It's priced like a game console, at $400, so it's not prohibitively expensive, and it delivers a near-seamless VR experience. You're going to be hooked up to a PC the whole time you're in VR, so you'll need to develop a sixth sense for the position of the cable, but the Rift S epitomizes what a tethered VR experience should be. The Rift S still provides a tethered experience. It's a good headset, and VR is in a better place than it's ever been. But finally, the Rift platform has matured to the point where I can recommend it without any caveats. There are thousands of VR games to choose from, and they're nowhere near as hit-and-miss as they used to be.Įvery time I've previously reviewed a VR headset, it's come with a big asterisk: Buy only if you have lots of money, lots of space, and lots of time to kill. The Oculus game store is filled with games and experiences of all types, and the Rift S is also compatible with HTC's online Viveport store, and even Steam. I'd played Moss before, on the original Rift, and a few other VR headsets, but the improved fit and finish on the Rift S and the much-improved internal display deliver the kind fo VR I hoped for a half-decade ago. I peered down into Quill the mouse adventurer's world, helping her by moving objects and protecting her from dangerous enemies. Pulling up Polyarc's award-winning game Moss, I felt as awestruck as I did that first time I experienced that VR whale soaring past my head. From here, you can open your game library, buy new games, or explore and customize your Home space. It looks like the apartment from The Incredibles 2-an Ikea showroom with big, mountain-facing windows. Once the tutorial faded away, I found myself in the familiar Oculus Home environment. (Just hypothetically!) It's also great if you're taking the headset somewhere else or just to a different room. This makes it easy to change up your boundaries if, for instance, you keep accidentally smacking your hand on a table so hard your fingernail turns purple. Instead of estimating where your obstacles are in the real world (to tell the VR headset where your boundaries are), you literally just look at the room around you through the headset's cameras. The use of passthrough cameras on the headset is another big improvement. It's well-paced and succinctly explains everything you need to know. When you first put on the headset, you'll go through an orientation that runs you through the basics. Unboxing everything takes longer than the set up. Mark out a safe space (6.5 feet x 6.5 feet is recommended for room-scale experiences you can walk around in) so you don't hit anything, tuck your hands into the controller tethers, don't drink straight out of the Slurpee machine, etc. There are no lighthouse sensors to place you just plug it in, download the software, and watch some mandatory training videos like you just got a job at 7-Eleven. The first thing you'll notice about the Oculus Rift S is that it's a lot easier to set up than the original Oculus. So where are we in 2020? Is Oculus' latest headset worth considering, or has VR passed its prime? The answer is tricky, and the Oculus Rift S is at the heart of it. VR launched to a niche audience-out of reach for all but the most devout evangelists. It had a lack of games and practical uses, was prohibitively expensive, and required a very powerful computer to operate. Once the Oculus Rift hit store shelves, the hype train started to slow down. It was awesome.īack then, we hoped everything could be improved with VR: gaming, medicine, art, design, motion sickness, all of it. I reached out to touch it, and my stomach churned as I stared down into the murky depths of the ocean below. I screamed when that VR whale soared by in a demo for the first HTC Vive headset. I'd seen the demo videos, and I was stoked to step into the virtual realms like a cyberpunk superheroine. Buckling on a bulky, janky developer headset, I was giggling like a schoolgirl. Back in 2015, the hype train for VR was tearing down the tracks, full steam ahead, and I had a first-class seat.
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