Quite a catchy title you would agree but honestly, it’s probably the major thing I can say when reluctantly trying out the HTC Vive VR headset. Unexpectedly the opportunity came not from one of the numerous gaming expos there had been recently but instead when over at the VideoGamer offices in Croydon for a lovely community get together for pizza, chatting and a little dance with Dave Scammell. It happened, oh yes, it happened. Without any booze too.

Anyway, to the main point of this little blog post; VR is the Next Big Thing as far as video games and maybe some other forms of entertainment go. Trust me, the day that VR porn appears that’s it, everyone will be rushing to buy the bloody things. Wearing a headset and turning your head to see everything around you while actively doing actions for a change has a number of possible applications.

There was a TIME magazine cover that looked like this….

But there are potential pitfalls when it comes to the technology, such as causing motion sickness, limited space to move around with the VR headset and the moment we’re waiting for; the first insurance claim for someone breaking everything while wearing said headset in the front room and running into the TV.

The price itself of such technology is also something which made people clench their buttocks shut with the initial full prices coming around £600 to £700 pounds, postage not even included as well, to add virtual insult to the very real injury of our wallets.

Add to the fact you have to have a monster of a gaming PC to run the VR headsets, and pretty much you’re probably already giving up. As it stands, with recent announcements, the Playstation VR system is the closest thing to being affordable we’re likely to see for some time to come, even with the fact you much buy a PS4 to begin with.

But regardless, people have been queuing up and down various places to wear the big plastic things on their heads and get wowed by the things they can’t afford.

I myself only tried the first version of the Oculus Rift once when it came to the world of VR, quite a number of years ago as it stands when it first came to a Eurogamer Expo. After trying a prototype of a game called Subnautica, where you were under the sea, let’s say I didn’t walk away feeling good. Actually the best way to describe it was attempting to walk straight but was swaying like being stuck on board the ferry to Calais and the constant wanting to vomit was not helping matters for about 2 to 3 hours afterwards.

If VR was going to affect me that badly, why the hell would I ever want to spend money on the damn thing? Also, wouldn’t I just look completely stupid to anyone walking in? Who I might add, I wouldn’t see them either!?!

On no account do I look like a tw*t playing with this….

That being said, various advances had been made in that area and the VR headsets now on the market, and we’re at the point where proper consumer units are shipping to customers. A few years after it all began and we seem to have three main contenders for your hard earned cash; The Oculus Rift, the headset bought out by Facebook, The HTC Vive developed with Valve and finally the Sony Playstation VR headset.

The chaps and chappette at VideoGamer had the HTC Vive setup in their studio and after being egged on by a certain someone who will remain nameless, I then got the damned thing on my head. I hadn’t been looking forward to it, despite being curious…..

First of all, the headset itself actually was not too heavy, and did allow for me to still wear glasses at the very least so I could actually still see! However afterwards around where the glasses sat my face was very hot, so maybe not be ideal for really long sessions.

As for the set-up itself, the HTC Vive basically relies on two cube things being set up as sensors in the room so it can track the headset and where you’re looking, with a bunch of long cables coming out of said headset going back into the PC. However, because you can freely move around with the headset on, the cables basically are an accident waiting to happen if you happen to step on them, or don’t have anyone around to move them out the way.

Instead of a controller like the Oculus Rift was shipping with, you had two paddle things which you used to manipulate things and move around with in the world, without of course moving your body too much lest you smash into something. It took a little while to get used to as my depth perception of how far away things are need to readjust.

The free thing which actually was fun!

The game put on, after some technical difficulties was Valve’s free lab game based in part on the Portal game with lots of mini games and a robot dog I chased after. I did. The little rascal. But it does seem that there are some problems with stability when it comes to exiting games in VR and starting them up again, so perhaps those issues will get resolved in time.

I tried out a tower defence game where instead of guns, you had a bow and arrows to try and kill little angry dudes with and I have to be honest here. It was ridiculously great fun. I couldn’t understate the enjoyment I had when playing that particular game and to be honest, it wasn’t making me feel anywhere near as bad as my first experience with VR.

While the images shown to be were somewhat blurry, after a while you were starting to get used to it, and to be honest, I just carried on trying to defend that bloody wooden door against the little scamps who where coming to make me sad by breaking said door down.

While my eyes did hurt afterwards, remarkably it was the least of the concerns and afterwards I would be more than happy to use such a unit again. However, some concerns about mounting sensors and making room for moving around, and not breaking crap in the real world would remain the primary concerns with this set-up. The cables do need to go as well, as I honestly think people would just step on them if they weren’t careful.

But I have to say, I’m impressed with how far it’s all come. I actually am very impressed and remarkably, I am drinking the VR hype cool-aid for the time being. The fact that I didn’t feel violently ill afterwards and just got to enjoy the experience was just far better than that first time with the old Oculus Rift all those years ago. But would it worth rushing out for it? Nope, it’s probably best to wait for version two of the various things when they’ve improved the image quality (i.e. remove the blurriness) and make them wireless. Price cuts of course wouldn’t hurt too if they want more people on board.

If you want to see me looking stupid with the thing on, you can watch the below YouTube video, made of clips filmed by Rebecca Freir who did it without me knowing! (See wearing that thing, you don’t know who is doing naughty!);