All platform VR discussion

Guys, convince me that it is perfectly reaosnable to have my old Quest as an exercise / sweat collector device and get the new shiny Quest 2 for improved immersion with story based games.

Im thinking Q1 - modded games, Beat Saber (custom songs) and Pistol Whip
Q2 - everything else

Also, do you think 64gb will be enough for future file sizes on Q2? Baring in mind all my Doom / Quake mods etc will end up on Q1?

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:Decent PSVR games sale on at the moment (PS Store). Im going to pick up Moss (finally) and Paper Beast i think. Moss is only £9.99 which i think might be the lowest its been.

Yeah, I also picked up Moss in that sale - for some reason I hadn't grabbed it during previous offers - and I've played the opening couple of hours. It is *wonderful*; it almost feels like you're sitting in the diorama itself. Posting on Twitter, it also made me realise how it is impossible to represent the in-game viewpoint as my 2D screen captures gave the impression of a PS2 title whilst, in reality, you see a fantastic, cosy three-dimensional scene. I'm hugely enjoying the game so far and may play a bit more of it tomorrow.

I was very tempted by Paper Beast, too, kaz. I held off but it looks very quirky. I know that you've posted some impressions but it'd be good to hear your verdict once you've worked through the game.

Oh, and I played the Trico / Last Guardian demo. It was incredible to be up so close with Trico and, although only a short experience, it worked very well.

I hadn't played on my PSVR for ages because I don't have a lot of space to use it in but my playtime over the past week has reinforced my view that - IMHO - virtual reality is by far the biggest thing that has come out of the current gaming generation. I was sceptical about VR but I have been amazed by my experiences with PSVR. It's not something that I'd play for hours on end but, when I do, it can be exhilarating.

jawa wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:Decent PSVR games sale on at the moment (PS Store). Im going to pick up Moss (finally) and Paper Beast i think. Moss is only £9.99 which i think might be the lowest its been.

Yeah, I also picked up Moss in that sale - for some reason I hadn't grabbed it during previous offers - and I've played the opening couple of hours. It is *wonderful*; it almost feels like you're sitting in the diorama itself. Posting on Twitter, it also made me realise how it is impossible to represent the in-game viewpoint as my 2D screen captures gave the impression of a PS2 title whilst, in reality, you see a fantastic, cosy three-dimensional scene. I'm hugely enjoying the game so far and may play a bit more of it tomorrow.

I was very tempted by Paper Beast, too, kaz. I held off but it looks very quirky. I know that you've posted some impressions but it'd be good to hear your verdict once you've worked through the game.

Oh, and I played the Trico / Last Guardian demo. It was incredible to be up so close with Trico and, although only a short experience, it worked very well.

I hadn't played on my PSVR for ages because I don't have a lot of space to use it in but my playtime over the past week has reinforced my view that - IMHO - virtual reality is by far the biggest thing that has come out of the current gaming generation. I was sceptical about VR but I have been amazed by my experiences with PSVR. It's not something that I'd play for hours on end but, when I do, it can be exhilarating.

Jawa - totally agree about VR being the best thing this gen (it’s a close run thing with Game Pass for me). Truly transformative as you say. Playing games on tv now feels like a step backwards. And yet, like you said, I only feel compelled to play a couple of hours a week. But those few hours feel so special.

Paper Beast - I really liked it, though it falls somewhere between a game and an experience. It’s only about 4 hours long, and I would feel a bit let down by the amount of actual content at full price, but for around 12 quid it was another memorable “event” in PSVR. The tracking went weird from time to time but there are no time critical events and you can use a DS4 instead of moves. Very little room required (I have the same limitation).

Great use of 3D sound too.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Paper Beast - I really liked it, though it falls somewhere between a game and an experience...

Thanks, kaz - I kinda got that impression from a couple of vid reviews that I saw and so, this time around, I held off. Will keep an eye out for a future sale, though, and I like the sound of the different controller options.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Very little room required (I have the same limitation)...

I play my PSVR whilst sat at a desk where my PS4 is. I have the Batman game/experience and loaded it up... but I don't have the room to wave the Move controllers around in! What I did play of it (the piano and the Bat Cave :-) ) was terrific, though.

jawa wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Paper Beast - I really liked it, though it falls somewhere between a game and an experience...

Thanks, kaz - I kinda got that impression from a couple of vid reviews that I saw and so, this time around, I held off. Will keep an eye out for a future sale, though, and I like the sound of the different controller options.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Very little room required (I have the same limitation)...

I play my PSVR whilst sat at a desk where my PS4 is. I have the Batman game/experience and loaded it up... but I don't have the room to wave the Move controllers around in! What I did play of it (the piano and the Bat Cave ) was terrific, though.

Batman was the first VR game I played (when I still had it set up in the front room). It was a great introduction to VR, but yes, it was very fussy about the positioning in the room and distance from the camera.

The good (?) poeple at Oculus sent me through a 30% off code yesterday, so i ordered The Room VR immediately. I'm trying to condition their algorithm to learn i only buy anything with a voucher code, and that i ALWAYS buy something when they supply me with one.

So anyone with a Quest - keep your eyes peeled for an Oculus app notification (that isnt the usual "you like Beat Saber, why not try Layers of Fear" bollocks).

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:(in the Currently Playing in 2020 thread) But yeah, both games (Astro Bot and Moss) are essential. Especially given the low price they are regularly at.

You're bang on, kaz, and it has reminded me that VR just hasn't taken off as much as it should. I think the difficulty is that unless you've tried VR out, you don't really know the experience that it delivers. 2D screenshots just don't convey how the game looks in VR. I posted some Moss screenshots on Twitter and it kinda looked like a PS2 era game... the three dimensional scenes, full of scale and perspective, packed with gorgeous lighting and depth of colour, just cannot be represented in a flat picture. And so, perfectly understandably, folk will think "yeah, that doesn't look anything special."

In these times of lockdown and with an ability to easily try the required kit in a store, there would seem to be even less opportunity for VR to gain in popularity.

Dang it... more folk should be able to experience VR and shout about it! . It's not, of course, a complete paradise - there are plenty of duff VR games, too - but, when it's "right", it's brilliant. When I look back at this console generation, VR will, for me, be the stand-out experience and memory.

jawa wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:(in the Currently Playing in 2020 thread) But yeah, both games (Astro Bot and Moss) are essential. Especially given the low price they are regularly at.

You're bang on, kaz, and it has reminded me that VR just hasn't taken off as much as it should. I think the difficulty is that unless you've tried VR out, you don't really know the experience that it delivers. 2D screenshots just don't convey how the game looks in VR. I posted some Moss screenshots on Twitter and it kinda looked like a PS2 era game... the three dimensional scenes, full of scale and perspective, packed with gorgeous lighting and depth of colour, just cannot be represented in a flat picture. And so, perfectly understandably, folk will think "yeah, that doesn't look anything special."

In these times of lockdown and with an ability to easily try the required kit in a store, there would seem to be even less opportunity for VR to gain in popularity.

Dang it... more folk should be able to experience VR and shout about it! . It's not, of course, a complete paradise - there are plenty of duff VR games, too - but, when it's "right", it's brilliant. When I look back at this console generation, VR will, for me, be the stand-out experience and memory.

No doubt about this. It just felt so fresh and novel.

For a while i thought that i had lost all interest in flat screen gaming, but I have now learnt that both of them serve a purpose. I also think my passion for it is increased by the relatively low number of hours I use it per week. It always feels exciting to go back to it.

But yeah, its nearly impossible to describe the experience to others, you really do have to try it. Sometimes, even when i have switched a game off I start doubting if the VR aspect really was as transformative as it seemed in the moment. But then the second I am back in to it I remember how much more it adds to the experience than you can easily rationalise or explain.

In Moss i particularly like the little ember particles in some of the dark areas. They are even behind you in the black void and it feels immensly cosy. Love it.

Who wants to run around their living room kicking a ball playing fifa?!

I've not been on my pc for a while now for games, and by extension I've not used VR on it for a while. The thing I love about it is when you've had some time off, going back still gives you that HOLY SHEEEEIIIIIT THIS IS AMAZING moment.

I've been looking into VR as a treat for myself with my redundancy package and am a bit confused by the Quest. Can it only play the games listed on the website or is there a way to make it play the likes of Half Life Alyx / that new Star Wars game?

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Sometimes, even when i have switched a game off I start doubting if the VR aspect really was as transformative as it seemed in the moment. But then the second I am back in to it I remember how much more it adds to the experience than you can easily rationalise or explain...

Absolutely! I packed away my PSVR kit for about a year because I wanted to setup my Xbox 360 and, later, PS3... but I've recently set it up again, and, dang, now that I'm using it I can't think why I put it away. I suspect it was because I do find the VR headset a little too much to wear when temperatures are extremely hot.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...In Moss i particularly like the little ember particles in some of the dark areas. They are even behind you in the black void and it feels immensly cosy. Love it.

Yeah, I really like the little touches like that. Additionally, looking around at the tree silhouettes and the night sky before returning your gaze to the little diorama in front of you is ace .

Victor Mildew wrote:...I've not used VR on it for a while. The thing I love about it is when you've had some time off, going back still gives you that HOLY SHEEEEIIIIIT THIS IS AMAZING moment.

So much! Playing Moss has reminded me that I have to return to Astro Bot; I only played through the first three or four stages and so there is more to enjoy. I want to try Ocean Dive again, too... even though it creeps me out!

Joer wrote:I've been looking into VR as a treat for myself with my redundancy package and am a bit confused by the Quest. Can it only play the games listed on the website or is there a way to make it play the likes of Half Life Alyx / that new Star Wars game?

You can only play game outside of its dedicated store if you link it to a capable PC with either a USB 3.0 cable or wirelessly using an app called remote desktop. Using these methods allow you to access your Steam VR library or play games you have bought from the rest of the Oculus store.

Most native Quest games are considerably more compact in nature than those on PC or PSVR. There are exceptions however (including the aforementioned Moss). Walking Dead Saints and Sinners is coming to it in a week or so. But graphically it is a massive step down from PCVR.

Obviously the Quest 2 is coming out very soon, so that is the only option you should see available to purchase. I bought my Quest about 4 months ago. I would like the Quest 2 but cant justify having 2 headsets. So if you want a cheap mint Quest 1 let me know!

jawa wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Sometimes, even when i have switched a game off I start doubting if the VR aspect really was as transformative as it seemed in the moment. But then the second I am back in to it I remember how much more it adds to the experience than you can easily rationalise or explain...

Absolutely! I packed away my PSVR kit for about a year because I wanted to setup my Xbox 360 and, later, PS3... but I've recently set it up again, and, dang, now that I'm using it I can't think why I put it away. I suspect it was because I do find the VR headset a little too much to wear when temperatures are extremely hot.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...In Moss i particularly like the little ember particles in some of the dark areas. They are even behind you in the black void and it feels immensly cosy. Love it.

Yeah, I really like the little touches like that. Additionally, looking around at the tree silhouettes and the night sky before returning your gaze to the little diorama in front of you is ace .

Victor Mildew wrote:...I've not used VR on it for a while. The thing I love about it is when you've had some time off, going back still gives you that HOLY SHEEEEIIIIIT THIS IS AMAZING moment.

So much! Playing Moss has reminded me that I have to return to Astro Bot; I only played through the first three or four stages and so there is more to enjoy. I want to try Ocean Dive again, too... even though it creeps me out!

Dammit Jawa
Some of the later levels are the most atmospheric. Play it at Xmas if you can. Its not specifically related to the setting of any of the game, but it just feels like a really nice game to have associated with what is (arguably) a jolly time.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Joer wrote:I've been looking into VR as a treat for myself with my redundancy package and am a bit confused by the Quest. Can it only play the games listed on the website or is there a way to make it play the likes of Half Life Alyx / that new Star Wars game?

You can only play game outside of its dedicated store if you link it to a capable PC with either a USB 3.0 cable or wirelessly using an app called remote desktop. Using these methods allow you to access your Steam VR library or play games you have bought from the rest of the Oculus store.

Most native Quest games are considerably more compact in nature than those on PC or PSVR. There are exceptions however (including the aforementioned Moss). Walking Dead Saints and Sinners is coming to it in a week or so. But graphically it is a massive step down from PCVR.

Obviously the Quest 2 is coming out very soon, so that is the only option you should see available to purchase. I bought my Quest about 4 months ago. I would like the Quest 2 but cant justify having 2 headsets. So if you want a cheap mint Quest 1 let me know!

Thanks for the info mate.

I've only got a gaming laptop rather than a PC which isn't capable of running VR when I checked about Half Life Alyx before unfortunately.

I think that means i'll have to rely on PSVR and opt for whatever gets announced for the PS5 since I can't rely on my laptop to be able to run what i'd want it to.

Yeah, PSVR is my primary method of playing the bigger budget games still, but due to the terrible tracking it provides i am interested to see what PS5 offers in terms of solutions to this (both for the existing tech, which im guesing will not be improved due to its inherent failures, and going forward with PSVR2)

Has there been any word on when we can expect PSVR2? I've not really been paying attention to it at all until just now so might have just glanced over it previously.

Joer wrote:Has there been any word on when we can expect PSVR2? I've not really been paying attention to it at all until just now so might have just glanced over it previously.

It's not been officially announced, but we know they're working on it. I'd expect an announcement mid-late 2021 for a 2022 release at earliest.

Sounds about right to me.

Anyone know who banjoku is? It seems they have some GR people on their friends list but I've got no idea who it is. I randomly got a message from them yesterday saying:

"Maaaan your vr kit is defo getting its use haha "

Banjo?