Oculus Quest

[Cuntbeaks]

I just took the plunge into VR and ordered one of these. The combination of the new Half Life being announced for it and the ability to hook it up to my laptop in order to play Rift games was the push I needed.

It will be my first VR experience, so it's fair to say I'm a wee bit excited. Does anyone out there have one and have any recommendations for must have games?

It's not arriving until mid January, so I've got plenty of time to scope out the best games to spunk money i don't have on.

[Dewt]

I've had access to one for a few months.

It's good! Does exactly what it claims to, provides a great VR experience. The only downsides I can come up with are all on paper, i.e. "not compatible with this game", "VRChat experience is limited compared to the PC platform".

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[Cuntbeaks]

Nice one, kinda confirms everything else I've read. I must assume that the lack of replies means that anyone who has one is too busy playing it to read the forum.

[Mr Eggs]

They are not going on that VR porn, by the way.

[Bently Sheds]

Sheds 1 bought himself one. He's in the process of sending the controllers back to Valve as they're not working properly (a common problem with the clickable joysticks). Otherwise he's been impressed with the system.

[Ferris]

Been considering one for a while - what games are on it that I simply must play? And should I still be considering PS VR?

[Non Stop Dancer]

I can't speak for any platform other than Psvr, and although it has much to recommend it (Astrobot alone means I don't regret having bought one), at this point I'd be inclined to wait for PS5 and PSVR2, because you can't help but be aware of its current limitations and how things will be so much better once they're resolved. That being said, if you're not short of money and accept that it'll probably end up in your peripheral /unused kitchen gadgets cupboard within a couple of months, you can have a blast with it in the meantime.

[Cuntbeaks]

Well it arrived and its been pretty excellent tbh.

The pinball in particular looks incredible and plays perfectly. Its the only game ive purchased so far and have been doing the rounds of the free/demo stuff. Did get Vader Immortal i, ii and iii for free, which is more a slightly interactive cut scene than an actual game. It looks fantastic though.

The 360 videos all look really low res though, ye still get the idea but very blocky. Tried to increase resolution but with limited results. Hopefully once i hook it up to my laptop I'll see an improvement.

Not sure what other games to get, looking for something with good replay value though. May just sit it out until they've got a sale on again.

[Non Stop Dancer]

Is Thumper available for it? I enjoyed that on PSVR.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I bought one of these a few months ago, coming from a PSVR (which I do still have) to an untethered headset with decent tracking and great controllers was quite a revelation which offsets any graphical downgrades.

Is Thumper available for it? I enjoyed that on PSVR.

It sure is!

Not sure what other games to get, looking for something with good replay value though. May just sit it out until they've got a sale on again.

Beat Saber is probably the VR king of replay-value, especially if you look into using downloaded songs on it.

Sports Scamble is a decent Wii Sports style game, although there's only three sports on it and one of them is Baseball. Bowling and tennis work well though.

Others I'd recommend, though the longevity might vary, are Superhot, Pistol Whip, Job Simulator & Vacation Simulator, and maybe Drop Dead to fulfil your zombie shooting needs.

If you look into the whole side-loading scene (SideQuest is software that makes this easy), you can even get Half-Life & Quake 1 & 2 running on there, all VR-ed up.

[Dewt]

Has anybody tried tethering it to an actual PC? Does it become a fully-capable Oculus at that point?

(I know I could research this in seconds but it's nice to have the conversation here)

[AsparagusTrevor]

Has anybody tried tethering it to an actual PC? Does it become a fully-capable Oculus at that point?

I haven't tried it myself but by all accounts this is right, effectively rendering the Rift obsolete. Oculus have released an official cable for this purpose but apparently any USB 3.0 cable will work, though it obviously needs to be a comfortable length. Some people say there's slight, hardly noticable compression artefacts in the visuals but most-importantly it sounds like lag isn't an issue.

Some clever homebrew sods had already made it so you can wirelessly stream games from your PC to your Quest. This does have slight lag and noticeable compression (probably varies based on the strength of the connection), but I was quite impressed. I did only try the SteamVR Lab demos on this.

(I know I could research this in seconds but it's nice to have the conversation here)

I hate on forums when some snotty prick dismisses a person and tells them to Google something, rather than engaging and conversing like they're on some kind of forum.

[Cuntbeaks]

Thanks for the tips. Im totally not into the beat based games in the vein of Guitar Hero, so Beat Sabre doesn't hold that much of an allure. What does interest me is the idea of connecting it to my PC. I have a the correct xable for this, but wasnt sure if i need to buy Virtual Desktop in the Oculus store in order to install Sidequest or if VD is enough to get going with.

[buntyman]

I have been quite tempted by VR after being amazed by playing that astro bot game on a friend's PlayStation. With all the glowing reviews for the Quest I thought that might be the one for me as I don't have a PS4 or a good PC. However, it sounds as though you'll still need to connect it to a good PC via an expensive cable to play the best games that are coming out soon such as half life so maybe I'll wait for a better wireless one to come out.

[Cuntbeaks]

I have been quite tempted by VR after being amazed by playing that astro bot game on a friend's PlayStation. With all the glowing reviews for the Quest I thought that might be the one for me as I don't have a PS4 or a good PC. However, it sounds as though you'll still need to connect it to a good PC via an expensive cable to play the best games that are coming out soon such as half life so maybe I'll wait for a better wireless one to come out.

The new Half Life was announced for the Quest a few weeks back. It was a big reason towards me taking the plunge.

[buntyman]

Will it work though without having to plug it into a fancy computer?

[Dewt]

Yeah, that is how it works by default.

[buntyman]

I mean the Half Life game in particular. Looks like it won't work cable free according to this anyway: https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/21/20975423/half-life-alyx-vr-price-release-date-screenshots-trailer-valve-steam

[Dewt]

Ah sorry, I was being dozy. I see what you mean, not surprised. I would be a little disappointed if it did work without the cable, as it would have to be a seriously cut-down experience. The Quest is the Nintendo Switch of the VR device world.