The Video Game Critic

I haven't actually tried VR yet, but I've been reading a lot of articles discussing the possibilities. In it's most ambitious form you would move around the room and have special hand controllers to let you naturally interact with the environment. I don't think this is the kind of VR that will win over the masses. As we've seen with the Kinect, navigating a living room is hazardous, and that's without a helmet blocking your vision! Heck, I can't even use Wii motion controls without spilling my beer.

BUT... what if they focused on having the player sit in place while using a normal controller? You could play the same type of games we play now, except you'd be fully immersed. Imagine creeping through a haunted house, taking cover behind a barricade, or driving a race car. Turning your head wouldn't be critical to the gameplay (that could get tiresome) but just seeing objects in your peripheral vision would add a lot.

Your thoughts?

VideoGameCritic wrote:BUT... what if they focused on having the player sit in place while using a normal controller? You could play the same type of games we play now, except you'd be fully immersed. Imagine creeping through a haunted house, taking cover behind a barricade, or driving a race car. Turning your head wouldn't be critical to the gameplay (that could get tiresome) but just seeing objects in your peripheral vision would add a lot.

Your thoughts?

They have been trying to perfect this method of gameplay for some time now. I mean, this has gone as far back as the Atari 2600. Sega tried it, SNES tried it, Virtual Boy tried it, Atari Jaguar tried it, PC has tried it, and the arcades have tried it. Hell, they sell a peripheral at Wal-Mart that will turn your cell phone in to a VR machine.

Until you can be fully immersed, being able to look, touch, smell , feel, and taste the surroundings, it will just be another gimmick.

I'm no expert, but I would just think the angle they are going for is more akin to the wii or Kinect. They are using the move controllers, so I would believe they would want to create the same type of gameplay as the wii or Kinect.

I do wonder a little bit, as I'm looking at the games, and I see Driveclub VR, Tekken 7, and Resident Evil. Those games are not typically "stand-up" games, for lack of a better term. You're not flailing your arms and body to play those games, so that is interesting.

I do agree on it being a gimmick, especially if you're swinging the controllers while you can't see your real-life surroundings.

I have the same feeling about reusing the old Move controllers as when we were expected to reuse our Wii controllers for the Wii U. It's just doesn't feel right.

I have to say, I've tried the Samsung Gear VR and found it to be incredibly immersive. It's truly something when your entire field of view (including peripheral vision) is part of and dictated by the VR environment. While some of the games I tried were clearly meant to show off the capabilities (e.g. roller coaster simulations, etc...), others like first person shooters and stealth type games felt very natural.

Google cardboard and some of the other headsets that use the same technique are not as immersive as an experience because the lenses do not allow for more than a 90 degrees field of view (no peripheral vision). The experience with these is more like looking through a pair of binoculars.

I am not a photograher or anything, but I find a funny thing about immersion is that it doesn't need to take up the whole field of view, and it can actually break immersion. We've all done those flight simulator rides, the ones that tie in a chair motion with the video. There is one at EPCOT in Orlando called Soarin' I was at, where you are with a ton of people, probably about a 90 degree field of view, and its immersive. I have been on a others even more immersive, where they really make you feel like you are in motion. On the other hand, also at EPCOT, is some 360 field turtle hatching adventure. You keep looking this way and that so much it breaks the immersion. The subject matter is still probably more important that field of view. We have probably at movies we were totally absorbed in. Part of the secret is not to fill in peripheral vision, just black it out. Thats a whole lot easier.

Lawnmower man 1992

Yes please

So, how is the PS4 VR? I've heard different things about it.

If someone gets an opportunity to try any of this VR stuff first hand, please give us a report!

For my last job I was visiting the IFA 2015 conference and there I had the opportunity to try out the HTC Vive VR headset. Growing up in the 90s (Nintendo Virtual Boy, trying to play PC games like Duke Nukem or Descent with a clumsy and hardware demanding VR headset), I was very sceptical about VR.

On the conference they showed a kind of 'VR kitchen' (with the same blocky VR graphics as in the 90s) and a sort of bow shooting game (not too interesting). But a last I was pretty impressed with a VR painting application (I think it was Tilt Brush by Google), which worked fantastic and made me wonder... maybe VR will work!

My main problem was that you cannot see the 'real' world with the headset on and you often need someone else to guide you where to stand, so you don't bump into walls... But overall, I was more impressed with the new technology than I like to admit... However, as long as it still is so ridiculously expensive I will not consider buying it.

Furthermore, the Samsung Gear VR is a nice, affordable way to experience VR. After more than 5 minutes, it gave me a headache, but I can see that many people may enjoy it.