Gaming has come a looooong way from when I first started. Though I played some games on the computer early on, the NES was when I really started my gaming hobby. This was when I was very young (I don’t even remember how old), and I’ve been keeping up and watching games change since then.
I remember how loading up Super Mario 64 for the first time on my N64 just blew me away. If you look back on it now, the graphics are pretty bad, but prior to that, I hadn’t played a game with 3D graphics. City of Heroes was another big one for me because it was my first MMO. I had to get used to the fact that I was surrounded by random strangers whose faces I’d probably never see.
Now there’s another milestone in my gaming life. We’re now the owners of an Oculus Rift, DevKit 2!
My husband put in an order several months ago, and we just got ours recently. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a virtual reality (VR) headset. There’s multiple parts to it. It connects to your computer, which is what’s actually running the game. There’s a camera to track your head movement. Then there’s the headset itself, which has a small screen for each eye.
Your head acts as the game’s camera. If you’re playing in first person, when you move your head, you are actually moving your character’s head. Walking around is still done by keyboard/mouse or gamepad.
Ordering it was my husband’s idea because I was indifferent to it at first. However, the videos online for it don’t do it justice. You really have to try it on. It’s very immersive.
In normal video games, you can easily look off of your screen and be back in the real world. When wearing the rift, you move your head to look away and… you’re still there! In that virtual world! It kind of messes with your mind at first, especially since you’re moving around in the game but your body itself isn’t moving along with it.
Some people have been working on demos specifically for the rift, and some people take existing games and adjust them for the rift. We’ve been trying a few of the former.
One is this Totoro demo. It’s very short and there isn’t much to it. However, I couldn’t help but have a big smile on my face when I saw Totoro walk over to me.
Another is Cyber Space, which is like an amusement park ride. I really thought I’d have a weird feeling in my stomach, like on a real roller coaster, while doing this one. I even get that feeling in non-VR games, like if I fall a long distance in Minecraft or Borderlands. However, I didn’t get that in the Cyber Space demo. I did feel unstable and a rush to my head though. It was both a weird and cool experience at the same time.
One of our favorites is actually Proton Pulse which is like an old school Breakout game. I didn’t think this would work well in VR, but it’s pretty fun. Instead of using keyboard/controller controls to bounce the ball back, the ball is coming at you and you use your head to bounce it back.
One of my coworkers put in his order earlier than us, so he got his Rift first. I was amazed when he said he could only play on the rift for about half an hour. After that, he’d be covered in sweat and would have to lie down. I now understand this feeling. Some games are worse than others when it comes to that, and I’m not the type who typically gets motion sick from video games. However, VR is definitely different.
I think it has a long ways to go before it’s a big hit or even a norm for video games. However, in the mean time, it is super cool to mess around with 😉
I’ve never heard of this device, and I am not certain if I’d want one. When Virtual Boy first came out, I wanted it like crazy, but now I don’t think I’d enjoy playing like a virtual reality thing. It does sound cool, but I’ve got a feeling it’ll be like the Wii — where it’s first awesome, but after the novelty wears off, I’ll prefer the controller over movement, haha!
I think that the Oculus Rift is going to bring a whole new dimension to gaming, and I’m really excited for it. Is it better or worse than normal gaming for people who suffer with motion sickness? Because I get it terribly just playing games like Minecraft.
If you already get motion sickness from non-VR games, I think it’ll be worse if you try out VR, unfortunately 🙁 Some VR demos don’t move around as much though, so those might not cause motion sickness.
My first game was Duck Hunt on the NES! I have photos of myself playing it when I was 3 years old. After that we didn’t get another console until the Gamecube in 2001 because of the lack of money, and the only games I played were Smash Melee and later Wind Waker. Since I didn’t really remember much of Duck Hunt, I never thought much of the graphics. I’ve never had the thrill of advancing graphics until last year when I got the Hylian Wii U with Wind Waker HD. That was an amazing advance of graphics.
The first thing I did after reading this post was looking up how much that thing costs, and it’s surprisingly less than I expected. I was thinking it will be in the thousands at least but it’s less than a PS4. Wouldn’t it only work for first-person games then? Regardless, it sounds awesome and is a symbol of how far technology has come since the days when Link was just a blob on an ugly map.
I get dizzy easily so this device is probably not for me. But if one day it can play a full game of Bioshock then of course I’d somehow try to get my hands on it. Hopefully a friend who doesn’t get dizzy will buy it and let me play with it, just like back in the old days when I bought a Gamecube and my friends played with it more than I did.
Oehhh this looks pretty interesting as
I love playing video games as well ;P
I’d love to try out Cyber Space!
Xx
OMG! That’s too awesome! My husband has been looking at other people playing around with the Oculus Rift on youtube. But I bet you’re right, it is better to experience than use second hand experience outside of it. Still, that’s amazing that you got one.
This was a smart move on your husband’s part 🙂
I remembered playing on the NES in 1999/2000! Back then, everyone raved about 16/32 bit graphics and look at us now. We came a long way with gaming development :o!
Oculus Rift looks pretty neat! I can imagine using it while playing Call of Duty or Halo. It’s perfect because it gives you less keys to press to change the view and it makes you feel more “a part of the game”. But the setbacks like those deep falls and such doesn’t sound too nice *__*. Hopefully the Oculus Rift doesn’t have too much of an effect on you. I would probably have a hard time adjusting to only using my head to move and not my body in these games *_*. At this rate, a full body suit might be in development :o. It would probably be a great way to exercise ;).
Have fun!~
I’ve never even heard of this device, but than again, I’m not much of a gamer anymore. I once was when Nintendo, Gameboy, and PS1/PS2 came out. Now, I don’t really mess with the gaming area. I envy those that do find the good games though.
RE: How many years did it take you to complete the Computer Science degree? I’ve been told that I may take six years or more to complete everything. I’m doing my general education and Prerequisites at the community college first, and then to a College. So I was just wondering how long it took you to complete to get your degree. Yeah, I need to see a live concert and do a paper on it for my music class. I’m hoping that the venue will be something that my boyfriend described as he knows the bandmates from Finch. Hopefully, and I’m crossing my fingers on this, that he can get us to see his old friends back stage and chill with them. So hopefully.
I’ve read about Oculus Rift and it sounds so freakin’ cool! And you got one! 😀 Good to hear it’s as fun as it seem. Even if there isn’t much games for it right now, I’m sure there will be.
The idea of virtual reality is so exciting. Imagine what a system like that might evolve into as technology advances! We’ve come a long way since NES, just think where we’ll be in another 10 years! The mind boggles 🙂
That sounds pretty cool. I’ve never even heard of it but it reminds me of the Virtual Boy, lol. I grew up playing video games, too. My dad bought every single system out there. I even remember playing Atari. We also had two actual arcade game machines growing up. Ahh, gaming definitely has come along way.
The order wasn’t worked out. All they told me was to re-order the shirts. :(. Unfortunately, I may have to do that next month.
I got super excited when I saw your IG photo of this! My bf wanted one since he found out about it I think earlier this year and we’ve been so excited about it. Have you thought about adding the Omni treadmill to the Oculus Rift? I feel like those two together make VR insanely awesome.
Hopefully more games will support VR soon! There’s so much more potential to add for gaming here. And hopefully motion sickness from VR is something that eventually goes away over time, heh.
The Omni treadmill looks really cool! I had looked into it, but I don’t think it’s worth it for us right now. We don’t use the Rift often enough, and not all of the games we have would make sense on the treadmill. Perhaps later when the Rift has gotten further along 🙂