I don't know if I would call Google Cardboard or other "phone-based" VR the same as what both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have done for their consumer release.

Viewing things in 3D is not something new, ViewMaster 3D has done that for quite some time. However, using one of those VR solutions, are you just watching videos and movies or are you actually looking around, up, under, over things and moving around in the environment as if you were really "there"?

I think the phone solutions give you a taste of what is to come, but I think that the two competing headsets today give you real "immersion", the ability to interact with your environment in a way you cannot with Google Cardboard.

You really have to try it to compare them, it's not the same.

Tried it once at a demo center and I can say that it did not blow my mind, in fact after 15 minutes I wanted to throw up so bad, not to mention a high amount of motion sickness and eye straining.
Maybe it will get better with future generations, but until then I will not touch one anymore.
Glad to know that you enjoy it, though!

Apparently there are some people who do get motion sick, but there can be several contributing factors. The eye strain can come from not setting the IPD correctly. If the CPU/GPU can't keep it above 30 FPS, that will also add to the recipe for sickness. Another mechanic is a game having control of the camera and takes the control away from you.

Again, some people may also just be sensitive to it, which is too bad because it can be really fun. Not sure which games or experiences you got to demo, but "The Magic Shop" demo doesn't really have any motion other than you looking around and 'porting' to other locations inside (and in one case, outside) the shop. It may be a little jarring for some who don't like heights though in some areas, but I thought it was really cool to walk over and look over the ledge.

However, just as you did, I would encourage anyone who is interested or considering getting one of the VR headsets to see if there is a way they can do a demo of it first. Either one a friend may have or (at the moment) the few Gamestop and Microsoft stores which are doing demos. I assume as they start finishing up their pre-orders and the units start hitting the store shelves in June, there will be more places doing demonstrations.

Flood of jump-scare games in 3... 2... 1...

XD

Not for me (eyesight issues, among other things) but it's nice that these are coming out at a price that is 'affordable' for many folks. And I'm sure that they'll get the plug-and-play issues nailed down in time; actually, they HAVE to, since the average user will not have your patience to make it work.

I'm not sure if this has already been asked but can people with eyeglasses(myopia) use it?

Edit: To be more clear I was wondering if there was enough gap near eyes to accommodate spectacles.

The demo-center was not a public one, well not yet anyway so I do not think one bit that the IPD or the CPU/GPU was the problem since the man that helped me, which is a good friend of mine, works on VR development, so he pretty much knows a thing or two about it.
He choose two of the best games for both head-sets, Chronos and The Gallery: Call of Stars, where both games gave you full control.
Although he did said the same as you, that I am sensitive to it and sadly there is nothing he can do yet, at least not on this generation, so he advised me not to get one even if I could get it for free. The side effects are not worth the hassle, and to be honest I am looking forward more to AR than VR. Now that is something I really want to get my hands on.

I'm glad to see another VR person here :) Thanks for posting your experience as I always love to read others experiences in VR. If you play anything that's really rad, make sure to update here please :)

I get my HTC Vive this week (next two or three days) and have specifically bought a new computer for it and my coming CV1 (Oculus Rift)

I.can't.wait :D

I gave it to her to hold on cause my apartment does not have the room so I use her condo for the big space. and she is learning on tech cause I built her PC from scratch with her and helped her build it for video editing.

so she kind of has an idea on how things are plus she can't wait how things go with the headset once we set it up tomorrow.

There are a couple of "jump scare" type games already. I think "The Visitor" is one of them. However, "The Magic Shop", one of the mini-experiences in "The Lab" is kind of like walking through one of those haunted houses with animatronics, something I would find at say, Disney World or Universal Studios.

Nothing really "jumps out" at you, but when you focus your line of sight on some things, it may trigger an action. A frog comes to life and reacts to the light you're holding, bats fly off, a large creature appears in an outside window.... and what's really neat, is that touching certain glyphs in the shop may change your size and transport you to another location, like a beam at the top of the shop looking down or a ledge on the outside window. You actually get the sense of height when you walk toward the ledge to look down.

My wife played Longbow, a "tower defense" type demo where you shoot invaders with a bow and arrow from a parapet. However, you can look over the edge (and I was surprised to see my controller was actually casting a shadow on the ground) and watch the invaders run by. She had to stop playing it because she is sensitive to heights and while she didn't get motion sickness, she was getting vertigo.
Absolutely! While contacts probably work best, I have a pair of thick rimmed engineering (a/k/a 'Poindexter') type glasses and they fit just fine in the Vive. (Which BTW, has an adjustment to move the lenses forward as well.

They fit without problems when I use the velcro straps properly, however, if you yank off the headset, you may occasionally find your glasses left behind in the HMD.
Awesome! I think probably sometime in the next year I'll be upgrading my PC too, while what I have is currently sufficient, I want to make sure I have room to grow, as my PC is already almost 3 years old (at least most of the parts).

I looked at some of the games on the Oculus store and hopefully not all of them are exclusive. I would really like to try "The Climb", a lot of the games on SteamVR right now are still in development and just have demos, but at least they give one a taste of what to expect when the game is released.

The best we can do as VR enthusiasts is certainly support the developers. I am definitely going to dabble with it using Unity since this is a good time to get in on the ground floor.

Sounds like you're going to be having a lot of fun soon, enjoy!

Hopefully you will enjoy it! I have mine set up in my bedroom and I'm just shy of having enough space to do full room-scale, which is a bummer because some games (like Space Pirate Trainer) require it.

However, there are other games which work very well in the standing/sitting setup, like the experiences or games which don't require you to move too far (like Audioshield), and they are quite fun.

I can't believe how much of a workout I got playing Audioshield, I'm definitely putting a lot of time into this game and it's one of those where you just get lost in the game and totally forget your in one little spot playing it, it's just a large open area which keeps you moving.

I tried Holopoint for a few minutes last night --very awesome. You have to reach behind you to grab and arrow, then notch, aim and fire. When you hit the object (or if you wait too long), it shoots at you and you have to make sure you move out of the way. Like Audioshield, this game really gets you moving.

If anything, some VR games are going to really turn the stereotype of the "overweight gamer" on its ear.
It's too bad that you are a bit sensitive to it, maybe as the technology progresses, maybe improved displays, higher frame rates and refresh or whichever it is that seems to be triggering the discomfort will go away. BTW, thanks for mentioning those games, I'll have to check them out.

I just wanted to notice something I've felt after playing VR for a couple of hours at a time. Not sure if the feeling is the same for everyone, but there is kind of a "disconnect" with my brain where it feels almost like there is some sort of weird feeling when going back to real world.

The best way to describe it is as if you were roller-skating for several hours, then get back on your real feet and you still feel as if you are gliding on wheels.

The problem - it's tied to Steam at present. That's a no go until it will have proper support without being dependent on some distributor.

It's tied to SteamVR, the run-time you need to use the VR, Oculus has the same. You can run other games designed for SteamVR without having to buy them from the Steam store.

...and interestingly enough, SteamVR hosts games which work for both Oculus and the HTC Vive, they're not going for exclusivity like Oculus is with their titles.

One more reason I was glad I stuck with the Vive.

Can you get SteamVR without using Steam / having Steam account?