So a while ago I wrote about ordering the Oculus Rift from Oculus directly. Now as many people would, I assumed that Oculus would prioritize their own site over 3rd party sellers since you take care of those close to you first right? Wrong! August 1st rolled around and Amazon had stock ready for next day delivery where as the Oculus store still hadn’t even updated my order status.

After a few minutes of pondering I decided to go for it. I ordered the Rift from Amazon with next day delivery and by the time I’d requested Oculus cancel my order the money had been taken by Amazon and my Rift & Touch bundle was on the move. The next day it was at the front door.

Now since then I have only had time to mess around with it, I haven’t really spent a huge time in the Rift but from what little time I have spent I can honestly say “Holy shit!!”.

I have spent some time in VR at places like Arcade Club and some game events and the experience is slightly hampered by the fact you know you are in public. The thought of strangers stood around you means you can’t fully immerse yourself in the game world because you need to listen to what is around you. At home however once your space is free from anything that could break or hurt you then you can completely relax and let the virtual world take you.

As I said before I haven’t really got a huge amount of hours into the VR land yet but from the time I spent firing webs from my wrists as Spiderman or stopping 3 shooters from scoring as a hockey goaltender, VR really is immersive. Even if the visuals aren’t photorealistic you still get wrapped up in what you are doing.

Take the goaltender in Goalie Challenge VR for instance. Now the visuals aren’t what you would call realistic, I mean I’d call them janky at best, but, and it’s a big but, that does not take anything at all from the experience. I found myself having to watch and learn the subtle signs of a high shot blocker side and a low catcher side shot. Playing hockey in the real world as centre helped I’m sure but I found myself an hour later with sweat dripping down my face thinking I was genuinely in net with only 3 pucks in the back of the net and 35 shots saved. I am in love with Goalie Challenge VR and can’t wait to play it without the fear of punching the wall when the VR rig gets moved soon! Also it gave me a new appreciation for hockey keepers, I always thought you were nuts but having the puck fly at my virtual face is unnerving at best, although you can be proud because whilst I flinched I didn’t move my head out of the way because I knew if I did that it would be a goal (and I know first hand how a real world puck at full speed hitting you in the head feels)!

Over the next few weeks I’ll install more experiences for the Rift and try figure out how best to stream the VR stuff and kick it all back up properly. Until then get in touch over on Facebook or Twitter and keep on gaming!!

Paul