The VR Conundrum

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there's a frog in my snake oil
Welcome to Light Fields

Recorded some footage from the Google Lightfields freebie. It's intriguing:



The thing I found most charming was the way people had to pose for 30 seconds+ to appear in a shot. It had something of the stiff awkwardness of a 19th Century pose routine (with the bonus oddness that you could move in and out of their line of sight and be seemingly stared at). Where it became effective was in these charming wee moments with this artist couple in their Venice garden.

The limitations are pretty clear (like literally, you can see the white lines of the globular limits as I approach, and then complete blackness if I stray beyond them), but stuff like the way it displays the reflections and light levels as you observe the scene from different angles is pretty neat.

Baby steps, but even as a way of experiencing another location or remembering individuals and places, this is pretty cool.

EDIT: Purely for the fact that I now feel like I've been to their mosaic tile house in Venice, even a year+ later:
(++). [Free]

Here's a link on the tech.
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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



there's a frog in my snake oil
Fallout 4 Beta

I'm super pleased to report that the latest Beta has snuck in Rift support! No more menu torture! (Performance also seems better, although haven't tested rigorously).

They've also got scopes working well now. The way you get enveloped in darkness is kinda odd, but it's functional and I'm glad they're in

(DISCLAIMER: I spent most of my time trying to figure out if the gunshot indents in the ground are actual mesh deformations or some particularly evocative bump maps. They look crazy 3D gorramit! .)

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All Air Roads Lead to Blade Runner

I haven't played the prequel to this, as supposedly it's more of a steam punk walking sim / museum than a game. This though... this needs to be added to my Blade Runner-in-VR collection



(Loving the hand control, and apparent gunplay. Aircar is sublimely gorgeous, and cued up to get the same, but this guy just nosed in front )

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EDIT:

Portal Stories

Arg, so cruel! I tried playing this free, endorsed, 3rd party demo, based in the Portal 2 world, which has rave reviews. Unfortunately it only worked in 2 modes for me: 'In the floor mode' or 'black visuals' mode

That was enough to hear and see a promising tongue in cheek intro though.

Thankfully it's still got lingering support, and they're updating to newer Unity build at some point, which should sort it. Fingers crossed! Looks like it could be a wee gem as they say, although it riffs on the teleport mechanic (very cute when that was the core locomotion technique), rather than using actual portals apparently.

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The Forest Flourishes!


I'm actually a wee bit excited about this! Not only has The Forest actually left Early Access (ok I'm not that excited, but I bought it when it was cheap ), it's also going to add VR support on May 22nd.

Given it's an online deranged crafting survival horror... yeah I'm still not super excited (), but it is looking odds on to be cross-play, I would think. Which would be an excellent addition to the list of 'maybe I can play online with people some more in VR list'

I did enjoy aspects of the early beta too. Will be interesting to see how the VR port fairs. (It was fairly demanding on the graphics as I recall).



there's a frog in my snake oil
Watching the Oculus Pimp Show:

Day 1:

-The 'super mobile' Oculus Go is like fine, but not exciting. Gateway drug for kiddies. Yada yada . Sure it's cool, and good for show and tell, but not my bag right now.

- The 140 degree 'varifocal' skunkwork headset was intriguing, but only that for now. Lenses should be useful down the line. Motorised lenses? That sounds like a recipe for disaster...

Day 2:

-Hand Tracking:



Yeah so it's probably all a bit Kinect. The only metric they gave at the show is it's more accurate than undisclosed rivals.



But potentially fun. What it lacks though is feedback. (And honestly, I find the current controllers cool enough that I forget I'm holding anything, plus you get the basic haptic buzzes, & all the control benefits)

And all told, this, which has monster haptics, looks ridiculous...

Gotta Hand It To Them...?







But...

It does seem to work. Intriguing. (Doubtless haemorrhagingly expensive and bulky for now. And to be deployed on hideous ways that are best kept to bedrooms. But definitely intriguing...)

EDIT: Holy crap, they use waterflow to mimic the heat transfer properties of different objects. So like how metal & wood feel different temperatures even at the same room temperature, because the metal draws more heat out of your fingers etc.

No wonder the guy was impressed by the demo. There's not just physical resistance and touch stimulation in there. Some neat tricks (No wonder it's so fricking bulky too )



there's a frog in my snake oil
Holy crap, VR really doesn't help itself sometimes...



So this seems to be the latest bid for Second Life 2.0... NeosVR...



I... look... there... well....

Who knows. Maybe there's something there. I'm not judging it on appearances just yet. Which is probably for the best



there's a frog in my snake oil
This experience felt 3x as good thanks to VR

When ED is good it's good



Just had a blast taking on a Thargoid in a variety of ill-advised ways

It's weirdly visceral zooming passed its damaged 'petals' in VR, as you line up a sneaky triple rocket salvo on its flank. Then warning shots fly past your canopy, and you look left to see the defensive swarm turning on you like an enraged school of fish, its spread-out shots grazing just behind your desperate escape manoeuvrer....

Fricking space dreams

Add in an array of tactical choices that you can experiment with, and your mate barrelling in to rescue you, or you running a last ditch distraction to allow him to regroup, and this is proper gaming fun. (To the extent that some of the outrageous grind that you did to get the some of the weapons melts away. A bit... )

Details details...

WARNING: "Sun Tzu's Take on Aliens" spoilers below
So in the end we only managed to get it to its most enraged state, and knock out one heart, but we're getting better. Given my friend rocked up in a FAS (a medium ship with the thinnest shields imaginable), and I'm in a tiny fast 'distraction' Courier that can pop at a moment's notice.... could have been worse

Our main strategy was mobility, but with most of the weapons being 'fixed' that made for some real conundrums for choosing your shots, and meant we had to buy each other time to use the new hull-healing limpets.

My healing beam proved pretty useless as his shields went down under one swarm salvo, although I did spend one assault purely chasing down the swarm itself and picking them off. There's a technique in there somewhere...

We probably need to man up and risk a bigger ship, but trying different ways to survive and cause carnage was fun in itself



there's a frog in my snake oil
---CHEAP THRILLS---

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Virtual Reality Football Club [VRFC]:




Pros:

This is surprisingly engaging now I've figured out the controls. The core aspects of controlling your runs via 'arm jogging' & controlling your feet via your hands are... surprisingly effective! When it clicks I kinda feel like I'm there pelting around a real game, and attempting ill-advised backheels. Quite realistic . (I've also managed to chip the ball onto my own head, which I'm taking as a plus point....)

The bots are just serviceable, the online realms nearly empty, and some of the lacks fairly glaring, but I've been having a blast on the whole with it

Cons:

The things I'd love to see them add are: Collision detection, more audio cues from opponents, ball control from above (to redirect the ball, drag it back etc). And most of all, the 'Press Y to look around' design to get ironed out - as it's a fairly horrible kludge. (It seems they're struggling to program a 'run where you're facing / look where you want' input model, which would be the ideal!)

Unfortunately I think it might be dead already... Despite some promising recent updates, their Twitter suggests cashflow problems, and they've currently dropped off the Steam store. Doesn't look good :/. EDIT:Phew, they're just changing name to Football Nation VR.

Early Access Rating:
+ [Worth it's £10 asking price, if you're looking for a minor workout]

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Archangel Hellfire:




From the ashes of a dull rail shooter, comes a 2v2 Mech Multiplayer that feels worth the £15 to date. Again horribly bereft of players, but the delivery is actually surprisingly slick.

Pros:
  • Looks purty
  • Hand controlled interfaces & power balancings are a fun mini-management aspect.
  • Destruction is cool, and slightly tactical
  • The jump pack vs energy pay off is decent.
  • The 3 mechs are all enjoyable in their own right.

Cons:

The main issues I see it facing are:
  • Player counts are crazy low & there's no offline variant
  • The 'stand on a health spot and alternate shields and guns' meta can get a bit silly in 1vs1
  • The aficionados I've encountered are already bemoaning the lack of maps...

Early Access Rating:
[Streamlined but involving Mech play with some simple tricks up its sleeves. I'm not regreting my £15 at the mo, but might if the community vaporises.]

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Rec Room: Rec Royale



No need for many words here. It's Groundhog Royale, just in cartoon VR mode. The main innovation is simply that they've added a a 'walking' option in what was once a den of tedious teleporting. Suits the game mode's stalkerish survivalism well. Still very Beta though.

Early Access Rating:
[Simple freebie beta hijinks]



there's a frog in my snake oil
This is pretty cute. Full hand-control hacked into Elite:



This would be epic in-game if they ever actually got 'Legs' out. Being able to segue from seat to foot would be excellent.

I suspect HOTAS will always have the edge in terms of 'commands in one place'. (I can't see how I'd cram all 6DOF plus targeting shortcuts etc onto the controllers, even using shift keys etc and with Oculus sticks to help. My past experiments with the Xbox controller always led to too much overlap for quick simultaneous use.)

But for sheer 'Pilot in space' / 'Pilot running around zapping' / 'Pilot zero-G-ing some repairs' consistency & coolness, this stuff could be class



there's a frog in my snake oil
Due to a continued fear that Fallout 4 could eat my life, I've been playing more enjoyable indie tat...

QUELL 4D



A cutesy use of 'revolving' old school bitmap enemies, ace music, quick fire gunplay and tongue-in-cheek story stuff all kept me interested here. Although I did seem to be able to dodge all bullets by circle strafing the top enemies to date

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FOOTBALL NATION VR (previously VRFC)



It's gone all World Cup. Bigger teams and a few bits of QoL have added to it. I like it. Even though it's ludicrous

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BRIDGE CREW

(I got this for a fiver, and it's Sci Fi, so I'm treating as indie, even though it's an AA Ubisoft number...)

The tutorial was fairly dull, but I can see why, as each station has some depth. I'm primed to fail with style now though. (This game screams chaos over competence in the fun stakes )

My initial offline venture did not go too swimmingly...



Never destroy a damaged ship while 300 metres away

Somehow I then smoked the Kobayashi Maru test straight after... (Maybe it's unloseable instead now?)



there's a frog in my snake oil
Noice, a shooty variant of sporty Ender's Game (Echo Arena) hits open beta in June




there's a frog in my snake oil
I've hit some minor motherlodes with my cheapy Summer Steam purchases, but of the super slight ones I could burn through in one sitting:

Kismet



Is just an odd proof of concept thing. Lovely visuals and voice work connect three daft pastimes. The cards for the Tarot are fun, with their 3D depth, & being transported to space for your astrology reading is very fitting. The actress lays on the Barnum Statements with seamless aplomb. (Which speaks volumes for the real practices. The first Turing's Box should read minds )

The only actual game is a rather charming precursor to Backgammon called the Royal Game of Ur, which I ended up playing several rounds of. This is the one time I really felt the pain of hand controllers not being supported for Rift (Xbox controller only). If there's one thing that'd improve playing a mystical masked lady at an ancient game in the deserts of Mesopotamia, it'd be being able to flip your winning chip into place with sarcastic aplomb

On the grounds that I got this for £1.49, and might actually play another round of Ur...

+(+)

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Echo Combat (Beta)

This is promising . Think I'm going to prefer it to the sporty disc variant Echo Arena. (Less opportunities for flinging a limb into something structural in real life )

The classic Echo motion system & presentation works well with addition of FPS mechanics. Gliding through the air landing shots in the practice room felt great, and the actual map felt like it has lots of potential for team strategies and desperate last stands. It probably needs more rocks 'n scissors down the line (the auto-pistol, shotty & sniper choices may prove limiting over time - haven't tried all the specials yet), but it's definitely a good start

Here I fail to booby-trap a swan...




there's a frog in my snake oil
Oh ****, has someone made Battlefield in VR? Because that would be tasty...



Not normally a gun snob, but those sound effects were pretty pants. Other than that, this teaser has teased me...

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EDIT: Also on the generic games I might like to play front, this AA co-op survival bug shooter (Seeking Dawn) might be intriguing. Not sure yet.




there's a frog in my snake oil
Oh this is a sweet little snippet. They rendered the proposed sets for Ready Player One so that Spielberg could 'walk around them' & alter them in VR. Skip to 50 seconds...



Alongside Pixar that's some interesting movie production uptake



there's a frog in my snake oil
THEY'VE INVENTED A TARDIS!

Well ok not quite, but if you're a lucky enough soul to have 12.25 m2, this canny system from Nvidia could make it seem like you're in an 'infinite' space..



PAPER HERE

They even reckon they can get you to move around other players in the same space without realising. Clearly you'd still need to move with caution, and can't see that working with cables for 'multiplayer' right now... but still, pretty nifty!

This seems to be similar to the 'redirected turning' system used in even bigger spaces, but instead makes more alterations during the 'temporary blindness' of the highly frequent eye saccades.

Obviously requires eye tracking, but if that becomes part of the standard tech as hoped, this could indeed be a very neat trick



there's a frog in my snake oil
CLOTHES MAKE THE HUMAN... [AVATAR AFFECTS ON BEHAVIOUR]

Some of this is slight, but it intrigues: Virtually Being Einstein Results in an Improvement in Cognitive Task Performance and a Decrease in Age Bias

Some interesting other experiments referenced at the start as well, such as child-like forms leading to self categorising with child-like attributes and mimicking partners of the same virtual skin colour more readily etc. Kinda amazed this level of fidelity can really inspire an inner-lab-coat effect though



Makes you wonder about applications here. The roleplay and game applications are obviously intriguing. (Could you help a player solve a puzzle by giving them a lab coat if they're struggling? )

The general 'plasticity' involved in self-perception is intriguing too though. Will people in the future spend an hour a day as the President in some form of esteem-isolation-tank? Curious days



there's a frog in my snake oil
Oh no, people are turning into Gang Beasts! This was bound to happen...



Reddit



there's a frog in my snake oil
I've long suspected the VR must be a trip for the guys who actually make game assets. Here's the first quote I've seen confirming it though:

Mark Benko: As an artist working on 2D games it really makes every bit of work you do in 3D pay off even more. You get a whole new perspective on what you just built in VR. I can build a cockpit and then look at it from all these different angles. There's nothing else like that. Even spinning a model in a 2D viewport doesn't give you anything like that.
(That doesn't really get across why it's cool, y'all will just have to try out a headset )

There's also some cool stuff on the creative process in there more generally. I like the way his very hypnotic concept demo (Aircar) stems from a desire to replicate a specific feeling, rather than game mechanics per se. (In this case the feeling of arriving at a station in Elite with the music peaking. He drilled down into it and realised it was raising hairs in the same way a helicopter ride he'd had did. But it was a helicopter ride near a 'parallaxing' panorama of smoking volcano seen through rain-striped cockpit )



The People's Republic of Clogher
I bought a VR headset!

A £3.99 Home Bargains Google Cardboard-alike special, mind you. And it clamps my phone right where the volume rocker is so the thing's useless.

Baby steps, eh?
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



there's a frog in my snake oil
I bought a VR headset!

A £3.99 Home Bargains Google Cardboard-alike special, mind you. And it clamps my phone right where the volume rocker is so the thing's useless.

Baby steps, eh?
Hah, to be fair the mobile ones are like being a pinned myopic butterfly, not nearly as a fun. I was almost glad when my cardboard's magnet interfered with near every working function of my HTC .

(There's some kinda cute docu-animated stuff the Guardian put out, and other artsy & 360 photo uses, but without being able to move your head amongst the imagery the magic brain trickery doesn't really kick in. Only impactful one I ever saw was some 360 helicopter doorway footage where it felt natural to be unable to move in any direction.)

Worth trying in ED though I guess just to look around the station? Music's fine at maximum there

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I still flipflop on whether you should snag a PSVR. Still thinking the con of limited software spread is the main blocker.

But as a counter-con, I think the right earphone may be going in my Rift. (Which is a known issue with it. Wiring in the stretchy band can go on the right. Still well within 2 year EU warranty, but annoying if so.... I took them on and off again and they work again, but I'm still eyeing them suspiciously....)



there's a frog in my snake oil
Oh damn, dropped back in on a speculative EA purchase, and they're doing it. They're unashamedly ripping off Thief 2 in VR



Water arrows etc have joined plummy accents in recent patches. Hand climbing is a fine sub for rope arrow exploration, and proper positional audio a cool touch that not many VR indies get to. All it needs now is a cosh I swear

Still just messing around with the tutorial, but I like the way they're going




there's a frog in my snake oil
Moriarty: Endgame VR



Definitely an intriguing take on a graphic novel / VR mix. Voicework and plot are all solid, although it is just a 10-minute intro. The use of panels as more vibrant overlays on 3D scenery works as a focal point (even if it doesn't exploit the degrees of freedom much more than that). Ultimately visually it's just 'comic panel' + setting, but with an evocative setting that does feel additive. They throw a couple of neat touches in for some of the transitions. A touch disappointing that the inlaid figures didn't extend fully beyond the frames as you moved about. Cool experience for the price all told though.



(+) experience for a £1