HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift

mrcheez

Ignoring price and the space requirements, which of these two are better visually / better supported / more immersive?

I have sufficient space to use the games that require you to walk around, and I'll be building a PC specifically for it.

mrcheez

actually I found this article which sort of helped me decide: http://newatlas.com/oculus-rift-vs-htc-vive-comparison-2017/47005/

The article itself recommends Oculus, but further down there is a great comment from "J0hnny2468" that puts a spin on things and pretty much made me decide on HTC Vive.

360 degree movement and free-room movement is a big plus in favour of HTC Vive and improved immersion.

Zillah

You'll find about a billion words online of this debate, but for me it ultimately comes down to these three points: they're both great pieces of technology, the Rift is lighter and more comfortable; the Vive has better room scale; Oculus are a shitty company who tried very hard to lock down their users to a limited walled garden market.

mrcheez

Zillah wrote: »

Oculus are a shitty company who tried very hard to lock down their users to a limited walled garden market.

walled garden market?

Kiith

Oculus being owned by Facebook isn't a deal breaker, but it's definitely not a positive for me. But I wouldn't buy a Rift unless they stopped trying to make everything exclusive. I'm sick of them constantly throwing money at developers to lock them into platform exclusive titles. It's bad for VR in the long run.

From a hardware point of view, they are quite similar though.

Dyr

I'm biased because I own a vive and think oculus are shady as f**k, but the below is a fairly honest assesement

With the oculus touch implementation now released you can compare like with like at last and the general feedback is that the touch technology is sub par for a lot of people. In terms of whats to come vive will be getting a wireless add on this year and implementing muliptle controller inputs. There's also a new headstrap/headphone unit due out this year, which is an area that the vive is definitely second best to the rift in

vive seems to be ahead of the curve in terms of their ability to progress hardware, oculus were essentially given the vive headset technology for free by the head of valves VR team who then joined oculus shortly thereafter.

mrcheez

Bambi wrote: »

I'm biased because I own a vive and think oculus are shady as f**k, but the below is a fairly honest assesement

With the oculus touch implementation now released you can compare like with like at last and the general feedback is that the touch technology is sub par for a lot of people. In terms of whats to come vive will be getting a wireless add on this year and implementing muliptle controller inputs. There's also a new headstrap/headphone unit due out this year, which is an area that the vive is definitely second best to the rift in

vive seems to be ahead of the curve in terms of their ability to progress hardware, oculus were essentially given the vive headset technology for free by the head of valves VR team who then joined oculus shortly thereafter.

Cheers, should I hold out buying a Vive if a newer version is out this year, or will the base unit remain relatively unchanged and new hardware is just add-ons?

mrcheez

Also how much vertical space do I need in the room for the Vive? I have a chandelier that is just above head-height roughly in the centre of the space I would set out for the play area.

Zillah

mrcheez wrote: »

walled garden market?

Lock their headset to their store and their games to their headset. They performed updates to deliberately block Vive users from using a third party app to play games they had bought on the Oculus store (since undone after massive backlash). They threw money at developers of almost finished games to get them to make their games Oculus-exclusives on launch - stuff like that. Basically taking the condescending Apple-esque approach to their users: you will enjoy our product when and where we decide and in a manner of our choosing. The complete opposite to Valve's super-open approach.

mrcheez wrote: »

Also how much vertical space do I need in the room for the Vive? I have a chandelier that is just above head-height roughly in the centre of the space I would set out for the play area.

I finally took mine down after breaking not one but two glass lampshades. It is a total liability. It doesn't matter how much you tell people to not swing above their heads, as soon as they are in the game the chaperone borders are all they see.

Dyr

mrcheez wrote: »

Cheers, should I hold out buying a Vive if a newer version is out this year, or will the base unit remain relatively unchanged and new hardware is just add-ons?

new hardware is an add on but there may be an entirely new headset out later in the year..unconfirmed though

tbh if you don't have a bit of space for room scale then you probably shouldn't get either..unless you're really in simulation games

Zillah

There is no way a new Vive is coming out this year. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced the Vive 2 in Q4 2017 and started shipping, maybe Q2 2018, probably more like Q3 or Q4.

Personally I'm probably going to be a fool and buy the wireless upgrade, because losing the cables sounds pretty amazing.

That + the full Budget Cuts is going to be great.

mrcheez

Bambi wrote: »

tbh if you don't have a bit of space for room scale then you probably shouldn't get either..unless you're really in simulation games

I've loads of space... just a chandelier hanging in the middle of it.. might need a new shade

I definitely want the full immersive experience of looking around and ducking behind walls etc

Dyr

mrcheez wrote: »

I've loads of space... just a chandelier hanging in the middle of it.. might need a new shade

I definitely want the full immersive experience of looking around and ducking behind walls etc

I had a shade hanging from the area i used..I took it and the bulb down. I just kept whacking them

be careful about ducking behind walls in vr ..they don't support you so you fall over :P

Dyr

Zillah wrote: »

There is no way a new Vive is coming out this year. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced the Vive 2 in Q4 2017 and started shipping, maybe Q2 2018, probably more like Q3 or Q4.

Personally I'm probably going to be a fool and buy the wireless upgrade, because losing the cables sounds pretty amazing.

That + the full Budget Cuts is going to be great.

I'll buy the wireless upgrade if it does what it says on the can. Tempted by the new headstrap too

mrcheez

mrcheez wrote: »

I've loads of space... just a chandelier hanging in the middle of it.. might need a new shade

I definitely want the full immersive experience of looking around and ducking behind walls etc

This is what I had in mind... jump to 1:59 ... looks frickin great

Zillah

mrcheez wrote: »

This is what I had in mind... jump to 1:59 ... looks frickin great

I actually found Hover Junkers to not be the most fun, to be honest. Art design is a bit muddy, piloting and steering at the same time is a headache (wanted to fall over when the ship was moving, too), and the gameplay is actually quite boring after the initial VR-wowzies wear off.

Budget Cuts demo, Vanishing Realms, and Raw Data have been my best experiences for room scale so far. None of them perfect by any means (although Budget Cuts was perfect as a demo, it's just not a full game yet), but still different creatures to any other format. I've also heard a lot of good things about Onward but I haven't played it myself.

mrcheez

Zillah wrote: »

I actually found Hover Junkers to not be the most fun, to be honest. Art design is a bit muddy, piloting and steering at the same time is a headache (wanted to fall over when the ship was moving, too), and the gameplay is actually quite boring after the initial VR-wowzies wear off.

Budget Cuts demo, Vanishing Realms, and Raw Data have been my best experiences for room scale so far. None of them perfect by any means (although Budget Cuts was perfect as a demo, it's just not a full game yet), but still different creatures to any other format. I've also heard a lot of good things about Onward but I haven't played it myself.

Those three games seem to move forward via portals, rather than smooth moving as with Robinson The Journey on PSVR.

Why don't they let you move forward smoothly? Is the motion sickness that bad?

Skerries

they reckon it works in RE7 is because of the way they restrict your vision with what you can only see from your flashlight reticule and the slower pace

Zillah

mrcheez wrote: »

Those three games seem to move forward via portals, rather than smooth moving as with Robinson The Journey on PSVR.

Why don't they let you move forward smoothly? Is the motion sickness that bad?

Supposedly. I've never really tried it. Like I said, Hover Junkers does a zooming sort of motion and it made me desperately want to grab onto something.

Teleporter mechanics work just fine. Especially when it makes sense in the game: in Budget Cuts you're a futuristic spy with high tech gear, including a teleporter. It does get a little tiresome but there aren't many alternatives.

mrcheez

hmm.. and do sit-down games that move smoothly not have this problem? Is it only when standing/moving around that the teleporter method is a necessity?

Does PSVR tend to do more "smooth-movement" FPS games, and Vive/Oculus do the teleporter by default?

Zillah

PSVR is by all accounts an inferior technology that shouldn't be compared to the other two; they're a class above.

Any smooth movement that doesn't match with what the body is experiencing will trigger nausea in most people, no way around it, really, standing or sitting. They can compensate a little with a cockpit view or blurring motion in the peripheral, but it only helps a small amount.

There are very few games that have it. You think you want it but you probably don't. Immersive movement that doesn't match your body's own senses is very unpleasant. Most games A) use teleportation, or are based in a single area. Elite Dangerous, for example, involves sitting in the cockpit of a spaceship and that's all you ever do. Out of Ammo involves standing over a battlefield like a giant playing with toys.

mrcheez

ok, and the bigger the space you have in the room, the bigger space you can move around right? I've just measured the room and have about 3.5 x 3.5m. That enough? Does that space include the "reaching" area, or do I need to assume that's the area you walk around in?

It's probably 3 x 3m walking area and the extra 0.5m to account for reaching out before I hit the TV or a chair!

Zillah

You'll draw out your boundaries during setup and then a glowing cage will appear in-game whenever you get close to the edge. Don't reach past the edge of the cage or you'll be poking the TV. Within the cage you can swing around like a lunatic knowing you are free and clear.

mrcheez

There's also 17cm above my hand when reaching out vertically before I touch the ceiling so I reckon I'm ok there too, as long as I don't jump up when serving in tennis or something.

Just need to replace the chandelier with something flush and I'm set.

Dyr

Zillah wrote: »

Any smooth movement that doesn't match with what the body is experiencing will trigger nausea in most people, no way around it, really, standing or sitting. They can compensate a little with a cockpit view or blurring motion in the peripheral, but it only helps a small amount.

I'm not sure thats the case, I think a lot of people can get used to it.


I was messing around with Doom 3 in VR and I set up a server just to move around in it, if anything should trigger nausea its dooms movement but it was alright for me

mrcheez

There seem to be alternatives coming out now such as the PiMax: http://en.pimaxvr.com/

I'm going to hold off on this for a few months or wait till 2018 and just see how the VR battle plays out. Good excuse to spend time getting through my backlog in the meantime!

Dyr

mrcheez wrote: »

There seem to be alternatives coming out now such as the PiMax: http://en.pimaxvr.com/

I'm going to hold off on this for a few months or wait till 2018 and just see how the VR battle plays out. Good excuse to spend time getting through my backlog in the meantime!

The pixmax is a high res alternative to sticking a phone in a box and putting it on your head

An alternative to the vive or rift it aint