Virtual Reality Club

[Guitar]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/457320/ just got released and is super fun. I smashed my controller into the drywall trying to hit the ball hard. Oops.

Albino Lullaby is said to be a VR game - and while the game might be good, that game is NOT for VR. Do not buy this if you have an HMD and want to play it on there...it is terrible. Not sure what it is about it, the fact that there is head tracking but you still have to look with the controls and walk, the fact that it has weird angles the camera puts you at (like walking down slopes) or the fact the environment seems to change a bunch. Whatever it is, don't buy it for VR. Couldn't do more than 10 mins.

Hover Junkers is cool as hell. Shooting people and ducking behind cover to avoid bullets and reload is AWESOME. Steering your ship isn't as bad as I thought, but still would be good to have one person steer then a team to build/shoot because it can be wonky trying to do everything.

Audioshield is so far my most played game, it just kind of sucks you in and is very fun. Like I said, rap music just doesn't work too well with it overall which sucks for me. If you like electronic music or that stuff, it would be perfect though.

 

[xkm1948]

Got my Vive! Gonna to an review later.

 

[xkm1948]

Review is up:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...ture-tpu-htc-vive-review.222032/#post-3450240

 

[Guitar]

Alright then...lol

I gotta say that so far one of my favorite experiences was watching a friend who isn't a big gamer last night try out the headset. I had him start with Brookhaven Experiment and he had a lot of fun with it. He then tried Holoball and was getting super into it and is competitive so it was fun to watch and hear him talk shit to the AI lol. But it was definitely fun to see someone who isn't a big gamer like that get that into it, and he said he could definitely see buying one; has a PS4 so might be getting that one when it comes out (I'll have it anyways).

 

[P4-630]

 

[Guitar]

My Vive tracking is kind of fubar, assuming because I've hit the one controller that is having problems into the wall/ceiling once or twice...the wall hit was pretty hard but it worked after that, now is kind of fucky. I've taken it apart and been fucking with it to try and get it right, but so far it still has issues. New controllers from HTC are up for pre-order (arrive in June I believe) and they want $150...kind of ridiculous IMO.

I tried Project Cars yesterday with my wheel and it works relatively well. It basically does the menu in a theater mode then puts you in the car in actual VR. I only tried two cars but had to change settings between the two. My wheel was acting weird (reinstalled Windows 10 so settings were gone from previous) and feels odd, so still trying to fix that. It did seem to work well but I definitely noticed some framerate drops and it didn't look that great, not sure if it is cutting the settings down itself for VR or not.

Part of it is the tracking issues, but with the lack of real experiences/replayable games right now, I haven't had the big urge to pick up and play the Vive. It's not a big deal, but I have to bring everything to the middle of the room, switch to my wireless headphones, make sure cord isn't untangled, move my chair out of the way...and when I'm in VR I find myself playing for 30 minutes before I just kind of want to stop. I feel like with a game such as the below or Budget Cuts or something I would play more, but there just aren't any big great experiences after you get past the initial VR is awesome phase.

This looks awesome though...

 

[xkm1948]

So what exactly happened to your controller?

 

[PainfulByte]

I had a friend punch the controller through the ceiling... The tracking for the controlled stopped entirely although everything else(buttons and trackpad) was working perfectly. I disassembled it based on the ifixit.com teardown and reconnected the two flex circuits. It works flawlessly now. I even suspect that the original connection was not well done as the yellow tape was really out of place when I opened it up.

Here's an image of the two connectors in question:

EDIT: I am impressed with the controller, other than a scuff mark caused by the sheetrock impact, there was no sign of breakage of the controllers outer shell nor any sign of weakness in its stucture. After seeing it disappear in the ceiling, I was convinced my friend would pull it through completely snapped in two, but it was pretty much intact. Except no tracking. Hadn't had it for a full week and one controller was kaput... Man was I glad when it came back to life.

 

[Guitar]

I slammed it against the wall lol..and it has been hit against the ceiling.

Those are the connectors I checked and they were intact. I did a quick inspection so I may take it apart again and just reconnect them just to make sure. Everything else checks out within it.

 

[Mindweaver]

@Guitarrassdeamor - Have you played Portal Stories: VR yet? It's really good, but short at around 25 minutes of game play, but it's probably just a feeler to see how people react to it. So far, everyone I've seen has liked it. Now granted, I'm playing with a ghetto Vive setup with my DK1 and Leap motion for controls. I'm amazed at how well everything looks in the DK1, but to me it's always looked good for the content that's out now. Everything up close or say in the same room looks really good. It only looks bad with things far way.

I've put the Vive in my basket 3 times this week.. Lol I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger. I just need to figure out how to hide from my wife $800 bucks depleting out of our savings account.. lol But until I do I'm having a good time with my DK1 and leap motion setup. It's not bad for point and click stuff, but fast moving point and click actions are not that great.

Steam put out Disney Movies VR along with Portal Stories: VR yesterday and it's pretty good and it's starting to show what they can do with VR. My favorite part is the Menu and the first 2 Jungle book scenes look pretty amazing. It has the Marvel section with Stark Tower and it looks really cool, but that's about it.. The video for marvel is just the movie premier.. The Jungle book's first scene has you in a tree in the jungle and Kaa the snake slithers up to you. Kaa is huge and it looks really good. The 2nd scene is with the monkeys and King Louie which is even bigger and towering! It's crazy at the scale of things. I have already seen the Star Wars stuff in my Freefly using google cardboard and it's good but nothing great. I hope Disney adds more to it.

 

[Mindweaver]

Google just announced their new aio HMD called Daydream at Google i/o 2016. It will have a motion controller as well. Also, You'll be able to use Daydream Android N VR features on phones that meet the requirements. It's coming out this fall!

 

[dorsetknob]

Another system to MUDDY the Selection Waters
one has to ask will the Various Phone Providers provide updates to the Phone's that might be capable of Running this
Probably not
They will want you to BUY a NEW PHONE and Accessory's and therefor boost their phone Sales

( The Telco's Will love this "Upgrade your Phone and contract for VR" only an 18 month lock in).

 

[Mindweaver]

Another system to MUDDY the Selection Waters
one has to ask will the Various Phone Providers provide updates to the Phone's that might be capable of Running this
Probably not
They will want you to BUY a NEW PHONE and Accessory's and therefor boost their phone Sales

( The Telco's Will love this "Upgrade your Phone and contract for VR" only an 18 month lock in).

I believe the only phone right now that should get the Android N update is the Galaxy S7, but i could be wrong. Daydream is Google's aio (All in One) standalone HMD. It won't require a phone to use it. Google just said in their keynote that Android N would be available to phone makers as well giving them access to the VR features in N to use on their phone hmd's.

GameFace labs is working on a standalone aio hmd that should compete with the Daydream hmd. I just need to know the price.. lol

 

[dorsetknob]

Some more info on Android N here
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/18/google_asks_public_to_name_android_n_os/

The future of VR and Wear
Google has been expected to make a virtual reality announcement and Clay Bavor, the firm's VP of VR, said that Android N had been built with the virtual world in mind.

The VR platform is called Daydream, and will be released this Autumn along with a developer toolkit and a reference design for a virtual reality headset that uses an Android phone. Also coming is a handheld controller to allow you to maneuver in the virtual space.

The VR experience does require more sensors in a phone to be really good, so you'll probably need to upgrade your handset. Bavor said that a dozen smartphone makers will have new VR-ready kit available this year.

 

[Guitar]

My tracking issue turned out to be the connection on the controller (connects sensors to motherboard of controller) was actually fucked up. I tore them out while taking apart the controller again, reconnected, and voila - no more issues.

 

[P4-630]

New mod allows Oculus games again compatible with HTC Vive
https://translate.google.com/transl....html?nb=2016-05-29&u=1300&edit-text=&act=url

https://github.com/LibreVR/Revive/releases/tag/0.6

 

[mroofie]

HTC Vive FTW

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Hot from Computex, back pack with "add-on"

 

[mroofie]

Hot from Computex, back pack with "add-on"

 

[xkm1948]

With all the VR games I find myself enjoying Audishield the best. We need a killer game for the Vive. Hopefully Half Life 3

 

[Guitar]

I don't pickup and play my Vive nearly at all. It gets maybe 1 hour a week since I've had it. It's too much of a PITA to get on and all setup and start playing, and then just bothersome when I do as I'd rather be sitting down playing a game. With that in mind I switched my lighthouses and need to try some seated stuff but as far as roomscale there's been nothing that I've actively wanted to get up and play, which is disheartening as someone who is a huge proponent of VR. Audioshield is fun yeah, and when Brookhaven Experiment comes out I'll probably want to play the full game through. Other than that nothing I have in my library screams out PLAY ME - and I have probably at least 20 or so games.

 

[Mindweaver]

I don't pickup and play my Vive nearly at all. It gets maybe 1 hour a week since I've had it. It's too much of a PITA to get on and all setup and start playing, and then just bothersome when I do as I'd rather be sitting down playing a game. With that in mind I switched my lighthouses and need to try some seated stuff but as far as roomscale there's been nothing that I've actively wanted to get up and play, which is disheartening as someone who is a huge proponent of VR. Audioshield is fun yeah, and when Brookhaven Experiment comes out I'll probably want to play the full game through. Other than that nothing I have in my library screams out PLAY ME - and I have probably at least 20 or so games.

This is exactly why I've been holding off.. Plus, I've been able to play all the games using my DK1 and Leap Motion as Vive controllers. I just bought 2x playstation move controllers and 2x PSeye camera's to use with PS Move Service that lets you use them as Vive controllers. It's a work in progress, but it cheap and something to play around with and if I buy a PS4 I'll have that stuff. I'll just need to upgrade the PSeye camera with the new PS4 camera, but they were only $4.99 each.

I really want the Vive, but I'm finding the game I want to play the most is Robinson: The Journey for PS4. Actually most of the games look really good for PS4. I almost forgot that ABE VE was released today on steam and it looks really good as well.

 

[Guitar]

I still have my PSVR preorder and am looking forward to it. They already seem to have more big name titles than either Vive or Rift, but time will tell. It's nice that people like Bethesda are actually going to release VR support for games like Fallout 4 though. IMO that will help adoption instead of having to go through VorpX which works but takes time to setup and isn't perfect. I mean maybe there's a killer app I'm missing, but all these people saying "Vive has ruined '2D' gaming for me" are completely full of shit IMO, or they weren't big gamers before.

When the headsets are wireless and have better tracking, I can see myself enjoying it more. If I can be sitting down at my desk, pick it up and put it on/standup and start playing instantly without having to worry about anything else, then it will probably be something I'd use more often.

 

[Mindweaver]

I'm really hoping we will start seeing bigger titles in September. I don't own a PS4, but I'm really thinking about getting one. Just not at their current price. This holiday season should be big for VR, but we'll see..

 

[xkm1948]

I picked up Project Cars during sale. One of the best polished games so far. If you have a gaming steering wheel then it will be perfect. Highly recommend to fellow VR members