It's good, for sure (you hadn't played it on PSVR?) and as you say nails the connection between player and game in VR. The quirks of the forced multiple level replay are a bit tiresome (unless they've been patched out). I think Pistol Whip is a better version of a similar thing though as it does have the combo chain aspect, along with learned timings etc, but can also be played just as a more lightweight Guitar hero clone when you just want to relax. Superhot is always quite demanding.
Have you tried the table tennis games yet? I still think they're one of the best examples of cable-less VR.
I burned out on PSVR fairly quickly for all the reasons mentioned at the start of the thread (basically, it was damn uncomfortable, the controllers were shit and the combo of camera and wires made it a massive hassle) so I have a few VR classics I could have played that I have still to check out. Superhot was top of the list and I'm glad I waited: the freedom of being able to move and turn in any direction, and do ludicrously overblown uppercuts without either punching the TV or garrotting myself, has made all the difference.
I haven't tried the table tennis game yet, I'm trying to avoid buying All The Games in week one but not doing very well so I'll probably get it sooner rather than later. Is Eleven Table Tennis the one to get?
I tried out some sort of free International Space Station simulator which was a bit low-res but very nicely done. Propelling yourself along by pushing off the walls and ceilings actually felt quite convincing, though from the outside I probably looked like I was standing in my living room slowly drowning.
Half-Life Alyx update: properly shat myself at pretty much my first headcrab shambler thing, whimpering and retreating across my lounge while desperately trying to fumble a new clip into my pistol. Bit good this.
I’m much too wimpy to play Alyx, which is a shame because the Half Life games are some of my all time favourites.
But based on a playthrough I watched, things get a lot scarier…
I think I noped out at a similar point to felt.
First evening of technical frustration with this thing: wanted to try out Star Wars Squadrons but it doesn't support the Oculus controllers and although you can pair an Xbox controller to the headset, AirLink doesn't pass it through.
Virtual Desktop apparently does, but I had all sorts of issues even getting Virtual Desktop to work properly. It kept hanging, stuttering and refusing to load games, and I still couldn't get the controller to work. In the end I uninstalled it and requested a refund. AirLink works perfectly for me, it just doesn't support controllers (yet).
I guess the way around this is fairly simple - I'll need to sit near the PC and pair the controller to the PC itself rather than the headset. A bit of a pain but that should work. In the meantime I probably need to play more dedicated Quest titles as they always work fine!
I've never had an issue with VD (and Virtual Desktop lmao kekw). Did you amend the streaming settings? The default ones used to be bobbins. It took about 5 minutes of tweaking and then it worked flawlessly for me, though I have heard stories it can be router dependent.
Yeah, I played around with it for ages and it just wasn't behaving itself. Games would open windowed and refused to switch to VR mode, the VR display would regularly open up too zoomed in for some reason, and on one memorable occasion the Xbox controller did start working but all the controls were upside down and there was a two-second delay on the stick. I don't think it was a streaming issue. Switched back to AirLink and - controller aside - it all worked perfectly straight away.
I mean, I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone have those issues. So…. yeah.
Yeah, I was confused too. I've done plenty of Googling and I seem to be the only person with these problems…
Maybe it's because Virtual Desktop really really wants you to run games from the little list it gives you (and warns you only to launch games from there). But for me, only Steam games showed up in that list and I was trying to run things from Game Pass or EA Desktop. I couldn't see any way of adding non-Steam games to the Virtual Desktop list.
So I was bringing up my PC desktop in VR and loading games from there, which kind of didn't work very well. Is there some sort of workaround I've missed?
It just works for me - you can either load directly into Steam and launch games from there (I guess you could add non-Steam games to your games list if you want to launch them via the Steam VR wrapper). Or, just literally launch your PC desktop and point and click and load from there. Works fine for me on anything, Steam, Origin, Oculus store direct, Gamepass etc…..
I do use an earlier sideloaded version from before it became official as Oculus used to be funny about it - but as far as I'm aware it's just available through the store version now.
Call me a cynic but this is why I don't go in for PC gaming - saying 'It just works for me' isn't relevant, because every machine is different and everyone's mileage varies. Gar's problems could be almost anything… maybe something's running in the background, maybe a driver process isn't right, maybe that malware he got after those bitcoin scams is playing up. Who knows?
Not criticising, just my thinking of why I'd rather have a box I can just turn on and play with.
This isn't PC gaming. It's connecting a VR headset designed to operate standalone, via a third party bit of software to a PC to enable functionality not entirely supported by the manufacturer.
If you want to play PC games on a PC these days they work about as often and are as bug free as a console game. Install game on Steam. Run game. Game works.
The point is, if you're interested in doing stuff like Gar is doing then the flexibility is there. He could connect the headset via a cable and run games via the Oculus store and it would work fine.
Oh, that's completely right, I'm just tinkering with this because I genuinely love pissing around with stuff trying to get it to do stuff it isn't really intended to do.
I could easily stick the Quest 2 on, load up games from its in-game store and have a great time. The experience if that's what you want to do is extremely slick. It's very much a "box you can just turn on and play with", albeit one that's strapped to your face and makes you look ridiculous.
But I got Half-Life Alyx to run when I never really expected it would, it's bloody amazing and I'm just playing around trying to work out what else is possible.
Gar's problems could be almost anything… maybe something's running in the background, maybe a driver process isn't right, maybe that malware he got after those bitcoin scams is playing up. Who knows?
At one point I had the Virtual Desktop background software running, which opened the Oculus background software, which opened Steam, which loaded the SteamVR process, then I opened the Xbox app to load a game which opened EA Desktop to authenticate it. It's frankly a miracle anything's functioning at all.
I remember having some weird trouble getting Squadrons to run. I think I couldn't get it to work on the Epic Games launcher at all, and ending up buying it on Steam really cheap in a sale and getting it to work from there. From memory, I then figured out what the problem had been, and managed to get it working on both launchers, which only annoyed me further. It then gave me motion sickness.
Cav, I think you got a bit further in Alyx than I did. I ended up completely running out of ammo and getting pounced to death by a black headcrab. That was genuinely traumatic.
Felt always mentions the colour of the headcrabs that attack him. it's like 40 years of social progress never happened.
That aside, I ended up in the bit where things go really to shit (I think it's the last underground bit) and decided I'd had enough. I have replayed to that point a couple of times. it's a bit of a shame in a way as apparently the end section is more conventional HL.
If you haven't already, it's worth watching the end on Youtube, if you know you'll never get that far in-game.
Decent. Synth Riders is a low rent Beat Saber but ok, Red Matter isn't bad, Trover is amusing if Rick and Morty is in your comedy wheel house and Panoptic is well worth playing a couple of times. Basically one person controls a creature trying to blend in and escape a dystopian abstract structure while the VR player is a sort of towering god that peers into various rooms trying to get them. It's a great idea and technically sound but doesn't quite nail the game side of things. Well worth a try though.
Gone all in on this now. Got prescription lenses from vroptician.com so I don't have to wear glasses when I'm using VR, and a proper strap for the headset (not the official one, a third-party one that's a bit more robust). The difference these two things together have made is enormous. This is turning out to be an expensive hobby but I'm still utterly floored by the thing every time I put it on.
Anyway, Pistol Whip is a bit good, isn't it? Maybe the most impressive "arcade experience" I've seen in the home. Mart would love it (and would be better at than me, I have no doubt).
Anyway, Pistol Whip is a bit good, isn't it? Maybe the most impressive "arcade experience" I've seen in the home. Mart would love it (and would be better at than me, I have no doubt).
That's the rhythm action one, right? I think I saw it and was tempted, but my PS4 sees no use any more. Maybe one day, when there's VR on something I use, I'll get back in… I did enjoy Sony's offering, while it lasted for me.
It's more like a full-body Time Crisis with an optional rhythm element. It's quite spectacular. Also quite hard, the kind of game that reminds me I'm a moderately unfit man approaching 50. But spectacular nonetheless. It feels like the kind of game I should be charged per play, proper old-school arcade stuff.
I'd struggle to recommend this, or much else, on the PSVR now I've had time with the Quest 2 though. It's just such a marked step up in every regard, particularly in terms of perfect hand/head tracking and freedom of movement. I hadn't realised how much the dodgy PS Move controllers in particular harmed the VR experience. Isn't the PSVR 2 supposed to be wired? That feels like such a retrograde step I'm genuinely bemused.
It is, at least, a single wire.
And Pistol Whip is exceptional.
The first shots of the PSVR2 are out and it looks nice.
Yep, that's a VR headset, alright.
Where the fuck are my spinning centrifugal rings from The Lawnmower Man, Sony.
Eldest child is getting a Occulus Quest 2 for her 18th. Do we really need to spend £80 on the cable to connect it to a PC or is it actually just a USB-C cable?
Mine works fine over wifi using the in-built Air Link functionality. I’d give that a go before bothering with any cables at all.
The Quest works significantly better over wireless than wired, and I say that as someone who bought a fairly expensive cable to use on it.
She's doing well with it wireless now. She got DCS running anyway and that was the primary goal. She did buy a cable but she only spent £10 I think and she already had everything working by the time it arrived. Now all she has to do is get over the fact that playing it makes her feel ill!
cav was right about Eleven Table Tennis - it's amazing. I'm exactly as bad at it as I am at real table tennis so it's obviously a very accurate simulation. Plus I don't have to keep bending over to pick up the ball.
Completely convincing and absorbing to the point where I went to put my bat down on the table at the end of my game and dropped my controller on my foot.
The PSVR2 will launch on 22nd February 2023. RRP - £530.
Bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain - £570
Controller charging dock - +£40
So £610 for the PlayStation VR2, a game and its dock (or £1090 with a PS5)
I'll stick with Marvel Snap I think…
Have to make back some money from losing almost 2 million PS+ subs somehow!
Checked down the back of the sofa for some spare change, came up short. Oh well.
