Block Slicer

Since I’m on the topic of VR, there is a new game (new to me) that I decided to jump into since it is on the Quest. It is a game that has received much fan-fare, but this genre of game has never really been my cup of tea. I was almost turned off completely from this game, if only for the mere fact that everyone talks about it so much, but with the Quest, they offer a few Game Demos, and this was one of them.

The game is Beat Saber… maybe you’ve heard of it. So, I decided to try the demo to at least see what all the fuss is about. Fuck, what have I done now. The talk is true, this game is pretty great. I purchased the full game immediately. It’s as simple as can be in concept, but the combination of the music, the controls, the light sabers and everything else, I am now addicted. Damnit!

I have already started to incorporate Beat Saber into a morning routine to get my blood flowing and to wake me up, and so far so good. I have been following along intently to the online chatter about a mod that allows you to import your own songs and although I don’t usually mod my gear, am considering it just for this reason, and I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface. I just got into some of the levels in campaign mode that you can only make one mistake, and after a couple tries, haven’t been able to get past it yet… but I will, oh believe me, I will.

Oculus Life

Oh, Em, Gee! Virtual Reality is sweeping over me yet again and not letting up. As I mentioned, I have the Oculus Quest which I got last Tuesday evening, didn’t get much time on day 1, but used it a more and more each evening and over the holiday weekend. The review is in, and overall, I like it… I like it a lot!

There were a couple more issues I’ve experienced, which I will chalk up to this being a new product, what I’ve run across… still some slight framerate drops here and there, nothing consequential though, and last night probably the biggest issue I’ve had thus far was during a session of SuperHot VR, the game unexpectedly kicked me out and threw me into the lobby, twice. I’ve seen a couple similar complaints online, so it’s not just me, and hopefully it’s something that can be tweaked with a firmware update. All in all, it’s still fantastic and just having the ability to jump right in, wherever you are, cannot be understated. The amount of power this wireless, all-in-one headset provide are amazing!

So the Quest is a success, no two ways around it. I am extremely happy with it and cannot wait to see the evolution of this device, I can imagine by the time we are at Quest 3, it’s truly going to be like magic… OK… so what about the Rift-S?? I hear from a little birdie that I got one of those too? Is this true?! Well… yes it’s true, I’m the one typing this.

The Rift-S is not a Rift 2, it is a Rift 1.5, certainly not the next iteration, but in terms of what it brings to the table, I believe it is worth the upgrade, although not for everybody, and not without its flaws as well. The first of said ‘flaws’ is what I truly hope is a software update fix and not a hardware issue, and it has been reported by a lot of users online, so again, I’m not alone, but occasionally and what seems random, there is a fraction of a second of white static (snow) that flashes on the screen. It happens so briefly and quickly that it does not interrupt gameplay but it is noticeable and something that definitely needs fixed, I have never had any issue of this type on the original Rift.  

The second, and most major complaint is what everyone is complaining about… the Audio! Why oh Why Oculus, would you ruin what was so perfect on the original Rift?!? The audio is piped down the strap like the Go (and the Quest) but it is worse than both of those, and add on the fact that the original was seriously magnificent, it just is sad. This may be a deal breaker for some, but I can live with it, for now… there are already tons of people working on solutions.

The third problem, which is only a problem to some (to me, it has been no different at all, so far) is the tracking. Instead of having 2 (or 3) sensors lining the room and clogging USB ports, the Rift-S has inside-out tracking using the 5 cameras imbedded in the headset. I admit, I was a bit nervous at first that it would not be as good, but after using it, it is a non-issue. I have not had any problems with tracking yet (I’m not an Echo Arena player, so I can see how that could be a problem for games like that, but personally, I have not had a problem with it yet.)

The main improvement, is by far, the resolution and it is quite the improvement. It’s not crystal clear but it almost night and day in comparison… sure, if you search for it, the SDE is still there as well as some god rays, but my god, having never tried a Pimax or an Odyssey or a Reverb or a Vive Pro or an Index, this is the highest resolution display I’ve come across and I love it. You can finally read text clear, watching movies or media, it almost feels like a jump from 480 to 1080. It truly is a big step up. Old games feel new, and it just gives a nice feel to everything having such clarity. I spent a majority of my Rift-S time in VRChat, and having the increased visuals made me feel a lot more immersed in the community.

Oh the controllers are something I forgot to mention, and it relates to both Quest and Rift-S, since they are the exact same controllers. They are not as good as the original Touch controllers. They are similar, sure, and they are manageable, sure, and they are… well… umm… that’s all. The fact the circle-thing is now on top instead of the bottom really screws with the weight distribution and it is now very top-heavy. It is also not as easy to just slip on if you can’t see what you’re doing, because you’re either going to have the wrong controller in the wrong hand or will try to hold them upside down for a second before you realize you have to flip them. It is not a deal-breaker either, I will get used to them, but as I said, the original Rift got them perfect (just like the audio) and now it is a semi-step backwards. I just hope some of these things are seriously considered in the next iteration, or I will more than likely be jumping ship to the Index, which is really giving me some things to think about.

All in all, I am very happy with my purchases, and have been using both of my new headsets on and off for about a week now, and in general, everything has been a positive experience, and I can’t wait to get back in as soon as I’m able!

My Quest

The time has come! Throughout the month, there was much anticipation for the release of the Oculus Quest, and yesterday was the release day and I am now indeed the proud owner of a Quest. I mentioned that I had my preorder in, which was through Amazon, but even as close as last week they still didn’t update my status that I would be guaranteed to get it on release day, whereas, Best Buy started allowing release day pre-order pick-ups… so I promptly canceled my Amazon order, pre-ordered through Best Buy and was notified at midnight the night before that it was available to pick up. I went in yesterday direct from work, picked it up and was on my way. No fuss, instant gratification.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot of playing time last night… It wasn’t until late that the kids finally went to sleep, then I had to charge the headset, then I had to clear a nice play space (which I use the basement living area, which is at least twice the size of my old area by the computer,) then I had to go through the ‘First Steps’ introduction, and by then, honestly I was a little tired because I’m an old man now and if I want to be even semi-functional for work the next day I usually need to be asleep by 11:00. Oh well! I did manage to start up VRChat and get that set up, and then toyed around a little with Youtube VR and Skybox to see how media content looked (it looked great!)

I plan to jump back in tonight, will work a little harder to get the kids to sleep sooner and since the initial set-up is done, I can jump right into more games and experiences and have a little extra time to enjoy all the Quest offerings. I’ve pre-purchased a bunch of titles, some I’ve had, some are new, and look forward to trying them all.

It’s hard for me to give a complete review at the current time, just because my actual in-headset time was very limited last night. There were a few issues I’ve had though, some definite graphical stuttering sometimes in the main menu and a couple times in VRChat. It wasn’t necessarily game-breaking or a deal-breaker, but it was noticeable. I also lost tracking on my controllers at least once that I remember, again it isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, it quickly found it again and I was back into the VR Mix. Also will have to consider the VRCover replacement cover to see if it improves nose-light-leak, which was very noticeable when I first started this unit up. To be honest though, once I actually had a game going on and not just a black screen or the introduction instructions, I didn’t notice the light leak at all, but if I looked down and thought about it, I would notice it again.

These are some (slightly) minor nitpicks, I’m still all-in with the Quest and think it will still do amazing things for mainstream adoption and just for the all-around fun factor, and I am literally watching the clock today at work, waiting to get back home so I can jump back in. These are exciting times.

Oh, also… Endgame review that I promised… I’ll try, but now it seems less likely I’ll be able to write it, and at this point, everyone’s probably already seen it… also-also, got the Rift-S too, couldn’t resist (d’oh) but I’ll have to talk about that at a later date. Excelsior!

Hello Again VR

I couldn't be more prescient if I tried... just on the heels of Avengers: End Game (I still plan on writing a full review btw) and the obsessive cycle continues to spin, this time swiftly swinging from Marvel to Virtual Reality.

Last week, Tuesday April 30th was the annual Facebook press conference, and we finally got the last details needed for the Oculus Quest and the Oculus Rift-S. While many, including myself, were hoping they would be released immediately, the release date of May 21 was announced, so it's not too far away, but still would've been nice to have it in my hands already...oh well.

Both the Quest and the Rift-S are coming in at $399 (for Quest that's the 64 GB model while the 128 GB model is $499.) These are easy enough to stomach price points which make it easy to jump into. I put in my pre-order for the Quest as soon as I was able, so hopefully we get release day delivery, but we'll see.

On the other spectrum, and what came as a major troll-move by Valve, they finally released all their specs on the Valve Index, and the timing couldn't have been better (they released the info about 20 minutes before the Facebook conference began on April 30th... lol.)

The Index was highly anticipated for a long, long time now, and the specs seem pretty nice, although the price does not seem very nice. With the headset, the controllers and the base-stations (which will be needed for tracking,) the Index comes in at a whopping $999. If you already have base-stations, and don't mind your Vive controllers, the headset alone can be bought for $499, which isn't horrible... unfortunately I don't have a Vive so if I jumped into Valve's version of VR it would set me back a grand... yikes!

As I believe I stated before, I fully anticipate the Quest to be the device that finally gets VR to go mainstream. It is cheap (enough) and fully stand-alone. Those who have tried it or have been trying it for weeks now all seem to enjoy it. The negatives are slight compared to what this will acheive. It is the first VR Console and in terms of comparison, I would say this is this generation's version of the NES, graphics may be 'eh' but it's loads of fun and is going to spark a whole new gaming revolution... mark my words!

I just had to pre-order the Quest, it was almost imperative that I have one of these! Not only will this device be great for playing and traveling with, but I truly see this as the catalyst to launch us all into a Ready-Player-One-esque world where VR dominates everything, so I look at it as buying a piece of history more than anything... (and watch out come Christmas time, I suspect this will be THE GIFT of the season!)

Ok so Quest is pre-ordered, I'm getting it without question... my next dillemma however, is:

A) do I upgrade my PCVR from the original Rift??
2) do I go with Rift-S or Index??
D) do I go with something else entirely??
4) do I stick it out for a while with my Rift and Go and Quest and see what comes down the line and/or wait for price drops??

The logical answer would be option 4... I truly need to just wait, no matter how hard I find that to do. The Rift-S isn't a full 'next generation' machine, it is a 1.5 if anything (maybe even a 1.43) and the Index, although impressive in most areas, is $1,000! It's pretty hard to justify that, even if that leans a lot closer to 'next gen' than most other options out there. I will truly have to fight my desires, and hope my brain wins out over my heart.

With all that being said, these are exciting times. Thankfully the "VR is Dead" crowd will be pacified by the release of the Quest, and the mere fact that we had such a jam-packed week full of VR news, info and anticipation just goes to show that companies are starting to take this serious and the competition is heating up. Capitalism at it's best will ensure that all aspects of VR is improved as we move forward and the consumers will benefit immensely!