I thought the same thing about the Apple Watch and that's been a success for them. I can't see myself owning one, but I reserve judgement until we get some unrestricted production reviews. Especially ones that look to the future.
PC VR tech & games
- Thread starter ryanja
- Start date
I don’t understand the obsession with passthrough for Oculus, seems misguided.
(understand it a bit more for Apple and trying to deliver apps etc)
(understand it a bit more for Apple and trying to deliver apps etc)
To me, the Apple thing looks like all the bad ideas from Google Glass and Quest Pro mixed into one. Glass was uncomfortable to look at and had terrible interactivity. Pro was an idea in search of an audience, instead of built on actual usage needs.
IIRC, the only thing people could test on this device was watching a 3D movie and pinch gestures. From the sounds of it, they were sitting on a couch. So, they couldn't discover how bad hand tracking is when standing up without your hand directly in front of you. This device relies on its eye tracking for selection, and will be some massive eye strain for all but the most casual of tasks. So, you can do eye tracking for 1/2 the price and watch 3D movies for 1/10th the price on other devices.
As I predicted, Apple is not going after the gaming market. No 6dof controllers means nothing but the most casual of MR/VR games can be used. Apple's video shows a passive experience. People just sitting on a couch watching TV or doing some simple browsing. They're selling a 3.5K (very) smart TV with a 2 hour battery?
They mention 3D cameras, but show absolutely nothing for implementation of it. The only mainstream AR/MR experience we've seen is Pokeman Go. That was 2016. All I see are a few niche Android AR/MR games since then, and some limited stuff for the Quest. Even thought Quest 2 passthrough is crude B&W, we haven't seen a "killer app" for it. So, I'm not sure even the Quest 3 will see much usage with its color cameras.
IIRC, the only thing people could test on this device was watching a 3D movie and pinch gestures. From the sounds of it, they were sitting on a couch. So, they couldn't discover how bad hand tracking is when standing up without your hand directly in front of you. This device relies on its eye tracking for selection, and will be some massive eye strain for all but the most casual of tasks. So, you can do eye tracking for 1/2 the price and watch 3D movies for 1/10th the price on other devices.
As I predicted, Apple is not going after the gaming market. No 6dof controllers means nothing but the most casual of MR/VR games can be used. Apple's video shows a passive experience. People just sitting on a couch watching TV or doing some simple browsing. They're selling a 3.5K (very) smart TV with a 2 hour battery?
They mention 3D cameras, but show absolutely nothing for implementation of it. The only mainstream AR/MR experience we've seen is Pokeman Go. That was 2016. All I see are a few niche Android AR/MR games since then, and some limited stuff for the Quest. Even thought Quest 2 passthrough is crude B&W, we haven't seen a "killer app" for it. So, I'm not sure even the Quest 3 will see much usage with its color cameras.
The device demos were 30 minutes long and included a fair bit more than just sitting on a couch, I'd encourage you to check out some of the coverage there. For example: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/hands-on-with-apple-vision-pro-this-is-not-a-vr-headset/
The hand tracking seems to be fantastic: "You don’t have to hold your hand in front of the headset to do this; as long as your hand is not hidden completely behind you, it can be pretty much anywhere."
As for eye strain, I'm not sure how that follows anymore than it would for using any other screen. My eyes are all over the place when I'm playing any sort of game, or drifting over page after page when reading a book, or even looking at which browser tab I'm about to select before I click on it, and I can do that for an entire day without eye strain. Looking at a UI element and then tapping your fingers together to select it sounds like it works really well already even nearly a year out.
As for gaming, I'm not going to bet on Apple to do anything amazing there, unfortunately. Still, with super precise eye and hand tracking, I can already imagine some pretty fun ways to implement that in a game -- Spidey's web shooters or Iron Man's repulsors come to mind immediately. If you can accurately select and click on a close box by looking at it then tapping your fingers together, blasting baddies in a similar way would be easy and fun.
I watched the Tested 30 minute digest of the experience. They've done a lot of coverage of these devices and are quite exhaustive, knowledgeable. All but 2 of the activities were sitting and he mentioned explicitly his hand on his knee for gestures. He also said the tracking is very good and did occlusion very well. He did try to fool the tracking.
He also said the eye tracking was natural, despite human eyes darting and and shifting constantly. Holding your eye in place is less natural. As I type this message on a virtual keyboard, I notice I don't look at specific keys and use peripheral vision to aim the mouse. I do this more often than I first thought with all general mouse clicking. Having to be more specific and be in a stressful mask still sounds more fatiguing than normal. But, they seem to be focusing on more passive experiences, so I might be wrong about the demands.
He also felt part of the experience was scripted / staged, so he's not sure if the object relation was actually implemented between users. He also stated the lighting was very controlled, so he couldn't test the environmental mapping for the single AR demo for how it reacts in lower lighting. The same goes for the passthrough.
Lastly, he wasn't impressed with the FOV compared to the Index or Bigscreen Beyond. He called it snorkel vision. Also, the weight wasn't near as light as he hoped and it slipped during his presentation, despite measuring and customizing interfaces.
If you like adventure games, play the demo for Retropolis 2 on Steam. It includes chapter 1 of 4 and is already longer than the previous game. As much as I liked the previous game, 9 bucks for a 40 minute game is just no good.
It's a very comfortable experience and designed to be played sitting. Basically, it's a 360 point-and-click game. The character animation is purposely low frame (Quill) and just as jarring in VR as it was in the previous game. It's not a dealbreaker, but seeing low frames in VR is not pleasant.
It's a very comfortable experience and designed to be played sitting. Basically, it's a 360 point-and-click game. The character animation is purposely low frame (Quill) and just as jarring in VR as it was in the previous game. It's not a dealbreaker, but seeing low frames in VR is not pleasant.
For Steam Next Fest, I found a link for VR games with demos:
www.uploadvr.com
The bad part is that none of them are links. Beside Retropolis 2, none of the games/genres are interesting to me. The last Next Fest had a VR category on the Steam page, maybe it was ommitted for a reason.
Steam Next Fest Returns With Fresh PC VR Demos
Steam Next Fest returns once more, featuring new PC VR demos until next week.
www.uploadvr.com
The bad part is that none of them are links. Beside Retropolis 2, none of the games/genres are interesting to me. The last Next Fest had a VR category on the Steam page, maybe it was ommitted for a reason.
Meta officially announced their subscription service for Quest: Meta Quest+. They offer 2 games a month to "claim". This month is Pistol Whip and Pixel Ripped 1995. Next month is Walkabout Mini Golf and MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE.
It's 8 bucks a month or 60 for the year, but 1 dollar for the first month until the end of July. The games are available as long as you have a sub. If you cancel and resub later, you get back access to all the games you've claimed previously.
This is great for new users, but I'd expect long time users to see a lot of already-owned/played games on this list. For example, this month's Walkabout Mini Golf is very popular and been around for quite a while. I expect some to just sub for certain games and cancel until another title shows up. Since most games are 20 bucks or more normally, it would definitely be worth the hassle for 8 bucks.
It's 8 bucks a month or 60 for the year, but 1 dollar for the first month until the end of July. The games are available as long as you have a sub. If you cancel and resub later, you get back access to all the games you've claimed previously.
This is great for new users, but I'd expect long time users to see a lot of already-owned/played games on this list. For example, this month's Walkabout Mini Golf is very popular and been around for quite a while. I expect some to just sub for certain games and cancel until another title shows up. Since most games are 20 bucks or more normally, it would definitely be worth the hassle for 8 bucks.
If this were more like Humble Monthly, where you are really buying the games, I'd be in, even for 50% more a month. If it were like GamePass, where there's a group of games available, even if it rotated, it would be tempting at least. The need to both be subscribed & to have to claim the games every month is a hard pass.
There are very few VR games that I want to play more than once, so having no access when not subscribed isn't an issue for me. For me the "two and only two" means I'll not have an ongoing subscription. If they had more games for options and you could choose 2 to claim, I'd be more likely. I'm at the point where I've played all the "best" games for genres I like the most. None of the 4 games I listed are games that I'd subscribe just to get.
It's not even having no access when not subscribed that's the deal breaker for me, it's that if you forget to claim you games one month, they still charge you the $8 but you don't get the new games. As far as I understand, there's an active need to 1) maintain a subscription to access any games you've previously claimed and 2) actively claim any new games when they become available to access them when subscribed. It's blatantly hostile to end users.
I tried the Winds & Leaves games on a whim. It's an adventure game, so it seemed right up my alley. Here's a quote from a thumbs-down review on Steam:
My final "I give up" came when you get to an area where you need to carry an item, but you can't use locomotion and carry an item at the same time. You spent quite a bit of time placing virtual items on your person that you can easily grab in this tutorial. You'd think there'd be an area for quest items. No such luck. I found out that the game expected you to throw the item.
So - refunded. If they can't even figure out a way to do a tutorial, I'm not interested in the rest of the game.
Your character is on stilts, so the controls are very weird indeed, but that wasn't the deal breaker. I didn't make it out of the tutorial. I kept dying. There are lighted spots to navigate and get a tutorial sign. The issue is that once you reach that area, the sign disappears. The controls use arm movement for a locomotion that's a jogging speed, so you don't get any fine grain control. I missed almost all of the tutorial messages.
My final "I give up" came when you get to an area where you need to carry an item, but you can't use locomotion and carry an item at the same time. You spent quite a bit of time placing virtual items on your person that you can easily grab in this tutorial. You'd think there'd be an area for quest items. No such luck. I found out that the game expected you to throw the item.
So - refunded. If they can't even figure out a way to do a tutorial, I'm not interested in the rest of the game.
So, the first part of the Meta Connect is underwhelming: Quest 3, AI Studio, and Glasses shipping with AI. Quest 3 is being labeled as "mixed reality". They're really pushing the passthrough mode as the main feature, yet there's no "killer app" for it. I prefer passthrough for the home screen. I like it in certain games (like Puzzling Places, Cubism). Eye tracking wasn't mentioned.
The second part seems (new speaker) seems to be focusing on the Q3. Quest 3 doesn't require manually setting up a virtual boundary. It's focusing on the new chipset, the new pancake lenses, and the new controllers. Color options for the strap (yawn). It's not much more informative than was in the first part of the presentation. Eye tracking wasn't mentioned.
Que the video montage of people using and a new speaker for part 3. Now they're talking about the "titles" stating more than half of the new titles will feature mixed reality. The Walking Dead shows the massive difference when played on Q3 compared to Q2. Asgard's Wrath 2 footage - no Q2/3 comparison shown. This game comes with a Q3 if you pre-order the Q3. Quest Plus - a 6 month subscription comes as a bonus for the Q3 (for a specific bundle?). Social features - aka avatars and starting games. Fitness - which makes perfect sense to use mixed reality. Sports games and concerts and streaming aps (Pluto, YouTube, etc). VR sculpting for designers. For business - MS 365 Apps, etc.
Another Q3 commercial video. Where are the new games?
Part 4 - smart glasses a new speaker and I don't care.
--------
I swapped out to see a youtube video of someone playing a Q3 demo showing Red Matter 2 switching between Q2 rendering and Q3 rendering/resolutions. Content creators got to demo the Q3 about a week ago. The youtuber states their footage doesn't represent how clear the video is in person (pancake lenses). For 500 bucks, it should be this impressive. The same youtuber did a live stream of the event and states he thinks the Q3 is just way better than the Quest Pro, based on the first impressions of the Q3 headset.
The second part seems (new speaker) seems to be focusing on the Q3. Quest 3 doesn't require manually setting up a virtual boundary. It's focusing on the new chipset, the new pancake lenses, and the new controllers. Color options for the strap (yawn). It's not much more informative than was in the first part of the presentation. Eye tracking wasn't mentioned.
Que the video montage of people using and a new speaker for part 3. Now they're talking about the "titles" stating more than half of the new titles will feature mixed reality. The Walking Dead shows the massive difference when played on Q3 compared to Q2. Asgard's Wrath 2 footage - no Q2/3 comparison shown. This game comes with a Q3 if you pre-order the Q3. Quest Plus - a 6 month subscription comes as a bonus for the Q3 (for a specific bundle?). Social features - aka avatars and starting games. Fitness - which makes perfect sense to use mixed reality. Sports games and concerts and streaming aps (Pluto, YouTube, etc). VR sculpting for designers. For business - MS 365 Apps, etc.
Another Q3 commercial video. Where are the new games?
Part 4 - smart glasses a new speaker and I don't care.
--------
I swapped out to see a youtube video of someone playing a Q3 demo showing Red Matter 2 switching between Q2 rendering and Q3 rendering/resolutions. Content creators got to demo the Q3 about a week ago. The youtuber states their footage doesn't represent how clear the video is in person (pancake lenses). For 500 bucks, it should be this impressive. The same youtuber did a live stream of the event and states he thinks the Q3 is just way better than the Quest Pro, based on the first impressions of the Q3 headset.
While I won't be getting anything by Meta, I'm happy to see optics getting upgraded. That's the biggest issue I have with my Index is the imperfections in the lens layouts. Taht gives me hope the next generation of hardware will really overall improve on user experience.
No manual setup of a virtual boundary is pretty cool though. That's a quality of life thing that will be great from people to take it with them and people who have VR rooms that aren't fixed with all the same stuff in them all the time.
No manual setup of a virtual boundary is pretty cool though. That's a quality of life thing that will be great from people to take it with them and people who have VR rooms that aren't fixed with all the same stuff in them all the time.
Well, it's not a killer app (because it's unfortunately niche) , but I can tell you there are serious real-life table tennis players who are really itching to play in passthrough, matching the virtual table to their physical table. Actually, I think that will be a game changer for me, even without a physical table.
Table tennis is niche, but it's my most magical VR experience yet. My Quest 2 is basically something to run ElevenVR, and rarely executes anything else. I would move to a Pico to avoid dealing with Meta, but really... if passthrough is a thing, I'll have to change my ideals once again...
This would also be a really good fit - anything with that requires fast movement. The ElevenVR, however, has been talking about possible adding passthrough support for 2 years. Yet, it's never been added.
Well, on the Quest 2 it wouldn't make sense, I think. Few people have Quest Pros.
There's some jokes in the game's Discord that the devs have been working fully on passthrough to get it ready for the Quest 3. I guess we'll find out.
(There's been some bad blood about ElevenVR. The devs have given me a game that I could literally play for decades, as long as I'm physically able to. They deserve some Slack
)
There's some jokes in the game's Discord that the devs have been working fully on passthrough to get it ready for the Quest 3. I guess we'll find out.
(There's been some bad blood about ElevenVR. The devs have given me a game that I could literally play for decades, as long as I'm physically able to. They deserve some Slack
)(I'm also very tempted to get a Tilt Five. I'm a HUGE Jeri fan. However, I think I'd rarely be able to play two player games, let alone more players, which is where I suspect it shines. I feel the "magical tabletop" thing is yet another niche killer app, but you really want something less unobstrusive for that, like the Tilt Five and not a more powerful/versatile device.)
FYI, Norm from (Adam Savage's) Tested did a really good in depth review of the Quest 3 headset. It's about 50 minutes, but the entire thing is divided into several chapters (about 46), so you can easily bounce around. I'm still surprised how much better he feels the cheaper Q3 is over the QPro. Maybe that just shows how much of a misstep the QPro was.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCzP7uKwzSM
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCzP7uKwzSM
The rotated LCDs are an interesting tradeoff between FoV and orthogonal drawing clarity.
An in-depth review of the Beyond with a full production unit and extensive time using it:
View: https://youtu.be/ZCXmv27o3AU?si=4leA6lMWgUuYcyce
Basically, the promise is real. It's the best headset the reviewer has ever used. Not perfect, but great.
For immersion, the OLED panels and custom face gasket means you get true blacks and no light leak. He warns that this really can mess with you if you play horror games, because the black is black. There's no getting around jump scares here. They're dimmer than other headsets, but he didn't feel like it mattered because of the full seal of the face gasket.
The weight and fit is incredibly comfortable. Easily the best implementation. He points out his head mobility is much better than traditional headsets and it provides immersion into the VR world that was always held back by being cautious about how you move with a heavy headset on. He also pointed out it wasn't even a thing he was aware he was doing until he switched to the Beyond and realized how free to move he was.
Downsides:
Not sharable: The custom gasket means it's for you and only you.
The lenses aren't perfect, the sweet spot on them is small. Mitigated by the custom fit, there's basically only one right way it goes on your face anyway.
The soft strap is good enough but not great
No built in audio, so you'll have to bring your own solution. He's using Air Pods in the review and says that works fine. (note, there is an upcoming hard strap with audio, so these might be solved problems)
Since it's based on SteamVR, you require base stations
Field of View is a little worse than most headsets
No eye tracking
His takeaway is that it's $1000, but if you are already invested in SteamVR and all you have to replace is the headset, it's very much worth the consideration. The focus on comfort and immersion is better than anything else on the market.
View: https://youtu.be/ZCXmv27o3AU?si=4leA6lMWgUuYcyce
Basically, the promise is real. It's the best headset the reviewer has ever used. Not perfect, but great.
For immersion, the OLED panels and custom face gasket means you get true blacks and no light leak. He warns that this really can mess with you if you play horror games, because the black is black. There's no getting around jump scares here. They're dimmer than other headsets, but he didn't feel like it mattered because of the full seal of the face gasket.
The weight and fit is incredibly comfortable. Easily the best implementation. He points out his head mobility is much better than traditional headsets and it provides immersion into the VR world that was always held back by being cautious about how you move with a heavy headset on. He also pointed out it wasn't even a thing he was aware he was doing until he switched to the Beyond and realized how free to move he was.
Downsides:
Not sharable: The custom gasket means it's for you and only you.
The lenses aren't perfect, the sweet spot on them is small. Mitigated by the custom fit, there's basically only one right way it goes on your face anyway.
The soft strap is good enough but not great
No built in audio, so you'll have to bring your own solution. He's using Air Pods in the review and says that works fine. (note, there is an upcoming hard strap with audio, so these might be solved problems)
Since it's based on SteamVR, you require base stations
Field of View is a little worse than most headsets
No eye tracking
His takeaway is that it's $1000, but if you are already invested in SteamVR and all you have to replace is the headset, it's very much worth the consideration. The focus on comfort and immersion is better than anything else on the market.
FYI, if you're interested in 7th Guest VR, I've posted my initial and final thoughts (back to back) in the Adventure Games Thread. My TL;DR was/is:
TL;DR - enjoyable but short, the accessibility coin system is a great way to skip annoying puzzles
arstechnica.com
TL;DR - enjoyable but short, the accessibility coin system is a great way to skip annoying puzzles
The Adventure Games thread
Had a read through this entire thread to find some ideas of what to play next. I've got a Steam Deck on the way and was looking for inspiration of what to play when on my travels. What I've enjoyed relatively recently: Firewatch Call of the Sea Route 96 Edith Finch The Long Dark I could...
arstechnica.com
Actually, you can play ElevenVR with passthrough now on Quest 2. It's game-changing, for an already awesome game.
I can now move without fear. Yes, it's lowres black and white, but it's awesome. The magical confluence of factors that make table tennis a great VR experience is something to behold.
edit: one of the "difficult" things is that it's hard to explain the greatness of ElevenVR to people. There are so few things that translate so well to VR, most people can't really understand.
I’ll second that. ElevenVR is a technical and design marvel. You start it up and you’re just friggin’ playing ping pong with your friend three states away. If a metaverse ever becomes a thing, ElevenVR will be a mainstay because it is already a transparent true-to-life face-to-face experience.
Yeah, for me it's like "why isn't this making the headlines and selling VR headsets at a record rate?" I guess not everyone likes table tennis, of course, but if you like table tennis, trying one feels like an absolute must-buy.
I don't know if there are so many killer apps out there. My GF was converted after trying Beat Saber (although she now is too lazy to use the PSVR, and the MQ2 is too uncomfortable for her); I think Beat Saber is an even more accessible thing.
I don't know if there are so many killer apps out there. My GF was converted after trying Beat Saber (although she now is too lazy to use the PSVR, and the MQ2 is too uncomfortable for her); I think Beat Saber is an even more accessible thing.
So my kid wants a VR headset. I haven't followed VR stuff at all, and have no idea what's a reasonable choice for a teenager who wants to play video games. Can anyone give me a TLDR?
Unless you have a powerful PC, I'd look at the standalone ones. They're not as powerful, but they're much easier to just pop on and get going. If you don't mind being tied to Meta/Facebook, the Quest 3 is probably the easiest answer.
Funny you say that. Personally, I'd avoid Facebook at all costs, but from a practical point of view, I'm not going to hold others to that philosophy.
So the Quest 3 is running $500. Is there anything else to consider around that price point? Or is the Quest just the best option for the cost?
The only other standalones I'm aware of are HTC's Vive series, and while they're nicer, they're also like twice the price.
There's also Pico, but it's not like Bytedance and the CCP are any better on privacy. I have a Quest3. Love it, great piece of kit and worth the price I paid. You don't have to have a FB account, you can have a Meta account instead, fwiw. Anyway, that's my two cents...
FYI, Steam Link is now available (for free) for the Quest 2 and above:
www.meta.com
It feels a lot like Air Link. While it's almost purely designed for Steam games, you can still access your desktop(s). I launched the App on the headset, it found my PC and asked to connect. It told me to enter a number into Steam on the PC to pair and it was up and running. So, the setup is painless.
At launch, it's lacking polish. If you try to use your Steam app on the desktop, you'll get a lot of weird "Family blocked access" errors. I tried two games: Tempus and the new Escape Simulator VR demo. Controls didn't work for Tempus and I vaguely remember having to launch it with Virtual Desktop to get controls to work. Escape Simulator VR worked just fine. I also tried a flat screen point and click and it worked just fine.
Audio on the headset didn't work. There was an unexplained "Mirror audio" setting. When disabled, audio played just fine.
When first started, the visual quality was complete trash. I tried exiting and restarting a few times with the same results. It did clear up, but it takes a few minutes. I tried to use most "auto" setting for the display settings, so I was getting the most vanilla experience.
Is this a Virtual Desktop killer? Nope, not at all. VD has better/easy to understand settings and runs very well on older systems via the Spacewarp FPS boost.
Is this an Air Link killer? Maybe. I actually did have a much better experience with Steam Link compared to Air Link. It's going to take some updates to add polish, but it has potential.
Steam Link on Meta Quest | Quest VR Games
Steam Link streams the games you love in your Steam library directly from your computer to your Meta Quest headset. Install the Steam Link app today and start playing!
www.meta.com
It feels a lot like Air Link. While it's almost purely designed for Steam games, you can still access your desktop(s). I launched the App on the headset, it found my PC and asked to connect. It told me to enter a number into Steam on the PC to pair and it was up and running. So, the setup is painless.
At launch, it's lacking polish. If you try to use your Steam app on the desktop, you'll get a lot of weird "Family blocked access" errors. I tried two games: Tempus and the new Escape Simulator VR demo. Controls didn't work for Tempus and I vaguely remember having to launch it with Virtual Desktop to get controls to work. Escape Simulator VR worked just fine. I also tried a flat screen point and click and it worked just fine.
Audio on the headset didn't work. There was an unexplained "Mirror audio" setting. When disabled, audio played just fine.
When first started, the visual quality was complete trash. I tried exiting and restarting a few times with the same results. It did clear up, but it takes a few minutes. I tried to use most "auto" setting for the display settings, so I was getting the most vanilla experience.
Is this a Virtual Desktop killer? Nope, not at all. VD has better/easy to understand settings and runs very well on older systems via the Spacewarp FPS boost.
Is this an Air Link killer? Maybe. I actually did have a much better experience with Steam Link compared to Air Link. It's going to take some updates to add polish, but it has potential.
I tried Steam Link. Quite a bit better than Air Link. Somewhat similar to Virtual Desktop, but better in certain ways. I'm using a Quest 2.
Pros:
-Launching games with Steam Link is a lot easier than Virtual Desktop.
-If something goes wrong with Virtual Desktop, it can be harder to troubleshoot.
-Easier to find games to play, since there's a VR section in Steam's library
-Don't need to have yet another program in the Startup folder
-Performance is excellent, better than AirLink. On par or sometimes better than connecting via USB surprisingly. My understanding is USB on the Quest uses some version of DisplayLink, rather than something like USB-C Alt Mode. Leads to more compression than wireless, surprisingly. y desktop is connected by Wifi 6 on an Aruba Instant-ON WAP that's configured not to use 2.4Ghz at all, as is the Quest (obviously). My router is on a different floor entirely, but I have two WAPs upstairs where I game (with wireless backhaul to downstairs). I did have a few times when performance tanked and you get all kinds of crazy artifacts, but this is mostly due to temporary RF interference (leaky microwave oven, something along those lines, but not in my case because I'm not using 2.4GHz). I guess if you don't have Ethernet available, make sure you have good WiFi gear to ensure top performance?
Cons:
-Some games won't work as well as Virtual Desktop. I've found the controllers just don't function in these cases, unless you have a controller paired to the PC. Since I sometimes play in the living room, and my PC is upstairs, this isn't always possible. I do need Quest controller support, which Steam doesn't always provide but VD does. Mostly games that are not from Steam cause issues, such as Flight Sim 2020 (GamePass) and Beat Saber (I have a non-Steam copy). Even if you add the non-Steam game to the Steam launcher, you can still face issues.
-Can't use Windows desktop in VR (easily), but this is a tiny problem for me. I rarely use Windows this way.
-I always get a warning on connecting that I'm on WiFi, but performance is fine. You can't seem to ignore this warning permanently
-8/10 times, the first time the connection fails, but then Steam automatically retries, and then manages to connect. It always ends up working, but ok, weird and annoying.
-More troubling, after quitting a game, several minutes to half an hour later, sometimes Steam totally crashes, and can't be restarted without rebooting. Restarting Steam without rebooting the computer can take up to 15 minutes, so it's just faster to reboot Windows. This is annoying as hell, Steam has just become really flaky. Sometimes even if I'm not playing in VR.
I don't really feel like there's a need to use AirLink any more, unless for some reason the very reasonable $15 for Virtual Desktop is too rich for you for those rare times it works better than Steam Link.
I've been playing a lot of Rez on PC. I have it on three VR systems now: PSVR1, Quest, and PC. The PSVR1 version was incredible when it came out, but it really feels like garbage now. Kind of how like I couldn't close my dropped jaw after seeing PS1 games for the first time, but now they look like hot trash. I can't decide between the latter two: it's pretty awesome to play Rez in VR anywhere, even on an airplane. But the graphics are certainly better on PC, and I have the option of playing with 5.1 surround sound. Man, being able to do PC VR wirelessly is simply transformative.
Unfortunately, my Right controller just died, so I'm totally dead in the water until Meta sends a new one. Their support team is awesome, btw, and the RMA process is a piece of cake.
BTW, not a PC VR thing, but I can't find a general VR thread: Virtual Boy Go was recently updated to included newer versions of the Quest SDK in the build process. The first time I tried this emulator, it would crash on launch. Works great now. The Virtual Boy is now super awesome to play in VR. It's the ONE example I know of where playing the library emulated is BETTER than playing on original hardware.
Pros:
-Launching games with Steam Link is a lot easier than Virtual Desktop.
-If something goes wrong with Virtual Desktop, it can be harder to troubleshoot.
-Easier to find games to play, since there's a VR section in Steam's library
-Don't need to have yet another program in the Startup folder
-Performance is excellent, better than AirLink. On par or sometimes better than connecting via USB surprisingly. My understanding is USB on the Quest uses some version of DisplayLink, rather than something like USB-C Alt Mode. Leads to more compression than wireless, surprisingly. y desktop is connected by Wifi 6 on an Aruba Instant-ON WAP that's configured not to use 2.4Ghz at all, as is the Quest (obviously). My router is on a different floor entirely, but I have two WAPs upstairs where I game (with wireless backhaul to downstairs). I did have a few times when performance tanked and you get all kinds of crazy artifacts, but this is mostly due to temporary RF interference (leaky microwave oven, something along those lines, but not in my case because I'm not using 2.4GHz). I guess if you don't have Ethernet available, make sure you have good WiFi gear to ensure top performance?
Cons:
-Some games won't work as well as Virtual Desktop. I've found the controllers just don't function in these cases, unless you have a controller paired to the PC. Since I sometimes play in the living room, and my PC is upstairs, this isn't always possible. I do need Quest controller support, which Steam doesn't always provide but VD does. Mostly games that are not from Steam cause issues, such as Flight Sim 2020 (GamePass) and Beat Saber (I have a non-Steam copy). Even if you add the non-Steam game to the Steam launcher, you can still face issues.
-Can't use Windows desktop in VR (easily), but this is a tiny problem for me. I rarely use Windows this way.
-I always get a warning on connecting that I'm on WiFi, but performance is fine. You can't seem to ignore this warning permanently
-8/10 times, the first time the connection fails, but then Steam automatically retries, and then manages to connect. It always ends up working, but ok, weird and annoying.
-More troubling, after quitting a game, several minutes to half an hour later, sometimes Steam totally crashes, and can't be restarted without rebooting. Restarting Steam without rebooting the computer can take up to 15 minutes, so it's just faster to reboot Windows. This is annoying as hell, Steam has just become really flaky. Sometimes even if I'm not playing in VR.
I don't really feel like there's a need to use AirLink any more, unless for some reason the very reasonable $15 for Virtual Desktop is too rich for you for those rare times it works better than Steam Link.
I've been playing a lot of Rez on PC. I have it on three VR systems now: PSVR1, Quest, and PC. The PSVR1 version was incredible when it came out, but it really feels like garbage now. Kind of how like I couldn't close my dropped jaw after seeing PS1 games for the first time, but now they look like hot trash. I can't decide between the latter two: it's pretty awesome to play Rez in VR anywhere, even on an airplane. But the graphics are certainly better on PC, and I have the option of playing with 5.1 surround sound. Man, being able to do PC VR wirelessly is simply transformative.
Unfortunately, my Right controller just died, so I'm totally dead in the water until Meta sends a new one. Their support team is awesome, btw, and the RMA process is a piece of cake.
BTW, not a PC VR thing, but I can't find a general VR thread: Virtual Boy Go was recently updated to included newer versions of the Quest SDK in the build process. The first time I tried this emulator, it would crash on launch. Works great now. The Virtual Boy is now super awesome to play in VR. It's the ONE example I know of where playing the library emulated is BETTER than playing on original hardware.
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I tried it a while back and it worked for me. It was interesting for sure.
I like that Steam is now in the Meta ecosystem. To me it seems like a delineation of roles... Hopefully it's a sign that Meta and Steam have decided to cohabitate.
On the games front, I'm really enjoying AC Nexus. Would I love it to have a PCVR port? Yes. However, standalone despite it's faults is still very enjoyable and a remarkable accomplishment for standalone.
On the games front, I'm really enjoying AC Nexus. Would I love it to have a PCVR port? Yes. However, standalone despite it's faults is still very enjoyable and a remarkable accomplishment for standalone.