A Knee-Jerk Review of the Oculus Rift

I posted this on Facebook during my hiatus, but one of the presents received Christmas morning was an Oculus Rift. (Technically, the present was the Rift and a fast enough desktop to run it. Tomas has been wanting to build a computer for the past year or so. He was dreaming of a low end machine capable of running some games. I’ve been wanting to get a new machine to use as my primary computer for writing for some time now, and I thought this year seemed like an excellent time to do it, since I’ve made a bit of money selling books. Yay business expenses. So after all presents had been opened, there was one final present that took the kids on a twenty step treasure hunt, taking them from computer component to computer component, culminating with the Rift.)

So after Tomas and I had built the computer (much easier now than it seemed to be the last time I did it, ten years ago), I got the Rift up and running on it, and gave it a whirl. (Thankfully, the research I’d done that indicated it would fit over my glasses was confirmed. Otherwise I would have been going virtually nowhere. It actually works perfectly fine with glasses.)

I did not expect to be seriously blown away by virtual reality. I’ve been gaming for years, after all, and I knew that the resolution on the Rift wasn’t high enough to make the pixels go away. So I thought I’d constantly be reminded that I was standing in the middle of my office with a headset on, looking like an idiot.

Except I massively underestimated the ability of sight and sound to override the rest of my brain. Slipping on that headset, I really felt like I was transported to another place. There’s a demo that takes you to the top of a skyscraper. It really felt like I was about to fall off, and it made me actually scared. That scene is followed by a T Rex coming to roar in front of you. Again, I was far more intimidated by this virtual thing than I would have ever expected.

Since that demo, we’ve installed some other games. (It comes with about 6 or 7 available to download right away for free.) There’s one that pits you against rogue robots, and it’s up to you to shoot them all down before the city is overwhelmed. There’s a 3D drawing game. We bought a climbing simulator, and a game that puts you in the shoes of James Bond. You can get Google Earth for free, and it interfaces with Google Street View, so you can stand on pretty much any street in the world and see what it looks like to be there. It’s much more impressive than normal Street View. It’s amazing.

When I mentioned the Rift on Facebook, it was with the explanation that I got to the point where I realized 14 year old me would be so incredibly disappointed in current me if he were to find out VR was available, I could afford it, and yet I didn’t have it. And so I bowed to 14 year old me’s wishes (not always a great idea). But really, I’m very pleased I did. Beyond the cool factor and the amazing experiences, I love watching my 13 year old and 9 year old children use the device. Yes, you could dismiss the Rift as just another toy, but I don’t see things that way. When I see them using it, I see them getting in on the ground floor of a new way of interacting with technology, one which might well prepare them for new innovations in the future.

When I was young, I had the opportunity to use desktop computers at home earlier than many other kids did. That familiarity with the technology helped me, as I taught myself graphic design basics (with the old PageMaker) as well as learned the ins and outs of music composition software. I sincerely believe that playing with technology leads you to using technology more intuitively. I have no idea what innovations might lie in wait, but standing there in my office, using virtual weapons to defend a city from rogue robots, it’s easy for me to see that this is something which will only grow in popularity and importance.

The Rift is a steal at $400. The controllers are terrific, the games are immersive, and there are plenty of experiences to choose from. The only thing that should hold you back from buying one is that you need a workhorse of a PC to run the games well. I have no idea how it will run on a lower end machine. The one I bought has an almost top-of-the-line graphics card, new processor, and plenty of RAM to back it up. Then again, we’ve found out it can run a VR game and a second game on the computer screen at the same time, so perhaps an older, less advanced model would still be fine.

Oh yeah. One more thing. I get motion sick playing for too long. Saturday I was in Google Earth for a half hour, then did the climbing simulator for another half hour, and after that, I was feeling pretty lousy for an hour or so. It was the climbing that got to me. My eyes were telling me I was moving all over the place, and my body was just plain confused. But not all games do that. It’s just something  to be aware of, and it hasn’t turned me off VR at all.

If you have any questions about the Rift, I’m happy to answer them. Very pleased with the gift.

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