Hi LTT peruse-ers 

 

I wish to make a whisper in these dark woods; late nights and early days of VR.. A thought I have had for many years now and I suppose just assumed would come to fruition without anyone saying anything.. but here I'll whisper to the winds of the internet and hope the notion is carried with flight to the right ears.

 

Background

 

I game on PC with a controller.. it's an unimportant middle-tool, that I use to get me where I'm going. I'm a generational gamer that switched in 2011.. leaving behind the console generations for PC.

Using KB&M is just as much a middle-tool.. you do you. But for the purposes of this article I will reference using a controller, because that's what I imagined.

 

I honestly don't need much of the dedicated VR middle-tools, the VR controllers.. they are nice to have, but I would happy if all first person games allowed me just to use a Xbox controller and VR headset.. I am so surprised studios aren't doing this already.. even going back and adding this (minor) feature to past games. I'm disabled.. so I like sitting when gaming.. I need to or I would be too sore to game.

But also I am fascinated by the immersion.. say being able to play GTA IV or GTA V with a headset and controller.

 

A universal framework for all first person games to allow partial VR support.. this is something I think Valve should work on along side the studios who publish the games.
No penalty to studios who don't help with partial VR support but decent incentives for those who do.. this would also help sell more Index units.
Get more heads in sets.. bums on seats. More interest.. because without community support VR will die like 3D TVs did.

 

Think of the shear volume of First Person games out there! Horror.. to shooters.. to RPG .. to next stop anywhere!

 

Why is this needed?

 

Tonight I just watched my nephew struggle with the VR middle tools so much he didn't get a game even after 3 hours.
If he had a controller and the headset we would have been gaming within 20 minutes.

Fallout 3 taught me how to get used to first person view back on the 360.. I'm glad I got used to it because before that I struggled. However that was a simple leap of view to further the whole community towards first person immersion.

There's a learning curve with these new tools.. I accept that.. but it's one that.. I ask; is the price of learning each system to much for the reward?

 

If the controller or KB&M and a headset will have you immersed within 20 minutes.. why are we pushing boulders up hills?

Truthfully... yes there is a place for these VR middle-tools.. like the Wii.. for boxing games, for exercising games.. 'standing games'.. but do we really need them for say.. GTA? driving around and shooting can be done sitting.

 

The shear volume of studios who WON'T make a VR game but WILL make First Person game is staggering!

 

The Whisper

 

A universal framework for all first person games to allow 'partial VR support'. The HMD controls the mouse look, which can be re-hooked and re-centered with the mouse/right stick.

A system where I can choose to go VR at any moment.. just as if I was switching view. In the settings I can choose my height and position for sitting (but perhaps standing in game).

 

A framework that can be applied to all first person view games.. even old games, then a patch released to update the code and when the game is launched .. so long as your HMD is plugged in you can switch to that view.. think of it as easy as wifi dongle hooking a controller.

 

peace

 

Dava

 

 

 

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IMHO : I think all games should have.. first person, second person (over the shoulder), third person and VR. but 'internet = opinions'.

 

I had a problem with IPD for ages.. I bought myself a HTC Focus Plus (and a copy of Riftcat) and set the HMD to widest setting (74mm) and it worked! What does annoy me though is why HTC blocked USB Tethering.. you can obviously see it was to wring money out the customers.. I was a huge fan of HTC before seeing this side of them.. now, not so much. Focus is a good headset.. shame HTC got greedy. Despite this.. I bought a second hand first gen Vive off ebay because there is just somethings that don't work on standalone HMD over wifi.. *cough cough GTA FPS mod.*

 

And ohw man.. I'd love to play RDR2 in VR. Add that to the Partial-VR Support wishlist.. GTA IV and V.. Bioshock 1/2 remastered..