So, my Oculus arrived via courier yesterday! Needless to say, I was like a giddy child unwrapping a christmas present. The first thing I noticed was how daunting the setup initially seemed. However, the simple fact of the matter is the Oculus Rift DK2 was incredibly simple to set up. Plug in the appropriate wires, head over to Oculus share to choose your games of choice and choose the Direct-to-Rift mode and your pretty much good to go.

I tried out the Welcome to Oculus demo as my first Rift demo mainly because it was touted as a good way to introduce yourself to Oculus, which it absolutely was. I was pretty much hooked on the Rift after this demo which takes you on a seated journey through the beginnings of VR to the potential the technology holds. Sadly I grew a bit too confident after that demo and chose AirDrift for my second choice. Note that there is nothing wrong with this game and is in fact one of my favorites at the moment! However, after performing two barrel rolls and a loop, I felt dizzy and had to take off the headset for approximately ten minutes to recuperate.

I ventured back into the world of the virtual with Sightline: The Chair, which was a truly great experience despite being less than ten minutes long. The general idea behind this game was that what you perceived to be there might not still be there if you look away. It really plays with the potential of the oculus and included some very memorable scenes which included a room that would shrink wall by wall when you looked in a different direction, a car-crash jump scare and my personal favorite, being left floating above the world in space on nothing more than a chair.

After that I decided to give AirDrift a second chance and was blown away by the ease at which I settled into it. Flying as high as I possibly could before turning and divebombing back towards the ground at breakneck speeds caused me to physically tense up, soaring through small canyon passes and performing barell rolls all felt incredibly natural once you worked up the courage and the game does a great job of making you feel like your a superhero in some sort of a movie.

I was super impressed after day one with my Rift. I am heading to bed with my head filled with ideas for the possibility of such technology. Already I have seen video clips of the tech in conjunction with the likes of hand tracking devices which allow the use of your hands in the virtual space and an omnidirectional-treadmill(think treadmill where you can walk in any direction forever) to further increase your immersion in the virtual world.

I will update tomorrow hopefully with my experiences of Skyrim, Assetto Corsa(Racing simulator) and many more demos I intend to try out! Needless to say I am fully enraptured by this device!

Marc out!