I only got to try two pieces of VR hardware during yesterday's class: the Samsung headset and the Oculus Rift DK2, but I was as amazed as the rest of my class about what both of these headsets could do.

For the Samsung headset, I got to watch parts of "Waves of Grace". And it really drove home the amazing potential of filming things for VR. The most amazing thing about "Waves of Grace" by far was the sense of placement. Even though what I was seeing was clearly just a movie image, the feeling that I was really on a beach, or in a marketplace, or the middle of the classroom was unlike any I've ever felt before. While I couldn't feel the breeze or sweltering heat (though I've read sensory realism is a possibility in the future), the sights and sounds that surround you give you a feeling of closeness with the subjects on film that you don't feel even in the most empathy-inducing movies.

That said, there were a couple of problematic issues that took me out of the moment. For one thing, the VR lenses fog up faster than any swimming mask I've ever worn. And the clouded up image really damages the effect. On top of that, several of my classmates had the program crash, which suggests that Google or Samsung headsets and their VR apps will only be as good as the smartphones that fit them and that we need more phones made that can handle the size and heat of VR programs. On top of that, "Waves of Grace" would often fade out of one scene and open in a completely different environment. Cutaways like these are typical and often necessary in documentaries and storytelling, but can still be a bit jarring in VR. It's not too bad, just a bit disorienting. I had to close my eyes whenever I felt a fade to black coming on. I think VR storytellers might need to consider either a way to tell a story in a single environment or find a more fluid way to transition from one place to another.

The Oculus Rift DK2 felt like a novelty or an amusement park ride. I tried the opening moments of "Neuro" and "Senza Peso" and both times, it was amazing how having the environment surrounding me added to the level of interest. No matter how artificial the graphics were (and neither of these games were intended to be photo-realistic), being "part of the scene" made the experience much more compelling and involving than it would have been as a standard 2-D experience.

The main problem I had with the Oculus Rift was the interface. I could never tell whether I was supposed to control the program with the computer keyboard, the mouse, or the game controller. So the menus were often hard to navigate, and often required me to keep sliding the headset on and off to figure it out. The sensitivity to where your headset is facing when you start didn't help. Having to make sure your headset is fixed in the right place, while needing to see your headset and keyboard all at the same time is a tough start.

Once I got things going though, the interactive experiences were a lot of fun and involving (though I wish I'd had headphones for the DK2. They enhanced the Samsung experience so much, I can't help but imagine what they would have done for these programs, especially since both were heavily based around music).

All in all, this was a good first experience that taught me a lot about what elements can tell a good immersive story and the challenges that come with it.