Virtual Reality: A Step Forward? Blog Assignment #1

Alright so one of the things I looked into/tried out at PAX Prime was the virtual reality headset they had up for demo. I was pretty excited going in as it was my first time trying something like this. That initial excitement died fairly quickly as I realized that first off, the game was pretty "meh" and the headset was rather clunky, among other things.

The headset itself was connected to something else through a fairly thick set of cords that were anchored to the back of the headset. What this meant was the person running this booth was constantly trying to adjust this cable so that I wouldn't wrap myself up in it or trip over it. It proved to be a constant annoyance as I was trying to move freely in the game.

I used to see VR as a step forward for gaming but my experiences at PAX felt a tad bit gimmick-y and extremely disorienting (I had to sit down for a bit afterwards to avoid puking). This entire thing seemed a tad premature and I found myself wishing that they had chosen a different game to demo this tech on along with a host who knew what he was doing.

The gentleman hosting this booth was knowledgeable enough about the headset itself but not about the game I was using it for so I spent most of my time wandering around aimlessly which involved a lot of spinning around (which actually required me to physically spin around, thus the disorientation). Needless to say...things could have been better.

Basically what this headset did was disable the right stick (was playing on a 360) so that all camera movement was directed by where I was trying to physically look. This part was pretty cool but it's also quite a bit more difficult than just using the controller which just begs the question, is VR even worth it?

I could see myself using this type of tech for games like Skyrim or other aesthetically pleasing games that I really want to experience on a deeper level. However, the demo I tried at PAX was for a shooter which proved to be a little too hectic at times for me to deal with while trying to aim precisely with the headset. The whole experience was a bit of a turn off but it also may have just been the specific circumstances that led to that feeling.

So! I'd like to know if anyone else has thoughts on VR tech and especially if you've given it a test yourself. But feel free to comment even if you haven't!