One of the big trends of this year 2016, it is of course the arrival for the general public of virtual reality helmets. Christmas is in a few days and you haven't made your choice yet? HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Playstation PSVR
We will help you find your way through this jungle of existing helmets.

HTC Vive seen by Timothee

The HTC Vive is without a doubt the most impressive headset around. First of all, it is not limited to “sofa” use. You can physically move in space (between 3 and 20m²) and have your movements transcribed in the virtual world. In addition, the remote controls dedicated to it are among the best thought out on the current market, not being a simple transposition from the middle of the console to VR, but directly thought for VR. Finally, being connected to a computer, the library of games and applications is available through Steam, which has an ever-growing library for virtual reality.
All this makes the HTC Vive undoubtedly the "must have" of this Christmas allowing to live a striking immersion and at times, a hard return to reality. But, this first place in the ranking has a price, the helmet alone costs more than 900 euros… aouch. In addition, you must have a “VR ready” computer, in other words, a machine with a solid configuration to run the various games and digital experiences, which will undoubtedly impress you.

Applications :

Tilt Brush by Google

Speaking of games, the Steam catalog is growing a little more each week, but it is still far from having as impressive a number of titles as today's consoles, or as advanced graphics for that matter. IYou have to keep in mind that this is still a very recent technology and it will still take many months before reaching any form of maturity.. That said, there are already titles that during our tests left us speechless.

Tilt Brush by Google is one of the first applications dedicated to Vive that we got our hands on. Suffice to say that as a first experience, we were all amazed.
First of all by the reactivity and the precision of the movements transcribed by the live, a perfect fluidity, a non-existent latency rate, but also by the inventiveness deployed by the people at Google who knew how to take a first step in the world of spatialized VR with relevance.
This application is used to draw in 3D with the help of the two controllers, where drawing is usually done in 2D. In this specific case the line is made in space, it is possible to turn around its creation, to give it life with different effects and “brush”. It's quite destabilizing the first few minutes, but quickly we get caught up in the game, even if you don't have the Da Vinci talent, it's very easy to lose sight of the time spent taming this technology with a lot of fun.
 

Google Earth

Google earth is another application available to test absolutely. Who hasn't spent a few minutes (hours?) discovering certain facets of the world through the Google tool?
Imagine doing it again but as if you were flying over each region, city, country that you explore according to your desires. It is even possible to make your trip at the moment you prefer during the day, like a deity you can catch the sun and change its position as you wish to discover every corner of the earth day and night.
Of course, there are many others to test, try, handle... which should delight fans of thrills as much as those looking for a new sensory experience!

Features:

• 2 OLED screens with a resolution of 1080*1200
• 100° field of view / 90 Hz refresh
• Thanks to the lighthouses, the user can move in an area between 3 and 20 m2
• Motion recognition is ultra-precise
• The helmet is slightly bulky for a weight of 600g. The front part is heavier and more important
• The black and shiny plastic of the helmet gives an impression of solidity. The finishes are excellent
• The controllers are perfect both in terms of weight and handling.
• Lots of cables, which end up hindering movement
• Need a powerful computer, often expensive.

 

Oculus Rift seen by Price

Among a young but already fierce competition, the popularity of the Oculus Rift stems from constats are no longer obvious : with a field wider than your peripheral vision, excellent sound quality and 3D stereoscopic tracking, we are faced with the most successful product in the combination of the worlds of VR and video games.
To address what is, among other things, unanimous: its sleek design, its compact and lightweight format (380g only) place the Oculus at the head of the pack in the Design and Comfort categories.
The headset can now count on the precision of Oculus Touch controllers, offering fluid movements, very close to your real perception. It will undoubtedly deliver a high-end and ultra-immersive virtual reality experience!
Santa Claus will still have to plan a budget of €898 for the complete headset + controllers pack.

Features:

• Light weight with a little comfort foam + easy strap adjustment
• Simple installation and an adjustable boundary system
• An Oled screen 1 x 080 pixels each, frequency of 1 Hz and field of vision of 200°
• Freedom of movement with very low latency
• Since the release of Touch controllers, a larger play area (room scale)
• However, it requires a powerful PC with a solid configuration

Applications :

Mainly designed to maximize immersion in video games, gaming is not the only area explored. The catalog is certainly still a little light to date, but certain experiences are already echoing.
In particular, you can explore 360° films. The bravest will be seduced by the terrifying immersion from the horror movie 11:57 ! For a family Christmas opt instead for the moving story of the little porcupine Henry.
We also invite you to dive into the era of dinosaurs with the 100% immersive Dinotrek VR virtual reality experience. A fascinating universe!
Finally in the games category, the traditional Minecraft, the vertiginous ADR1FT or even the exclusive to Oculus: Chronos, will convince the most skeptical.
 

Playstation VR seen by Mathieu

Exit in Last October, the PlayStation VR was the newest of the three headsets we tested. It combines several advantages over the competition: first of all, it benefits from visibility with the largest community of console gamers on the current generation, Playstation 4.
One of the other main advantages is the price, of course you have to be equipped with Sony's console, but it is more affordable than its competitors. On the other hand, the helmet must be accompanied by PS Move (the controllers) even if it is possible to play with the joystick and a detection camera sold separately….
Installation is easy and quite intuitive despite the number of cables and components.
The helmet benefits from an undeniable comfort : stable thanks to its well-distributed weight and easily adaptable to the circumference of the head with its clip.
Despite these advantages, one of the big flaws remains the image quality, which is much lower than that of other headsets, and its library of applications, in this case games, which is much less extensive than that of the competition.

Features:

• Display: 2 OLED screens with a resolution of 960*1080
• Field of view 100° / refresh 120Hz, 90 Hz
• The user can play sitting in front of the camera. One of the weak points are the cables.

Apps/Games:

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood

This is one of the games we had the opportunity to test. Easy to handle, the player is in a wagon moving on a rail, the sensations are present. It is then enough to shoot for example on giant spiders using ps move or even to bend down so that the played character bends down thus increasing the immersion. Even so, the game feels short like most games out there.
Other games have already been released such as Batman Arkham VR or the porting of Job Simulator developed for HTC Vive.

This first generation of headsets gives us a glimpse of exciting experiences to come. PlayStation VR remains the least expensive and most accessible alternative . Given the number of PlayStation 4 owners, we can expect to see some impressive creations. HTC Vive and Oculus offer access to more experiences like TiltBrush or Google Earth, but they require an expensive computer.

Depending on your budget, maybe you will be tempted?

 
Creative Technology Foundation – @UXRepublic

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