I was hopeful that the simple joy of pinball would be more fun from being able to look naturally at a long pinball table as opposed to using weirdly tilted camera angles in the series' console and mobile versions, but my Pinball FX2 VR demo kept the table at a fixed, too-far-from-my-face angle, and I couldn't use any buttons or menu options to change how close it was. Most disappointing among these underwhelmers was Pinball FX2. Rooms and Dreadhalls were been-there-done-that takes on puzzling and narrative-mystery gaming, respectively, that were in no way enhanced by a sense of presence. Chronos freezes players' heads in VR space while making them run through a slow, badly paced quest full of key and switch hunting and unsatisfying combat. Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe VR tries to wrap an ornate RPG and loot system around air hockey with polished-yet-boring results. The Cartoon Network series Adventure Time has lent its characters and voices to a wholly pedestrian 3D adventure game. Instead, I found a lot of launch-day fare that felt mostly gimmicky in VR. Oculus' launch listThe Oculus Store will begin selling the following 30 games on March 28: There may very well be some real gems that Oculus chose not to trumpet more loudly at the event, but I didn't find them in my brief, self-guided hunt. Oculus gave everyone one 30-minute "pick-and-play" chance to flip through the full 30-strong launch lineup, and it was at this point that we realized quantity had absolutely trumped quality in Oculus' initial lineup. It turned out that most of the launch-day games weren't at the event, with one exception. Then he waved us toward the demo rooms, at which point we were given a regimented schedule. Many of the launch-day games I was interested in trying out weren't on my calendar, but I was told I could butt into other sessions if people missed their scheduled slots. He insisted that a good hardware launch is nothing without a wide range of software. Clad in a bright Hawaiian shirt, wrinkled khaki cargo shorts, and flip-flops, he thanked the crowd for attending and noted that only two years earlier, he struggled to get any press attention for his Oculus. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey arrived to introduce the sessions while looking like he'd just finished a bartending shift at a Sammy Hagar resort. It's not a VR event without some guy looking silly in a headset, now, is it? We came in expecting a good chance to play through a lot of launch content, but we were instead left with barely enough time to scrabble together launch-game impressions-and we think we know why. But it was just as notable for dedicating over a third of its floor space to its full-room Oculus Touch controller system, which isn't set to launch until fall. The event was notable for including the Oculus Rift's full, launch-day release slate of 30 VR games. What surprised us about the event, however, is how many of these faux rooms didn't have couches. And you know what that means: makeshift living rooms!Ĭomfortable couches and chairs were centrally placed in cushy, compartmentalized demo stations, each dimly lit and set off by HDTVs, computer- and fan-loaded entertainment shelves, and small bookshelves lined with nerd-hip books like Jane McGonigal's Reality is Broken. SAN FRANCISCO-Ahead of its virtual reality headset's impending March 28 launch, Oculus held one final press event adjacent to the Game Developers Conference.
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