I did get a notification for Steam… that I’m on the waiting list, yay :(
Overall it’s a tiny bit underwhelming (not even talking about the price) when you look at all the mixed reviews of the most popular VR titles. I still want to mess around with it, but I guess now I just wait.
If you’ve never tried VR before its properly exciting, the first few days you feel like this is the future. This is the big leap we’ve been waiting for since 3D or Physics Engines.
After a few days though moving the table to the side and putting the headset on just seems like more effort than its worth.
You should be excited, but don’t be too disappointed that you’re missing out.
The nice thing about PC VR is that you have more seated experiences like flight and racing sims. But you can also play Alyx seated and all the myriad VR mods of flat games.
I feel like this is the experience with most people, either that or immediate nausea/motion sickness.
They see it as a novelty and inconvenience when sitting down and playing a flatscreen title takes much less effort because all of the friction has been virtually eliminated in the last 10+ years.
As someone who has now over 4,000 hours in VR, it is entirely situational to the person. If you’re someone who can see themselves getting truly lost in immersive 3D worlds, sweating in them, living in them, tolerating discomfort and things strapped to your body and/or head for a transcendental experience, then it’s for you.
Otherwise, the Steam Frame might be a massive waste of money (for you) that’ll collect dust on the shelf next to the Apple VR.
It’s possible (for most people) to desensitize one’s self to motion sickness: the key is to stop immediately as soon as you get the slightest hint of feeling sick. Repeated exposure taken slowly can lead to improvement.
The issue is people try to push through it to the point they feel sick, and in doing so sensitize themselves to VR induced motion sickness. Getting over that is much harder to do.
It’s no different from feeling nauseousness from trying to eat something that made you violently ill in the past.
I actually have a horror game on Steam developed for the Valve Index (we had several 10 years ago in university). Never was impressed enough back then to actually purchase one for myself (so I also didn’t have much playtime). Bad display quality, especially for texts, uncomfortable, stumbling over the cable, …
That’s why I was really looking forward to the Steam Frame for a year now. Barely over an hour of battery life dampened my enthusiasm already :-/
A power bank in your pocket can extend the battery life significantly; it’s more comfortable to carry a big battery in your pocket than strapped to your head anyways.
Why route it through the shirt if the sensation upsets you? A short cable shouldn’t be able to get in your way on the outside (the USB port is at the back). With a power bank in your back pocket it won’t be like tethered VR where you can turn around and touch the cable.
If you have a 3D printer you could also do what I’ve done and print a holster for a power bank. It gives me rear options for pants without back pockets.
Nah, I’ve never had a VR headset at home, so when it comes to actually playing games I’m a newbie. Though I heard the only really ‘good’ VR game is Half Life Alyx. Plenty of warnings that if you play that one first, all the other games will feel like crap :-/
It’s a bit more complex than that. But for streaming at 120hz from a PC to the Frame it’s barely over an hour in “quality mode”. They do have a “playtime mode”, but it’s like 72hz with worse visuals, so not really worth using.
I did get a notification for Steam… that I’m on the waiting list, yay :(
Overall it’s a tiny bit underwhelming (not even talking about the price) when you look at all the mixed reviews of the most popular VR titles. I still want to mess around with it, but I guess now I just wait.
If you’ve never tried VR before its properly exciting, the first few days you feel like this is the future. This is the big leap we’ve been waiting for since 3D or Physics Engines.
After a few days though moving the table to the side and putting the headset on just seems like more effort than its worth.
You should be excited, but don’t be too disappointed that you’re missing out.
The nice thing about PC VR is that you have more seated experiences like flight and racing sims. But you can also play Alyx seated and all the myriad VR mods of flat games.
I feel like this is the experience with most people, either that or immediate nausea/motion sickness.
They see it as a novelty and inconvenience when sitting down and playing a flatscreen title takes much less effort because all of the friction has been virtually eliminated in the last 10+ years.
As someone who has now over 4,000 hours in VR, it is entirely situational to the person. If you’re someone who can see themselves getting truly lost in immersive 3D worlds, sweating in them, living in them, tolerating discomfort and things strapped to your body and/or head for a transcendental experience, then it’s for you.
Otherwise, the Steam Frame might be a massive waste of money (for you) that’ll collect dust on the shelf next to the Apple VR.
It’s possible (for most people) to desensitize one’s self to motion sickness: the key is to stop immediately as soon as you get the slightest hint of feeling sick. Repeated exposure taken slowly can lead to improvement.
The issue is people try to push through it to the point they feel sick, and in doing so sensitize themselves to VR induced motion sickness. Getting over that is much harder to do.
It’s no different from feeling nauseousness from trying to eat something that made you violently ill in the past.
I actually have a horror game on Steam developed for the Valve Index (we had several 10 years ago in university). Never was impressed enough back then to actually purchase one for myself (so I also didn’t have much playtime). Bad display quality, especially for texts, uncomfortable, stumbling over the cable, …
That’s why I was really looking forward to the Steam Frame for a year now. Barely over an hour of battery life dampened my enthusiasm already :-/
A power bank in your pocket can extend the battery life significantly; it’s more comfortable to carry a big battery in your pocket than strapped to your head anyways.
But that’s one more cable you have to route through your shirt (which annoys me sensation wise). They always skimp out on batteries.
They’ve already announced a battery+sound pack (without any release estimate). Until then I bet we’ll get several third party suppliers.
Why route it through the shirt if the sensation upsets you? A short cable shouldn’t be able to get in your way on the outside (the USB port is at the back). With a power bank in your back pocket it won’t be like tethered VR where you can turn around and touch the cable.
If you have a 3D printer you could also do what I’ve done and print a holster for a power bank. It gives me rear options for pants without back pockets.
Oh wow turns out I was yappin to the capn
Nah, I’ve never had a VR headset at home, so when it comes to actually playing games I’m a newbie. Though I heard the only really ‘good’ VR game is Half Life Alyx. Plenty of warnings that if you play that one first, all the other games will feel like crap :-/
Also curious about Blade and Sorcery.
Truly, one hour? I’ve got Quest 2 and that was up to 2. With the head strap powerbank that doubled very ergonomically (for me at least).
It’s a bit more complex than that. But for streaming at 120hz from a PC to the Frame it’s barely over an hour in “quality mode”. They do have a “playtime mode”, but it’s like 72hz with worse visuals, so not really worth using.
https://youtu.be/vcerOYY_K1g?t=1906