So Half Life: Alyx looks pretty good. I love VR, but there are frustratingly few really polished games. I also happen to loathe the teleport movement in first-person shooters, so I’m glad to see that “Half Life: Bending Over Backwards To Not Give Us 3” is offering a bunch of different movement options. I get headaches using full-movement, but I’ll take that, and short gaming sessions, over blinking around like a glitch in the matrix.
It’s Ethan time again?
I’ll be honest, when I first saw that getup, I though that was his Coronavirus costume. I’m a reader who’s living in China right now…I’ve seen far weirder.
oh! hey there! Don’t suppose you could help a panicking American who works in retail calm down from this shitstorm? Is it not as bad as people say, or are we really all fucking doomed?
Not sure how much this will help but: so far Covid-19 isn’t 100% fatal, in fact despite the death toll the actual fatality rate is somewhat low for the moment..
Corvid-19 so far has a fatality rate of around 2% – meaning if you do get the virus theres a 98% chance you’ll be miserable for a couple weeks then be fine (standard yearly flu for comparison is around 0.1%). The reason why its gabbing so many headlines is because its rate of infection is bonkers – if you were infected you’ll infect on average 2 to 3 additional people (common cold averages out to around 1.5 to 1.8 for comparison). When you have a huge number of infected, even a 2% chance of death would put out some scary… Read more »
I think it’s hilarious the Chinese government banned that game.
2% is Trump’s ad-libbed numbers. Director of the WHO points it at 3.3%. In addition, “20% close to a cure” is Trump’s numbers again, as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says it’ll take “a year to a year-and-a-half” to develop a vaccine. They hope to have something for next year, when it cycles around again.
Actually, 2% is pretty accurate according to a study of 72000. The actual number ended up being 2.3% http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-72000-covid-19-patients-finds-23-death-rate Equally important though, the mortality rate is largely centered on the elderly and those already with respiratory issues. Among healthy adults, there is still a mortality rate, but it’s under 1%. Basically, just be smart, wash your hands, don’t touch your eyes, nose, and mouth without washing your hands first, and if you see someone who is sick / presenting symptoms, don’t go give them a great big hug, lol. Use common sense, and as long as you’re a healthy human… Read more »
Just being an asshole cause fuck trump but 20% is 1/5 of 100%, hasn’t this actually been going for 3 months or so? Lets pretend it didn’t take a good 2+ months to even be able to isolate it to start making a vaccine. 20% * 5 = 100%, 3 months * 5 = 15 months or 1 year and a quarter, right in the middle of the current year to year and a half estimate by the actual experts. So technically that little bit could be claims as coincidentally correct. But yeah ouch 3.3, any reports on if that… Read more »
Eldest Gruff, stop watching propaganda tv! and does EVERYTHING have to involve the idiot in chief?! <_< The death rate IN THE USA is going to be different than the entire world and it'll most likely be lower don't ya think? Actually according to the NY Times both WHO and the Nat. Inst. BOTH say the number is likely lower worldwide due to the fact that many people have mild symptoms and don't seek medical help. WHO says it's most likely around 2% while the Nat. Ins. says it could be as low as 1%. That 2% was also mentioned… Read more »
Oof, retail is NOT a good place to be during a virus outbreak. I’ll give you what advice I can from living here in effectively ground zero. 1. Disposable Gloves. Gloves are the most important as, last I heard, the virus can infect people for up to two hours after they cough or sneeze on a surface. So, if you’re taking a credit card or cash that an infected person coughed on, you’re in trouble. 2. Masks. Masks aren’t actually all that effective. They’re more for people who already HAVE the disease to keep from spreading it. However it’s important… Read more »
1. Good idea there. Also important to wash your hands a lot. 2. Absolutely horrible idea. Masks will not help you if you get coughed on and such. People thinking this helps (or hoping to sell masks for profit) is what is causing a shortage of masks right now when it should be the sick and healthcare professionals that should have them. 3. Agreed. But since the guy works in retail, he should just be careful and watch people and try not to get close to them if possible. He should try to constantly wash his hands. 4. This can… Read more »
Well I live in Japan. We are not that afraid and we expect less death than normal flu. Mainly because the virus is not so much lethal but also because everyone take care of doing the right thing: Wash your hand a lot. Take shower everyday/twice a day. Change clothes everyday. Use mouthwash (medical type not the good breath one. If cold or flu symptoms first stay at home for 2/4 days and if it persist go to a doctor/ hospital. In this case wear a mask (not the paper one, a real mask). If really in need call an… Read more »
Most the people who die are old people with health issues. Which means for a healthy adult the chance of death is basically nil and would probably be related to not seeking medical attention with no one around to help them. The danger comes from the fact that it is spreadable a long time before you develop symptoms. Which means if no one takes measures to wash their hands before eating and not touching their faces, there’s a high chance of every member of a small business catching it. Though it sounds like some people don’t even develop symptoms and… Read more »
I can really relate to this one.
I love VR gaming…. unfortunately my Body doesnt. I played Skyrim VR and I could barely get past the intro without already feeling really sick, despite having the window open and actually standing while playing.
Is that the first game you tried with smooth motion? I found that Gorn was a great way to prime my brain for smooth motion and it really made a difference.
If you search YouTube for videos about VR sickness, there are a lot of guides created by people who got over it. The biggest thing everyone says is that if you keep playing every day, you will eventually get over it. They also say “don’t try to push through it”. As soon as you start to get cold sweats or otherwise feel physically uncomfortable, you need to end that game session immediately. Just take the VR headset off and set it down, it’ll be there for you later when you feel better. Other common tips are to “setup a fan”… Read more »
I guarantee, for me, the ginger ale will just make it worse. When I was a child, any time I got sick it and Sprite/7up/etc. were the only things I was allowed to drink with carbonation. Because of that, whenever I have it now I feel queasy. I’ve heard the other suggestions, though, and they make sense. I feel like you’re basically programming your brain to ignore the situation over time. If you start to feel the sickness coming on, stop playing, and nothing bad happens, it’ll eventually realize you’re going to be okay. Kind of like how you can… Read more »
I believe the figures are that VERY roughly 1/3 of people don’t get motion sick, 1/3 of people DO get motion sick but can get over it with experience, and 1/3 of people get motion sick and can’t get over it. [citation needed]
Unfortunately I appear to be in the latter camp.
Fortunately I have got a fairly strong ability to suspend my disbelief when playing computer games, so teleport locomotion doesn’t bother me.
The most important thing to avoid VR sickness, is to have your hardware set up correctly. Starting with your headset IPD. If you’re playing a human-scale game with 1:1 movement but your IPD is incorrect, your brain is going to sh*t itself. You also need to make sure your PC can run the game smoothly at the appropriate framerate. And, no matter what anyone says, ignoring it in an effort to “get used to VR” is the absolute worst thing you can do. It’s not making your brain adjust, it’s teaching your brain to associate VR usage with nausea. The… Read more »
I have to admit I haven’t joined the VR gaming world mostly because I haven’t seen anything that I just really wanted to play. Plus you have your eyes telling us we are moving while our balance and other senses say we aren’t. I think Ethans design may be perfect! Well I’d use opaque plastic.
The important thing about VR sickness is not resisting like a child enduring something to prove a point but also not giving up. If you feel bad stop right now, then try again another day. You build up resistance with time. Also playing stationary games first helps I guess. My first run with Doom VFR “with true movement with analog sticks” was about 10 mins before I was really bad almost puking. The next one took a tea to help with sickness and was about 30 mins before feeling something weird, stopped right there. Afterwards it got easier and easier.… Read more »
Unless you develop conditioning first, and then the very title of the game will make you vomit.
Yeah I agree, I like to compare it to sailing. Some people naturally don’t get seasick, some get over it with time, and some unfortunate few will always be seasick. For those in the middle category, continuous exposure and training your body in how to understand the change in motion cues is what helps. They say it’s the same getting used to free fall (in a vomit comet or on the space station, not skydiving) – things are moving to different to different forces than you’re used to, and your body and brain disagree about what’s going on. So you… Read more »
You kinda beat me to it lol.
I was writting my second comment before I saw yours.
Also I would like to say. There are many that are dismissing VR because of a bad first experience and all. But consider this, it is similar to movement sickness but oposites, it IS a new type of sickness that most of us never had to experience similar in any way before. There were kids that got sick while on the car with their parents, but almost everyone got resistance to that when grown up. Of course there are some people that won’t ever get there, but still, most people aren’t that unlucky snowflake, so keep on trying, maybe go… Read more »
And never ever play on a unreliable framerate, that is VR suicide.
I would’ve prefered NOT to have my nose in the reverse feedbag. You do not want to smell vomit
But what if vomit will get through the nose? Better to be safe than sorry.
I never had vomit go through my nose when I threw up the few times that I have thrown up in my life.
You haven’t thrown up hard enough then. Time to try some foreign street food 😀
Sometimes acid-reflux sneaks up on me under cover of burps, and the stomach acid stings the back of my nostrils. But I’ve NEVER had it so bad that anything like that actually shoots out through the nose; maybe it’s the way I open my mouth?
Several reason why I haven’t gotten VR.
1. It’s getting cheaper. It is still pretty damn expensive.
2. The game library for it is still pretty bad. Sure there are a few gems that provide a good experience and are good games like Elite Dangerous, Subnautica, and of course Half Life: Alyx.
3. The headsets are still pretty big from what I’ve seen and I’d have to worry about regularly cleaning it and I rather not deal with it.
And that, my friend, is why you go do a VR arcade every now and then to get your fix. Best possible gear, reasonable price.
Having owned a number of headsets, I’m curious, what cleaning is more tedious than say cleaning your sunglasses?
Aside from hygienic issues of multiple users, the headsets themselves don’t take that much maintenance.
I have a friend that has a VR headset. I’ve used it a few times and even asked him about it and that’s what he told me. The expenses and library being limited were from my personal experiences of checking out the prices and looking at the libraries. Some of the games that are good for VR are non-VR by default but have a VR option. I heard those games are great for VR in reviews.
Could always get some Cybershoes. They’ve helped me
Flawless logic…
What the hell is teleport movement?
basically you point to a spot and move there. common in VR games because moving without it can cause extreme nasusia in some people
I’m also a fellow hater of teleport movement, and it’s one of the main reasons I have zero interest in VR gaming..
That coupled with hovering weapons or “Rayman” hands I guess..
teleport is fine I dont see the problem here, tried it on skyrim and raw data, works well.
I figure it’ll be a matter of time before they adapt it for non-VR since they’d sell WAY more copies that way. I’ll play it then.