Friends of mine know that I've been a big fan of VR for a number of years now. I bought the Oculus Rift back in January
2017 and I've used it a lot over the years. Often for gaming on my own, but I've always enjoyed showing it to
friends and family whenever they visit. I will never get tired of showing people VR for the first time. They often react
in the same way with a childlike wonder and excitement. They usually say something like "WOW" and if I've decided to 
throw them straight onto a roller coaster they often also say "I feel sick" :) 

Over the years I've played many games and had many experiences in VR. Far too many to mention but some of my favourite 
moments would be:

* Flying X-Wings around a Star Destroyer in [Star Wars: Squadrons](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222730/STAR_WARS_Squadrons/)
* Racing cars in [Project CARS](https://store.steampowered.com/app/429180/Project_CARS__Pagani_Edition/) (which is free btw)
* Screaming and laughing in terror whilst desperately trying to reload my gun whilst Zombies attack in [Half-Life: Alyx](https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/)
* Swimming and exploring deep below the ocean in [Subnautica](https://store.steampowered.com/app/264710/Subnautica/)
* Having my first Lightsaber battle in [Vader Immortal](https://www.oculus.com/vader-immortal/)
* Watching movies and sports in my own virtual cinema [Big Screen Beta](https://www.bigscreenvr.com/)

I've been doing all the above and more for over 5 years now but in that time VR technology has advanced quite a bit. I 
decided in December 2021 that it was time to upgrade my VR experience. I decided to buy the Oculus Quest 2 which is a 
big leap in quality compared to my aging Oculus Rift with much a better resolution and reduced 
[screen door effect](https://www.howtogeek.com/404491/what-is-the-screen-door-effect-in-vr/), which is quite bad in the 
original Rift but almost entirely gone in these new Quest 2 headsets. The other big feature of
the Quest 2 is that it's completely capable of working as a standalone device. Meaning you don't need a powerful gaming 
PC to use it, or be tethered to a PC either. You can take this headset anywhere you like and use it 
anywhere you like with the bonus that if you do decide to plug it into a gaming pc using a USB cable it converts the 
headset into a full-blown PC VR headset just like the original Oculus Rift! You get the best of both worlds. Freedom to 
use anywhere in standalone mode and the option to plug into a gaming PC for the full PC VR gaming experience when you 
want it! Always with much higher frame rates and quality compared to the older headsets.

The price is good as well. Just £299 for the 128GB model with a 256GB model available for about £100 more. But I don't 
think you need the 250GB model, 128GB seems more than enough. There is no other VR headset on the market today that is 
as rich in features, with such a high quality display and also priced so low.

I was so happy when I first used the Quest 2 that I immediately decided to buy another one for my son. Since then we've 
been using them all the time to hang out and watch TV together in Big Screen virtual cinemas. My son doesn't live with me so this
is great when he's at home as it feels like we're sat in the same room watching a show and talking about it as you would
in real life. I've raved about the Quest 2 and this experience with Big Screen so much that I finally managed to talk 
my girlfriend into getting one too. My gf is out of the country at the moment, so it's been great for us to be able
to hang out and watch TV or play games in VR.

This brings me onto a game called [VR Chat](https://hello.vrchat.com/). We are having so much fun in VR Chat. You can 
find just about anything in VR Chat. We've been playing Pool most nights after watching TV. We've even had a 3 player 
Mini Golf tournament with me, my girlfriend and my son. Honestly it's absolutely incredible I cannot recommend VR and 
VR Chat enough.  

![VR Golf](/assets/images/blog/2022/02/05-vr-golf.png)

![VR Pool](/assets/images/blog/2022/02/05-vr-pool.png)

![VR Pool Matrix Selfie](/assets/images/blog/2022/02/05-vr-pool-matrix.png)

What's great is VR is only getting better and better and the devices themselves are getting smaller and easier to use 
all the time. As much as I hate Facebook (Meta) they have made a giant gamble on VR, and they are doing a lot to push the
technology forwards. This can only be a good thing as far as VR Gaming and experiences are concerned. Please note: this 
is in no way an endorsement for Facebook and Zuckerberg with his dreams of leading us all into his totalitarian VR 
dystopian nightmare future.

It's going to be very interesting to see what Apple release too as rumour has it they are gearing up to launch a device
in the space soon!

If you're thinking now is a good time to try VR I can tell you that it most definitely is and I hope to see you in VR 
very soon!

I ❤️ VR

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