There’s a list here of all games available for the Quest, including which ones are cross-buy enabled:
That list needs to track which are cast-able
What’s the battery life and charge times like on Quest? And will it connect to my network and stream movies? Yes, I may be so weak-willed that I’m considering one…
Battery will last 2 1/2-3 hours. Charge time is pretty fast, but you can use it while charging and/or use a battery pack in your pocket if you want more time.
Yes, it will stream movies. Skybox VR is a free app for the device that allows this. It currently supports DLNA and some versions of SMB. You’re also supposed to be able to play content from a USB stick, but people have been having trouble getting that to work.
One thing that the headset doesn’t permit at present is 3DOF video watching in a dark room. It needs ambient light to provide tracking information and will shut down if the room is too dark. But this means you can’t lie in bed in the dark next to your SO and watch Netflix on the headset while they’re sleeping. Apparently Carmack didn’t consider this use case until alerted by tweets and they’re looking into making this possible with software updates. (The Quest does have IMUs, so the hardware is capable.) One thing about this launch: the Oculus support team is watching reddit threads and support forums very closely for potential issues and are very responsive on social media.
I’m intrigued by the Rift S as the setup is my main barrier to playing more in VR. Just a pain getting the sensors in the right place and calibrated.
For people with the Quest who like the idea that it’s portable, as you take it around make very sure to never leave it exposed to sunlight. I was taking my Rift on a road trip and while it was in a bin in the back seat it rolled lens side up and was in direct sunlight for a while. I now have a tiny burned out spot on the display that becomes a red dot in my left eye when the background is a bright light color. Fortunately it doesn’t show in darker scenes.
So what is the difference between the Go and the Quest? They are both standalones, right?
after reading / watching a bunch of stuff on it. I’d summarize it with:
Quest = a majorly beefed up Go, supporting some detailed complex games, where the Go cannot.
I never had this issue after the initial setup, it’s always just stick the headset on and go. As long as you’re not moving the sensors in a major way it’s pretty solid, even if they’re bumped or rotated a bit I’ve never noticed it mattering.
Also the Quest has the proper controllers for full hand presence, and 6DOF rather than 3DOF (Go doesn’t track position).
It sounds like if you end up liking the VR experience, you will be unhappy you got the Go and didn’t spend the extra $200 to get the Quest. If you don’t care for the VR, you’re happy you only spent the $199 on the Go.
So my next question is how does the Quest compare to the PSVR and the standard Occulus and Rift?
Go has only one controller (that’s not nearly as capable as the touch controllers) and is 3 degrees of freedom only. That means while it reacts to you tilting your head it does not react to your head moving forward, backwards, up, down, left and right. Therefore it’s much less usable for games. I’m not totally sure if the Go’s wand even has full tracking or just relational tracking.
Quest supports true 6 degrees of freedom, so you can move around a room. It has good tracking for controllers as well using the same controllers the Rift S uses. It also has beefier hardware to better support visually intensive games.
They’re both standalone, but the Quest can do room scale VR, and it has full 6-degree-freedom tracking for the headset and two controllers (one for each hand.) The Go has a single controller that functions more like a pointer and doesn’t have any tracking except with inertial sensors.
I’m pretty sure it functions just like the Daydream controller and uses some tricks (i.e. determine hand position using an internal body model) to simulate tracking.
How are the Quest and Rift S for those that wear glasses?
Quest comes with an extra spacer for glasses. I usually wear contacts, but tried with glasses last night. It… doesn’t work perfectly, possibly because my glasses are large. They crunch onto my nose a bit and the headset is more uncomfortable. Also, the FoV is narrower. It works, but YMMV.
So! My S arrived this afternoon and I had a quick look at a few things. Overall?
Yeah as @Editer says it’s a pretty nice improvement, far better than the modest spec bump would indicate. The LCD panel pixel layout/density and new lenses make a decent difference!
Everything is sharper and more vibrant. Text is more legible, and you can resolve objects a bit farther into the distance. CV1 was always like looking through thin gauze, this is like the gauze has been ripped away. The contrast seems fine, as DennyA said the overall improvements make any real difference there may (or may not) be basically moot.
The ‘screen door’ is improved but absolutely still there (more noticeable at mid-to-far range than close up). Except now it’s a more pleasing black/white grid, and I don’t notice the diamond RGB subpixel layout like I do in Rift. I’m sure there are proper comparison pics, but it’s kinda like the difference between these:
The old ‘god ray’ lens effects that eminate from bright areas are mostly gone on the S.
It’s comfortable. Feels plushy on the face, the halo headband has a great tightening dial mechanism, there’s almost no nose gap. The tether cable is thicker and heavier though which is a little annoying.
There is a button so you can move the lenses forwards, to accomodate glasses - I have not tried it with glasses though. The software-only IPD adjustment means it may not work well for the 20% of people who fall far outside the ‘average’ IPD range. I can’t test it as I’m right near the middle at 64.
The audio is much better than I expected. Like wow, I do not miss having things sitting on my ears at all. :)
The pass-through is pretty cool, it can activate automatically when you go oustide guardian boundary, or you can double-tap Oculus button to bring it up. The whole set-up is slicker using it.
The new controllers are definitely cheaper. The sticks seem smaller and a bit looser, the buttons a bit clackier. Same nice subtle rumbles though, and they’re not bad - just not quite as solid. I don’t think there’s a capacitive touch surface like Rift has, though all the buttons are still capacitive and register touch as well as press. The only game I ever played that used that capacitive surface feature was X Rebirth VR so maybe it’s not a huge loss.
To try the Insight tracking I played the rogue-lite archery game In Death for a while and it was pretty flawless. Drawing the hand back near the neck over and over didn’t seem to phase it.
All in all it’s a nicer little refresh than I was expecting based on reading specs alone, quite pleased. Now to figure out what to do with all those free usb ports!
I see IL-2 Stalingrad is on sale on Steam. Would this be a good entry point for someone who wanted to try a flight simulator?
We had a big gaming party a few weeks back and one of the guys brought his flight sim setup, which included a Rift and HOTAS. We all had a ton of fun playing IL-2 missions on it. It did require a good amount of explanation every time someone new swapped in though.
Fabulous choice. Few if any games take advantage of VR as well. I’d call it the “killer app” of current VR tech if you like flying.
It can be a bit dry and probably shines brightest in multiplayer. That being said, the campaign is OK and you’d easily get your money’s worth just tooling around in one of the planes and shooting up a train or something.
edit: qualified killer app comment.
Have either of you guys tried the S with Elite Dangerous? I’m quite curious how the new LCD panels handle the heavily black scenes compared to the CV1.