The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that’s still in development. At this point in time they have the dev kits ready and shipped so that developers can start to give their games oculus support as well as create games based around the use of the oculus. The idea of a virtual reality headset is a risky one even at this day and age. There have been many attempts by many different people but all of them either failed or were lacking in some way. Knowing this, as well as all of the hype created from the oculus’ kickstarter, I was excited to be able to get to try out one of the dev kits.

From the start there was a bit of setup involved. At this point in time there is support for Team Fortress 2 and Hawken is awaiting their update so that people with dev kits can get in on that game’s action but other games can be made to run on the oculus as well as long as you know how to get things working. It may seem complicated and I would agree that normal gamers shouldn’t purchase the dev kit.. The consumer model is still being worked on which will offer better resolution as well as more support (thanks ot everyone who jumped on the dev kits now). However, it’s nice ot know that more games will be getting this kind of support but will it be worth it?

Short answer is I definitely think so. I got to personally experience both Team Fortress 2 as well as Slender: The Awakening. Slender was instantly more immersive and being able to look around and move separately gave me a lot more control actually. However, because the game itself doesn’t have full oculus support and was simply made to run on the screens there was some trouble with the resolution. It wasn’t too much of a problem but after a while of playing I felt my eyes becoming more and more strained to be able to see what’s around me. That’s when I switched to TF2. I wanted to be able to experience a game that was completely oculus ready to get a good idea as to what to expect from future games that have full support.

The game looked better for sure. Also the 3d qualities of the headset were noticeable and great. One of the first things I did was look at my shoulder as solider. It might not seem that cool but when you’ve played the game as much as I have being able to suddenly look at your shoulder while you’re aiming in front of you is a huge change. The next thing I tried was rocket jumping which was an adventure on it’s own. While falling if I looked down I actually felt a bit like I was falling. This effect was increased when I started double jumping around as scout. I also feel like I had a bit of an advantage since I was able to look over my shoulder to look for enemy spies as the heavy while still running the mini gun in a tight corridor. In the end I was having loads of fun experiencing the oculus with TF2.

At this point in time TF2 is really the only game you can play and really experience how the Oculus will handle when more devs make games Oculus ready. However, now that the dev kits are out I’m expecting the number of titles that are to start increasing. I don’t recommend the Oculus Rift dev kit to anyone who isn’t interested in messing with games or making their own. However, I do think it’s something everyone can get excited about for the future of gaming. We still have some time but the commercial model is in the works and so far it’s looking great.