Having trouble with your brick of a laptop? We've rustled up the best 17-inch bags, packs, and cases around to store your desktop-replacement for every type of travel, whether you're a gamer or professional.
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With all the big news from Facebook and Valve yesterday, HTC doesn’t want to go unnoticed. To that end, it’s offering freebies for people that pick up the new Oculus Rift S and Valve Index headsets.
Over the course of June, anyone that signs into HTC’s Viveport platform with either of these two headsets (or the original Rift), will get two free months of Viveport Infinity. Infinity is HTC’s VR subscription service that offers unlimited access to over 600 different VR games and experiences. Unlike the old version of the Viveport Subscription, there’s no limit to how many titles you can download per month.
Infinity is a good place to sample some of VR’s lesser-known gems. While it might not feature hits like Beat Saber and Superhot VR, it has got great games like Transpose and Windlands 2 as well as more diverse apps like Tilt Brush. There’s also some decent member’s benefits. This week, for example, members can claim a free copy of Rockstar’s L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files.
If you decide to continue on with Viveport Infinity after your free trial it’ll cost you $12.99 a month. You can get it for a little less with an annual subscription too.
It’s a nice promotion, although yesterday’s news has us asking where exactly HTC’s Vive Cosmos has got to. We haven’t heard much at all about the PC VR device since its launch in January and, if people are buying a bunch of new headsets in May and June, surely HTC might want to give them a reason to hold on a bit longer?
Tagged with: viveport infinity
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When the Oculus Rift arrived in 2016 it marked a turning point in the videogame industry, offering a new entertainment medium that opened the door to exciting virtual worlds that could be physically interacted with. But there were limitations and as we know it’s not been quite as big a success as virtual reality (VR) advocates had hoped. To break into that mainstream appeal Oculus released the Oculus Go last year, and for 2019 it’s the turn of Oculus Quest, upgrading the standalone experience even further with a device which does just about everything right.
Straight out the box the Oculus Quest has the look and feel of a proper high-end piece of kit – and it should for $399/£399. There’s a nice mix of fabric and plastic so the headset doesn’t come across as one big nasty lump of black plastic. The same does for the rest of the presentation, from the box to the controllers and the setup, it’s all as smooth and fluid as you’d hope for this price bracket – which is important when it comes to new VR customers (more on that later).
Oculus wants the Quest to have a much broader appeal than anything it has created previously, helping drop those barriers that have been holding the industry back. One could say that strapping a computer to your face is the main obstacle but we’ll ignore that as demoing a decent experience can help to overcome initial hurdles.
The headsets’ two main features are certainly its trump cards, an all-in-one system and inside-out tracking. Straight away it’s easy to tell Oculus Quest is easy to use. With no PC to deal with and no sensors to arrange around a play space all that’s required is a clutter-free area to enjoy some VR gaming in; around 2m x 2m is fine for roomscale. There’s also a stationary option for those times where you just want to sit or stand, in one spot.
Oculus Quest can’t be set up without the accompanying app but rest assured its pain-free – especially if you already have an Oculus device. Once connected over WiFi you then have to set up the Guardian system to help avoid walking into walls which has been improved over the previous iteration on Oculus Rift. Rather than having to actually walk around your play area, the Oculus Quest’s cameras provide a pass-through black and white image so you can use a pointer to mark the area with the Oculus Touch controllers.
Those lenses also provide the highly important inside-out tracking called Oculus Insight. This was one of the most important features to get right, and it’s safe to say Oculus has done a very good job. While you do have to be careful that greasy fingers don’t touch the lenses and impede their performance – which is easy to do when taking the headset on and off – they do manage to track a very wide area, and at a decent speed. And this is full 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) tracking which makes the Oculus Go’s 3DoF look antiquated.
If you’ve ever used an Oculus Rift then you will find Oculus Quest to be a little front heavy as it does contain all the computing and battery power. That being said, get all the straps correct and comfortable for your head and the extra weight (it’s 571g) isn’t uncomfortable, even on longer play sessions. Anyway, there’s also the small matter of it being battery operated. Actual battery duration is slightly imprecise as it depends on the operation but for gameplay sessions it lasted for just over two hours with Oculus claiming 3 hours for general media content, films and such. The USB-C charging lead is fairly long but what’s the point in using a wireless headset cabled. Don’t worry, as a full charge doesn’t take too long, from 5% it took 1 hour 45 minutes to get to 100%.
Now it’s time for the good stuff, the visuals. A VR experience is only as good as the screen and lenses, and these have seen a decent boost. Featuring an OLED panel with a resolution of 1440×1600 per eye (Oculus Rift had 1080×1200 per eye for comparison), the screendoor effect is greatly reduced (not eliminated). The lens clarity is superb for a headset at this price point, and the manual IPD adjustment makes fine tuning the visuals a doddle.
From the improved Oculus Go menu system to the videogames themselves, the colours are crisp and vibrant, with titles like Beat Saber and Dance Central suitably popping out from the screen. Even running at 72Hz on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor there are no horrendous latency issues that would make VR players nauseated in any way.
Visuals are only one part of the whole VR experience, audio plays a vital role in creating an emotional response. Oculus has used the same sound-pipe technology found in Oculus Go for the Quest, channelling audio down the arms of the headstrap. This works perfectly well, even managing to provide positional audio so you can hear where shots are fired from or where your teammates are located. The neat solution does have the drawback that any outside noise can enter your ear, which can be distracting and immersion breaking. A decent set of headphones are always recommended with a 3.5mm jack located on either side of the device, so long as you don’t mind the cable.
Oculus Quest might be good, but it’s nothing without some decent input, and the redesigned controllers help to seal the deal. Lighter than the previous model, the most obvious difference is the band which now goes over, rather than under the controller so it can be tracked.
They feel just as easy to use as before, with the wrist strap always a must for the more frantic videogames. The button and stick layout are the same, and you can perform the same hand and finger gestures as before.
The only real issue that I found was with the battery compartment lid. This was a much bigger cover than the previous model making it easy to replace the singular AA battery. However, on a couple of the more energetic titles like Creed: Rise to Glory and Sports Scramble, the cover did begin to open. The design still has the two magnets inside to hold the cover, but they do seem weaker, making the compartment easier to open than before.
Oculus has revealed the 50+ titles for the launch of Oculus Quest on 21st May. for the review a decent sample of experiences were made available (some in preview form, others whole), including Journey of the Gods, Thumper, Racket Fury, Beat Saber, Dance Central, Ballista, Apex Construct, Wander, Bait!, Rush, Dead and Buried II, Virtual Virtual Reality, Space Pirate Trainer and several more.
Before trying out the new ones like Ballista and Journey of the Gods, a port test had to be done; whether titles like Apex Construct and Creed: Rise to Glory would work on the portable system. It safe to say that they do, for the most part. Where you might think it’s the visual side that would struggle it isn’t, actually it’s the tracking. Yes, there’s a drop in the visual quality, but nowhere near what you’d expect, with all the studios doing a fine job of squeezing these videogames onto Oculus Quest.
They do however test the tracking to its max. For example in Apex Construct the bow would glitch across the screen when my hands were too low (near my waist), coming back into place when raised. The tracking also struggled with the speed of Creed: Rise to Glory. As a boxing sim, the controllers were right in front of the headset, between all the sensors. Even so, it couldn’t quite keep up with a flurry of punches. But it’s unclear whether it’s Oculus Insight’s fault or the software’s. In comparison, Beat Saber which is known for its fast gameplay didn’t miss a beat (pun intended). There was no issue whatsoever when playing a song on Expert (Expert+ is just too fast for me), with the tracking working beautifully.
So does this mean Oculus Quest is a game changer when it comes to VR? Well yes and no. The all-in-one design is ideally suited to welcoming new players into the fold. Being able to take a device that can display experiences that are almost Rift quality anywhere might just tip the scale in Oculus’ favour. However, for those who already own an Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest doesn’t quite make for a suitable purchase. Yes, there are a growing number of titles with cross-buy support so you’ve got an instant portable library, but you’ll miss that outside-in tracking.
The virtual reality (VR) buzz this week might be focused on several new headsets, but if you already own an Oculus Rift and just want to see more great content then how about something free. Secret Location brought its bullet hell title to the device back in 2017 and VRFocus rather liked it. If you haven’t given this videogame a try then do so this weekend, as it’ll be free for three days.
Starting this Friday, 3rd May at 10am PT (6pm BST) and running through until Sunday 5th May at 11.59pm PT (Monday 6am BST), players will be able to enjoy the neon-rich, retro environment of Blasters of the Universe, customising weapons and trying to stay alive.
The title features four campaign missions as well as Endless and Casual modes, depending on how difficult or easy you want the gameplay to be. Blasters of the Universe tasks you with defeating Grand Master Alwyn’s legions of digital creations, facing wave after wave bullets in his 80s inspired virtual world. You have access to a customizable weapon with over 130,000 possible loadout and blaster combinations to suit your particular gameplay style, whether that’s rapid-fire designs, explosive, slow with high damage or anything in between.
VRFocus reviewed Blasters of the Universe giving it a decent four-stars, saying: “For those that have become rightly bored with wave shooters Blasters of the Universe offers that spark of light, reminding us why this genre became popular in the first place. The entire theme, visual aesthetics and gameplay make Blasters of the Universe a joy to play.”
Once the free weekend has ended if you want to continue playing Blasters of the Universe you’ll need to spend $14.99 USD. The title also supports HTC Vive and PlayStation VR.
Secret Location is the studio behind an assortment of interesting VR experiences. For puzzle fans there’s Transpose which plays with time, or for something a little more relaxed how about The Great C; an adaption of a Philip K. Dick story which has just been released for Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. For the latest updates from Secret Location, keep reading VRFocus.
The news is finally out; Oculus Quest, Facebook’s new VR headset, arrives on May 21. Over 50 titles are being lined up for the big day. But, given that you’ve just spent $399 on a new headset, you might be hoping to try a few games before you buy them. Well, good news; Quest comes loaded with five playable demos.
Oculus detailed what’s coming pre-loaded on the headset in yesterday’s blog post. Five titles will have samples ready and waiting, including arguably the biggest VR game of all, Beat Saber. Beat Games’ smash hit will offer the tutorial and two songs with varying difficulty levels to get to grips with. Beat Saber is one of VR’s most instantly addictive games, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself heading to the Oculus Store after trying this one.
Two new Oculus Studios games are also included in the mix. The first is Journey of the Gods, a cute little action role-playing game with a gorgeous art style. You’ll get “condensed versions” of the opening tutorial and boss fight here. Sports Scramble, meanwhile, is the latest from Armature. It’ll offer a tennis match either against an AI or friends online.
Next up for shooter fans is an arcade classic, Space Pirate Trainer. The long-loved wave shooter offers its first level in this demo along with a boss fight. Finally, we have a boxing match in Creed: Rise to Glory. We love Creed on PC VR but thought it was actually one of the weaker Quest ports we’ve seen so far. Still, now you can make up your own mind before you decide whether to pick it up or not.
It doesn’t sound like Oculus will be giving away any full games for free at Quest launch, but don’t forget the headset will come with cross-buy support. That means many of the games you bought on Rift via the Oculus Store will be ready and waiting on Quest. Yay, free games!
Tagged with: Beat Saber, Creed: Rise to Glory, demos, Journey of the Gods, Oculus Quest, space pirate trainer, Sports Scramble
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Facebook opened preorders for the Oculus Quest and Rift S yesterday, with an initial shipping date of May 21. After one day of preorders, the website now provides an estimate of May 24 in the USA- indicating that the first three days worth of stock have sold out.
Orders placed early yesterday still show a shipping date of May 21, so this isn’t an overall delay- it’s simply stock being sold to preorders.
Of course, this doesn’t really tell us anything about how well Quest and Rift S preorders are selling. We don’t know the production rate or how Facebook has allocated stock between retailers. But being sold out of two days of stock already probably does indicate the launch wasn’t a total failure.
The fact that both headsets are the same amount delayed does however seem to indicate that neither product under or over performed relative to each other. Valve announced pricing and specs for its Index PC VR system just before Rift S preorders opened, but the $999 pricepoint means it doesn’t seem to have dampened demand for Rift S.
While we may never know exact sales figures for either headset, we will be able to get an idea of Rift S sales relative to other PC headsets when the June Steam Hardware survey is released in early July. The Steam Hardware Survey records which headsets are connected to the PCs of users which opt in.
Both headsets will be sold at Best Buy stores, but given this stock availability it’s unclear how easy it will actually be to pick one up on launch day.
Tagged with: facebook, Oculus Quest, oculus rift s
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Check out the best laptop cooling pad models (equipped with fans and USB ports) for keeping your on-the-go gaming or work laptop cooled down -- especially if it tends to overheat at the worst moments.
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First Impressions
The Controllers
The Verdict