Got a VR-Ready Windows 10 PC? Here's what you should really get ready for
Virtual Reality is about to turn into a multi-billion dollar business, at least according to predictions by J. P. Morgan Chase. This means that VR is bound to be more accessible and affordable as time goes by, and demand grows.
What’s already helping VR break through to consumers is that VR is no longer a retro-fantasy of flat, aliased, and poorly animated polygonal elements in claustrophobic testing environments.
Modern VR is an experience every bit as rich and detailed, as what we get on our flat, 2-dimensional displays, with quite a few added bonuses.
If you managed to buy a VR-worthy gaming laptop, desktop, or are the kind of person with the savvy and patience to build a machine with proper chops, chances are you may have been wondering about getting your hands on a VR headset, to see what the fuss is all about.
While the entry point for top-notch VR is still a little high, typically in the realms of $600-$900 for a reasonably advanced setup, the experience is well-worth the price tag, especially now that many game developers are beginning to build for VR too, such as EVE Valkyrie, one of the best looking, and most exciting space combat simulators available, created specifically for VR headsets, and compatible with Xbox wireless gamepads.
For those who don’t necessarily have an interest for adrenaline-fueled games, such as the stomach-churning, dramatic space exploration game “Detached”, or the dark and delightfully retro “Technolust”, loosely inspired by cult movie Blade Runner, there are quite a few promising titles in a variety of categories.
If you are the creative type, for instance, Google Tilt Brush is a fun app that lets you draw, sketch, paint and doodle in three dimensions with amazing detail.
For the mystery lovers, Myst creator Cyan has also developed a VR title called Obduction. Much like Myst, navigating through the game occurs step by step, however, Obduction is an actual “room-scale” game, which means that if you have enough room around you, you can actually walk around the environment, and explore every detail of this strange, surreal world.
Here comes the “bad” news
Some would rather not hear this, but VR is not all fun and games, and there is at least one downside you may want to keep in mind, before spending any significant amount of time in VR, because Virtual Reality requires a strong stomach: literally.
The moment you don a VR headset, your sensory experience changes instantly. Up, down, inside, outside, and even gravity, cease to make sense, as far as your brain is concerned. The funny thing about VR is that your eyes and ears are all that matters, and your mind will take what it perceives, at “face value”.
The first time you turn your head in a VR headset, you have that instant realization that you are no longer looking at a flat PC display. Everywhere you look, you have genuine depth of field, accurate lighting, shadowing. Most, if not all textures, look real, as if you could touch everything and feel the tough grain of pavement, or the cold feeling of dunking your hand in water.
While the tactile dimension is missing, your eyes and ears make up for the lack of sensory stimulation, by enhancing everything.
Anyone who’s ever tried riding a rollercoaster in VR will tell you how they genuinely felt their chair was tilting as they felt gravity that does not exist. The sound of the wind in their ears, and the visual feedback were enough to fool their minds.
Unfortunately, fooling the body is another problem altogether, and that is why, at least for now, certain VR experiences may require a strong stomach.
VR-sickness is a relatively new term, but it is rapidly being popularized, as more people who experience VR are reporting various degrees of temporary symptoms, ranging from vertigo, to strong nausea.
To truly understand how these unpleasant effects occur, one must understand how different types of VR experiences work.
Room-scale standing VR are typically the least likely to cause discomfort. This is because the user is walking around a virtual environment, and is experiencing accurate gravity, position and direction. His body is moving in a direction and at an angle that his brain can reconcile to reality.
Seating-type of VR experiences, on the other hand, may vary in discomfort, depending on the type of motion involved.
For instance, rollercoasters may be relatively easy, because the motion is typically very fast, and as comfortable as it could be to what a person suffering from mild motion sickness might experience when sitting up front in a moving vehicle.
Slover motion, however, especially when the point of view rotates frequently, may cause some considerable discomfort to users who are particularly sensitive to motion.
For instance, the game “Detached”, by Anshar Studios, is rated as “Intense” on the Oculus Rift comfort scale, and it involves “...sudden and dramatic acceleration, freefalling, twisting and rolling...”, which is definitely not recommended after a rich lunch.
EVE Valkyrie is also rated as Intense, however the faster pace of the game, and the easier control over the user’s direction, are a big help, as well as being able to navigate from the inside of a big and comfortable ship’s cockpit.
First-person shooter Bullet Train, however, provides with room-scale interaction, for a much more comfortable experience.
“Table-top games” rock!
Some of the best VR games you’ll ever experience, if you are into that, are table-top games like LandFall, Hitman Go VR, and Lucky’s Tale, among some personal favorites, aside from the fact that all these are room-scale VR, and suitable for every stomach.
LandFall is a beautifully rendered, and extremely detailed tabletop-style RPG, where your point of view is from the top down of a cinematic 360 degrees landscape, surrounded by an amazingly realistic ocean.
Hitman Go VR, while not as visually rich as LandFall, is also a beautifully rendered, diorama-like spinoff from the Hitman series. Every scene in this title is recreated and presented as an actual diorama, with gameplay structured as a turn-based RPG.
Finally, Lucky’s Tale is a colorful and fun arcade-style platformer, very dynamic, but also room-scale, which is perfect for children. The main character, Lucky, is a cartoon fox progressing through the game world by hopping and running through trap-filled mazes.
Conclusions
Is VR for everyone? Well... it certainly is for those who can afford the initial financial commitment. As said earlier, great VR comes with a hefty price tag, for those interested in high-end equipment like Oculus Rift, or HTC Vive, aside from the cost of purchasing, or building a VR-ready computer.
Other than that, VR is an experience that, with due consideration to certain temporary side-effects, can be eye-opening, to those who would like to discover a whole new dimension to gaming and 3D simulation.
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