Yesterday, Microsoft and Oculus announced a partnership. Now, an Xbox One controller promised to come with each Oculus headset.
On the surface, this is a big move. However, I have a bone to pick with this partnership. It has nothing to do with the companies themselves, the controller being packaged in, or the need to have Windows 10 in order to stream your Xbox One games to Oculus.
No, my problem is in the immersion that Oculus offers with Xbox One games. In case you didn’t know, the Xbox One games that you will be able to play will be shown to you in a virtual theatre, in which you will play games on a big screen.
(Image from cnet.com)
Personally, the reason the Oculus Rift is so exciting is because it offers a new level of immersion within gaming. Why would I want to play a game on a virtual TV when I have a big screen right in front of me.
Upon first hearing the announcement of a partnership, I imagined Xbox’s best exclusives and being immersed in their worlds. Gears of War, Halo, Forza. I want a shift in how I experience those games. I want to be in those worlds. But instead, I get put into, essentially, the same world I have been playing these games in for years.
This is *so* close to being what I want, but it isn’t. Bundling the controller is smart, and Microsoft tying Windows 10 to streaming the games is a very business-savvy move on their part.
But the most important thing to me as a gamer is the experience.
The kind of experience and gameplay provided is critical, especially with VR.
The difference between wearing a VR headset and not wearing a VR headset and just playing on my TV, is that the headset should provide a level of immersion. No distractions, just getting to be inside the world of whatever game I am playing.
Xbox One games on Oculus, as of right now, seem to offer no real improvement on the Xbox One experience.
For now, it seems smarter to simply play Xbox One games on your TV screen, as opposed to the virtual screen that your Oculus headset would provide.
