I think BigScreen has implications for virtually commuting for work. Probably not in its current form or even with our current hardware but the ability to visit a co-worker's 'office' and share a screen and have gestures and stuff changes the idea of remote work quite a bit.
BigScreen might be my killer app. I can't wait to see where they go with this and hopefully they'll add the ability to get the audio from the other peoples machines at some point.
There's just something about hanging out with friends across the country in VR that works for me.
And it's all for the low low price of free...
Awesome I hadn't heard of this. I just found out you can play regular games in a VR theater on a huge screen through steam VR as well. Pretty cool.
lancejt wrote:BigScreen might be my killer app. I can't wait to see where they go with this and hopefully they'll add the ability to get the audio from the other peoples machines at some point.
There's just something about hanging out with friends across the country in VR that works for me.
And it's all for the low low price of free...
Awesome I hadn't heard of this. I just found out you can play regular games in a VR theater on a huge screen through steam VR as well. Pretty cool.
From what I'm hearing the game playing on a screen is better in bigscreen than in the steamvr view.
So what are peoples favorites other than vanishign realms so far? I have my Vive but only for 3-4 days. I keep finding myself going back to space pirate trainer but I am liking most of what I try.
Try the Budget Cuts Demo. That's the killer app at this point as far as I'm concerned. Can't wait for the full game.
I've played a lot of Fantastic Contraption as well as The Gallery, the archery game in the Lab and some Elite Dangerous. I hear Hover Junkers and Audioshield are awesome but I haven't tried them yet.
Also check out Portal Stories VR. Fun portal game with voice acting and everything made by community members. Really well done.
Holopoint is fun, but might be too close to Space Pirate Trainer.
I've also been using the BigScreen Beta to play some of the original Portal two on a big screen in VR.
I've bought theBlu - it's pretty, but not interactive, and relatively short.
I've bought theBlu - it's pretty, but not interactive, and relatively short.
Well, you can play with the fish, jelly fish, and anemones.
Interesting. Thanks for the write up.
Funny story... I just tried to grab the Oculus software so I could hack some of their games onto the Vive, and it won't even let me install their app because my CPU is not supported (SSE 4.2 or something?). I think it's amuisng that I can run most Vive applications fine but Oculus won't even let me into their store because of my CPU.
It might be time for an upgrade, though. My CPU is like five years old.
Also, I tried playing Elite Dangerous. I found the text on screen to be so aliased that I couldn't read it a lot of the time. Apparently this is a Vive issue that is better on Oculus at the moment. Just throwing that out there.
not sure what is going on as my computer doesn't meet the official specs and all I get is a msg that I see if I look above the section of tiles in home.
other that that it's been fine.
So what are peoples favorites other than vanishign realms so far? I have my Vive but only for 3-4 days. I keep finding myself going back to space pirate trainer but I am liking most of what I try.
Other than the Lab, in my house Tilt Brush dominates (this is great for kids!). I have been doing a lot of Zen Blade, it's a good workout but starting to get frustrated with a few of the bugs. If you want to try some virtual tourism, I recommend Realities, the interface is really well done and it's a neat way to 'see' places. I also like SketchFab VR for checking out cool stuff, some of the models people are putting up in there are really well done.
The Vive is pretty awesome. Vanishing Realms is amazing.
The Vive is pretty awesome. Vanishing Realms is amazing.
It is! To answer your question from the Oculus thread: Space Pirate Training. So addictive. And try the Budget Cuts demo--I thought it was the most exciting title I played. The Portal Stories VR community created mod is also a lot of fun.
Vanishing Realms is my go-to for demoing the Vive to my gamer friends.
I had so much fun in The Lab - it was something else. I think I may buy Time Machine VR for my 6 year old who loves Dinosaurs. VR underwater or nature learning experiences cant come fast enough. The couple of virtual tourism things in the lab are darn cool and the Solar System got some oohs and ahhs from the family.
For more Solar System check out TItans of Space 2.0 (havent tried it myself, 1.0 was pretty cool)
There's some underwater stuff with Subnautica. It's a little rough but very pretty and a really interesting game. Slightly terrifying if you have an unwarranted fear of deep dark water like I do, but still worth a visit 
Subnautica doesnt say if it supports the Vive or not but I think anything on Steam that supports the Rift will at least be playable on the Vive, it just might not know what to do with the hand controllers.
STeam lets you sort for Vive support. I'll check those things out - thanks.
So I finished building my new rig yesterday. Wow--what a difference. Even having been playing with the Vive since Thursday, having sustained experiences with zero stutter and a super high frame rate is still mind blowing. CPU is a lot more important to VR than I realized. If you're not getting perfect performance and your video card is up to spec, the CPU is likely the culprit.
So I finished building my new rig yesterday. Wow--what a difference. Even having been playing with the Vive since Thursday, having sustained experiences with zero stutter and a super high frame rate is still mind blowing. CPU is a lot more important to VR than I realized. If you're not getting perfect performance and your video card is up to spec, the CPU is likely the culprit.
Yeah, with the calculations of figuring out where you are, your movements on top of running the game makes CPU much higher of a priority than it is in normal gaming.
What CPU where you running before?
I had an AMD Phenom 980 Black Edition, which is technically below spec, but it still did okay with a lot of titles. But I just dropped in a 6700k so that's obviously quite a jump.
So, AltspaceVR just tried a thing (info on Altspace below). They had Reggie Watts perform a live-ish show in VR. Audience members were split into rooms (each about the size of, and dressed as, a small comedy club) of about 30 and the emcee and performers were sort of rebroadcast into each room. It was an interesting concept but the execution fell flat on its face with technical difficulties and performance problems.
The opening act was a really bad comic. He tried some audience participation stuff but no one realized what a bad idea that would be when you're mirrored to a dozen rooms, you're often minutes out of sync with some rooms and you're cutting out constantly. Room A doesn't see or hear the audience in room B he's interacting with. He told some completely flat jokes about a hypothetical gay son, pooping, and did sound effects. Really bad, and his client crashed leaving us in the audience with nothing to do but talk about how bad he was. Our own chat audio, by the way, was flawless, so much fun was made.
While the comic was mercifully crashed someone realized the live stream on YouTube was way ahead and already showing Reggie Watts performing. I think most people abandoned the VR show for YouTube at this point. Watts was represented by a bad avatar, there were no stage effects that I saw and so the novelty wore off so fast that I didn't stay for more.
It was never meant to feel like a real thing, like being at a real performance. The cheesy avatars and lack of stage presence really prevent that, so even if you count out the technical problems I'm not sure it would have been an impressive experience. It was novel, experimental. I'd say the real technical problems are on the bandwidth side for Altspace themselves. They can give it another shot and hopefully do better, but it needs a lot of work.
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Altspace is a free social VR thing on Steam. You can play D&D, watch YouTube, play disc golf etc with other folks.
So, Holopoint is AWESOME. You feel like Legolas got stuck in a Matrix training program. Super bad ass. Plus it is a workout. I'm in decent shape and after one round I was sweating. Just watch your cable management--you'll be spinning around a lot.
Also if you're into pool, The new game out today on Steam is great. Just about perfect physics, cool environment, and a great solution to replace having a table to lean on.
My Vive should be arriving tomorrow. Any must have games or suggestions?
Also I've been seeing mentions of the Vive being able to play Occulus games, and then not being able to, and then able to again. With something called Revive, I think. What's the deal there?
My Vive should be arriving tomorrow. Any must have games or suggestions?
Also I've been seeing mentions of the Vive being able to play Occulus games, and then not being able to, and then able to again. With something called Revive, I think. What's the deal there?
Free
The Lab - This is a great mini game with a bunch of little games activities in it that really just explores VR.
Score Attack - Both of these are great VR score attack games that use movement and aiming. Both of these are 2 that I still play nearly every time I play VR.
Space Pirate Simulator and Holopoint
Music based rhythm
Audio Shield - Play whatever music you want while you can casually colored orbs coming at you or actively punch them. Standing game.
Science
Universe Sandbox - This really depends on the person but as someone that is interested in astronomy this thing is amazing. Look around at different things like you are in the middle of a planetarium or create a solar system of your own. You can even blow it up if you like. Amazing visuals.
FYI, ordered my Vive on May 24, just got shipping notification for delivery on June 6. If you're wanting one, not much of a wait time apparently!
My Vive should be arriving tomorrow. Any must have games or suggestions?
Also I've been seeing mentions of the Vive being able to play Occulus games, and then not being able to, and then able to again. With something called Revive, I think. What's the deal there?
Revive works great. Just download the bits from GitHub, install Oculus home and bam, your Oculus games are completely integrated in the Steam VR interface.
I suggest Chronos off the Oculus store. Dark Souls lite in VR with some novel character leveling mechanics and a post apocalyptic twist.
You also get luckey's tale for free when you install the Oculus Store.
For the Vive, I suggest Vanishing Realms and The Gallery Episode 1: Call of the Star Seed.
Yeah Revive works flawlessly as of right now.
Must play games:
Budget Cuts Demo (my favorite)
Vanishing Realms
The Gallery
Space Pirate Trainer (addictive)
Fantastic Contraption
The Lab
Holopoint
If you want just an awesome short visually impressive intro, try the Blu. It's also a great thing to show other people to introduce them to VR.
I really like Job Simulator but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Pretty cool:
Unseen Diplomacy
Universe Sandbox 2
Brookhaven
Out of Ammo
Pool Nation VR
I've heard mostly good things about Audioshield as well but I haven't tried it.
Apps:
Big Screen
Cineveo
Virtual Desktop
Tilt Brush (especially if you are an artist)
A few additions to these lists that I've been into lately:
Free:
Waltz of the Wizard just came out and it's really well-done.
SketchFabVR is pretty good, some neat content on there to show people new to VR.
Realities has some cool 'virtual tourism' applications.
Score Attack:
ZenBlade
Think 'real life Fruit Ninja'. I play this every time I fire up the Vive and it's a pretty good workout.
I will reiterate Virtual Desktop as a must-have. This should be bundled with every Vive purchase, IMHO.
Awesome, thanks for the recommendations guys!!
Does anyone play non-vr games with their Vive, using Virtual Desktop? What do you do in Virtual Desktop?
I watch Game of Thrones I tried a few games in Virtual Desktop but it was pretty stuttery for me (Endless Legends, Witcher 3)
Virtual desktop is also great if you are in between games and need to change a few setting etc. It's much easier than taking off the headset at times. Movies/Video's/ it really works fine for general browsing. I use it to change audio devices all the time.
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