I've not been shy of expressing that I think virtual reality is flawed at its very core.
It doesn't matter how good it gets, the fundamental idea prevents it from ever becoming the society-consuming technology we've seen in so many sci-fi dystopias.
It's like... I dunno... inventing a dog dirt flavour ice cream; You can keep improving the flavour to make it more authentically dog dirt-tasting, but if people don't want to eat dog dirt-flavoured things then it's unlikely there's much you can do to change their minds.
Not even if, on some level, they're impressed that somebody has a) Had the audacity to make and sell a dog dirt-flavoured treat, and b) Managed to so accurately simulate the taste and texture.
That, for me, is why I've sort of been a VR-sceptic; even if they can solve my motion sickness, that doesn't change needing a space in my house where I'm not going to knock things over, or be filmed secretly by my amused family, who can then show me the video so that I can go into a 24-hour depression and start looking up liposuction clinics.
A product that makes me vomit AND a figure of fun AND insecure about my body? Sign me up!!!!?!!!
But anyway...
It doesn't matter how good it gets, the fundamental idea prevents it from ever becoming the society-consuming technology we've seen in so many sci-fi dystopias.
It's like... I dunno... inventing a dog dirt flavour ice cream; You can keep improving the flavour to make it more authentically dog dirt-tasting, but if people don't want to eat dog dirt-flavoured things then it's unlikely there's much you can do to change their minds.
Not even if, on some level, they're impressed that somebody has a) Had the audacity to make and sell a dog dirt-flavoured treat, and b) Managed to so accurately simulate the taste and texture.
That, for me, is why I've sort of been a VR-sceptic; even if they can solve my motion sickness, that doesn't change needing a space in my house where I'm not going to knock things over, or be filmed secretly by my amused family, who can then show me the video so that I can go into a 24-hour depression and start looking up liposuction clinics.
A product that makes me vomit AND a figure of fun AND insecure about my body? Sign me up!!!!?!!!
But anyway...
OPEN MIND
And yet, for all of that... I do want to like VR. I'm open-minded, if not an outright believer. It's like how I think it'd be pretty cool if ghosts and God existed... but think it's fairly unlikely that they do.
The part of VR which appeals to me is the part that wants to travel to fantasy lands, and really feel like I'm there. I want to have a fight with Darth Vader. I want to point at a shark's face. I want to be a super-cool slow-motion ninja man.
And VR - especially with my knees - is the closest I'm ever going to get to some of those things. At its very best, VR is a theme park in your own home.
So I keep trying, most recently with the Oculus Go - a wires-free headset that came out last year, which was pretty good in a one-step-up-from-Google-Cardboard sort of a way, but was some considerable leagues short of the power needed for really convincing VR.
And now Oculus has released the Quest - another wireless headset, which in terms of power lands somewhere in the middle of the Oculus equation, twixt the Go and the Rift.
Is it any good? Well, that's the whole point of a review, stupid.
And yet, for all of that... I do want to like VR. I'm open-minded, if not an outright believer. It's like how I think it'd be pretty cool if ghosts and God existed... but think it's fairly unlikely that they do.
The part of VR which appeals to me is the part that wants to travel to fantasy lands, and really feel like I'm there. I want to have a fight with Darth Vader. I want to point at a shark's face. I want to be a super-cool slow-motion ninja man.
And VR - especially with my knees - is the closest I'm ever going to get to some of those things. At its very best, VR is a theme park in your own home.
So I keep trying, most recently with the Oculus Go - a wires-free headset that came out last year, which was pretty good in a one-step-up-from-Google-Cardboard sort of a way, but was some considerable leagues short of the power needed for really convincing VR.
And now Oculus has released the Quest - another wireless headset, which in terms of power lands somewhere in the middle of the Oculus equation, twixt the Go and the Rift.
Is it any good? Well, that's the whole point of a review, stupid.
TOUCH ME
The Quest is beautifully designed, as you'd want for a product that's a quid shy of £400.
Right out of the box you feel like you're getting something that's quality; from the mostly comfortable, fabric-clad headset, to the two Oculus Touch controllers.
You'll need a smartphone, as set-up is done entirely through the Oculus app, but beyond that there's no other hardware needed (unless you want to wear headphones; as its default sound option, the Quest has a couple of decent surround sound speakers that sort of "pipe" the sound through the head straps).
Nicely, the Quest also comes with a spacer, which allows it to be worn and used by those with glasses, but it's all relatively easy to adjust either way, with a slider for the lenses, and velcro head straps.
Many of the Quest's experiences require you to be standing, which means you need a fair bit of space around you. Upon first firing it up, you'll be presented with a virtual representation of your physical surroundings, and need to draw a space on the floor using the controllers. Moving outside of this area will flash up a warning.
All of this, plus the head and controller tracking, was pretty much flawless; you've got complete freedom of movement within your defined space. There are sensors on the headset, which read your position, and even on a fast-paced game such as Beat Saber it seems to keep up.
I won't bore you with specs, but it's a noticeable step up in terms of visual quality from the Go. Obviously, graphics aren't going to have the bells and whistles you'd get on a Rift - the Quest is about as powerful as a top-end phone - but it's more than good enough.
More importantly, the Touch controllers really help to connect you to what you're seeing; being able to make a fist, point, pick things up etc. is addictive. There's a great little tutorial which lets you shoot guns, play with balls and rockets, and just generally fanny around getting used to interacting with your pretend environment.
Between the resolution of the lenses, the lack of wires, the surround sound, and the way the hardware interfaces with the virtual worlds, it's the most immersed I've felt in VR to date. Incredibly, I even seemed to suffer little in the way of motion sickness, and with the battery charge only lasting a couple of hours, it's unlikely I ever will.
The Quest is beautifully designed, as you'd want for a product that's a quid shy of £400.
Right out of the box you feel like you're getting something that's quality; from the mostly comfortable, fabric-clad headset, to the two Oculus Touch controllers.
You'll need a smartphone, as set-up is done entirely through the Oculus app, but beyond that there's no other hardware needed (unless you want to wear headphones; as its default sound option, the Quest has a couple of decent surround sound speakers that sort of "pipe" the sound through the head straps).
Nicely, the Quest also comes with a spacer, which allows it to be worn and used by those with glasses, but it's all relatively easy to adjust either way, with a slider for the lenses, and velcro head straps.
Many of the Quest's experiences require you to be standing, which means you need a fair bit of space around you. Upon first firing it up, you'll be presented with a virtual representation of your physical surroundings, and need to draw a space on the floor using the controllers. Moving outside of this area will flash up a warning.
All of this, plus the head and controller tracking, was pretty much flawless; you've got complete freedom of movement within your defined space. There are sensors on the headset, which read your position, and even on a fast-paced game such as Beat Saber it seems to keep up.
I won't bore you with specs, but it's a noticeable step up in terms of visual quality from the Go. Obviously, graphics aren't going to have the bells and whistles you'd get on a Rift - the Quest is about as powerful as a top-end phone - but it's more than good enough.
More importantly, the Touch controllers really help to connect you to what you're seeing; being able to make a fist, point, pick things up etc. is addictive. There's a great little tutorial which lets you shoot guns, play with balls and rockets, and just generally fanny around getting used to interacting with your pretend environment.
Between the resolution of the lenses, the lack of wires, the surround sound, and the way the hardware interfaces with the virtual worlds, it's the most immersed I've felt in VR to date. Incredibly, I even seemed to suffer little in the way of motion sickness, and with the battery charge only lasting a couple of hours, it's unlikely I ever will.
FAFFLESS
I'll review some of the launch titles separately, but none of the half a dozen or so I played had any real issues. I've heard that the tracking can suffer in rooms where there's less light, but it wasn't something I experienced. in Beat Saber, Superhot, Vader Immortal, and a bunch of free playroom-type games all ran smoothly.
As I found out with the Go, VR without a tether is - as I always suspected it would be - the future of the medium. I stopped playing on my PSVR, because it was such a monumental faff to set up every time. Being wired into another lump of hardware breaks the immersion in a pretty fundamental way, and so Quest does feel like a game-changer in that respect.
That's not to say that it solves all of VR's issues. The lack of space in my house to draw a decent sized playing area is a problem, and the way the wireframe "cage" keeps popping up whenever my arms hit the boundary is irritating. Likewise, there's no getting away from feeling self-conscious when there are other people in the house.
These are the sorts of things I'm talking about when I say that VR is flawed at its core.
That said, Quest does manage to solve many of my other issues with the technology. It isn't cheap, but then you don't need a PC or PlayStation 4 in order to use it.
Will this be the point at which VR reaches its long-delayed tipping point? Put it this way... when I try to think about my friends and family using VR on a regular basis... it's not something I can ever imagine happening. Will I be using it on a regular basis?
The chance of that happening just took a massive leap forwards.
I'll review some of the launch titles separately, but none of the half a dozen or so I played had any real issues. I've heard that the tracking can suffer in rooms where there's less light, but it wasn't something I experienced. in Beat Saber, Superhot, Vader Immortal, and a bunch of free playroom-type games all ran smoothly.
As I found out with the Go, VR without a tether is - as I always suspected it would be - the future of the medium. I stopped playing on my PSVR, because it was such a monumental faff to set up every time. Being wired into another lump of hardware breaks the immersion in a pretty fundamental way, and so Quest does feel like a game-changer in that respect.
That's not to say that it solves all of VR's issues. The lack of space in my house to draw a decent sized playing area is a problem, and the way the wireframe "cage" keeps popping up whenever my arms hit the boundary is irritating. Likewise, there's no getting away from feeling self-conscious when there are other people in the house.
These are the sorts of things I'm talking about when I say that VR is flawed at its core.
That said, Quest does manage to solve many of my other issues with the technology. It isn't cheap, but then you don't need a PC or PlayStation 4 in order to use it.
Will this be the point at which VR reaches its long-delayed tipping point? Put it this way... when I try to think about my friends and family using VR on a regular basis... it's not something I can ever imagine happening. Will I be using it on a regular basis?
The chance of that happening just took a massive leap forwards.
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