what VR headset?

From: william (WILLIAMA) 1 Jun 2021 20:25
To: ALL1 of 34
That's it really. I'm a sucker for what small amounts of VR I've experienced, but were I to invest my folding spending stuff, what should I buy? 

Gaming: more Myst than Deathsmiles or Call of Duty (any). Also, can't be arsed to fight zombies, but willing to try if necessary. I like being in dramatic places, and if that means I really have to shoot people/things then, well, I'd rather not but...

I like clarity. Yeah, Google Cardboard was super fun a while back, but yes, I will get hacked off with something low res. Quite soon.

TBH it's the experience first, the gaming second (soz) unless it's old-school adventure. I would TOTALLY TOTALLY love to play Zork Grand Inquisitor in 4K with a VR headset. (and I know it will never happen).

Help. Budget undecided - so ignore. 
From: Manthorp 1 Jun 2021 20:55
To: william (WILLIAMA) 2 of 34
I've always gone as high-end as I can possibly afford. I bought a second-hand Index, but haven't yet upgrade the Vive controllers.
From: milko 7 Jun 2021 12:07
To: william (WILLIAMA) 3 of 34
I think the Quest 2 is the most versatile and best bang-per-buck out there, albeit you have to submit to using your Facebook account with it. And some say you have to buy the rather pricey strap upgrade to make it comfy, others disagree. But then you have standalone functionality plus wired or wireless PC link to play Steam games or whatever, it's pretty cool. I've got the Quest 1 which is the same but OLED (yay better blacks) but lower res (boo blurry stuff) and it's good. 

For me, the jump to a Vive - needing tracking base stations in the room and all that biz - lots of money, seems too much. And there's the Reverb G2 which also seems nice but a bit clunkier in support and whatnot, I don't know loads except it's got amazing screen spec.
There's talk of a Quest Pro coming out 'sometime' but no dates.
From: william (WILLIAMA) 7 Jun 2021 17:38
To: milko 4 of 34
I was interested by the Quest 2, not least because of it being available for just > £260 new some places.
From: milko 8 Jun 2021 09:32
To: william (WILLIAMA) 5 of 34
Honestly unless the Facebook thing is enough to put you off (which would be fair enough) it's hard to justify anything else as a starting point now, I reckon. Not sure what the price of getting started in Vive is but somewhere around double that or more I think?
From: william (WILLIAMA)19 Jun 2021 10:14
To: milko 6 of 34
In the last couple of days, started seeing reports and announcements that the Quest 2 is about to be invaded by ads. As far as I can see there will be ads in the Oculus app and in some games and other content

That makes me stop and think. I'm not a big game-player, but one of the things I do like when I play is a decently immersive experience, what was once called (about Myst) like having a holiday away. The absolute last thing I want is to be walking through an alien landscape, only to be met with an ad for Amazon Prime Day or earwax removal.
EDITED: 19 Jun 2021 12:52 by WILLIAMA
From: Peter (BOUGHTONP)19 Jun 2021 13:39
To: william (WILLIAMA) 7 of 34
OMG! Invasive adverts from Facebook! What a surprise!

:/

From: milko21 Jun 2021 09:24
To: william (WILLIAMA) 8 of 34
I expect there will be a shift towards a mobile-phone style 'free but with loads of shitty ads model', with still some ad-free games available. I don't really play mobile games at all, hate the constant ads and microtransaction shit. So, hmm, yes. Obviously Steam stuff will not include all that so it'll still be avoidable, I'd be surprised if the higher-end Quest games do much with it too. But as Peter says, it's Facebook. Bleurgh.
EDITED: 21 Jun 2021 09:25 by MILKO
From: william (WILLIAMA)21 Jun 2021 10:14
To: ALL9 of 34
Well, my son bought me an Oculus Quest 2, so that's decided. Good fun so far, only slightly tempered by the fact that I know he can't afford it (he bought himself one too).
From: Manthorp22 Jun 2021 08:56
To: william (WILLIAMA) 10 of 34
Quote: 
(about Myst)
...about to come out in VR...
From: william (WILLIAMA)22 Jun 2021 19:54
To: Manthorp 11 of 34
Yeah, I saw that. I may get it, seeing as it's available for £16 on the Oculus site. I rather baulked at paying £22 from the Oculus store via the headset, seeing as I've already bought it three times one way or another). Not sure I can bear to work through all the puzzles yet again, particularly the truly mind-numbing underground railway, but the VR experience may be worth it.

I had a crack at Obduction and discovered that it's very different in VR to playing it as an old Myst-style 3D adventure puzzler. What hasn't really changed is that the story sucks and the puzzles are meh. That said, being in the environment and being able to examine and manipulate things that actually seemed to be there with me put a new twist on things.

Also realised that the close integration with Facebook has seriously limited investigation of those VR "art movies" that are so popular these days.
EDITED: 22 Jun 2021 20:33 by WILLIAMA
From: Peter (BOUGHTONP)22 Jun 2021 22:40
To: william (WILLIAMA) 12 of 34
These are basically mobiles with a head-fitting form-factor, right?

Apparently there's a $5,000 bounty to the first person to jailbreak it...

From: Manthorp23 Jun 2021 00:11
To: william (WILLIAMA) 13 of 34
I enjoyed FORM as a VR puzzle game with the pretties and a bit of plot about it, and there's a bunch of cute 3rd personers including Moss, Down the Rabbit Hole and A fisherman's Tale
From: patch23 Jun 2021 06:18
To: Manthorp 14 of 34
I Expect You To Die is also really good, with a sequel due out pretty soon. I thoroughly enjoyed Moss - I high-fived a mouse.
From: william (WILLIAMA)23 Jun 2021 12:16
To: Peter (BOUGHTONP) 15 of 34
I saw that. There's at least one claim to have done it, but it's either incorrect or the details are being held back for some reason.
From: william (WILLIAMA)24 Jun 2021 09:37
To: patch 16 of 34
I had a look at a couple of Moss things on Youtube. It did look fun.
From: william (WILLIAMA)24 Jun 2021 09:47
To: Manthorp 17 of 34
I gave in and bought Myst. Does feel very weird being in an environment that's so familiar as a 2D/3D game. The textures etc. hold up fairly well, although they're not in the same league as Obduction (or probably a shedload of other games I haven't played yet).
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)24 Jun 2021 09:54
To: william (WILLIAMA) 18 of 34
Is this the stock game run through some VR code converter?
From: william (WILLIAMA)24 Jun 2021 13:02
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 19 of 34
Not sure. The Steam version has supposedly been redone from the ground up, but I have my doubts. It had a major port onto the Unreal engine a while back and I think that's the basis of what we have here. Some parts have definitely been remade and/or remodelled, but most of it looks pretty similar. It's good on the Oculus, but apparently better on Steam. That isn't surprising given that the Oculus version has to fit into the disk space on the headset, whereas Steam has whatever is on your desktop. 

TBH I didn't know there was a Steam version or I'd have gone for that (or the GOG version in a year or so which will probably be £1.99)
From: william (WILLIAMA)24 Jun 2021 13:08
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 20 of 34
Oh, and it seems the video has gone in favour of CGI people. God alone knows why.