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Boxing in VR: Workouts, Experiences, Live Broadcasts and More

With Virtual Reality having a very ‘real’ impact on our lives, the technology is changing the way we live… or are going to live in the foreseeable future. One of the surest demonstrations of this is a sport like boxing.

For centuries – yes, centuries – boxing has been the ultimate ‘real life’ event. I mean, you get into a ring, you hit the other guy, he hits you back. He hurts you, you hurt him, you win the bout and walk away… or you hope to do so.

Life doesn’t get much more real than that.

I heard one boxer say once that the time he spent in the ring was the time he felt most alive, with the adrenaline rush, with all his senses reaching out to ‘feel’ his opponent, with his instincts going feral with the effort to reach his opponent.

What place has Virtual Reality in all that?

Plenty, it turns out. With live streaming of boxing matches, with shadow boxing against virtual opponents. But is live streaming realistic? And are the virtual opponents any good… especially against a boxer trained in real life?

I’ll give you all the answers to those questions… right now.

Live Boxing Events in VR

These are the most developed of all the boxing-related advances. While VR live boxing events are still in their infancy – meaning that I see them developing in ways perhaps not even imagined yet! – they’ve already become quite sophisticated.

Most of the Virtual Reality streaming of live boxing events today has been pioneered by NextVR. And most of these streams include live commentary, multiple possible views generated by multiple VR cameras, and advanced computer graphics programmed directly into the 3D VR feed!

And yet – as I said – the tech is still in its infancy! Things are only going to get more sophisticated, until I visualize the day when no one would dream of watching a live boxing event other than through VR.

VR Boxing
At least one guy in this photo wishes this was Virtual Reality!

What makes VR streaming of live events better?

To understand that, you would

need to watch a live boxing match streamed through VR. But, in short, you feel that you are ‘there’ in a way you just cannot while watching a conventional match feed. It feels like you’re right in the ring – or at the corner.

You can gauge distances, see expressions, even almost feel the impact of a punch as one boxer strikes another…

What multiple cameras mean for a VR experience

When each camera streams – and broadcasts – independently, this means that by shifting between cameras you can almost feel as if you are walking around the boxers as they fight – almost as if you occupied the position of the referee in the ring.

That’s not just ‘ring-side’ – that’s a first-hand experience of the fight that you’d be hard put to get elsewhere. That you can’t get elsewhere.

VR Boxing Live Broadcast Stream
The referee here is the only man who has a better view than a VR stream

The future! – A true ‘walk-around’ experience?

But actually, the multiple cameras have even more potential than they show at present. At present, viewers can switch between cameras.

But I visualize a day when the feeds from the multiple cameras are merged into a single seamless VR feed that allows a person to actually ‘walk’ around the ring by manipulating a control. This will allow him to approach the fighters, or ‘move back’, or to sidestep to get a better view.

As well as being able to shift viewpoints at will. I see this advancement being implemented very quickly, perhaps as an alternate option to the multiple viewpoints.

That’s the point where VR should more or less replace conventional viewing of intense, compact sports events like boxing matches for all true enthusiasts.

The technology to seamlessly integrate 360-degree views from multiple feeds already exists

Yes it does – in conventional baseball broadcasting! Look at this video.

See how the views ‘freeze and rotate’. It seems to be CGI magic – only it isn’t.

What you’re seeing is the feed from about a dozen high-end cameras, seamlessly integrated into one pattern.

A pattern that then gives you a basic ‘walk-around view’.

Intel is pioneering applying similar technologies to sports VR

Intel is proving to be a driving force behind future technologies that could be used in VR sports broadcasts, and have taken several steps recently that could well make them major players in VR sports a couple of years from now.

The power behind the VR sport broadcasting of tomorrow

Intel has recently purchased Voke, a company that develops cutting edge VR camera technology. It has also bought Replay Technology, a company that has pioneered the method of merging VR streams from different cameras into one seamless 360-degree VR sports experience!

When the technologies from these two companies are merged, VR sports viewers will be able to move forwards and backwards into the action, move around a boxing ring or baseball arena with the freedom of the actual sportsmen, stand within four feet of a boxer, dodging around him as he delivers that final, massive knockout blow.

This technology may take a couple of years to become mainstream. But the fact is that… as of this very moment, it already exists.

It is becoming mainstream. It is inevitable!

The VR streams available today are a shadow of things to come even two years from now. The entire face of sports broadcasting is about to change into a deeply immersive experience that puts viewers and fans feet away from the action!

And not only will viewers be able to ‘get into the experience’, but they will be able to edit the feed, going back and adding their favorite parts to a personal feed, and will be able to send that personal feed to friends.

Their friends will have the ability to move around the chosen shots as they please!

Oops… This is the wrong VR program. Where’s my boxing simulation?

Ah… there it is…

The future looks bright… so what’s missing?

Oddly enough, compatibility with the best VR devices. That’s what’s missing!

While the present broadcasting technology is state of the art, and going to be virtually perfected in the next two years, on the user end, what that technology is most compatible with is GearVR – a simplistic device that is basically run by a Samsung smartphone.

Compared to dedicated VR viewing technology, that is limited in the extreme. Yet most sports feeds are incompatible with high-end viewing devices that can actually deliver the ultimate VR experience.

HTC Vive

This is shortsightedness that is holding the entire VR sports industry back

Sure, google cardboard and other smartphone ‘VR’ apps are fine to play around with. But they’re hardly the hardware for the ultimate VR streaming experience.

NextVR has done an excellent job pioneering VR sports viewing, but if they can’t adapt, let them move aside and make way for those who can actually move the VR sports industry into the future.

If NextVR can’t promise compatibility between their feeds and most of the VR devices out there in the near future, let them step aside for a company that can.

Not that I’m complaining about smartphone-VR devices

They bring VR within reach of everyone. But, let’s face it, while they represent the greatest number of viewers (no mystery there as to why sports broadcasts are targeting them) – they represent the lowest standard of VR technology.

The highest standards come with dedicated VR gear attached to the power of a PC.

Sure, some people might find that inconvenient. On the other hand, the advantages in positional tracking and such (with the computer tracking when you sit down, stand up, and turn your head) are superlative.

It’s all about Power

Isn’t it always?

But I’m talking about hardware here.

Did you know that VR feeds today are captured on Red EPIC Dragon VR camera technology? That’s absolutely high-end.

The resolutions of the transmitting cameras are far beyond smartphone screens. Heck, smartphone displays themselves show a maximum pixel resolution that is… quite frankly… too low.

It’s cash vs capability

It make sense for VR that aims at the public to target the smartphones that everyone uses. But consider what Oculus is aiming at. They’re trying to develop 16k resolutions that will mimic the very resolutions of the human eye. Admittedly, they’re focusing that 16k in a view-field that only spans a 100 degrees. But it’s a beginning.

Why the small field of view?

That brings us to another limitation – bandwidth.

NextVR themselves stream in a 180-degree field, not a 360-degree field. That’s to reduce bandwidth. It’s also to ensure that the present visual delivery capability of the VR headset delivers the best possible visual experience. After all, if you double the field of vision, the present pixel-count of your visual device is divided by half – halving the quality.

The best of both worlds

For now, there’s no cause for concern. NextVR is actually doing a brilliant job with a nascent technology. So long as they don’t run a monopoly, or so long as they fund advances to the technology, things are bound to improve.

In a few boxing matches I saw, the VR quality was actually pretty reasonable.

By restricting the field of view to 180-degrees, NextVR effectively doubled the deliverable quality.

When you take that alongside the fact that the usual TV feed is actually available inside the VR broadcast, allowing you to see slow-motion shots and other things of the sort, it’s actually a grand experience.

Strategically positioned cameras make VR boxing broadcasts a memorable experience…

Even as the tech is today, you feel the power of each blow

You feel the drive to victory and the pain.

You feel each round, and hear the roar of the crowd. If you miss a shot, the TV feed is right there inside the VR broadcast, with a slow motion replay.

The future has arrived

It’s just… not perfect yet!

But it will be. And that might well be within the next two years!

But it’s not all about the viewers – what about the boxers?

What do boxers get out of Virtual Reality?

Well, it’s all very much in the nascent stage at the moment, but VR might well become one of the ultimate training aids for boxers.

The price boxers pay – a shortened life-span

Hey, no one likes to talk about it. But I pull no punches. Boxers ‘pay’ to entertain us. With a shortened life-span. Repeated concussions and being beaten to a pulp at regular intervals will do that to you.

VR can reduce the damage boxers take

Now hold on… I’m NOT talking about matches in VR. At least, not yet. I’m talking about training in VR.

See, a boxer trains for the ring, and he has to train to be able to take blows and keep on coming – this means that real-life sparring is absolutely necessary.

But what if he could put in lots of extra, painless training.

That’s where VR technology comes in

A boxer could go up against a virtual opponent in a boxing simulation for hours every day, continuously honing the speed of his reflexes, making his jabs faster, his parries more effective. Sure, his opponent has limited mental capability, being an Artificial Intelligence – but the Virtual Opponent also has the potentially lightning-fast reflexes and reactions of a true machine.

And you could have both artificial and real opponents

What about two boxers going up against each other in VR?

They’d bring human cunning and intelligence to the bouts – and be able to put in hours of ‘extra training’ that didn’t result in physical blows and damage.

This is what I envision boxers’ training like a few years into the future

The boxer heads out to the gym.

  • After his regular training, bag practice and such, he spends a good amount of time sparring with a real partner.
  • Before he’s fully tired, he dons a Virtual Reality headset, and goes all out against a lightning-fast computer opponent in VR. The opponent is better than he is, in many ways. The Virtual Opponent’s reactions are faster, his jabs almost unstoppable. But humans are adaptive. Training against this inhuman machine every day, the boxer improves until he can actually fight the inhuman machine on equal terms.
  • After his bout with the machine, the boxer goes up against a number of other human partners for some relaxed sparring in Virtual Reality. This allows them to work on tactics without taking blows and without getting hurt – which in turn allows them to work on tactics longer.

This is the sort of session that could take boxing beyond what it is today, pitting boxers against virtual opponents that are, in effect, machine-fast, so that the boxers themselves become brilliantly fast at attack and defense.

Aye, it’s the first wave of the future.

But how much of this actually exists today?

Well, there’s the VR boxing game called Thrill of the Fight.

This video will give you an accurate idea of what playing the game is like for the average Joe…

As with most technologies today, it is limited to a segment of hardware – in this case HTC Vive. But it is expected to migrate to other hardware like the Oculus Rift soon.

For the moment, it is made for HTC Vive because it requires tracking controllers for the hands.

After you set up your character, you are transported to a Boxing Gym, where you face perhaps the ugliest opponent in boxing history.

Actually, there are a whole set of opponents, but they’re all equally ugly. It’s a positive pleasure to belt them one. I’m not exaggerating – one of the possible opponents is an undead zombie.

The problem is they hit back. Hard.

At least if you’re a guy – or girl – with average fighting capability. They duck, they parry almost all your blows (only clever combinations have a chance), they respond with lightning fast jabs.

It’s great practice, and really hones your reflexes and footwork.

It’s also great exercise, and will have you ‘on the ropes’ – if you’re out of shape – in ten minutes flat. But it’s so much fun that you’ll keep going, keep pushing it. It’s not like running on a treadmill – this is heart-pounding excitement.

It is, in fact, Virtual Reality.

But does Thrill of the Fight provide challenges for the professional boxer?

Unfortunately… no. Here’s a video of a pro taking on the virtual opponent – er, while horsing around doing other stuff…

You see that the computer opponent just doesn’t cut it against pros.

The boxer downs ‘him’ multiple times, running rings around him, beating him down again and again – at one point the system even crashed because it just couldn’t take all the stuff the pro was throwing at it.

As I said, the technology is only starting out.

The problem is the technology is not centered on professionals

Thrill of the Fight is a great piece of software, but it’s centered on providing a challenge to the average gamer. It’s not centered on the reflexes and training of a boxer at all.

A special training software would need to be developed centered on the professional – or the ‘difficulty levels’ of the AI behind the Thrill of the Fight opponents would have to be seriously upgraded.

But the technology itself certainly has potential. The HTC Vive demonstrates that practical Virtual Reality training – or even VR combat against a live opponent in Virtual Reality – is possible.

Of course, both ‘players’ would have to be in different rooms, or they might actually hit each other for real – and those VR headsets aren’t expendable.

Look, Thrill of the Fight, as a game, is pathetic. It has horrible graphics – in an age where virtually every game has graphics that are almost true-to-life. It has horrible A.I.

Check out this Star Trek simulation for an idea of what VR graphics can be like…

I visualize VR boxing simulations where the A.I. can mimic the very fighting styles of boxing legends.

Who are this line-up of dirt-ugly characters in the game?

I want to take on Muhammad Ali.

So give me Muhammad Ali!!!

I want to match him at ‘Floating like a Butterfly’ and ‘Stinging like a Bee’. I want to put the great man down… hard.

Fantasy?

No.

That’s the Future of Boxing in Virtual Reality!

The Best VR Sword Fighting Games

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As a gamer, you have probably played dozens of games where you’ve engaged in in countless epic battles. Sword fighting, depending on the game environment, is often a crucial part of the gameplay, and after many victories and defeats, the thought of actually wielding a sword in real life must have crossed your mind. In the era of virtual reality, you can relive many otherwise dangerous activities in a safe and controlled environment. Therefore we present VRborg’s list of best  sword fighting VR Games.

Vanquishing Realms

Vanquishing Realms is a fantasy game in which you are fighting against an undead army. As you play the game through you will find various weapons to assist you on your quests. The game isn’t strictly limited to VR sword fighting, you will also be able to use bow & arrow and block the attacks with your shield. However, it gives you a proper sensation of how hacking and slashing hordes of skeletons would feel like!

DOWNLOAD: Steam

Fruit Ninja VR

Fruit Ninja VR takes the well known and beloved mobile game to the higher level. The game offers several modes. In Classic mode, you ought to slice all the fruits up and, as you probably already know, avoid the bombs. In Arcade, you do pretty much the same but in 60 seconds time frame. Survival mode is designed for battle-hardened ninjas, but my personal favorite is Zen mode – 90 seconds, no bombs, just fruits! Dual wielding is also enabled.

DOWNLOAD: Steam | PSVR

Gladius

Set in ancient Rome, Gladius is VR sword fighting gladiator experience. The game is still in early access (development) phase, and even though it is fun and immersive, weapon physics and collisions still require some reprogramming in order to give you a polished VR sword fighting experience.

DOWNLOAD: Steam

Death Dojo

In my mind, I rarely imagine sword fighting without a Katana. In Death Dojo, you get to be a samurai fighting to the death against another samurai. In a one-on-one death match scenario your goal is to deliver a precise blow to the neck of your opponent, the only weak spot in his armor.

DOWNLOAD: Steam

Raw Data

Here comes a sci-fi twist to our idea of VR sword fighting. Raw Data sends you to the future – year 2271. Eden Corporation took over the world, and you are an elite resistance movement hacker with a simple mission – infiltrate into the Eden Tower and steal as much information – Raw Data – as possible.

You can choose from various hero classes depending on your preferred fighting style, therefore this is much more than just a VR sword fighting game. Intuitive combat controls and gameplay along with challenging enemies will immerse you into within the surreal futuristic environment in no time!

DOWNLOAD: Steam | Amazon

Sword Master VR

If you want VR sword fighting and nothing else, Sword Master VR might just be your game of choice. It takes full advantage of room-scale VR so you better make sure to remove obstacles from your playroom in order to avoid damaging your property.

DOWNLOAD: Steam

DEUS VULT | Online VR sword fighting

Deus Vult brings us the medieval VR sword fighting experience, but what makes it stand out from other games on our list is the multiplayer option. The developers did a great job with weapon physics, there are 14 different weapons and each of them offers a specific gameplay and feeling when using them. However, the graphics are not as impressive. There is a social tavern where you can interact with other players, and online matchmaking is available too!

DOWNLOAD: Steam

Spell Fighter VR

Spell Fighter VR is free-to-play demo for Vive motion controllers, but it lets you cast spells, shoot bows and medieval guns, summon and command minions, and of course sword fight with skeletons. There is a quest you need to complete, and it is your choice how fast you are going to do it, but the usual playtime is between 30 and 60 minutes.

DOWNLOAD: Steam

Dolphin VR Guide – How to Play Wii & Gamecube Games in VR

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Dolphin VR is an unofficial branch of the Dolphin Emulator Project. As you all probably know, Dolphin is Gamecube and Wii emulator, which allowed you to play most Nintendo games on PC without any glitches or bugs. It also made these games playable in 1080p and even higher resolutions, a feature that original gaming consoles were incapable of.

This adaptation for virtual-reality uses the same original Dolphin source, but Dolphin VR introduces additional options in order to provide a comfortable VR experience. In the infancy days of today’s high end VR headsets, a big issue for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift was the lack new games purposefully designed for these platforms.

This is when Dolphin VR came to the rescue, and it has been gaining popularity ever since. Back in 2016 on the official Dolphin VR download page, a 5.0 version has been published, now with support for HTC Vive along with Oculus Rift CV1 and DK2. There hadn’t been any updates since, so the project may have been discontinued, however the the download is still available and it works properly.

In this article we will first instruct you how to set up and use Dolphin VR, then talk about installing and running GameCube and Wii games in VR and finally take a look at some of the best Dolphin VR Games.

How to Setup Dolphin VR

Installation is fairly simple and straight-forward, with only a few adjustments. Here is a step-by-step guide:

  1. Go to the download page

2. Download the latest version of Dolphin VR

3. Right-click the downloaded file and go to properties

credit: vrheads.com

4. In the bottom of properties menu, click the Unblock checkbox, click apply and then OK

Credit: vrheads.com

5. Double click the downloaded file and proceed with installation.

How to Play Wii and Gamecube Games in VR

If you correctly followed these steps, you should now be able to run Dolphin VR. You must have the Wii or GameCube ISO files on your computer. We don’t by any means support piracy and hope that your CD is authentic, but where you get the copy from is none of our business, so lets just say that it isn’t hard to find.

Now comes the part when you import the games from your old ripped compact-disks. Once you first launch Dolphin VR in the address line you will see the: “Dolphin could not find any GameCube/IOSs”. Double click on it, and then select the path folder in which you’ve stored your IOS files.

After you’ve connected the ISOs to Dolphin VR, there is quite a bit of work to do until you get the games up and running. We will come to settings and controllers setup later, but right now you should enable some AR codes in order to make the game function in VR as intended. Process is simple, so don’t be alarmed.

Launch Dolphin VR, right click on the game you want to play and go to Properties. There you will find a tab named “AR codes” and as you click it you will see plenty of check-boxes. You need to check each one that stands for “Disable Culling Outside Camera View”. This forces the game to draw images you wouldn’t normally see.

Also it may be a good idea to go to Hide Objects tab and check the “glitchy” objects you don’t want to see in VR. As you close the dialogue box, games will be ready. Now it’s the time to adjust some settings and connect your controllers.

Dolphin VR Settings

General Settings

In the Dolphin VR settings menu, there are several adjustments you need to take care of. First of all, click the Config tab and make sure to click the check box next to Enable cheats. In this menu you can also configure the path folder if you haven’t previously done this. In the Advanced tab, if your PC configuration allows, you can make overclock adjustments, but we suggest that, at least in the beginning, you keep it at 100% of CPU power.

Graphics Adjustments

Next to Config in your Dolphin VR window there is Graphics menu. Some settings in the graphics menu are conditioned by the type of graphics card you are using, Nvidia or AMD, but for the most part you will use the same adjustments for both. In the general tab, under basics, use Direct3D 11 as your backend if you have Nvidia card. With AMD you should experiment between Direct3D 11 and Open GL and find out what works the best for you.

While still in the general tab of your graphics menu, under display you need to make sure that Use Fullscreen is on and set the resolution to 1920×1080. We suggest that you keep the V-sync off and set the aspect ratio to auto.

Now click on the enhancements tab next to general and set your internal resolution to 3x Native (1920×1584) for 1080p. The next few settings depend on your CPU and GPU. We suggest you to keep stereoscopic 3D mode off and anti aliasing set to none, and anisotropic filtering set to x1. These settings will allow you to play the games in 60 FPS. Keep in mind that occasional drops to 30 FPS can occur. If you have a beast PC that can push these settings further, but you will have experiment for yourself and find out what works the best for you.

VR Configuration

In the VR configuration menu there are many adjustments available and you can experiment with these, but the important ones that we will cover are related to FPS Pullup and Motion Sickness. Basically this allows the advanced head tracking for lower FPS games. We suggest you find out what the frame rate of your game and then make the appropriate pullup.

If you feel sick while playing any game, the Motion Sickness tab offers a few settings designed to mitigate this effect. You should probably lock the background from the get-go, but we also suggest reducing your FOV (field of view).

Dolphin VR Touch and Vive Controllers

First thing you got to do if you ever used Dolphin VR on your PC is to get rid of or rename the config folder that emulator automatically creates in the in documents. This allows Dolphin VR to create a new folder, and this was causing a lot of trouble for me, therefore this is a good place to start.

Vive controllers

Dolphin VR Touch support isn’t official, but there are few ways to get around this, so we will cover setting up Vive controllers first. Go to options and then hotkey settings on your Dolphin VR window.

First you should Clear all the current hotkeys and then under profile select Vive LGrip. If you want your Vive controllers to show in-game, go to VR settings -> Avatar and tick the Show Controllers check box.

It’s time to configure your Vive controllers for Dolphin VR. Go to Controllers -> Configure.

Now when you are in configure menu, under Device select VR/0/Vive and select Vive GameCube or Vive Wiimote under Profile. Once selected, click Load. Only thing left to do is make sure your left and right texture matches Vive Left/Right GameCube respectively. If under devices you can find VR/0/Touch, follow the same process to setup your DolphinVR Touch controllers. If not, there is a quick fix available.

Dolphin VR  Oculus Touch issues

One of the Dolphin VR developers – 2EyeGuy had a fall out on sub-reddit with Oculus and announced he won’t be releasing Dolphin VR Touch support. However, it does support Steam VR, therefore a quick fix was submitted again on reddit. This fix worked for most users, but if it doesn’t work for you, you can try using the Vive controllers profile for Oculus Touch too. It may seem awkward in the beginning, but it is definitely a legit solution.

Dolphin VR Compatibility List

There are a lot of games that work really well so here is a list of only a few:

  • Metroid Prime 1 & 2
  • Paper Mario
  • Burn Out 2
  • Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
  • Mario Kart wii
  • F-Zero GX
  • LoZ: Wind Waker
  • Rayman 3
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Lego Star Wars 2

These are just a few honourable mentions, but the list of VR compatible games is very long. For updated information, you can visit the DolphinVR wiki page. It contains the most complete Dolphin VR compatibility list.

Best Games for Dolphin VR

We made this list just to give you a sense of what Dolphin VR is capable of, but there are plenty of games we won’t cover that are well worth trying. Also there are many games that aren’t currently made available for Dolphin VR, but just could be in near future. Let’s get on with it!

F-Zero GX

The futuristic racing video game finally gets its rebirth in the form of virtual-reality. You get to race in massive circuits inside plasma-powered machines in an intergalactic Gran Prix. In the story mode you will assume the role of F-Zero pilot Captain Falcon and try to complete various missions.

When released in 2003, this game was broadly accepted by both audience and critics as the best racing game ever on GameCube. It gave the player an unique sense of speed even back in the console days, but in the VR version this sensation is enhanced to the maximum.

Sonic Adventure 2

Here’s a classic. I don’t know about you, but back in my childhood days, I’ve always thought that nothing and nobody runs faster than Sonic! The final game of the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog franchise was released back in 2001 after 18 months of development. Later on in 2012 it got reworked for more modern platforms PS3 and Xbox 360.

However, DolphinVR nowadays offers the ultimate Sonic experience! Get the view at a familiar world and your favourite characters from every angle as you explore and enjoy fast-paced levels from a completely different point of view. Back in its glory days, the game was most often criticized because of its immobile camera positioning, but with your VR headset you are able to easily overcome this issue.

Paper MARIO VR

After a few fast paced titles, it’s time to enjoy and relax with Paper Mario VR. Paper Mario TTYD (The Thousand Year Door) is pretty much like a virtual vacation honestly.

Paper Mario TTYD is a paper themed game featuring turn-based battle system gameplay. Back in the days of its release (2004) the critics praised the game’s interesting plot and engaging gameplay, along with the unique visual style. Paper Mario TTYD also features various role-playing elements. While for the most part you control Mario, you will also get to play as Princess Peaches at times.

The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess VR

Feast your eyes on another breathtaking experience! Not only you can play Twilight Princess, but also Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. 

The ability to turn your head in any direction gives you a sense of being right there in Kokiri Forest with Link on the never ending quest to save his girlfriend! Even with the outdated graphics, playing Zelda in VR will probably give you goosebumps, and you surely have never experienced Zelda quite like this.

Pikmin

In Pikmin you assume the role of Captain Olimar, a tiny extraterrestrial. During a flight in your spaceship, you get hit by a comet and crash to another planet. The bad news is that the atmosphere here contains high levels of oxygen which is deadly for your kin. Your only chance of surviving is to retrieve the parts the crashed ship in order to rebuild it and head back home to planet Hoctate.

There are three possible endings to the game, that depend on how successful you’ve were with recovering the parts of the wreckage. The indigenous creatures of the planed are Pikmin, which are nearly extinct, are in dire need of leadership, and will help you with your quests.

While the frame rates are bad and the game gets buggy at times, it is very entertaining and definitely worth your time. It just goes to show that gameplay and general experience is often much more important than pixel-powered graphics.

Metroid Prime in VR

We have saved the best for last. In a PCgamer review, playing Metroid Prime through the Dolphin VR emulator is referred to as “the best thing I’ve done in VR”. For a first person shooter that was never designed for VR, Metroid Prime in VR works shockingly well. The video credits go to the youtuber JoshDub, and on his channel you can find more Dolphin VR Showcase videos.

It is still very buggy and glitches happen often, because VR implementation leads to various graphical oddities, but this is just what DolphinVR states on their site. While Metroid Prime is far from a polished VR experience, it is definitely a thrill!

HTC Vive & Oculus Rift: Buy Now or Wait for Second Generation?

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The answer to this question comes more from a personal perspective and/or preference, rather than some logical reasoning. Let’s examine both of the popular headsets.

Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers

The initial price tag of $800 is now sitting at $500. The most recent Summer of Rift price cut to a very affordable $400 price point is now over, but the price for the Oculus Rift coupled with Touch Controllers has been permanently lowered to $499.

If you’re really short on cash, you might even consider buying the Oculus Rift headset separately from Oculus Touch controllers. You will save additional ~$40, a decent “discount” by all means.

Besides the price, Oculus VR head of content and marketing Jason Rubin has stated that Oculus Rift users of today will get to enjoy their favourite VR headset for years to come.

“Rift does not have eye-tracking. Rift might add some sort of wireless that can be a peripheral. Eye-tracking is more fundamental, as would be inside-out tracking, because Rift doesn’t have a camera system inside. So if Rift is going to be around for a while, that tells you something about how long we feel it’s going to take for those things to become integrated and part of a full release.

I want to be clear: we are dropping the price to get more people in Rifts because we expect the next years to be very Rift-focused and Rift-centric.

To answer your question about all these other technologies: People should not hold their breath and wait, it’s not coming in a minute.

Oculus Rift Touch controllers
Better get used to this thing – it ain’t going away any time soon!

Basically, Oculus won’t be introducing Rift 2.0 any time soon. So, there’s no reason to wait another 2-3 years for it come when the current generation of the headset is live and kicking.

So, the only reason left not to finally get off the fence is the price. Rift is definitely more affordable at the moment, but Black Friday and Christmas buying frenzy are coming around the corner. It might be prudent to wait a bit longer and see if Oculus would be willing to slash $100 or even more off the price again.

HTC Vive

HTC Vive has also got a $200 slash to its dizzying $799 price tag. You can find used ones in very good condition for even less than $599. This price change was likely a reaction to Rift gaining market share on Vive with its recent summer sales and price cuts.

To assure the public that this most recent price cut isn’t in preparation for Vive 2.0, Vive US general manager Dan O’Brien stated:

“We want to really significantly boost VR adoption now across the globe. We think now is the right time to reset the price.

This is not about clearing the channel to make room for another product. We do expect this version of Vive to stay in market well into 2018. We don’t want users to feel like they’re always having to be [up-sold] into new hardware. We do want to make sure that things that we make around the Vive today continue to work with it.”

HTC Vive System
Not every one of these is exactly the same…

HTC Vive has received iterative changes over the time, but no official declarations of new hardware have ever been announced. O’Brien said that these types of changes will likely continue for the time being.

However, compared to ambiguity surrounding Oculus’es next-gen headset, he did mention 2018. Does that mean we’ll see a new product next year? Hard to say, but with critical developments such as Valve’s new “knuckle” motion controllers already in the pipeline, it’s certainly a possibility.

Pimax 5K and 8K on Kickstarter

The new lineup of Pimax headsets supporting up to 8K resolution is in full swing on Kickstarter. If not a true next-gen VR headset, Pimax 8K is certainly a step-up from Rift and Vive.

Amongst a myriad of features, the most notable ones in the 8K headset are 4K resolution per eye (2 x 3840×2160), insane 200 degrees FOV, supposedly no “screen door” effect, SteamVR readiness and compatibility with a single Vive lighthouse for 360 degrees positional tracking.

There’s also a 5K version for those less obsessed with pixels and resolutions, which is still way more than Rift and Vive’s 2K.

Pimax 8K
Looks edgy, right? Well, everything in and out of this headset is edgy at the moment.

The Chinese manufacturer has had a 4K headset on the market for a while now. The market reception has been rather moderate, with about 30,000 sales worldwide. Customers have posted mixed reviews so far.

Now, they claim they refined and tuned their technology and manufacturing to support 5K and 8K resolutions. After about a week on Kickstarter, the $200k goal has been blown by additional $950k, sitting at $1.15 million at the moment.

Best of all? The 5K headset can be obtained by pledging as little as $349, while the 8K version comes at just $499. The supply is limited though. Some reward packages are already not available, so if something like this peaks your interest, you should hurry up.

The Best Virtual Reality Anger Rooms

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The world we live in is hectic and filled with stress on a daily basis. Cumulative stress can result in a build-up of anger, frustration and negative energy. Therefore, a new method to relieve stress – Anger Rooms – is becoming increasingly popular around the world.

Some experts point out that unleashing your rage by breaking and demolishing objects can make you even more angry, so this is a rather questionable approach. Nevertheless, it would be awesome if you could just put on your VR headset on, and get inside the Virtual Anger Room. Well, some developers thought about this too, and created some interesting titles convenient for anger relief.

Smash Party VR

This is pretty much the complete VR Anger Room experience, only with a hilarious twist to it. The game is free to play, and is designed in a cartoon-ish manner packed with funny looking characters.

In Smash Party VR you get to demolish a variety of familiar objects. You are cheered by a virtual audience as you satisfy your desire for destruction. There is also a multiplayer angle of the game where you can compete with your friends. Obviously, the winner is a person with the highest score when it comes to most property damage.

Before you immerse yourself into the Smash Party VR, make sure to clear out the room and secure the space necessary, so it doesn’t become Smash Party IRL.

VRobot

In VRobot you are in control of a gigantic robot, and this time around you don’t get to crash only familiar household objects, but the entire cities! Basically, assume the role of something like King-Kong or Godzilla in VR, wreaking havoc all over the city. The only difference is that you control a really huge bot and you have some really cool gadgets to deal with anyone who stands in your path of destruction.

For example you can tear the city down with the help of tornado you release from the Tornado maker. You will also have an “Arming Tractor Beam” that lets you pull anything towards you and then shoot it in any direction. This is very useful and fun against helicopters, and will make sure you don’t end up like King-Kong!

GORN

GORN is extremely violent gladiator simulator game brought to you by Free Lives. The game features an unique combat engine, and there will be blood in any direction you look.

There is a variety of weapons at your disposal, maces, swords, bows, two hand hammers, axes and even nunchuks. Additionally you are able to engage in these savage fights with your bare hands. The supply of animated opponents is infinite, and the only limitation of this carnage is either your imagination or exhaustion, since the game is quite demanding physically.

Drunkn Bar Fight

The title Drunkn Bar Fight is pretty self-explanatory, so we will just pass down our impressions of the game. It is great if you are having people over and you want to have some good old bar fight experience without really putting yourself in jeopardy.

Still, there is a lot of untapped potential, since the bar feels a bit small and you get to throw fists only in this one bar. And yeah, you do get to fight everyone in it, so prepare those fancy slips and jabs before you enter.