The VR Headset Wars Thread

[DogofWar1]

Ars Technica had an article that I found interesting and somewhat spoke to my musings on the fast coming VR headset market.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/ask-ars-i-cant-choose-between-oculus-rift-htc-vive-and-playstation-vr/

 

VR has always been one of those cool things just beyond the horizon, but now it seems to be almost to our doorstep.  Of course, figuring out which device to throw one's weight/wallet behind is no small thing, especially with the costs associated with these things.

 

The "Big 3" seem to, at the moment, be the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Playstation VR.  Each seems to have its pros and cons.

 

 

Playstation VR:

Price: $400 USD

Unofficial List of Supported Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR#Games

 

The PSVR headset is the cheapest of the three, but at the moment there don't appear to be many weaknesses technically compared to its costlier brethren.  The resolution is supposedly a little lower, though the main weakness seems to be that it's tethered to the PS4, and that's it, no PC anything with it.  While it also has head tracking like the other two, it, like the Oculus, doesn't seem to have a "full room" interface.

 

 

Oculus Rift:

Price: $600 USD

Unofficial List of Supported Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_Oculus_Rift_support

Sitting between the Vive's and PSVR's price points, the Oculus' main difference between it and the Vive is the loss of "full room" gaming while costing $200 less.  It's for PC so not locked into PS4 titles, and includes head tracking along with controllers that can be purchased separately which are supposed to include some sort of controller tracking in space.

 

 

HTC Vive

Price: $800 USD

Unofficial List of Supported Games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9738881-HTC-Vive-Compatible/?appid=334410

 

The Vive is the costliest of the 3, but with potential full room tracking (which requires a cleared out 2x2 meter area and some unobstructed sensors), it also could be the most immersive.  It also is for PC.

 

 

I wanted to see what people thought about the 3 (and the others, like Samsung GearVR or Google Cardboard), whether they had a preference, or what points they're debating over, or if they're debating over getting involved in the first place in the VR headset wars anytime soon.

 

 

I think personally, I'm leaning towards waiting until at least a few months after launch, then going Oculus.  My gf and I are likely getting a studio apt. soon together in DC, and will be there for at least a year while she and I get our careers into full swing.  That probably precludes the Vive, and while I have and like my PS4, I don't know if being locked in via the PSVR makes sense.

 

 

But I want to see what other people think.  Perhaps someone has been following this very closely and can lend further insight.

 

 

EDIT: And to get it out of the way, all three probably have pornographic capability, though probably PSVR is the worst bet of the three.  Oculus is probably the best bet overall since the room functionality of the Vive costs extra and will be tough to incorporate in a satisfying way.  Peripherals will need to be 3rd party, probably costly, cumbersome, and impossible to hide from significant others.  Now, with that addressed, let's talk about gaming, movie, and technical aspects.

[zoony]

As a general statement I don't like where this is going

[Riggo-toni]

Which one comes with 3D porn?

[PleaseBlitz]

Which one comes with 3D porn?

 

 

Look at today's Gizmodo.com page.

[DogofWar1]

Which one comes with 3D porn?

I added a paragraph to the end of the OP.

 

I knew this thread would go there, I just hoped it wouldn't quite this quick, haha.

[Dan T.]

Kids these days.  In my day, National Geographic for porn was just fine. 1-D porn.  And we were happy if the pictures were in color. 

 

[The 12th Commandment]

Too expensive for a first generation product.  I also don't want my expectations to ruin the experience.  Let them have a few more years to refine and figure things out and, probably more important, to let developers come up with some new games that will not just be showcases for VR tech but actual games.  I've waited 40 or so years, from my pong playing days, I can wait a few more.

[Bliz]

I got a free google cardboard from the google store when they were doing the star wars promotion.  

 

I think if you pay for one it's like $15.

 

It's pretty incredible what they can do with just two lenses and your phone.  A neat toy to pull out and show to people.  I downloaded a few of the apps to try them out, and generally felt like most of the games didn't work that great.  The "immersive experience" type apps, where you're at a concert or in some location are much better.

 

I wouldn't be on board for one of the expensive ones at this point.  But for a small investment the cardboard is a pretty cool peak into where the technology is going

[PokerPacker]

I support my boy Palmer at Oculus.

As far as PSVR is concerned, I'd definitely avoid it until reviews start coming out. I have a hard time seeing the PS4 being capable of handling proper VR, plus who knows if they'll ditch the PSVR and require you to upgrade when the PS5 comes out.

Also, the cost of PSVR doesn't take into account extra peripherals that you need to buy to make it work. The PS Eye or whatever their camera these days is called is a requirement, and maybe the PS Move?

[JMS]

I don't know much about the other offerings but Oculus Rift is $600 if you already own a supported android telephone.  Else you have to pick up an android telephone too...

 

 

For a great virtual reality experience... If you already have a smart phone,  android or apple..  I would recommend one of the Google Cardboard options.   They're cheap, but they work..

 

$20 Google Cardboard Original xiaozhai Brand VR BOX

and their are cheaper options

For the software you can down load free or inexpensive virtual reality offerings from your App Store.

[Zazzaro703]

I wanted the OR but I think I'm going to get a Vive since its Valve and will work with everything steam. And to the people asking about porn, there is some device that a guy is trying to kickstart that goes with VR and is a machine you stick your member into. It was hilarious to watch the pitch video.

[JMS]

I wanted the OR but I think I'm going to get a Vive since its Valve and will work with everything steam. And to the people asking about porn, there is some device that a guy is trying to kickstart that goes with VR and is a machine you stick your member into. It was hilarious to watch the pitch video.

have you tried any of the cardboard offerings and how do they compare?

[PokerPacker]

I wanted the OR but I think I'm going to get a Vive since its Valve and will work with everything steam. And to the people asking about porn, there is some device that a guy is trying to kickstart that goes with VR and is a machine you stick your member into. It was hilarious to watch the pitch video.

Novint Falcon + Fleshlight. done.

[DogofWar1]

I'm going to add to the OP places that unofficially list games that each brand current is compatible with or is announced in some form to be compatible with.

 

 

I wanted the OR but I think I'm going to get a Vive since its Valve and will work with everything steam. And to the people asking about porn, there is some device that a guy is trying to kickstart that goes with VR and is a machine you stick your member into. It was hilarious to watch the pitch video.

 

I was wondering about this, how deep does the Vive's support go.  Like, I suppose for most Valve-developed games, they'll support the Vive, but wouldn't it be up to individual developers to make their game compatible?  I suppose the Vive could sort of "fake it" with non-naturally supported games doing something similar to the 3ds, but mainly steam is sort of a game-aggregator.  I know Elite Dangerous and other steam games have Oculus support, so it doesn't seem to be purely Vive games.

 

I will say that the Steam connection is one of the biggest things keeping me hedging between the Oculus and Vive.  I don't want to be on team HD-DVD.  Then again, Oculus is owned by Facebook, so there are titans behind both PC VR systems.

[DCSaints_fan]

I'm going to add to the OP places that unofficially list games that each brand current is compatible with or is announced in some form to be compatible with.

 

 

 

I was wondering about this, how deep does the Vive's support go.  Like, I suppose for most Valve-developed games, they'll support the Vive, but wouldn't it be up to individual developers to make their game compatible?  I suppose the Vive could sort of "fake it" with non-naturally supported games doing something similar to the 3ds, but mainly steam is sort of a game-aggregator.  I know Elite Dangerous and other steam games have Oculus support, so it doesn't seem to be purely Vive games.

 

I will say that the Steam connection is one of the biggest things keeping me hedging between the Oculus and Vive.  I don't want to be on team HD-DVD.  Then again, Oculus is owned by Facebook, so there are titans behind both PC VR systems.

 

I think if a game implements VR support, its not hard to implement for the other devices.  You would need to implement the stereoscopic view (rendering the view from two different perspectives), and I think all you would need to change is the FOV and the resolution to render.  You also have to implement head tracking, but that shouldn't be much different. 

[Gamebreaker]

I don't think any of these will sell well. The video game industry has a couple of constants, and one of them is products above the price of $500 don't become successes. And I know PS VR is $400, but that is without the accessories you need to actually use it. Adding the camera($100), and the move controllers, and now you have the same price as the Oculus. 

[Hersh]

Would some of you please explain why you would want to put one of these things on? Just for games?

 

Besides a game, I don't get the draw to this.

[BornaSkinsFan83]

Yeah I have no interest. I think I might be getting old.

[Kosher Ham]

I don't get it because VR has been around for a long, long time. They used to have them in Arcades...when was the last time you saw a real arcade ? Doesn't appear to be much better than what they had 20 years ago. 

[Gamebreaker]

I don't get it because VR has been around for a long, long time. They used to have them in Arcades...when was the last time you saw a real arcade ? Doesn't appear to be much better than what they had 20 years ago.

The physical product doesn't look much better, but the graphics are light years better. Most of them are running the Unreal engine, which in gaming terms means the games can look better than most Xbox one or ps4 games. I just think it's too expensive for the market they want to purchase it.

[Kosher Ham]

Perhaps, but I don't see the true purpose, same as most people who used tablets 20 years ago. 

When I can use something like that to walk through lets say... something that actually looks real, works real, then it will be worth it. 

A 4-D movie does nearly as much. The interactive part is cool...but many games do that already. 

 

Just not all that exciting to me at this point. Maybe somewhere down the line. 

[Springfield]

With all of the gyroscopes and stuff that we have available now, shouldn't there be a way to wear one of these things without some sort of head tracking device.

I can't lie, I'm interested in this, I just wonder if the technology is ready yet? Both in the computing hardware and the devices needed to accomplish what we want.

What I incision is a guy, sitting on a char or couch who still uses a controller for movement but just uses the VR headset to look around. It would be perfect for a FPS, if the frame rate and response time could handle it.

[PokerPacker]

With all of the gyroscopes and stuff that we have available now, shouldn't there be a way to wear one of these things without some sort of head tracking device.

Gyroscopes are imperfect. Great for picking up motions, but over time, your absolute position will start to creep away from where it should be.

[DogofWar1]

I don't get it because VR has been around for a long, long time. They used to have them in Arcades...when was the last time you saw a real arcade ? Doesn't appear to be much better than what they had 20 years ago. 

 

From what I've seen of youtubers using the Oculus Dev Kits, the technology has matured a ton.  A huge slew of issues like the screen door effect, motion sickness issues, and lots more have been mostly or entirely solved by the final products being released.  I'm sure there are places to innovate, but compared to something like that Blockade Beach Head VR game from arcades, it's massively improved and matured.

 

I'm not even really sure how much more maturing the technology has to go at this point without becoming cumbersome.  The Vive already is trying to get people to devote about 43 square feet (2 meters by 2 meters) to the device in order to bring player body movements into the picture.  Tech demos of things like full body suits or large stations look cool, but are totally impractical for the average gamer who might be interested in this.  Something like the Vive seems like the limit for what could be market viable, and even there, I imagine a lot of people will prefer to remain seated using just the two motion controllers for in-game actions, so the Vive's full suite might be more than most people care for.

 

With those limitations, it's really just the headset they have to get "right," and from what I've seen all three seem to.  There was seemingly a checklist for years that needed to be fulfilled to avoid another Virtual Boy, and it seems like all the major boxes have gotten ticked.

 

Cost for adoption is another matter though.  That, I think, is the bigger hurdle than maturation of the tech.

[codeorama]

At this point, I'm not really interested.

I was excited about the Wii when it first came out, but the reality is that I play video games to relax and in the case of the wii, moving around wasn't what I wanted to do all the time. It was fun for party situations, but not primarily what I play games for.

I see this being similar. I don't imagine myself wanting to stand up and move all around to play a game.

I want to lounge on my couch and relax.  Even playing competitive games, I'm sitting in a computer chair in front of a monitor.  

 

Something could change my mind, but I don't see it at this point