Three years ago, Facebook released the Oculus Rift, a VR headset that created all these thoughts of future worlds.
And the effect was mind blowing.
But there was a big cable that tethered to your PC, and you had to have a PC.
But still, we were thinking about what if this could take you somewhere else without needing a PC, where you could really move around?
Well, that moment is here with Oculus quest.
Three years later, this is a self-contained VR system and it allows you to move.
It allows you to move your hands and you can walk around and there's no PC.
This is self-contained on my head for $400.
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There has been self contained VR before.
Oculus Go last year or Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream.
Let you move your head but you couldn't walk.
Google stand alone Mirage Solo and HTC Vibe Focus allowed some more freedom of movement.
But the Quest is the best yet.
Tracking is all in the headset and you could theoretically walk anywhere provided you don't hit a wall or a chair.
Drawing room boundaries is critical because it feels really real.
The controllers with the same vibrations and touch controls offer the same freedom.
You can draw any sort of boundary space you want with Oculus quest, you can paint the boundaries of your space.
And when you do that, it creates this glowing wall all around you.
That's your bubble world that you enter into VR.
But here's the crazy part.
When you exit out of that world, so here is the grid, and here is that wall, and I poke out.
Well, all of a sudden, now I can see the regular world, it's showing me the pass through cameras.
So I can see you shooting me with a camera, and I'm looking around.
It's like I peeked out of the curtain into the real world.
And I can see my controllers and see me, but if I pop my head back in, now I ducked back into the virtual world.
So it's really like playing inside a little virtual bubble.
There's just a mobile chip on the quest, but VR games aren't always about bleeding edge graphics.
[SOUND] The Oculus Quest should have 50 games at launched.
I've played about 20 so far many are games that first came on Oculus Rift years ago.
But they were great on the Quest.
Space Pirate Trainer is like dual gun arcade shooter.
Harmonics Dance Central is a work app where you dance in a nightclub to get a high score.
Heat Saver is a music rhythm dance game with light sabers and it's wonderful.
Sports Scramble is like Wii sports for VR.
Super hot is an excellent bullet time survival game.
The Oculus Touch controllers move fluidly and even let you move your fingers to make it feel like you can reach out grab things just like the controllers on the PC-based Rift.
Bouncing balls, grabbing a baseball bat, dancing with a virtual robot, the controls are the best thing about Quest.
Most games I played are active, smooth, and fun.
Will I keep playing them for more than a few hours?
Hard to tell you.
Oculus Quest is totally untethered.
Technically, it could go with you anywhere.
So I'm using it in New York City, what if I took it on a family vacation to Aruba?
That's just what I'm going to do.
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Why would I be doing this when I'm on vacation?
I guess I'm curious.
It wasn't so hard to take with me on the trip, he said it took up a lot of backpack space.
And TSA actually asked me what is that?
And I said it's a VR headset, and they left me alone.
This is much bigger than the Oculus Go, but it's a pretty stiff headband.
These controllers at least you can kind of pack them flat, but you are taking Two VR controllers with you.
But all the apps work offline and I love leaving them all on.
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Taking Oculus Quest on a trip is totally possible, but it's still bulkier than a phone, tablet or even large headphones.
But it's pretty amazing and strange to set it up and use it any Finding enough space though,can be a challenge.
Also, it's not meant to be used outdoors.
Right sunlight can damage the quest lenses and extreme light can throw off headset and controller tracking.
Plus needless to say keep this far away from sand and water.
It's easy to dive in, but carving out time to be in VR means subtracting hours from the real world.
And family, it's not easy to do VR casually, it's an all in provision.
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But here's the thing, Facebook owns Oculus, this is the Facebook Oculus Quest and unlike PC based Rift, Quest is closed off with a curated app store.
It's Facebook's first real self contained game console.
Is that for you?
Some people will be bothered by having this associated with Facebook.
Others will not see the price being worth it.
Maybe it seems like a product that could be overshadowed in another year or two.
I don't know where Oculus is heading next, but the Quest right now is the best hardware version of a mobile VR experience that I've ever seen, and the price is not crazy high.
Sure, more advance ideas will happen next and this isn't the last step in immersive tech.
But Oculus Quest is a major moment in self contained VR.
And at its price, compared to what AR headsets like Magic Leap and HoloLens cost, it's a bargain.
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