I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of consumer grade virtual reality since I first tried out the Oculus Rift DK1 back at E3 2013. I was captivated by my first experience with the technology making my three year wait a true test of patience.
Yesterday, I received my HTC Vive in the mail after two months of having a pre-order locked. I was excited beyond explanation after reading the impressions from others consumers, but needed to see for myself what it like.
Cumbersome Setup
Things didn't start out as perfectly as I had hoped. Although I had prepared space for both Lighthouse base stations, and I knew which cables I would need to plug-in, the process was still quite an ordeal. The number of cables that need to be routed in order to get an HTC Vive set up is insane, but necessary. Without proper cable management I can see some people's gaming rooms turning into a hazardous spider web of cables.
I ended up having to replace the surge protector I use in my office because it didn't have enough space for two of the three large AC adapters of the HTC Vive. Then, I had to figure out how to angle the secondary base station to effectively capture movement within my limited amount of space. It took some finesse, testing, and a couple holes in my wall, but after around an hour I had everything where it needed to be.
The next thing to do was setup the software. I proceeded to SteamVR Setup where I attempted to configure Room-scale. After measuring the boundary of my space, the program told me that I didn't have enough room even though I have 3.5m by 1.6m, which is slightly larger than the 2.5m by 1.5m required. At that moment I was convinced that I didn't have the space needed to use Room-scale. Disappointed and running out of patience, I canceled out and decided that I would just stick to sitting and standing experiences until I figured things out.
A Bad Start
The first game I loaded up was Albino Lullaby, a psychological horror game made for a sitting experience. I found myself having a decent time as I moved around the world using my keyboard & mouse, but deep down inside I was disappointed; the image quality wasn't completely clear, and playing without motion controls killed the immersion.
I then played around in Virtual Desktop, which allowed me to use my PC in a 3D space. It was very neat, and I enjoyed testing the various background environments, from space to a living room. But as with Albino Lullaby the image quality wasn't as great as I was expecting, to a point where a lot of text was difficult to read if it wasn't perfectly centered on the lenses.
After feeling let down, I decided that I needed to try setting up Room-scale one more time. During my second go-around in SteamVR Setup, I tried using the Advanced Setup option, which had me pin-point the four corners of my space rather than tracing it. For some reason, this captured a proper amount of space, and not only was I registered as Room-scale ready, but I was immensely relieved.
Mind Blown
At this point I loaded up Job Simulator. Two things happened within my first 15 seconds of playing the game. One, I noticed that visual quality improved tremendously. As I would come to know, I hadn't positioned the headset properly during my first run with Albino Lullaby, nor did I configure the IPD to suit my eyes. The thing is that these virtual reality headsets aren't quite as easy to fit perfectly on the face as they might seem. It requires a bit of acumen to get the straps just right, and the vertical axis lined up with the eyes. Ultimately, even a minor offset can drastically affect the experience.
Secondly, I was absolutely flabbergasted by how much of a difference playing a game with motion controls was. It was a completely difference experience from playing with a controller or keyboard & mouse. Being able to reach out and interact with items as if they were really in front of me for my first time was something I will never forget, let alone being able to move around to reposition myself.
In Job Simulator I was tasked with performing menial tasks, like eating donuts, repairing cars, and cooking food. In a traditional game setting these inputs would be boring, and result in one of the least interesting games ever made. But in virtual reality even the most simple things are remarkable.
What was most astounding to me was how convincing the game environment was. My mind truly believed that I was in these spaces. What really demonstrated this to me was how powerful of an experience it was being in the empty virtual room of Vive Home looking around. This was a room unfamiliar to me, with beautiful sights and architecture all around it. I found myself gazing in pure amazement.
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I also found myself following social norms in a virtual environment, something I've never done, not even in the most immersive MMORPGs. When in Job Simulator I threw a donut over a cubicle—because I could?—and heard a lady shriek before looking over the cubicle wall. I was embarrassed and said, "sorry". "Sorry about what?", I thought immediately after. "Silly me, this isn't real… or is it?"
Experimentation
After having my first great Room-scale experience I decided to try out a handful of games ranging from free titles available in the store, to demos, and a couple games included with HTC Vive.
Fantastic Contraption was a real joy. I felt as if I was Adam Savage from Mythbusters as I pieced together bizarre machines to solve puzzles. The game environment was, like Job Simulator, very pleasant, with colorful scenery and adorable creatures. Although there are only a small number of parts to utilize, fitting and adjusting them was fun and demonstrated just how precise the controller tracking is.
The Lab has quickly become my favorite package of the bunch. Made by Valve, it includes eight different mini-games that are derived from test environment the company used during HTC Vive's development. I was in awe when looking out into the scenery of Postcards, and seemingly taking the role of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunter Games as I fired arrows at attackers in Longbow. As with the rest of Valve's software, The Lab has a great aesthetic that is a perfect welcoming package for new HTC Vive owners.
Budget Cuts' pre-release demo is the game with the most potential out of the currently library. Sneaking around, hiding from the line of sight of enemy robots, and throwing knives at them if they caught me was unlike anything I had ever played before. It made me feel as if I was Corvo Attano from Dishonored. The potential for role-playing here is astounding.
Second Opinion
My dad is an engineer and we've been talking about virtual reality for a couple years now, both from an entertainment and technical perspective. Knowing that I finally had a virtual reality headset, I had him over to try it out for himself. He's never been into gaming, so my expectations were low, but it was worth a try.
After a quick introduction, I put the headset on my dad and could immediately tell that he was shocked. If watching him gawk at the sights of virtual reality wasn't enough of an indicator, him saying "oh my god" 10 times per minute certainly was.
What was particularly great to see was how quickly he caught onto the input methods of HTC Vive. He's always struggled with controllers, and as a result he prefers watching games rather than playing them. In the world of virtual reality, he found himself interacting with objects instinctively, looking around environments as if he was really there, and inspecting items naturally. The only thing I had to teach him was how to teleport around using the touch button.
What I Learned
The key to all this is the low-latency near 1:1 tracking that HTC Vive offers along with Room-scale. Come to think of it, it's no wonder that virtual reality has taken so long to release. There are so many conditions that have to be just right in order to provide an authentic experience.
Playing traditional games with a controller and virtual reality headset is neat, but doesn't do enough to pull your body into the virtual environments. I feel a little sad knowing that thousands of people have and will continue to judge virtual reality based on limited experiences, and can only hope that at some point they try out HTC Vive, or Oculus Rift once it receives its Touch controllers.
Virtual reality is real, it's convincing, and it's finally here. After a rough first start, I walk away in pure amazement. Not only am I already happy with my expensive purchase, but I can't wait to see what future games will bring.
