VR....

Getting a Rift S was good; It still is good but I've left the headset idle for the guts of probably a year. It feels longer. But this week I'd gotten the itch to play VR games. Specifically Beat Saber; And for more than just a few minutes.

There's an element of delay to gaming in VR due to my setup and 'game space'. In playing it I'm again realizing I've only got 90% of the room(my 'home office' is the smallest of rooms in the house) that I need to fully or more accurately comfortably use the headset, to stand and reach out.... Never mind dodge left and right. That's not to say that VR is unplayable; Beat Saber is the only VR game that I really need to stand and be active with. Which I've been doing a lot of the last week. Another game (VR or not) that I've left sit idle... Too many games and not enough time.

Also VR is not the easiest of platforms to get decent footage of; Then again given the music involved capturing Beat Saber would probably get hit with copyright left right and center(pun intended).

While games like Beat Saber are the epitome of why the platform is needed some games piggyback with VR. Minecraft has been getting a lot of great updates. Being on the Java version, buying the Xbox version and getting the Windows version free with the Java edition is a lot to 'keep up on', never mind the actual in game content. But Minecraft in VR is something I've wanted to see and something that's always proved tricky to really work. There seems to have been enough time and changes that checking it out in VR now is 'easy'. And after playing for a few minutes it isn't a preferred option for me. It does look great and after getting used to the controls it is playable. It's also a game where the movement gave me moments of disorientation. I think due to the eye level of the characters viewpoint in game and the ground level being so close, so similar, I guess that was a form of motion sickness. Just a few moments of dizziness/disorientation more than any actual puke moments.... 

A version of the game I'm glad I got to see and experience but not one I can spent time in.

On the other end of the spectrum House of the Dying Sun again amazes me. It's simulation-y enough to be a wow factor while 'casual' enough to get into and still have fun. Even if your doing it on the hardest difficulty and your being blow up.

A game that I'd never had a problem playing in VR, but one that has received numerous updates for VR and controller support. Always nice to see from devs.

One of the things I really like in the game is that you control a host pilot in game. While I don't know the lore(if there is any).... But when you bank and turn sharply, you hear the pilots breath and strain efforts with the g-forces as you control him in controlling the craft. A moment like that as you look over your shoulder eye tracking a target bringing the ship to bear is a unique VR experience. An immersive one. This game does it so well.

It's also a game that has a great VR cockpit(I gush again). Not that I'm a sim cockpit aficionado. I guess my point here is that the non VR version is great and the implementation of VR makes it even better, not just a gimmick.

The more things change the more they stay the same. Sometimes you get into some games and all you wanna do it shoot stuff. Casual is casual.... One such VR game I picked up 'back in the day' was Gunjack (waffle here and here). Fun is fun, so no wonder I was back at it as well.