Some quick off-the-top-of-my head thoughts on VR coming, so look away now if bored shitless by your INEVITABLE FUTURE
Sony sent me a PSVR headset and a bunch of games, which I’ve been trying out on-and-off in-between writing and general tinkering...
(I often use micro gaming-sessions as a reward when writing… “If I finish the next two scenes by 11pm I can play games for 30m”, etc)
I’ve tried Oculus Rift a few times. Eg @PaintingP used one to create a virtual ‘Tucker’s’ for San Junipero prior to the shoot...
...also I’ve tried out a Game of Thrones promotional thingy and a Stranger Things promotional thingy, both of which were v impressive...
… but none of those really prepared me for the barrage of HOLY SHIT moments I’ve had trying out the PSVR thingy...
… It reminds me of when I first saw Doom. Or Mario 64. Or fuck it, Space Invaders. A real sense that “everything just changed”.
It’s not perfect. There are 10 billion cables. It can be blurry. Clunky. Some things make you feel seasick. But...
… bearing in mind this is the most basic home VR is likely to be it’s pretty mind-blowing. Also: when I used to picture VR...
… I always imagined 1st-person experiences. Didn’t *occur* to me how immersive a 3rd-person game like Bound or Tethered would be.
It’s mental. It’s like DREAMING the fucking game.
The Batman thing, for instance, is just remarkable. I actually had to take it off for the final scene because I was getting too freaked out.
Anyhow, like I say — they sent it to me, so it cost me nothing. Try before you buy. But bloody HELL that’s the future right there that is.
I was sceptical of the games being any more than tech demos, but if you try Bound, and imagine a VR Mario game with similar engine… well.
Actually one thing that startled me most of all was playing Driveclub VR, looking round and seeing the car’s headrest behind me...
… the sense of presence was just downright bizarre. Call me naive but I wasn’t prepared for that.
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The PS5 Exists.
