Little update on my VR adventures.

Been playing GT Sport and Ultrawings the last few days with a Sprinkling of Accounting+, Dead Hungry, and Monsters of the Deep.


GT Sport

After initially being extreamly dissappointed with the effort put into the structure of this mode, and the lack of detail in the tracks, I have really come to love it from a playing aspect. Jumping in the Cobra in a Fine weather setting, and whipping around the track is an incredible expereince. Hoping in the Samsabus to take a family trip around Nordschleife is just as fun. Climb the ladder into the Ford F-150 Raptor and hit a dirt track, and the raw power is exhilarating.

That said, Polyphony still needs to address the lack of depth in this mode. I can dump a good 2 hours into it a night as is, but it is frusterating to have to battle the limitations. Just a couple of very simple additions could make this a killer app. Hopefully they will get around to making this all it can be.


Ultrawings

Wow! I was excited the first time I saw this, I believe it was at Parris. It has lived up to my exceptions and then some. Spent 3 hours flying around each of the last 3 days. This is a title right up my ally. Put on some music from PlayStation Music, enter VR, and start knocking out challanges, and flying around. I highly recommend this title.


Accounting+

Played through this one time last night. Looks like there are three different paths to take. Quite an enjoyable puzzle solver, with some comedy, and very mature content. A nice title, but I think it is going to be a quick play. May be good as a demo game for new comers.


Dead Hungry

I guess this is a tower defense title based on the resteraunt portion of Job Simultor. I found it fun for a couple of nights, but I am actually starting to wear thin on the Tower Defense and Shooting Gallerys. This is an area where you have to choose carefully if your a new commer to VR. There are so many titles in this lane, and they are all very similar. It is a great expereince, and brings the Arcade shooters home in a way that goes far beyond what you have ever experienced in the Arcade, but you can only do this so much. I grabber Dead Hungry and decided to skip Shooty Fruity, although SF looks great, I just can't do another one of these titles right now.


Monsters of the Deep

Well, lets just say fishing is not my thing, and this didn't change things. I can see people that find joy in fishing having a blast with it, and I intend to get a few people I know that love fishing to give it a spin very soon. I will come back with their opinions. I will also give it a couple more shots to see if they through any mechanics in that somehow spark my interest.


I still have 4 more full days of vacation to VR like crazy. I will try and do one more update Tuesday before I go back to work. The next couple of days I am going to try Apollo 11, Justice League, and The Last Gurdian. Probably go back for some more Skyrim, and keep getting my daily dose of GTS and Ultrawings. I know that I might sound a bit negative above, but it is just little gripes. All said, I am having an incredible time. Having the ability to be transported to so many different place, with so many different expereinces is truly incredible. We are living the beginning of an awesome shift in technology, and it is like games are a brand new medium all over again.

Had a rift for about a week now and it has been awesome. Couldn't spend as much time as I wantes to with it because of Christmas and seeing family but I can share some of my quick impressions.

Robo Recall is a total blast. I beat it but need to go back and get higher scores. I wish it was a bit longer though. Still, there were so many cool experiences I had with the game. I loved grabbing enemies and throwing them at one another or tearing their limbs off.

I just started Super Lucky's Tail. Pretty straightforward and even boring platformer but having it in VR does make it more interesting and proves that platformers can work in vr. I'm hoping it picks up later on.

Google Earth VR is a must try in my opinion. You can spend a lot of time exploring what the world has to offer.

I definitely need to try more vr games in general. I have a bunch bought already like super hot, artika.1, archangel, and chronos. Now I just need the time!

Well Skyrim VR >>>>> Doom VFR

The controls on Doom VFR suck no matter what input you play. They even made the aim controller suck. The game is also only 3 hours long. Skyrim VR motion controls, though iffy now and then, work very well overall. I'm at 130 hours now, the dlc is also included, still need to go to Solstheim. Skyrim got a lot more thought than Doom. Doom was made for teleportation with smooth movement patched in later without any thought. And you still need to teleport to get up a 5 inch ledge. Doom VFR is a $10 game sold for $30.

However age old bugs are still not fixed in Skyrim. I had to glitch through the gate for the Dawnguard DLC.

I would definitly throw a few bucks their way if they did some DLC for Ultrawings. Still looking forward to unlocking the rest of the current content. Playing with two moves, and whipping these planes around is quite a trip.

I agree with your take on the state of racing. I think the biggest issue GT has is resolution, and memory. The resolution is too low to give anything in the distance definition, and there is not enough RAM and bandwidth further cutting into the amount of detail. That is part of the reason I debate in my head where I want Sony to go next. Ultimately, I think a PS4 Premium in 2019 with 16GB of RAM would clean things up quite a bit for the current games. Then I would like PS5 to come when we can get a full generational leap in RAM and Resolution, which to me would be 128GB of RAM, and 4K per eye in VR. 

I do all of my VR on the Pro, and I have all of my PSVR titles my internal SSD. Played a bit at my brothers on the OG PS4 with an HDD after I gave him my day one PSVR, and it definitly makes a difference. 

Have not tried any VR porn yet. I think you have to download it, and put it on a USB to view through the Media Player, but I havn't had the motivation to do it. If Sony ever gets around to upgrading the Internet Browser or allowing someone like Mozilla to put another browser on the system that supported VR, then I would give it a shot. 

I don't get motion sick in VR at all.

I can run, jump, fall, and fly, all day and still not be sick.

I played GTS again in VR, trying out the new cars since release. The karts and Samba bus are brilliant on the Nordschleife. KTM XBow and Honda 2&4 are great as well on the Nurb 24 and Mount Panorama.

It is a bit blurry for the Tomahawk concept racer that reaches close to 600 kph on Tokyo Expressway and it really should animate the g-forces on your view position, kind of a nonsense car the way it stops and turns. Regular cars are great as well yet the windshields are all so small in the race cars.

After an hour I was missing the competition too much though, so I switched back to sport mode. It's a shame PD doesn't let you qualify for sport mode races in VR. I usually get bored instantly while qualifying, with VR I might actually set a good time.

When I switched back it stayed on cockpit mode initially. Lol that's so ugly in 2D compared to VR, back to bumper cam. Cockpit view is wasted on a screen.

I'll have to remember that Mr Robot short for tonight. First more racing, GTS online is so addictive. My progress so far after 582 online races http://www.kudosprime.com/gts/stats.php?profile=1495257
Shamelessly manipulating DR to race in different DR categories. Yet in the end DR.B max SR.S is the cleanest. If only match making would stop adding the other DR ranks in races. Need more SR.S players!


What do you do in Ultra wings? I saw it in the store but passed on it for now. I have enough lined up already. Is it better than Eagle flight? It looks a lot slower in videos. The one game I don't think is possible without headtracking as control method:

I’m an incredibly happy and excited person atm. I managed to get a PSVR Move bundle for 269,- Euros including tax, which someone had sent back to the big electronics store my brother is working at. Great deal.

I’ve spent the last 3 days with trying a lot of demos, purchasing quite a number of games and getting friends and family excited, who all, including me, are just blown away by it...and I don’t even own a Pro yet.

I’m also very happy to notice I don’t seem to get motion sick at all.
Right from the start I was able to play RE7, Robinson and RIGS with full movement options..waiting for the Skyrim download as we speak.

What I’ve purchased so far:

-RE7 (speechless..I don’t even love horror games usually but that’s just incredible. Can’t wait to get back to it)
-Skyrim VR (still downloading)
-GT Sport (Amazon with lots of potential. Please extend the options!)
-RIGS (awesome, thanks PS+)
-Rush of Blood (again thx PS+just awesome..my friends loved it, one guy even said it was the best game he ever played)
-Can’t wait for Starblood Arena next month, almost bought it lol!!
-Ultrawings (just bought)
-Superhot VR (not played yet)
-Batman Arkham (incredible experience..goosebumps over my body. Wish they’d make a full game with Batwing, Batmobile sequences)
-VR Worlds (came with the bundle, good stuff. Can’t believe that Deep Descent Demo got me like it did, even though I had watched it so many times on Youtube already)
-Eve Valkyrie (wow..a dream come true) Just imagine Star Citizen in VR in 5 years! I’ll probably give up on reality all together.
-Bound (only downloaded yet)
-Rec Room
-The Last Guardian VR demo (hello Trico!)


From the demos I tried I liked best:

-Moss (yes please, gimme that..incredible difference between what you see on the screen and how it feels watching that cutie run through the world in the headset)
-Battlezone (wanna buy)
Lots of stuff I didn’t try yet.

What I still want to buy:

Shooty Fruity
Star Trek Bridge Crew

Eagle Flight

Driveclub VR
Dirt Rallye VR (too expensive sadly)
Windlands
The Solus Project


All in all I’m really surprised by the PSVR headset. I had tried a Rift before and PSVR screen and comfort are clearly superior.
I don’t think I’ve felt this excited about a new piece of tech since the PS One. All this 4K talk suddenly seems forgettable. Outside of headsets of course. :)
The prospect of what is still to come once big publishers and developers will start to take it seriously...

I’m not too shy to admit it... there were and still are moments, where I shed a tear or two.. because I’m so in awe that Im able to witness this. I’ve been gaming since 35 years and it hast gotten a bit stale and boring lately. Not anymore =)

I don’t think we need to fear that. I’ve just seen reports from GDC and almost everybody there’s was working on VR projects. It’s still very early and this Christmas alone many more VR headsets got sold to customers. The Skyrim PSVR bundle even outsold X1X for a few days on Amazon around Black Friday. The more affordable the headsets will become the bigger the hype will get. It’s a good thing the initial hype has died down a bit, because it takes time for everybody in the biz to understand how VR works best. Most rules have to be rewritten.

I’m mostly interested in the field of 3D sound myself...I am so blown away by the binaural, positional audio in those games and demos and as an audio engineer, I’m interested in working in that field. It’s just very hard to find a good company atm, since most firms don’t have a functioning business yet and everybody is still trying themselves out. 

Thanks for the tip with DC VR. Was hesitating already because I remembered the complications and also feel a bit ripped off, since I already own DC and there’s no discount.

I will get Dirt Rallye as soon a soon I can...not paying the 69,99 they currently want for it here. Don’t own the original game on PS4, only PC. 

Btw...Concerning PC...definitely gonna find out what it takes to make PSVR work on PC. Anyone got any experience with that?!

Guys...I’ve just played Bound in VR for an hour or so and this must’ve been one of my most beautiful and weird gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Just imagine what someone like Thatgamecompany could do with that thing. I want Journey and Flower in VR right now!

Ultrawings is also quite incredible. I can’t believe that a game with essentially N64 graphics can give me a true sensation of flight. It’s a lot of fun and quite substantial as well, from what I read.

Skyrim VR...what can I say. A bit pixelated and blurry on base PS4, but that intro with the dragon, those spiders in the caves and the first time I entered Riverwood totally convinced me already. The controls with the Moves are a bit cumbersome and take some getting used to though..I really want Sony to update their Moves with analog sticks. It just feels as if the PS2 never had gotten the analog upgrade lol.