Welcome to the Matrix. VR gaming is real.

November 15, 2015 Jax Xie

More than 10 years ago, there was a game called Kid Chamelon on Sega Gensis. The game is set in the future where people no longer play game using controller and screen but they would enter a machine to play game in virtual reality. Fast forward to today, VR gaming may indeed become the mainstream way of playing games in a year or two.

So is VR gaming the future of gaming or a hype? I’ve got a chance to try out the latest Sony PlayStation VR at the GameStart Asia game convention held at Suntec this weekend.

What is VR gaming?

Put it simply, it is as simple as putting 2 small screens near your left and right eyes respectively via a head mounted device. Each screen shows what a left and right eyes would see similar to how 3D glasses work. Voila! You are now transported to a whole new world! With a controller, you can move and interact in the new world and get totally immersed in virtual reality. More details here for those who are interested.

Who is in the VR space?

Virtual reality (VR) has been made popular by a company call Occulus with their Occulus Rift headset funded on Kickstarter. Since then, many other companies are getting into VR.

Google with their famous low-cost Google Cardboard which is essentially a cupboard head mount for your Android phone to be placed over your eyes similar to the Rift.

Microsoft announced its own Hololens in Oct 2015 slated for shipment in 2016. Hololens however is a mix reality headset. Wearing it still enables you to view your actual physical surrounding with its transparent glasses. At the recent E3, Microsoft has demo-ed a Minecraft gameplay using Hololens.

If Microsoft is in the game, you bet Sony is. Sony’s very own VR headset, originally called Project Morpheus, was announced way back in 2014. It is now known as PlayStation VR and of course it will be powered by PlayStation 4. This is the set that I’ve tried at GameStart Asia.

Other notable mentions include HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR which is essentially an Occulus Rift design to fit over a Samsung Galaxy S6 or Note 4.

The experience at GameStart Asia

PlayStation VR

The PlayStation VR booth is undoubtably one of the most popular booth at GameStart Asia. I was given a chance to try the famous Summer Lesson PlayStation VR demo .

For those who don’t know about Summer Lesson, it is a demo built for the PlayStation VR where you meet this virtual blonde girl who asked you to teach her Japanese. Yes, it maybe weird and creepy for some, but I am absolutely certain that this makes having a virtual girlfriend even more real for some Otaku. You really need to experience this yourself.

After being ushered into the demo area, a crew member helped me put on the headset and earphone. While the screen is supposingly HD at 1920 x 1080 ( 960 x 1080 for each eye), the display is not as clear and sharp as I would hope to be. Also the headset has to be at a ‘correct’ angle for it to be in focus. A few times I was fumbling with the headset with my hand trying to get it to focus probably. To be fair, it could be because I am wearing glasses and that the set could still be a prototype.

Aside from the display, the entire experience is really immersive and surreal! The demo started with a beautiful blonde lady asking you to teach her Japanese. You reply using head gesture, nodding or shaking your head. Additional control via PS Move is detected by the PlayStation Camera setup in front though it is not available on this demo.

The girl was sitting beside me asking me to teach her Japanese. When I tried moving in closer to her, she actually shifted backward saying that I am getting too close! Wow! What a surprise! She is actually aware that I am there. There is also a moment when she bends in front of you and that really makes me feel that she is just beside me. Talk about an immersive experience!

I don’t have the opportunity to try out other demo, one which you are involve in a heist and get to use PS Move to shoot and another where you get to swim with a great white shark. The wait at the queue was simply too long. But overall, it was a memorable experience like your first time watching a 3D movie.

VR gaming is coming

Yes that is right. VR gaming is real and it will likely transform the way we play game today. I believe that console games will first take the lead with PlayStation VR and Hololens leading the way towards VR gaming. However, we have yet to try the headset on for a prolong period of time. Problem with such technology is that people may experience discomfort or giddiness over some time and this may affect how well gamers adopt this technology.

Nonetheless, we are excited about this piece of technology and hope to be able to review a full game on the VR or Hololen soon when it is out hopefully by next year.

PS: Check out Tow Kay New’s vlog on the actual event below:

Game Review

Best Buddy Award for Metal Gear Solid 5 Phantom Pain

October 31, 2015 Jax Xie

D-Horse

In the beginning, your only buddy is D-Horse, which acts as a transportation tool more than anything else. While D-Horse is definitely useful in the earlier part of the game to travel across the vast land of Afghanistan, it does very little with respect to combat. Yes sure, you can get it to poo and it’s dropping will cause enemy vehicle to skid. However, that will require good timing and placing of the dropping. So far, I did not manage to do it even once. Either the dropping is placed off course or no vehicle is going through after D-Horse empty his bowel.

Once you start to use other buddy and not D-Horse, you may miss it especially when you need to run another 1000m to your next mission or checkpoint.

D-Dog

This little puppy that you have ‘fulton-ed’ earlier on in the game, grows up to be a ferocious dog (or wolf). D-Dog has many abilities that can be unlock with R&D. It can kill, stun, bark and even fulton enemy for you without expending your fulton. Also D-Dog can sniff out enemies, wild lives and plants and mark it conveniently on your map.

Personally, I don’t really find the bark ability useful in the field. Many times, D-Dog stays close to your side. If you command it to bark, it will only attract unnecessary attention to your hiding spot. You can ask D-Dog to wait first at your spot then move on to a new spot before asking it to bark. However, it is too tedious for me to manage a buddy like that.

Also, at any one sortie, D-Dog can only be equip with a single ability from the selection of kill, stun and fulton. So if you want the unlimited fulton ability of D-Dog, it cannot kill or stun enemy.

D-Walker

D-Walker has tons of R&D that you can buy to upgrade this machine. While it is rather costly, with enough investment D-Walker can be quite a killer machine to bring out for mission. We don’t suggest using D-Walker for stealth mission, but it maybe useful for missions where firepower is needed. Do note that in the earlier stage when you first get D-Walker, it is not advisable to bring it out to field just yet. You will need a number of upgrades before it is deem combat ready.

The good things about D-Walker is that no bonding is needed. Also, it can be used as a sentry gun with its intercept mode. In the video above, we see how this player uses D-Walker well using its intercept mode.

Quiet

For some people, you may never get Quiet to be on your team. In main ops 11, after defeating Quiet, you can choose to kill her or to capture her. Killing her will mean that she will not appear any more in the later part of the game.

Quiet has two modes of operation, the scout mode and the attack mode. Both can be access from the iDroid. In scout mode, Quiet will infiltrate an outpost that you specify on the map and marked out enemies for you. Quiet will then move into attack mode once all enemies have been marked. She will not fire unless you give her command to.

Quiet’s bonding takes time to build. Initially, with low bonding, she will not listen to you at all and that can be hard for your mission. But after your bond has max out or reach 50%, she will be a very valuable asset to you. To bond with her, you can visit her frequently on the medical platform other than bringing her out to the field.

For me, I would usually sent quiet out to scout out an outpost of base I am heading too. Her super human speed makes sure that she is always ahead of me. So before even reaching my destination, all the enemies are marked out nicely for me. Once you unlock the tranquilliser sniper rifle, you can essentially command her to take out the whole base of enemy while you fulton them away happily.

Quiet can get injured and will be place in the sick bay if her health has reduced to zero. To prevent that, whenever her sniping spot is compromised (you will know this when the enemy starts shooting at her or radio back to HQ that they spotted a sniper), select a new attack spot for her from your iDroid. If you get the silencer for her rifle eventually, the enemy will have a much tougher time finding her.

SPOILER ALERT:

Quiet will leave you permanently (*soob soob*) starting from main ops 43. The easiest way to prevent this is to equip butterfly emblem before mission 41.

END SPOILER

And the award goes to …

Quiet! I mean Quiet ….shh……

Quiet is the most versatile and easy-to-manage buddy on the field. While D-Dog can mark enemies, so can Quiet. D-Walker is a bit too loud and clumsy for our liking although we love the fulton canon that can fulton even vehicle from a range. D-Horse for us, is more of a transportation tool. Vehicles can be gotten easily on the field and can move as fast if not faster than D-Horse.

Quiet allows us to be super stealthy in our mission. At times, we even reached a outpost with all enemy tranquillised ready for us to fulton away! However, you would need a rather high bond with Quiet and the proper weapon with silencer for her before you can realise her full potential.

So that is our pick for Best Buddy Award MGS5 TPP. Although we think that Quiet is the best buddy for us, other buddies may better suit your gameplay. For us, we like stealth and fultoning people to mother base and Quiet is really helpful in that. Different buddies will require different tactics and way of playing..

Which is your best buddy? Let us know in the comments below.

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