The Glade 4.0

True, it seemed to have a nice wide field of view, although I have to admit I laughed when he hit his head on the chair. Gonna need a padded room!

AR* headsets for everyday tasks. They make much more sense for everyday use; VR makes more sense for games.

Think Microsoft Hololense but with the entire visor being the active display area instead of a small square projected onto it.

This week at Fanfest 2016, CCP Games has announced that EVE: Valkyrie will not only find its way to all three major VR headsets, but will also allow cross-platform play between them. We went hands-on with PC and console versions of the game to see how the experiences will compare.

While EVE: Valkyrie started its life as an Oculus exclusive title, it wasn’t long before the game was announced to eventually be launching on Sony’s PSVR, with the existing exclusivity agreement apparently only addressing Oculus exclusivity on the PC platform.

project-arena-oculus-touch-ccp-games
See Also: Hands-on – ‘Project Arena’ Aims for Competitive VR Motion Combat
Now it’s been revealed that not only will the game also come to the HTC Vive through SteamVR (making the Oculus exclusivity seemingly time-based) but it will allow players from each platform to battle or team up with one another.

Cross-platform play between PCs and consoles has been something long desired by gamers and while it’s been attempted in one form or another throughout the years, it remains quite a rarity, with seemingly little business incentive to drive the feature. When it comes to VR however, it clearly benefits a company like CCP to open up to as many VR players as possible, not only for sales, but to keep the multiplayer population at a healthy size.

A longstanding question about the logistics of cross-platform play has long been whether one platform could have an unfair advantage over another, possibly due to differing control schemes (keyboard & mouse vs. gamepad), or hardware performance.

We’ll have to wait to see what the stats bare to see if there’s any appreciable difference in the deadliness of EVE: Valkyrie players from one platform over another, but in the meantime we’ve done a hands-on with the Rift and PSVR versions to compare the game between PC VR and console VR.

The latest builds were available at Fanfest 2016 where I played essentially the same demo back-to-back. There’s no doubt that the Rift delivers the higher fidelity, however, Sony’s headset is no slouch, with great optics and display quality. While the headset feels heavier, it has equally good weight distribution, and thanks to the reprojected 120 FPS display, EVE: Valkyrie on PSVR is an impressive match for visual comfort too.

Fitting the headset, I was greeted by the ‘out of camera range’ message, likely to be a regular sight for PlayStation users, with the tracking volume being noticeably smaller than the Rift. For a seated experience like EVE: Valkyrie—which doesn’t demand that you do much leaning—it isn’t a major issue once you’re lined up.

The second notable difference is the aliasing which swims across the angled HUD elements in the cockpits in a somewhat distracting fashion during the launch sequence. It’s soon forgotten with the acceleration into the vastness of space during the launch sequence, followed by the moment of silence, which remains stunningly effective.

In terms of performance, there was no sign of wavering from the target framerate on PSVR, even when faced with multiple explosions, ships and debris (although the mirrored ‘Social Screen’ TV output does stutter here). The action is so frantic, it’s easy to ignore the lower quality objects, but there are times when your focus dwells on a passing asteroid that you wish would resolve with finer detail. Overall however, CCP has managed to retain most of the visual flair of the PC version, and most importantly, all of the gameplay. Hopefully, this promises a level playing field for the cross-platform play between Rift, Vive and PSVR.

Additional reporting by Ben Lang

When it was confirmed that EVE: Valkyrie would be coming to the HTC Vive, most assumed it would simply utilise a gamepad instead of the kit’s position-tracked controllers, much like Elite: Dangerous. That may well not be the case, however.

Developer CCP Newcastle is looking into bringing support for the Vive’s position tracked controllers to its multiplayer VR dogfighter. I heard that last week at EVE Fanfest, and decided to ask CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson about the possibility directly.

When I first asked him if the company was experimenting with support for what he calls the “Vive wands”, Pétursson flat out confirmed it was in the works. Asking after it further, the CEO told me that finding a way to fit these controls in would be “challenging” but it would be “awesome” and that motion controls in Valkyrie “should be a thing”.

So what would Pétursson like to see enabled with motion controls for EVE: Valkyrie? He talks of wanting to fire blind from behind his craft, operating gun turrets with his hands. I suggest being able to pull thrusters back and forth for acceleration and he nods in agreement. But, ultimately, Pétursson notes that whatever he or I may think up, he’s sure that the CCP Newcastle team can come up with “something way cooler”. I’d also heard that there’s no guarantee the support will come, but the CEO insists that “this needs to happen.”

Of course, you’ll still be able to play Valkyrie on Vive with a standard gamepad, which in itself raises some interesting questions. If motion control players were able to fire blindly, wouldn’t that give them a huge advantage over those with a gamepad? And how could all of this factor into the recently announced cross-platform play between the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR? Perhaps the answer lies in dedicated matches and game types. There’s also no guarantee that such support will be ready in time for the launch of the HTC Vive version, which itself is yet to be dated.

If not at Vive launch, then it’s easy to envision a motion control update for EVE: Valkyrie arriving later down the line, similar to the update planned for this summer that’s set to add a new map, Crossroads, and a Carrier Assault mode.

I got to mess around with this the other day. It was...awesome. Just about the only thing that could have made it better is if the head set wasn't hard wired. I kept feeling it around my feet.

Rift or Vive? (since the topic has confusingly expanded)

I should edit the thread title.

I'm guessing Vive, since the cable isn't nearly as noticeable when you're not moving around.

I definitely think the next 2 major leaps for this tech will be resolution and wireless. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's any market wireless tech that can push the data required at the latencies required. So I think we'll be tethered for a while. (Another reason why the "mainstream version" of this tech is going to be phone-based for a while.)

Rift or Vive? (since the topic has confusingly expanded)

I should edit the thread title.