VR: VIVE, RIFT, OSVR or Morpheus; pick your poison!!!!

[pand3m0nium]

Hi folks,

 

Some of you might know me from BF3 and BF4, but most of you will know Jack Frags; english youtuber. He just reviewed the VIVE VR set, and was quite positive about it.

 

I don't usually trust reviews. I know that Jack is EA-affiliated; hence (slightly) untrustworthy. Then I watched some more vids. Almost 20. General consensus (from all the stuff that is posted by my top 20 reviewers (different affiliations; all Vive-vs-Rift)) is: They don't know (or are not paid-enough by the different companies...) which one is going to be better. What they do know is that the Morpheus is a console thing, and only have 30 fps and is shit (ALL agree that anything BELOW 90FPS is gamebreaking) from the get-go, and most likely have people puking on the coffee-table. Razer is another contender. But just consider their products, imagine using the Hydra (which has a shittier accuracy than WII controler), and the price they will be asking for their VR-helmet.

 

What they all "think" or "guess" is that the Vive is better at using a room for VR (5 by 5 meters!!!), and the Rift will be better for seated VR-experiences. Tech-specs are roughly the same (Vive and Rift), but the general consensus is that the Vive is better at tracking. Neither will give you eye-tyfus when looking at them. Both say that specs are 90FPS @ 1080P both eyes. That is agreeable from my perspective; I am using 120FPS @ 1080p for a while now and all of you 1440p people might get eye-sadness, but a 50% boost in FPS.

 

On that hand, 90% of the reviewers, and sometimes 100% of the reviewers say this between the lines: It is a gimmick. For now. It looks amaze balls. Like the W:II did. That was amazing. You could flick your hand towards a wall, and on screen a bowling ball went on the target. Everybody went wild. Everybody bought one, and after a month it was a nice paper-weight. So in my opinion: will it work in my everyday gaming: NO. It won't work in any FPS; it might come close to working in Arma3, but I still am pretty sure I'll shoot your face off quicker with a mouse.

 

Some of you might know I home built a Track_IR5. It worked the treat. I am still using it when I go on DCS, and ARMA3. That is a proper bit of working, functional, affordable, immersive bit of kit I made for about 20 euros. This is a dangerous thing to say, but with that piece of kit I will out-fly most of the seasoned-pilots in both games. It just works. After 2 months a tweaking it's become an extension of my HOTAS.

 

What I hope the VR-set will do is to IMPROVE my gaming for me. I want to look around corners, and shoot peoples in the face, while looking slighty over cover; just moving my actual face up. I want to be able look behind me, flying my (Star Citizen) Vanguard with a flick of my head, be able to judge the distance between me and the target, dis-engage Flight Assistance, throw the front of my space-ship around and introduce people with a Size 5 Chain Gun.... Brrrrrrt brrrrrrrrrrrrt.... I don't want to use the VR controllers. I have got the best controllers there are: HOTAS, mechanical keyboard+mouse, headtracking.

 

I am pretty sure that is not what most software developers are aiming for when Vive and Rift come out. They (and 90% of their client base, i.e. including us sadly) want a nice gimmick they can show to their mates/friend/family: "Get in this virtual rollercoaster and do not throw up at my keyboard". It won't be positively game altering like the Track_IR was; that shit really made you a better ARMA2/3 player. It really improved your piloting in SC:Arena.

 

I really can't see either Vive or Rift lead to competitive gameplay soon . And with soon I mean 2 years from now.

 

On that bombshell: I have got clearance from the missus to actually build a gaming attic. You might understand my room is actually growing to be *at least* 5 by 5 meters. My eggs are in the VIVE-basket because of PC-compatibility. Just saying.