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Yep, You Still Look Silly Playing Virtual Reality Games (Video)

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

carlofranco / iStock

A lot has changed since the last time the gaming industry tried to make virtual reality work, in the ’90s. Graphics have advanced dramatically, developers have learned more about how to make games that won’t make you sick and the technology needed to create a convincingly immersive experience has entered a consumer-friendly price range. The more things change, though, the more they stay the same, and VR still looks more than a little silly to outsiders.

I didn’t think to record video of myself trying the latest Oculus Rift hardware at GDC, but here’s a clip from a Sony demo room for its VR tech, Project Morpheus. The game I’m playing is EVE: Valkyrie, which will be co-published by Oculus on PC but will eventually be available on PlayStation 4 through Morpheus. You can see a little bit of what I saw while playing Valkyrie in this video, but the gist is: You’re sitting in the cockpit of a spaceship and can shoot lasers, missiles and other weapons at other spaceships. You hold down a button, turn your head to look and aim at the other ships, and then release a button to fire the missiles, which is why I’m giving my neck a workout in this fast-forwarding clip.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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