What it's like to wear Oculus Rift
When I think of virtual reality, I think of immersive experiences that transport me to places, real or make believe, I would otherwise never see. VR is the stuff of sci-fi: mesmerizing, otherworldly, and maybe just a little unsettling. It's going from Point A to who knows where or when, without physically leaving wherever your mortal shell is in the here and now.
Oculus Rift has achieved this effect, and it's done so in what feels like the blink of an eye. I can say from my own experience of first using the Rift at GDC 2014 all the way to using it at GDC 2016, it's come a long, long way in a relatively short amount of time. Now, it's on the cusp of releasing to consumers.
The changes begin in the hardware itself. Compared to that first early prototype and later dev kits, the final consumer Rift feels like it actually belongs on your face. It's lightweight, comfortable and refined.
This extends to the software. Rift's launch games, which I also played this week, are precisely, often beautifully, rendered. The latency and pixelation issues of earlier Rifts are a distant memory. The games are smooth and stable, and each is delightful in its own way. Whereas at that GDC two years ago the experiences were short, laggy, yet promising demos, Rift's 30 launch titles are fully realized games.
Oculus has placed a premium on great content for Rift, developed both internally and externally, as founder Palmer Luckey explained to me.
There's no argument the games are gorgeous … if you're using Oculus Rift on an optimized PC. Therein lies the rub: if you're not, how do games like ADR1FT, an intense launch title set in space, run? I asked Oculus just that question, but haven't heard back yet. I can imagine, however, that it's not going to be a good time for anyone.
If your PC is up to spec - which will cost at least $1,500 (about £1,061, AU$2,011) on top of $599/£499/AU$649 for the headset - then Oculus Rift opens up worlds that are unlike anything you've ever seen or experienced. The best part? It's all only going to get better.
What it's like to wear Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift headset is an elegant, sleek and, dare I say, stylish black brick you stick on your face. You may not look great wearing it, but the actual hardware can't be faulted for aesthetics.
It's a far cry from the rough, almost shoddy exterior of the very first prototype we tried only a few years ago.
Oculus Rift consumer edition isn't weighty: it almost has a hollow feel, though once you have it on it definitely feels like you have on something more substantial than a baseball cap over your head and eyes.
The visor portion doesn't dig in thanks to dense foam and, when it's tightened just right, it fits snuggly. Foam cushions the back portion of the strap, so it's almost like your head is cradled in the Rift.
It's a little tricky, however, to get the headset to fit just right. When it's too loose, gaps allow light to come through from underneath the faceplate. Personally, it was kind of a relief to have some connection to the outside world when I looked down and could see a sliver of my hands holding the Xbox One controller, though some may find it distracting.
Rift also needs to be positioned properly on your face, otherwise the focus in the VR experience is off, which will happen if the headset is hanging a little loose, creating a blurred effect. Too tight, and while the headset is secure and the focus generally spot on, it tends to be uncomfortable. When this happened, it never got to the point where I needed to take the headset off to escape the discomfort, but it ached slightly, like I was wearing a hat a few sizes too small.
The headphones are as unobtrusive as they come. They're built into the headset, and you can easily flip them over to hear the outside world. When they are turned toward your ear canal, they pump in crisp audio that adds to the immersion.
With the headphones on, it almost feels like you're wearing a lightweight helmet rather than a visor, and it helps draw you even further into the virtual world before your eyes.
But while it's convenient the headphones are built in, it may be an issue for hardcore gamers who want a premium sound using their own set. Integrated headphones offer ease of use, but it may not be the quality everyone is looking for or expecting.
Another gripe with the audio is that it can be so enveloping, especially if the volume is turned up, that you're cut off completely from the world around you. I had to strain to hear what people in the room who were sitting no more than two feet away from me were saying if the volume was on the higher end. Unlike Microsoft HoloLens, which lets you not only see everything that's in your environment but also hear fairly well, you don't have that ability with Oculus Rift.
I foresee it becoming troublesome if someone comes into a room to talk to you, but you can't see or hear them. Maybe that's what you want - some uninterrupted alone time - but it could be harder for some to justify tuning out the world completely.
I'll dive into controls a little later in this review, but the Xbox One controller I played most of the launch titles with felt like a bit of an add-on. "Here, we didn't make this, but you need it to play!" There weren't any hardware issues, though. It's a perfectly capable controller, so no complaints there.
The final standout piece of the hardware is the PC tether, the headset's lifeline to the engine that runs all of its experiences. It comes out the rear of the headset and curves over your back or shoulder, and it's a light touch that you don't really feel unless your arm gets hooked under it, which happened to me. You'll also definitely notice it if you're sitting on it, start to tilt your head forward and suddenly find you can't move it any further, like reaching the end of a rope.
I played a Rift game standing, and while I could sense the tether's presence, it didn't get in the way (and I didn't fall over it - yay!). One of this particular game's producers told me that the team designed it for a PC and accounted for the tether, so it in a way influenced the game, or at least how the devs thought about helping players avoid it.
Oculus Touch controllers and Early verdict
Oculus Touch controllers
I tried out a recently refined version of the Oculus Touch controllers with a game called VR Sports, which will be ready for Oculus Rift at a date after its launch on March 28. This was my first time using Oculus' proprietary peripheral for Rift, and it finally brought my hands into virtual reality.
What you see in the VR world is a computer generated pair of hands, and while they're not yours, when you see them, it feels right. There's not that, "Wait, where did my hands go?!" moment, which can happen - even on a subconscious level - when you're using the Xbox One controller and you look down with the headset on.
The hands in VR Sports were male and only went to the wrist before fading into the scenery, but it didn't bother me to have these disembodied stranger's hands acting as my own. I was too enraptured with the ability to grab and shoot a basketball and taking snaps before attempting a touchdown pass to care.
Haptic feedback gives you the sensation that you're actually grabbing and holding onto the ball in VR, and releasing it when you "let go." It's a subtle effect that tricks you into thinking you're playing with tangible objects.
It'd be better if Touch were a little heavier so they felt more substantial in your real-life mitts, though I can see why the controllers have that same hollow feels as the headset: Oculus doesn't want you to get tired while you're playing. Still, when I went to chuck a football or flicked my wrist to shoot a basketball, it felt like I was putting in more effort than the controllers warranted. It didn't feel completely satisfying.
A thin black rope loops them to your wrist, like Wii remote controllers. Someone else helped me put the Touch on, so it's likely you'll need a helper at home, have to put them on yourself before the headset, or generally know where they are once you have the Rift on.
With the Touch controllers, I dominated a 3-point shooting contest, failed miserably at being a football quarterback (I'm a much better virtual wide receiver, it turns out), and soared in a slam dunk contest.
The controllers feel like they have one too many buttons and knobs, and some of the command options weren't intuitive. In the slam dunk contest, for example, I was supposed to be able to switch the basketball between my hands by letting go of the trigger in one hand and pushing down the other.
It was a lot harder than it sounds when you're also trying to focus on what's going on in the game and releasing the basketball at just the right time by letting go of the triggers to put it in the basket. It felt like perhaps the A button should have let me release the basketball while the triggers let me do tricks. Perhaps that's a kink for VR Sports to work out, or something Oculus needs to think about when it comes to how developers are able to implement controls.
Having your hands in VR makes a substantial difference, though for the right games and experiences. I didn't feel the need to have my hands in most of the other games I tried, though ADR1FT comes to mind as one where it would have been awesome to reach out and grab the oxygen tanks by using my hands. ADR1FT Creative Director Adam Orth of Three One Zero said it was too late to add Touch support to the game, but said the team is already working on incorporating it in another title.
But with my hands in VR, I was actively participating with my whole body (I was also standing for this game) and felt like I was really performing the actions
Early verdict
Experiencing the evolution of Oculus Rift has been almost awe-inspiring. Oculus has stuck to its vision, even when those early prototypes were questionable and the demos nearly too laggy to bear. I can't help but feel like I've not only witnessed the next transformative phase of computing, but also been a small part of it because I used it at several stages along the way.
The final consumer Rift is a lovely piece of hardware. But it's more than just a pretty headset: Oculus has built a whole ecosystem for its baby, from the sound to the Oculus Store. As soon as you put on the headset, you are immediately transported to a whole new world. Touch controllers, when they become available, are the first salvo in bringing your whole body along, too.
The problem, of course, is everything that's not the Rift, its controllers or games. While $600 is a hefty chunk of change for any device, it's the PC set-up that's two-and-a-half times more expensive than the headset that consumers will get stuck on.
The price of the whole package is going to be prohibitive, and it's likely going to keep many from jumping to Rift right away. But for those who have a compatible PC or invest in one and take the Rift plunge, it's going to be worth every penny.
When Touch controllers come out and Rift, one day, loses the tether and a few dollars, it will transform how we play games, do work and interact with one another. If it's come this far, this fast, I don't think it's going to be much longer before that comes true.
