RichC2

Seems like a waste of effort since those pre-orders are sold the hell out til October.

spainlinx0

The system doesn't even launch until October.

Edison

Yes, I drove (2 hours+) last Friday to go to one at Best Buy closest to me.

The setup was in the TV area where they had everything hooked up to a 70" Sony 4K TV. My daughter & I got there about 1 hour before it was supposed to end, and there were 4 people ahead of us. The demos you could try were:

EVE: Valkyrie (space combat)
Headmaster (soccer/target challenge)
BattleZone (reimagined arcade game)
Ocean Descent (non interactive undersea video)
SuperHyperCube (puzzle)

and The London Heist (Gamestop only because of language)

None of the games at BB required the Move controllers, London Heist was the only one that did. Ocean Descent, and Headmaster did not require a controller, everything else used the regular PS4 controller.

I played BattleZone, and my daughter did Headmaster. Someone ahead of us tried EVE, and Ocean Descent. The guy right in front of me had been there earlier and tried SuperHyperCube which he said wasn't very good at demoing VR. The Playstation rep said EVE was hardest to play if you weren't familiar with VR, and BattleZone was the most "game" like. Each trial lasted abuut 4-5 minutes except the video (Ocean Descent) seemed closer to 7-8 minutes.

Overall EVE: looked nice, and I believe is the only one that is a retail disc based release. Ocean Descent, and London Heist are on the PS VR Worlds disc which comes with the $499 bundle. BattleZone, SuperHyperCube, and Headmaster are PSN games. The BattleZone demo sold me on it so I will pick it up. The other games I'm already interested in are Resident Evil 7, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, and possibly Batman: Arkham VR. I'm hoping there is way to get the VR Worlds disc since I pre-ordered the $399 bundle back in March.

spainlinx0

I also tried it this weekend. I was able to play both Eve and London Heist. My friends and I were friendly with the rep so even though we were at Best Buy he muted the TV and let me try out London Heist.

Head tracking was super precise. It just worked, and I didn't notice even a hint of lag.

The move controllers not so much. It felt just a little bit off. I know reviewers who are very positive about the Vive's hand tracking, and I would love to compare it. Using the Move controllers they worked pretty well, but that fraction of a second delay made me feel like I was controlling the hands rather than feeling like my hands. It felt like I was pushing or pulling them where I wanted them to go.

Raul3

I just came back from Best Buy. When I enter the store was one person trying the setup. I browsed a little in the store and came back. No one was there, except for the person in charge.

He set me up with Ocean Descent and told me that if no one was waiting when I was done that I could play another game. Ocean Descent was ok, the picture was a little bit low quality, but the VR was good. As mentioned previously, head tracking was perfect. After I was done he asked me if I got scared... of course not.

No one was waiting, so he asked "do you want to go in space and shoot or in the water and shoot?" I was like er... I guess in space and shoot. So I tried EVE.

EVE was really immersive, really great graphics, good effects, etc. I'm not too much of a fan of those kind of games, but I can appreciate a good product, I think.

I may go to Gamestop another day to try more games.

I was wearing glasses and had no issues using the gadget.

Cellar Door

^This was the Playstation VR?

OldBoy

Is this technology really the next step in gaming? Just a fad?

Osiris3657

I have a friend who bought the Vive and I played an hour or so with it. I think the technology is amazing, I had alot of fun.

I'm not a PC gamer though, so if I do get VR it will have to be with a console.

RichC2

It's tough to say if it's a fad or not, it depends on how it evolves from here. As it stands, it's a very cool addition to the gaming world.

Supermallet

When they add Alien: Isolation as a VR game, I'll buy one.

Also maybe after a price drop.

flashburn

I think the only people thinking that VR is "just a fad" at this point, haven't used VR yet. And by that, I mean the Vive with Roomscale, not the 180 degree bullshit that Oculus offers.

fumanstan

I've used an Oculus at a trade show and the Vive at work. I guess I would say it's a step up above a fad in that it will probably be around for longer then a few years like the Wii or Kinect, but i'm still not really a fan. It was a novelty to play Surgeon Simulator, but I'm just not interested in playing that many genres in VR.

flashburn

To each his own, but maybe you needed to try something better than Surgeon Simulator, which is barely even a tech demo. For a first generation, and basically the only games are from indie developers, I think we've only just cracked the surface of what can be done.

Raw Data is absolutely amazing, and when you crank up super sampling, things look remarkably crisp and even more immersive.

fumanstan

For me, it's the same issue I had with the Wii and Kinect. A few things might be fun, but for the vast majority of titles I don't want to be standing up and moving around, especially with some of the floaty control options out there. There will probably be a killer game/demo (X-Wing Battlefront Level? Awesome!) but i'm not sold on it being some sort of major change in the industry. Also thought the Vive was way too complicated to set up and get going for the average person and I still hate the giant headgear and cables. I'll see about trying Raw Data.

Maybe it will get better with time and future iterations, but maybe it will be the XBox One Kinect 2.0

flashburn

It literally took me about 15 minutes to setup my Vive. If that's too complicated for you... then... maybe you shouldn't be playing on a PC to begin with.

The cables are unfortunate, but you do get used to it. Hopefully in the next 5 years we'll see wireless displays. With how good supersampling looks, I no longer feel like we need to shoot straight for 4K+ HMD's for things to look nice, so going wireless might not be too difficult if manufacturers agree with this sentiment.

VR is in it's infancy (you really can't count the crap from 15-20 years ago), and for someone in the industry to just dismiss it in it's early stage just seems weird.

As for the whole "I don't want to move while gaming thing", maybe you are just too lazy for it? Moving around is the great part because that is what makes it so immersive and realistic! When you actually feel like you are stabbing an Orc with a sword, THAT is what makes it amazing.

fumanstan

That's a pretty shitty attitude to take about the set up of a device that needs to be targeted more then just the hardcore gamers and the tech savvy if it wants to be a success. The setup is certainly more complicated then say, the Wii sensor bar or Kinect as far as placement and room clearance goes, at least from my experience. I imagine the PSVR will be much simpler, and i've heard the Oculus is also easier to set up, but still - I mean if the question is "Could OldBoy set this up without asking a billion questions?" I don't think the Vive succeeds. I've seen other publications comment on the set up too.

http://www.wired.com/2016/04/timelap...t-up-htc-vive/

And your rebuttal to the movement thing also seems silly, since it's a common complaint people had again with the Wii/Kinect. I know not every game expects you to be standing, but maybe I don't always want to act out stabbing an orc? If that makes me lazy, so be it.

Anyway, I'm hardly dismissing it, I just don't think it will be some sort of gaming revolution. I don't see why that's a weird opinion to have at all. As I said, the majority of genres I play I can't picture myself caring about in VR. More power to you if you're the complete opposite

TGM

picked up a cheapy generic VR headset on amazon for my Galaxy s6 edge+, anybody recommend a good bluetooth controller to use with it?

Music

That is everyone one of his posts, all the way back to the Old Spice 360 achievement whoring...

flashburn

??? Okay... if you say so.

flashburn

I'm clearly not going to convince you, and I guess I don't really care. All I know is it took me 15 minutes to setup. And again, it's the FIRST generation! Give it a generation or two, and I'm sure there will be options that are easier to setup and just as immersive.

Anyway, apparently I'm a negative asshole, so I'll just go fuck right off now.

fumanstan

I'm sure it will get better, just like any technology. All I can give are my impressions now.

And that's great if it only took you 15 minutes, but I don't see why the need to be dismissive like i'm an idiot who doesn't know how to use a PC. There wouldn't be dozens of articles about set up tips and instructions if it were a brainless endeavor. Just a quick search brings up quite a few.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Her...re-127467.html
https://theunlockr.com/2016/05/18/setup-htc-vive/
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/htc-vive-se...d-know-1558500
http://mashable.com/2016/04/06/htc-v.../#_FvMS7Gtt5q0
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/htc-viv...headset-524751

I don't get the attitude just because I happened to not care for something you seem to love

Rob V

Nor am I... but I am interested in seeing what types of "experiences" VR can deliver going forward. Can it replicate sky diving, deep sea fishing or diving, crawling thru a haunted house, etc... that type of stuff intrigues me more than playing any game.

RichC2

Skydiving wouldn't work well, the visuals of it aren't that impressive since you're so far above the ground and have nothing to really gauge your speed or distance to the earth. BASE jumping might work well.

But yeah, do you have a Google Cardboard? If so check out some of those 360 movie trailers. The one for Conjuring 2 is kind of cheesy and yet done well enough to be pretty damn involving (good headphones are a must), the scuba diving ones are phenomenal.

fumanstan

Yup, which I acknowledged before. There's going to be a handful of really awesome experiences that can be done in VR. Racing and Flight sims would be killer (as long as the current hardware can keep up the fast pace), especially since those are ones that can be done seated, as well as any slower paced exploration games that are fairly popular these days (Gone Home, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, etc).

Speaking of, I always forget I have a Google Cardboard. I should play with more random apps.

Rob V

Google Cardboard... hmmm. I'll check that out.