Date: May 4, 2019
I just got a new toy. This is not exactly a detailed review, but merely sharing my thoughts on this new toy.
Yeah! I got my first VR (Virtual Reality) headset – Oculus Go!
Where to Buy?
I bought it from Amazon. You can also buy from Amazon Prime, select International, and they will deliver within 7 days.
32G version = US$199
64G version = US$249
https://www.amazon.com/Oculus-Standalone-Virtual-Reality-Headset-pc/dp/B07B4NLKKF
Come to think about it, it is much cheaper than an iPhone or iPad. And it is definitely cheaper than the Nintendo Switch or 3DS.
And the feeling of getting it, is like last time when you get your Nintendo Wii. If you remember when Nintendo Wii first came out, and you play your first bowling game with Nintendo Wii. That’s the feeling. Hahaha
What is it?
In 2012, Oculus initiated Kickstarter to fund Oculus Rift. It raised US$2.5M with 10,000 contributors.
In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for US$2B.
In 2017, Mark Zuckerberg introduced Oculus Go to the world. It is a low-end, low-cost VR headset that can do game, movies, web browsing, etc without connecting to PC. And it is not powered by a phone. It is a Internet device by itself.
In 2018, Oculus Go launched in China together with Xiaomi branding.
It is something you put onto your head, and immediately bring you to the Virtual world, where you can look up, look left, look right, and look behind for 360 degrees viewing.
Quite Cool.
Shooting games becomes very awesome. Even watching Netflix using Oculus Go is a different sensation.
This is a Facebook product, and now it has grown to 1000+ apps, movies and games.
Facebook did a good job.
My First Experience.
Last Saturday, Adeline from The Lab @ Katong V, called my to come up to the class room, while my kids was having the Python robotics programming class. My two sons are learning how to do pseudo programming on Python in this learning center. Quite cool, go check it out. They have Lego Mindstorms, Raspberry Pi, they have robots, real kids size robots, they play drones, they have all sort of S.T.E.M gadgets to teach kids at all ages. Even my younger son now learning to build Raspberry Pi robots with Pythons programming. (Sorry, have to do some advertisement for her to thank her introduced me to this Oculus Go, hahaha).
She said she has a new toy, want me to try it. She is trying to figure out how to incorporate this new toy – Oculus Go into a programming course. Ya, how to use this gadget to do simple programming using VR, or how to programs games or apps for the VR gadget.
My first response is “看坏眼睛”. In general, I do not have a good feeling of VR headset. In the past, I tried it once or twice, but I get motion sickness after wearing it. So, I don’t like it.
Anyway, she said “try it on and play a game.” And I did that.
And I was HOOKED.
It was amazing. The VR world inside when playing the shooting game is like real thing, where you hold a gun, turn left, turn right and shoot.
After playing it for 10 minutes, I have made up my mind. And I bought it from Amazon immediately and it was sent to me on Thursday.
Playing Oculus Go
The headset is light.
It has adjustable straps to adjust according to your head size.
I have used it to watch an hour of Star Trek Discovery the season finale. It was so cool.
After wearing it for more than 1 hours plus, I am surprise that I am not dizzy. My head was not spinning.
See how the kids wear. Kay was amaze with it.
Kay was playing the shooting game. So, as you can see, the controller itself is comfortable. I configure in such a way that you need to reload your bullets after 5-6 shots. To be realistic mah…
Oh ya, you can cast it to the phone. Sometimes, depending on your home WiFi system, it can get laggy.
Let’s see in live what is Kay actually seeing inside. Hahahahaha
As you can see, when he turns his head, the screen turns, the viewpoint change, and that is how you seek and shoot the enemies. Quite cool, right?
Jay was amaze with it.
Jay was playing a 360 movie – Jurassic World – Blue. You know the dinosaur “Blue”. She will walk beside you, and you were in the car.
I cannot play this game, as in the VR, my car is moving, in reality, my seat is stationary. So, I will feel motion sickness playing that game. As you may have guess, I cannot play roller Coaster too. hahaha
It’s Ash’s turn. Of course she was thrilled. hahaha
Ash is playing the fishing game. It is also quite fun.
Finally, it’s Col’s turn.
I let her play a arcade game using a stick to smash the flying rocks and pick up the diamonds. Hahahahaha
So, this Oculus will be added into the Friday Playdates Gaming Night.
Remember to let your kids to relax and play with friends. We do this every Friday with close friends. This is wear they relax from heavy school works and projects.
Conclusions
I didn’t follow the news of VR development until last week.
I always rejecting the VR headset as those inferior product in the past did not make a good impression to me. It makes me dizzy.
But after 7 years or development, the VR set has become mature.
You have seen “Ready Player One?” And you should now, this is one of the future of our time.
Oculus Go may not be the most high end head set, but because it is backed by Facebook and endorsed by Xiaomi, you know that there will be some Quality going into this product.
Plus it is a standalone set that does not need to connect to PC or mobile phone.
Of course, you need to buy the games. Just like you buy an app from your mobile. That easy. I used PayPal to pay. So far I bought some games and it is quite good.
So, if you ask me, is it worth it? I say YES! Have fun.
What are you waiting for??
