Gadgetory

this year's GDC just wrapped up where the emphasis was on three things PR VR and well more VR and after having gotten a chance to try out all three the major headsets back-to-back the oculus rift PlayStation VR and HTC vive I've drawn some conclusions first off the games and demos being shown off and in development appealed to two very different audiences interested in VR one that's focused on the simulation aspect trying to create immersive almost real feeling worlds for people to interact with at the expense of anything overly gamey on the other hand there's people that want video games in virtual reality now when it comes to the more simulation II stuff the vibe is definitely the front-runner of the three the emphasis on full-body VR gives the by the sense of immersion that you just can't capture with other headsets that have you sit down holding a controller on the flip side though the emphasis on having you do the movement yourself within a small area also limits the kind of games and experiences available on it as an example the two games I tried were Everest a mountain climbing game and Star Wars trials of Tatooine now everest was an awesome experience from the viewpoint of being able to look around from the top of a mountain and see your progress across it but the emphasis of the experience was clearly on just sucking you into this virtual realm and didn't really offer anything that I would call game-like on the other hand the Star Wars game was pretty freakin awesome from the standpoint of being inside of Star Wars seeing the Millennium Falcon fly over your head but at the same time felt oddly restrictive boiling the game mechanics down to simply pushing some buttons when told and then play laser baseball against some stormtroopers since the limited field of movement restricts you from running up to them both experiences made for brilliant tech demos but neither felt like something I'd want to rush out and buy for the game experience alone though in all honesty I might just get child of Tatooine because I'm not awful of a Star Wars fan on the other hand my experience with both the oculus and PlayStation VR felt like much more familiar and fully formed game concepts that just had some kind of interesting new twist thanks to VR I think one of the best comparisons of this was my experience with Crytek's the climb using the oculus rift versus what I did with Everest on the by once again Everest was a super cool immersive experience but you had to take your time with what you're doing while playing the climb was a much faster paced game something akin to Mirror's Edge focused solely on climbing yes it wasn't anywhere near as immersive but it felt more like something I would want to buy in play and had gamey aspects that honestly felt almost impossible with the vibe such as being able to finish a stage within a certain time limit and comparing that to my friends now given the jump to VR in general whether seated or standing does present some questions about what kind of games are exactly feasible an obvious answer would be anything with a cockpit whether it's a spaceship diving vessel or a mech like in rigs for the psvr the thing is though VR has applications that aren't very obvious to most people when they're applied to current game formulas and easily the best example of this to me was Chronos from gunfire games Chronos takes the traditional third-person action game as we know it's something along the lines of a child between Dark Souls and Darksiders but applies the use of VR in an interesting way the whole game is played with what you might consider fixed camera positions but ones that you have full 360 control of so you never have to keep your eyes directly on your character you're free to look around explore the backgrounds take a look at what lies across the bridge which gives players a new sense of scale that was previously impossible with a regular TV setup and this is honestly where VR gets me more excited and why I'm personally looking more forward to the oculus and psvr over the vibe the vibe creates the most lifelike experiences of the three but it's such a jump forward that there are some between steps I think we're missing for seeing where games can go I'm not saying that I won't have cool and awesome game experiences on it and honestly it will have the most unique ones but the focus on full body movement combined with the highest barrier of entry thanks to pricing and spacing needs leads me to think that it's going to have the lowest density of strong games to experience leaving it's something that will appeal mostly to people that are just diehard fans of VR Aztec and the future potential it holds meanwhile the rift and PSP are are looking to be the first choice for a lot of people PS VR has the benefit of not only being the cheapest headset to grab by itself but also cheapest overall if you compare the price of grabbing the headset with a ps4 end camera versus grabbing an oculus survive and building the PC me-ness use them it does offer the least graphically intense experience of the three but the gap isn't so large as to make it seem awful in comparison and when it comes to form factor and comfort it was easily the best one for me oculus on the other hand will be a first pick for anyone dedicated to having a gaming PC over a console and it's not only cheaper than the vibe but once again it's easier to integrate into your desk setup since you can just play seated in your chair rather than having to set up a dedicated room or space to it all that being said all three headsets have their strengths and based on what I've experienced with them all of them are gonna open up new opportunities in gaming that's just gonna get cooler as the years go by and I cannot wait as always thank you so much for watching if you want to show some support hit that like button and subscribe and I'll see you guys later