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Virtual Reality is something that’s coming on in leaps and bounds, and having tried the Virtuality 1000CS Virtual Reality Pod originally at Revival 2013, playing it’s most popular game, Dactyl Nightmare, I now had the chance to play the two-player version.
The unit was brought to Play Expo 2014 courtesy of Retro Computer Museum
There’s a three-dimensional arena in front of you, allowing you to walk up and down stairs while the other player also walks about. They’re trying to kill you just as you need to kill them. This is achieved by launching grenades in their direction. Lift the sight up and ‘lob’ them towards him. After you’ve shot eight grenades, a pterodactyl will appear and lift you up, then drop you in another part of the map. The creature won’t kill you, he’s just annoying, meaning that once you land you’ll need to get your bearings again and find where your opponent is again. It is possible to avoid being picked up… except that you need to kill the pterodactyl before he gets to you. Which I found impossible. However, this time it only happened once.
There’s a three-minute limit to the game and the 3D images appear inside your helmet, and the world turns as you turn. I was conscious of the fact that I was wearing a belt full of electronics that was linked to the circular platform and I didn’t want to twist the wires, but it’s fairly intuitive and whether or not you’ve played it before, it’s an unmissable experience.
You can see footage of the unit in action here, and check out Retro Computer Museum’s Facebook page and their website, as well as their Retro VR page.
Starters Orders 6 is just one example of showing how far virtual reality has come on. Using the Oculus Rift VR technology – which delivers a separate image to each eye as shown below, which I first saw at Revival 2014, which is an open-ending horse racing management and jockey game for PC and Mac.
The full game allows you to train and ride your own string of race horses, in the Derby, Grand National and many other races around the world, as well as playing against legendary horses from past and present. Since there’s often a queue for this game, and it would take you all day to fully get into the game, it’s understandable that you’d just be having one ride, and when climbing about the iJoy Ride excercise device, it was one hell of a ride!
Get on the saddle, and go with it as it rocks back and forth. Put the helmet on, along with the headphones, and after a few seconds to get used to the images, off you go, tilting the unit in order to take the corners while also wanting to look all around you. I never get car sick or anything like that, but had to ask the one of the guys to slow the rocking down a bit.
Overall, it was an awesome experience, and you can find out more info about the game, as well as download the free demo at their website, StartersOrders.com. Also check out the Facebook page check out the footage below:
Last but not least, CDF Ghostship does for the first-person-shooter market what Starters Orders 6 does for horse racing. This time round, you play it while standing up. Put on the Oculus Rift VR glasses, then the headphones, then strap yourself in and feel the Gs!
CDF stands for Colonial Defence Force, and check out the teaser trailer below. The videos below show a regular trailer and also an early version of how it looks from the headset point of view. I was able to play it for two minutes – unfortunately the long queues meant longer games, understandably, weren’t possible – and it was mind-blowing. As a first-person-shooter it’s great fun, you can look all around you, and at one point I think I broke gravity! I started floating about which gave me a hell of a spaced-out feeling. I’d rather that hadn’t happened while I only had a limited amount of time to play it, but then I shouldn’t have had an accident in the airlock (at least I think that’s what I did).
Check out the Facebook page and also their website. Below is the trailer and Oculus Rift VR version.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.