Off topic VR post if you are interested

[gopostal]

This may ramble a bit so you can skip it if you like. It's neither relevant to Unreal nor will it be written well. I'm not good at articulating certain ideals and this falls squarely into that area.

A few times in my life I've been stunned to silence with technology. I remember our first cordless phone. You could talk while walking around the yard. I remember the first coop server I put up for Unreal allowed me to talk to people from around the world. From my living room in Appalachia I was able to talk to people everywhere and in the days of 'long distance charges for phones' that was simply amazing. Then I stood face to face with the linear accelerator that would be used to save me from my cancer. All those were moments that blew my friggin mind.

Two days ago it happened again.

My son bought an HTC Vive a couple of weeks ago and I hadn't talked to him much. We run an Ark server together and his dinos were starving because he wasn't online. I stopped by his apartment (he wasn't texting me back very often) just to check on him. Now I understand.

We all know "VR"-this and "virtual"-that but let me tell you something: you have NO idea. He let me try it out and it's amazing beyond what I can explain. I spawned into a cabin in the woods and it wasn't like being there, I *was* there. It was as close to real as I think you can get without feeling the wood on the walls. He loaded up steam and the loading screen is you standing on a metal platform with railing around you. I leaned forward and looked over the ledge and instantly got that "Back up idiot, you are too close" feeling in my stomach. Now I know I'm standing in his apartment but my mind was fully bought into the fact that no, I was not in fact in Oregon. I was instead in the steam workshop with robots walking by and all the sounds and sights of a working shop.

Bob, you want to read this part: Next he loaded up a Portal level you could do. I've played a LOT of Portal but a valid comparison of this is seeing hundreds of pictures of a place but then finally going there and seeing it. I was "inside" the Enrichment Center in a way that's just hard to explain but no less...incredible just isn't enough. My heart was pounding because I could hear GLADOS around the corner asking me to continue.

Finally He loaded Ark and I got to stand at my base and actually see my dinosaurs at scale and move around them. I had no idea they were so big and detailed.

Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling. If you ever, and I mean EVER get a chance to try VR please, please do it. Desktop gaming is done once VR gets affordable and spreads to a critical point. There's just no comparison. The same game in VR is a magnitude more immersive and enjoyable.

Thanks for reading. I work with all non-nerds (geeks, whatever) and I wanted to share this with people who would understand what I was trying to say.

Have a great summer everyone!

[Hellkeeper]

I hate new things and I fear change, so I don't like VR. If I don't like it it means it's bad so stopl liking it.
Thanks in advance.
-Hellkeeper

[Neon_Knight]

This may ramble a bit so you can skip it if you like. It's neither relevant to Unreal nor will it be written well. I'm not good at articulating certain ideals and this falls squarely into that area.

A few times in my life I've been stunned to silence with technology. I remember our first cordless phone. You could talk while walking around the yard. I remember the first coop server I put up for Unreal allowed me to talk to people from around the world. From my living room in Appalachia I was able to talk to people everywhere and in the days of 'long distance charges for phones' that was simply amazing. Then I stood face to face with the linear accelerator that would be used to save me from my cancer. All those were moments that blew my friggin mind.

Two days ago it happened again.

My son bought an HTC Vive a couple of weeks ago and I hadn't talked to him much. We run an Ark server together and his dinos were starving because he wasn't online. I stopped by his apartment (he wasn't texting me back very often) just to check on him. Now I understand.

We all know "VR"-this and "virtual"-that but let me tell you something: you have NO idea. He let me try it out and it's amazing beyond what I can explain. I spawned into a cabin in the woods and it wasn't like being there, I *was* there. It was as close to real as I think you can get without feeling the wood on the walls. He loaded up steam and the loading screen is you standing on a metal platform with railing around you. I leaned forward and looked over the ledge and instantly got that "Back up idiot, you are too close" feeling in my stomach. Now I know I'm standing in his apartment but my mind was fully bought into the fact that no, I was not in fact in Oregon. I was instead in the steam workshop with robots walking by and all the sounds and sights of a working shop.

Bob, you want to read this part: Next he loaded up a Portal level you could do. I've played a LOT of Portal but a valid comparison of this is seeing hundreds of pictures of a place but then finally going there and seeing it. I was "inside" the Enrichment Center in a way that's just hard to explain but no less...incredible just isn't enough. My heart was pounding because I could hear GLADOS around the corner asking me to continue.

Finally He loaded Ark and I got to stand at my base and actually see my dinosaurs at scale and move around them. I had no idea they were so big and detailed.

Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling. If you ever, and I mean EVER get a chance to try VR please, please do it. Desktop gaming is done once VR gets affordable and spreads to a critical point. There's just no comparison. The same game in VR is a magnitude more immersive and enjoyable.

Thanks for reading. I work with all non-nerds (geeks, whatever) and I wanted to share this with people who would understand what I was trying to say.

Have a great summer everyone!

That's pretty awesome. I had few opportunities to try VR devices and was stunned. There were plenty projects which were working with VR, and UE4 has included lately support for VR technology.

To think all of this started development while Unreal I was being developed... it took so long but the results were worth the wait, I guess.