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I have tried VR for the first time (and the Google glass)

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  • I have tried VR for the first time (and the Google glass)

    I've tried Virtual Reality for the first time! There was an event here in Portugal for game developers, where they would go and show off the projects they are working on. A few of them were in VR and I got a chance to try it.
    Everything I tried was not meant to show off the VR itself, but the game they were making, so one could say that I did not get the full experience.
    I've tried the Oculus Rift DK2, in 2 different games, one you would go around a pretty empty boat (not-detailed) and you could look around and there was a big humanoid monster in the sea that could throw rocks at you (it wouldn't hurt you or anything).
    The monster was a guy using the Google Glass, who would have a compass shown to him through the gloogle glass screen, and would know where the ship was through the compass and could throw rocks with arm movement (captured by a kinect).
    Then I tried the Samsung Gear VR with what I think was an S5. The game was multiplayer where you and other people would try to thump for resources, while worms (other players) would try to prevent you from doing so. It felt less precise than the Oculus Rift but still managed to immerse me more than the first DK2 demo I had, probably because I actually had to do something.

    I tried another Oculus Rift DK2 demo which was the game Cosmonaut. I think that was the best VR experience I had. It was with an incredible amount of detail, you are an astronaut, and could control your jetpack through hand movements (through a kinect also). The spaceship was full of debree floating in zero gravity that looked incredible. Looking around you would see the astronaut helmet around you, and breathing would send a cloud of vapor against the helmet glass fogging it up. This is where I saw some of the true potential for VR and where I was most amazed.

    I also got to try the Google Cardboard with some google demos, which was with a samsung S3, but honestly, ended up being nearly the same as using the super expensive Samsung Gear VR (while not as confortable).

    Verdict:
    I was super pumped to try out VR. It wasn't a super amazing WOooooww as I was expecting, but it was definitely a nice experience.
    While many people who where there and didn't know about virtual reality, tried it for the first time and where trying to touch the things on the ship, and were easily immersed, I wasn't so much. Maybe because I have been following the tech so much online and I actually understand what's happening?
    I was also put off at how easily you can see the pixels on the Oculus Rift (even worse on the mobile phone VRs), and at how low the resolution was. I didn't expect this to be an issue, so I can't imagine how awful it must have been on that first Oculus Rift version. It was awful to the point you couldn't really tell well or distingish what was a few meters away from you until you got close enough for there to be enough pixels to render it understandable.
    After spending many years with an old laptop playing games on low and on resolutions like 800x600, I know what it's like to play FPS games and confound trees, street poles or traffic signals for enemy players. I can see something similar happening there.
    People where complaining that the new Xperia Z5 didn't need a 4k screen because it's too small to make a difference. I now see where such technology could truly make a difference.


    Have you already tried Virtual Reality? What are your thoughts on it?
    Last edited by jimykx; 09-15-2015, 09:37 AM.

  • #2
    The Oculus DK2 resolution is only 1080p, which gives 960x1080 per eye. The consumer version is supposed to be 2160x1200, or 1080x1200 per eye.

    The only experience I've had with VR is with a free Google Cardboard from Conan O'Brien that I used my Galaxy S6 in. It was neat.

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    • #3
      Thanks for sharing.

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