Thoughts on my shiny new Oculus Rift (okay so it's matte)

Well my first impression was man the shipping box is pretty small, I think my Injustice Legendary Edition was bigger.  Light too!  And inside is a cool, professional looking case with cut foam packing.  Very slick looking!

So in the back of my head I'm thinking, "Well maybe by tonight I'll have something working!".   So I begin to unpack, whoops need the SDK.  Also start poking around for some other downloads to start, and then go back to unpacking.  

The headset is light!  Like, "there must be something missing" light :)  It's hardwired to a box.  So I just had to plug the box's power in, plug in a video cable to my computer (I used HDMI), and then plug in the USB connection and...that's it?  Now I ran into a small problem here, my computer doesn't want to output to the OR and my screen at the same time, and extended desktop is, well a mess, as the OR can't really display a desktop properly.  Only thing I can really do, I figured eventually, is to use the presentation hotkey on my laptop (Windows 8) and choose either only built-in or only external display to switch.

Meanwhile the SDK is downloaded, so surely there's drivers or something?  Nope!  Just launched the Villa demo, and bang...I'm in another world, if a slightly lo-res one.  But it's just plain uncanny.  I guess I almost expected something flashy, probably because most video games have to do all sorts of things to make your gaming experience feel more "real".  But here am I, looking around a small cottage, eventually finding the appropriate keys, and moving around.  It's really wild.  It's like you expect to see your arms there, because the thing is so natural and reactive.

One thing, you need to make sure the goggles are on just right or everything will be blurry.

Later on I got Minecrift - the OR plug in for Minecraft working.  It was neat - the UI wasn't working properly, but two things stood out - One was jumping or looking down a cliff definitely had impact.   The other was how odd it was looking eye to eye with a Testificate - and how far out their noses come at you.  Minecrift is not completely there yet, but it sure is cool looking around Minecraft world!

I think the OR's biggest challenges will be getting in people to try it.  It's really amazing, but impossible to show, without a unit strapped on your head.  The other will be motion sickness - which I felt a little bit, and I'm not especially prone to it.  I don't think there's going to be a solution to that for some people.  (My wife, for example, has to sit fairly far back at the movies or the motion will make her feel off)

But after what, thirty years?  VR is finally here, and it's amazing!  I feel like I"m back in the days of getting my Sega Genesis, or getting to play with an Amiga or something!