I will freely admit that my knowledge of technology surrounding Virtual Reality headsets is limited. There’s every chance I’m not even the target audience due to the fact I’m not a huge fan of peripherals or someone willing to stump out several hundred pounds on a single piece of kit, unless it’s a graphics card (it’s probably the reason why I don’t own a console). That said, my opinion on VR is based purely on its functionality, the aesthetics and whether or not it has the potential to persuade me to part with my money.

During EGX 2015 I actually managed use all three of the big VR systems: Oculus Rift, SteamVR and PlayStation VR. Although I’ve used Oculus Rift several times before, it’s great to finally have some form of competition. Is Oculus still the reigning champion? Not quite.

SteamVR

Developed by HTC and titled the HTC Vive, Valve’s SteamVR headset bears similarities in form to the Oculus Rift. Unlike Oculus Rift however, SteamVR and the demos available offer a full-featured, 360° room-scale VR experience. What that means in reality is that’ you're placed in a relatively large room with the freedom to move around and it directly impacting your presence in a 3D world. Unlike the Oculus or PlayStation VR that rely on physical input to navigate a game world, SteamVR utilises the space you’re in. Although you have two single-handed wireless controllers, your game movement is wholly determined by your movement in the real world. That alone catapults the experience from great, to holy shit.

When I was younger I used to dream about being a Pokemon trainer, hoping that one day VR would allow me to roam Kanto without staring into a Gameboy. Although StreamVR isn’t quite there, it’s the first time in my life where it feels a possibility and that’s an important step. When you’re able to navigate an Aperture science lab, open the draws, interact with Atlas and feel a true sense of placement in the word, we’ve reached a truly special moment in gaming.

If there are any obvious limitations with SteamVR, the first is the fact that for this to ever be viable, you’d need a floor that was capable of moving with you (so that you can continue to move outside the confines of your real world space) or the need to return back to using an analogue stick or track pad. Secondly, SteamVR still uses a cable to power the headset and to have it trailing from the back of your head remains a nuisance. The need to be constantly aware of the cable, when you’re already feeling particularly vulnerable, is something that needs to be addressed and is a wider issue with all the VR headsets.

Finally and perhaps the most important part, the clarity and quality of the SteamVR image was without doubt the best of the three. Although I wouldn’t put it leagues ahead of the Oculus, it certainly appeared clearer though we’re not yet at the point where images are truly crisp.

PlayStation VR

I was truly looking forwards to playing on the PlayStation VR because out of the three, it’s undoubtedly the most visually attractive headset. Unfortunately it also meant that because I have a small head, the strap wouldn’t fully adjust to fit. The lack of flexible and adjustable sizing meant that it didn’t fit onto my face, I could see the floor and surrounding expo in my peripheral vision and the clarity on the screen was incredibly blurry because it was too far from my face. The image only became clear if I pushed the visor against my face and even then it wasn’t anywhere close to the clarity of Oculus or SteamVR.

Headset issues aside, there were also problems with the calibration of the PlayStation wands. Sat in a very low-down gaming chair, the mirroring between my movements and that of my character was “out” by a wide margin, so much so that it was actually pretty difficult to judge where I was aiming or pointing. In a demo revolving around shooting, it made the whole thing incredibly frustrating. During one particular section of the demo I dropped my Uzi in the foot well of our van, resulting in me being unable to pick it up. To make matters worse, my character then got stuck facing the window for the remainder of the demo.

Overall then, it wasn’t a great experience and I couldn’t really say that the demo wasn’t anything to shout about. Linear, stereotypical characters and a poor shoot-out made me feel like I was playing a game from when the Wii first launched, rather that one powered by the PlayStation 4 and Sony’s newest toy.

Does the PlayStation VR have potential? Absolutely, but I desperately need to play it again in an environment that’s calibrated properly and on a demo that shows off its potential. That won’t fix the problems of the headset being too large or lacking flexible sizing.

Oculus Rift

Surprisingly, Oculus Rift didn’t have a huge presence at EGX this year, in fact, it was tiny. There were some units dotted here and there, but most of the attention was on Steam and PlayStationVR. The main location where I found it (unless there was another hidden away) was on an indie game called VRTIGO. It was an experience on a roller coaster and besides what I played, the reaction from players coming off the game wasn’t particularly great. Though they enjoyed the experience, it's not surprising that they felt it lacked polish or grandeur, especially when some of those had played PlayStation and SteamVR. What I find completely bizzare is the fact that they had so little prescence in comparison to Steam. Now, more than ever, Oculus Rift needs to be ensuring that players know it's number 1. It was well and truly in the shadows at this years EGX and I'm struggling to understand why.


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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