Virtual Virginity

Last Friday was the first time I tried Virtual Reality gaming. A good friend of mine finally got his Oculus Rift, and I was stoked to give it a shot.

I requested to start off nice and slow and he fired up Adrift, a game where an astronaut (you) is stranded in space amongst the ruins of a broken space station. The sensation was incredible, I got a mild feeling of floating around, gently grabbing oxygen canisters and avoiding floating debris. It has to be said though that I felt a mild sensation of nausea with this game. I think a part of it is the problem that I was sitting down while my brain thought I was moving, which can cause an imbalance in the inner ear. The strongest feeling of realism was interestingly enough my virtual arm. My real arm was holding the controller, but when the character grabbed a canister, it felt so real. Very cool.

The second game I got to try was DiRT Rally. Even though I'm not a racing gamer, with the exception of GTA, it felt bloody amazing! I was in that car hurtling down the dirt road, while my map reader yelled directions and angles at me that made no sense. When I hit a tree, I really flinched. All in all, the coolest driving experience I've ever had in a game. And no nausea! Probably because my brain understands what sitting in a car should feel like.

The third game on the list was EVE: Valkyrie, a space sim/shooter. My fighter launching from the mother ship was totally bad-ass, but boy did I suck at the game itself. Partially because I have no practice using a controller in 3D, so I flailed around a lot and then got shot to pieces. EVE is a very fast paced game, and that was the other problem. I mostly just rotated around, but the sensation was incredible. And like with DiRT, no nausea.

Finally I tried War Thunder. This isn't a VR game in itself, but it works just fine as one. I test flew a Spitfire, and talk about realistic. I got mild vertigo! The sensation of moving forward was no problem at all, but when I turned my head and looked down, I felt the altitude in a way no screen can ever hope to achieve. Gently steering my plane around felt so natural and smooth, I have a hard time expressing it. Just don't look down.

All in all, the entire experience was awesome. Sure I felt some nausea, but I have to wonder if that wasn't my brain being new to the entire sensation. That said, the technology is definitely in it's infancy, but this will only get better. I can't await for it to truly bloom and take it's rightful place in tech history. If you get the chance to try it, do it. You can always close your eyes if it becomes too much, but do try it!

Until next time, have a great week!