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Grrl Power #886 - Patreon 2x
🕑 Added 2020-10-22 13:12:22 +0000 UTCThanks so much for your support!
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Whoops, I accidentally scheduled this for the 23rd at 5:00 am. Apologies for it being late.
This sort of thing can only really go down a few ways. Max gets a face to the bosoms, or she takes a crotch or butt to her face. I mean, yes, technically, they could just collide in a less amusing way, but why would I allow that?
I guess this page makes Maxima a Motorboat Eskimo Sister with Dabbler and Cora. An ignominious accolade for her, to be certain.
Not too much else to say about this page, so instead I'll tell you about how I almost forgot to post it. I got to playing Half-Life Alyx last night and I wound up with some serious eye strain, so I wound up going to bed early. Then an hour later I suddenly remembered it was Wednesday night and I had to post the comic. So I almost forgot to post, which I think I've only ever done one other time. Maybe twice.
So my super short review of HL:A and the Vive in general. It makes me excited for the next few generations of VR hardware. The Vive is on the verge of being too low fidelity for me. It has 1080p screens which sounds adequate, but they're like 3cm from your eyes, so it's lacking compared to a decent gaming monitor, plus the lenses inside the headset are lenticular meaning there's a choppy kind of grain and focus issues at the edges of your vision. I also found it impossible to get it all focussed correctly as well. I don't know if that's a limitation of my eyes or the hardware. All that apparently adds up to a lot of eye strain for me.
*Edit: I looked it up and the screens are actually 1440p, so I guess I have to attribute most of the eye strain I suffered to the lenticular lenses and possibly my own prescription issues.
Despite that, it is fantastically immersive. There's just no comparison to even sitting right up on a 60" TV, much less lounging on your couch or sitting in front of your computer. Being able to move around in an environment and just look around with your head like you would naturally, with the screen taking up almost all of your peripheral vision is pretty amazing. It just makes me wish the display technology was better. Honestly I think the low-res screens might have more to do with managing rendering expectations since as far as I'm aware, anything rendered in VR has to be fully rendered twice, once for each lens. There might be some clever shenanigans they can pull to cut down on some of that processing time needed, but you can't just take a 2D image and split it into two separate 2D images with depth separation for each eye, because that makes everything look like a bunch of parallaxed 2D cutouts.
The controllers are excellent, with finger-level controls. Things like having to manually reload your pistol and rack the slide to chamber the first round in HL:A is great, and also incredibly stressful when monsters are lurching toward you. My biggest complaint about it is the whole setup is missing a piece. Movement. Obviously it's a problem, you can't just sell everyone a 4 way treadmill or something. That would cost as much as the Vive itself at the super cheap end. Immersiveness is the name of the game with VR, but the lack of ambulation tracking means that every game has you teleporting around everywhere, which utterly breaks the immersiveness. The other option is that you use the little thumbsticks on the controller to glide around like you're playing on a console, which may not seem terrible if you do most of your gaming on consoles, but it's very difficult to get used to, and especially hard to manage while you're trying to reload your gun or carry a gas can to set up a trap for a bunch of enemies. Basically every encounter I've had in the game has me standing stock still, because it's too much to try and backpedal and reload at the same time.
Like I said, it's... partially awesome, and kind of sucky, and I hope the next few revisions of hardware deal with some of the issues I have with eye strain. I just don't know what they can to about movement. Hell, sitting in a chair and duct taping a mouse to my foot might work.
Comments
PSadlon
He's close enough to the right track with it is not happy making, but it's more "it's not making him happy" than how he has it.
PSadlon
He seems a relatively decent scoundrel. Slimy in so many ways, but not malicious.
Martin Croft
Well, I suppose somebody is happy. (probably not for long though)
Jared Juetten
Valve's VR system is HOT! I really like it, though it does still have a little graininess near the edges. Overall, a great system.
akrasia
...how do we know that? "well, I'm about to go flying, what do I want to cushion my fall - Ah!". Enjoy it while you can, Ray. Its the closest you will ever get. Sidenote: Ladies, have you ever been unexpectedly face-boobed? What was your reaction?
Stan
Was worried when no Grrlpower at 6:00. For me it was the first time it wasn't posted before I went to work. An Anime trope reversed face in your boobs instead of boobs in your face. Hope Max doesn't kill him for that! I'm sure she'll find another reason after these strange supers are clocked.
Daniel Jarrett
Also even if you don’t spring for the valve index I recommend at least getting the controllers as they are worlds better then the standard vive ones
Daniel Jarrett
If you have enough room for a room scale setup the you can at least juke and dodge around in that during fights which while not perfect is a lot better the just stand setups
Tim
And how does *that* ”cotton”, good sir? 🤣
Justaguy
We do have omnidirectional treadmills, but they're not perfect yet, and sooo expensive. https://infinadeck.com/#:~:text=What%20is%20Infinadeck%3F,immersion%20within%20the%20VR%20environment.
Thomas Dorner
A "4 way treadmill" is an interesting concept. I guess you'd need something like an oversized hollow trackball, the ball maybe being something inflatable also cushioning your fall if you stumble. This could cut costs, and you have reduced (though still big) storage size.
Dave Barrack
Took us 3 months to get the Vive.
Dave Barrack
Whoops!
Magnus Wittstrom
I have preordered the HP Reverb G2, if it's image quality your after this is the one I would suggest (based on the reviews that is available). Unfortunately about 3 weeks until expected delivery.
Noise
I'm still waiting for the HP Reverb G2 to release. 2160x2160 per eye, improved color and brightness.
Reigys
Should get the Valve Index. Supposedly it's the best vr experience right now
Town Crier
I have a friend who is bringing his Oculus 2 over to day, to allow me to try it out. Should be interesting.
Kayleigh Alvarez
Ok, so I know it's a nitpick, but cavalry/calvary is one of my pet peeves. Calvary is a hill in Jerusalem. Cavalry is soldiers on horses. Although I suppose the half joke doesn't work for the proper spelling.
Foradain
So far, Ray's fighting skills are only impressive in comparison to his exquisite knowledge of local idiom. ^_^
Michael Obert
Dabbler's not gonna let Max live that one down, for sure
Stephen Gilberg
To think that Ray DIDN'T plan on that.
