would be required. 

Or do something like Diablo 3 and give the first part of the game and then if you bought the game you could continue from there.

You could restrict the demo to being played 2 or 3 times to prevent those just living off game demos lol 🙂

[vannagirl]

Yes i agree pushing demos or full game demos such as diablo or what PSN do is good for all and sleeper hits you would never hear of. I downloaded gigs and gigs also taught me alot of how to get a game to run from the demo section

I also miss the competition open to devs or was that showcase i forget now

[Anonymous]

'Gallery Apps' section of the store is the closest you'll get, lots of small demos on there

[Anonymous]

The Oculus Store is utterly crap.. sadly. I like the Hardware, the Rift, but the rest..

Within Steam you can try out most titles and even if not you can get refunded. On the Oculus Store you can not even sort games by "new" or "date" or "rating" and of course there are no demos to download before buying and there is no refund policy. (Yes, heard they are starting a refund polica in GB - we will see how long it will take until other countries have that as well, if they will ever get it.).

I like the Oculus Rift but we will see if my next VR HMD will be from Oculus again if they don`t get things right..

[zork2001]

There is actually a lot I like about the oculus store even
over steam, the fact that it installs updates in the background even though I don’t
have the program running on startup can be annoying but it is always nice when
I launch the app and everything is up to date and ready to play. The headset
turning on and off just by placing it on your head  and oculus app launching quick seems to be
working well and makes everything real snappy and quick to get into a game.

Even though getting games now on your PC has never been
easer there is still a lot more they can do to make the content consuming more stream
lined without placing all the research and work and time on the consumer just
to try something new… gets old even more so when you have been burned a few
times when you are just trying to be entertained for a bit at the end of the
day.

I really like the PC version of Spotify for music,
everything is there, everything you can access fast, everything works and
everything is high quality combined with easy recommendations, stations, easy
grouping lighting fast search engine you can spend hours looking up new music
or just have it playing in the background. I really wish they can come up with
an approach like this for gamming but especially for VR.

[cybereality]

MervinRae said:

On the Oculus Store you can not even sort games by "new" or "date" or "rating" 

You definitely can sort games. In the desktop app, scroll down to the Games category, click See All... and then use the drop down menu on the top right to select Release Date, Rating, etc.

[Anonymous]

cybereality said:

MervinRae said:

On the Oculus Store you can not even sort games by "new" or "date" or "rating" 

You definitely can sort games. In the desktop app, scroll down to the Games category, click See All... and then use the drop down menu on the top right to select Release Date, Rating, etc.

@cybereality

Yeah, great, in the "App", scrolling all down, having to open the category and then it does not even work properly as the games that I got shown where not sorted by release date (which I have selected), or why where Eve Valkyrie or Keep Talking in the very first row. Or is it hidden deep down inside the category of the App because it does not work properly?

And why is that not so on the regular website? It is not possible to browse the store with a mobil phone, a tablet or a laptop as you can not sort at all and you do not see reviews nor you can write reviews.

Cybereality, thanks for pointing me there but the Oculus Store still is really really bad.. I really wonder what Oculus is doing there. Please pass the word to the ones that are responsible. The store seems more like a showcase that fakes an imagine.

And I want to add, I really like the Rift, I think it is the better product, compared to the Vive atm, But the Rift Software (needing external tools to improve it, like for the boundaries/guard system, or multiple sensor setups, ..) and the Store.. I really wonder how this is even possible (not to really build up a usable shop) with all the money FB invested into the Rift..


p.s.: I just checked again on my PC, it does show Valkyrie in the first row and Keep Talking and Blaze Rush in the second row. MAybe because they are the oldest games? Now you can try to scroll down to the newest game releases - much fun with that..(as it does load the page piece by piece) and no options to switch the sorting so the newest are shown first. If that should be the reason that Valkyrie and co are shown at first..

[cybereality]

Yeah, I see what you're saying. There is definitely room for improvement.