Oculus Rift

The first time I put my hand on an Oculus was in Berlin. I found a small place that had these odd gaming 'experiences'. He was shamefully asking for money just to watch a demo in it. The version of the Oculus they had was the first SDK, and spite it having shit resolution, I felt there was potential. Now, thanks to +Ahmed Jadaa, I was able to get my hands on the final retail version of the Oculus.

The biggest issue with the Oculus, which also applies to all non-mobile VR machine, is its barrier to entry; the cost, the setup and the space it needs. You don't have to only pay shitload of money for the machine itself, you have to have a powerful rig that can run it, and even then it's not perfect.

I'm no tech expert, but from my experience I believe the resolution the Oculus is running at, which is 2160 X 1200, isn't enough. In all the games and demos I tried the pixels were annoyingly visible, some were better than others.

The future is now! Experience raising the roof in VR

When it comes to the frame rate, I think all games should be set to a 60 fps minimum, which wasn't the case. Because when some games ran on lower frame-rate first it feels off and breaks the immersion. Secondly, which is the worst part, most people will feel nauseous from the experience. Now, i'm not the kind that get motion sick, but after a couple of hours in all games I started getting headache and feeling nauseous.

In every gaming system I believe what make or break it mostly falls on the software. I say mostly because we had the Sega Dreamcast. RIP. Anyway, this is one of the major issues with the Oculus currently. It doesn't have its killer game; its Mario 64. What it dose have is mostly proof of concepts, or games that feel more like demos, and you still have to pay for them. Some of them are utter shit, others hold huge promise and new ways to play. 

One of the experiences that stood out was "Mythos of the World Axis." What it dose is make the player part of the game; you will be in the place of a chained giant. Around you are remnants of a castle, and using the controller you navigate a character in the level to unchain you. You can move your head to inspect things closer to know how to navigate the level.

Another game is Lucky's Tale, the kind of game you would expect to be on a Nintendo 64. A surprisingly above average platformer. Oddly it works well in third person. You control the camera with your head, and the character using the controller, yet the experience through the Oculus brings another feel to the game, it may not solve any issue we had with platformers nor bring anything fundamentally new to the table, but it was enjoyable.

From the games I've played, the best experiences were the games that pits the player in one point, and give you a 360 view around you, rather than having you mobile and moving around. Because most people wont have the space, and even if you did, your movement will be hindered by the cables. Also who the fuck want to move around to play a goddamn videogame, for me that would be called sport.

Another issue is the convenience you usually feel while gaming. When you play on the Oculus every minimal interaction outside the game is hindered by the goggles; you can't scratch your nose, you can't have a drink, you can't check your phone...etc. So when i'm coming back from work thinking of just relaxing and playing a game, I won't bother with all that crap. I'll just stick to my good old controller.

There are huge similarities between the VR experience and the Wii. Both had that impact of a new tech you want people to experience. But the difference I see, is that the Wii was a gimmick that even if it were to advance tech-wise, it wont continue. On the other hand, if the VR becomes convenient, cheaper, better quality and games, it can totally become a huge part of gaming.

In the end, I would recommend you wait for the next generation VR machines or at least that for that killer must play game, fingers crossed for Half-life 3. And sadly, VR porn was anticlimactic, so it's worthless now.