Agree with you about the conventional first person shooters. There's really only so many ways you can reinvent the wheel. As for VR tech, only a small percentage of the overall gamer market right now owns VR and right now I'm not convinced that it will ever go mainstream.

Pretty much. It won't overtake the mainstream paradigm of a guy on a couch with a controller. With VR you need more equipment, more space, and more activity for your body.

However, if & when the tech gets to a state where the equipment is not much more invasive than a pair of wireless sunglasses, two wireless self-calibrating base stations and two controllers (in whatever form they eventually evolve into) at a cheap price then maybe it'll become very close to it.

I have to say though the other thing that'll need to change is the whole 1st person aspect of it, some new way of dealing with it that doesn't try to just copy the controller version of the game, and that killer app doesn't exist yet. I had thought, before I had tried it, that Skyrim VR would be the game I'd always wanted, but in practice I hated it. Movement was like standing on rollerskates and controlling tiny motors on it, but without the inner ear feedback. Wielding weapons was just dumb, massive dual-wielded battleaxes that I was flapping about like table-tennis bats.

Like F4, I found myself sticking to what I regard as VR's natural home so far - the cockpit. Whether it be piloting, driving, flying or racing. Even there it's not entirely clear-cut, anything you're flying is basically a 3D cockpit game only, everything outside is too far to be meaningfully rendered in 3D. Driving & racing though, that's the golden spot for me. Nice 3D cockpit, and everything outside is within sensible 3D rendering distances. With a wheel the illusion is very convincing.

I can see myself in the future investing in a wheel setup to get further usage out of my Oculus Rift, driving sims like flying sims are perfect for VR.

I agree that anything "cockpit" based (driving, flying, and maybe something else I haven't thought of) is where VR really shines.

There's 2 other things I'm really looking forward to when (not if) I finally take the VR plunge - Google Earth VR (I can already get lost in Google Earth for hours sometimes), and there is (hopefully it still exists) some app that puts you into a VR "IMAX theater". If I had that I can't imagine choosing not to use it for movies, at least while watching solo...

VR Imax exists, but the resolution is too low to make it a viable movie viewing opt in IMO

March 2020

Pre-order: https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/

I believe VR will become the preferred format for shooters and other game types once better control schemes are figured out, particularly in regards to movement.

At that point VR should start becoming popular in venues other than gaming or movies; training, demos and virtual vacations come readily to mind.

I"m sure **ahem** the porn web industry will be revolutionized too.

I hope this gets a normal 2D release. Its nice to see that it sounds like they were able to get some of the same voice actors again. It also makes me wonder if this game could be a stepping stone to Half-Life 3 with what also looks like a new or revamped game engine. This trailer kind of felt like they added in some of the fps suspense of a game like Alien Isolation. I don't mind playing a story as Alyx especially since Half-Life is known for having branching stories played from different perspectives but I hope they don't abandon 'ol Gordon Freeman. A return to Black Mesa would be really cool for a potential HL3.

One of the many reasons I haven't taken the VR plunge yet. I'm thinking 2020 might be the year I do though - there's newer gear out even now that looks tempting...

Looks good

I know from experience though, that when something that's not-quite-human gets close to me, I freak out. Creatures & aliens - OK. Just that caricature - uncanny valley range.

That Kiwi voice actor - he sounds like the agent for the Conchords in the TV series.

If and when I do get VR, I will most definitely be replaying "Alien Isolation" and I'll be using it extensively for Elite Dangerous and Project Cars 2.

Just not willing to slap that sort of cash down for VR. My old faithful Trackir 3 is still going strong so that's me sorted for headtracking in sims. And TBH half life episode's one and two were pretty dull and forgettable affairs so I'm not that fussed about the new game.

Alien Isolation is a good VR experience actually, once you get over the idea that you still control yourself via the game controller and not the VR controllers. Almost perfect for VR actually, everything in the game is within a human range of 3D vision. Same with Project Cars 2, but in this case the wheel as controller positively reinforces the experience. I also own Assetto Corsa, and though the 2 games are approximately similar during driving, I found PC2 to be the better VR experience over all because of its total integration across the whole game. In AC you need to constantly take off & on the headset because only the actual driving is VR-friendly, any time you're doing anything else it's the monitor.

Elite Dangerous is a great experience also, the sense of volume & solidity of the cockpit is the best so far I reckon. And when you're on a planet surface in the SRV, it's even better because then the outside gameworld is within human 3D range, I only wish there were more to do in that particular environment other than wander around marveling at the experience itself.Which I'm OK with to a certain extent of course, but still.

They probably COULD do it with a monitor etc but the whole point of most VR is the whole body movement. VR is more than just a dof headset. You are controlling the hands with the controllers. The new vive system has individual finger tracking.

This is a game coming out in a few weeks. This is where VR is headed.