So for my first day I figure I'd wrap up with a massive summary for anyone who is still waiting for their rift and possibly interested. As for my impressions of the Rift itself, just about everything I can say has been said a million times. Yes, the resolution is low. Yes, it's rough around the edges. And yes, it is still amazing.
Only minor hardware gripes I'd like to point out:
The mesh air vents/nose opening - I understand their purpose and appreciate them, but the light leakage definitely detracts from the overall immersion. I might need to tinker with a way to cover these better. Just hard to feel totally immersed when I can see slivers of my daytime lit desk and keyboard in my peripheral vision.
I also do find myself struggling to balance the lense distance from my face. When they are up real close for max FOV it looks great except I can pretty obviously notice the middle divider (I think that's what I'm seeing) a lot, especially while turning my head, which can be pretty jarring because sometimes its not there and then I'll catch a sudden flash of it. Or maybe it's just the edge of the rendered image on the screen? Not sure.
When I push them back a bit the divider is no longer visible, which is great, but then since the lenses are a bit further from my eyes I feel like I have slight tunnel vision, and I see more of the black AROUND the lenses. But the divider is more distracting when I catch glimpses of it. Right now I have the lenses adjusted to the middle position. Seems to be the best tradeoff so far.
None of that stuff is major though. Still thoroughly impressed overall. In fact it seems like the more I use it, the more impressed I am.
Here's everything I tried today (in order, with impressions):
1) Oculus Tuscany - not much to do but it's the quintessential introduction to the Rift, even though I know there is much better out there I felt obligated to do this first, and it was quite cool. The sunflowers look really nice for some reason. Standing under the trees and looking up at the floating dandelion seeds, leaves, and butterflies was very serene. Also got a kick out of standing by the wall and looking down at the ocean. One cool thing I noticed was that I could almost feel the temperature shift when I walked from direct sunlight into the shade. Pretty neat.
2) Titans Of Space - Very cool educational demo. Loved seeing the relative scale of the planets, moons, and stars. It's a great demonstration for the Rift's ability to present scale. Didn't feel like I had quite the same depth to the 3D in this one though. Could also be more because it's dealing with much larger objects over a single, uniform backdrop. Great UI/menu system control.
2) Riftcoaster - I didn't freak out like the people in all the videos everywhere, but it was still pretty darn cool. My stomach WANTED to jump into my throat as I came over that first drop. Obviously it's not as intense as being on a real rollercoaster but you brain does get tricked into feeling a tingle for sure. I did catch myself leaning into turns. The citadel looks really nice in full scale 3D. Fun ride overall.
3) Delta Draconis - this was the first demo that really wow'ed me. It's a new one too, so if you don't have it yet - get it! You pilot a spaceship of some sort over a very moody, rocky sci-fi planetscape, with a giant ringed planet and massive starship lingering in the sky and space above. I just love the setting and mood, aside from it being my first pilotable flying demo on the rift which is just incredible fun. It gives me a Prometheus vibe. A+ for atmosphere on this.
4) Heli Hell2 (hydra version) - So after my first taste of flying I needed more. This is a helicopter flying demo that also uses the Razer Hydra for hacked in positional tracking. By attaching one of the two hydra controller to your upper torso, you can lean about the cockpit as if you were really sitting there. This demo is super cool. You can randomly generate tropical islands in the middle of the ocean to fly around. Leaning out the side of the heli and looking down as I flew around was like a dream come true. The spacial awareness you get from the rift is something to behold. This is not a gimmick. I was flying this helicopter to a degree of accuracy I've never felt capable of in a game before. Flying right up to trees, pulling back and hovering with the branches just out my reach was an extremely cool experience. Zooming around just inches above the water line gave me a boner. That is all.
5) Sixense Tuscany Hydra - So since I already had the Hydra plugged in, I decided to boot up the hydra version of the Tuscany demo. Another mindblowing one. Seeing and being able to move your hands around in VR makes such a difference. Picking up, holding, and throwing objects is scary natural. The highlight was picking up a book and lighting it on fire by holding it in a candle's flame. I waved it back and forth in front of my face while on fire for a good minute or so just because it looked so cool LOL.
6) 2001 - Thought this would be a stupid demo because it's just a recreation of the crazy space travel acid trip section at the end of 2001. But it's actually pretty damn cool. You get a really intense sense of speed in it for some reason. I could see myself zoning out with this demo running sometimes.
7) Air Balloon - another very early, basic demo someone made back when the Rifts were first shipping. You're on a hot air balloon that moves along a pre-determined course. Still nice to look at.
8) VR Cinema 3D - Holy crap. Somehow while using the rift this honest to god looks like a real theater. Not just because of the scale and impressive lighting, but somehow the 3D makes the actual theater and seats look photorealistic. The resolution is low but jesus it's crazy. On a normal screen the graphics are nice but nothing special, peering at it through the Oculus is something different entirely. Definitely see this being massively useful as we move to 1080p and up.
9) ParrotCoaster - Another rollercoaster, this one is more of a modern looking coaster that has a bunch of loops. Fun, but I started to feel a bit queezy after the third loop. But hey, the more rollercoasters the merrier IMO.
10) Blue Marble - Similar to Titans of Space, but I like this one a bit more visually. Kind of a sad concept hidden underneath of it all, too. I dig.
11) Museum of the Micro-Star - Mindblowing visuals. The particle effects are simply astounding with that 3D. Looking at the star machine thing is awe inspiring. However, this one is a resource hog and I can only run it at about 40-50fps, so there is that noticeable lag which detracted from the experience. I couldn't stay long without feeling queasy because of it. Looks like my 560ti 448 core classified just ain't gonna cut the mustard anymore...
12) Rift Racer - This demo is crazy fun as well. First driving demo I've tried and it's a blast. Again, having that natural awareness that comes with free headlook puts driving on a whole new level. At one point I flew off the side of a ramp into a barrel roll. While flipping through the air I turned my head up and to my left to see the world spinning, and then "HEY, that asphalt is a approaching my face quite rapidly." I slammed upside down and flipped back over, car completely crumpled. The way it all happened, it's hard to explain, but it felt like I was in a movie or something. Simply amazing.
13) Minecrift - It was time to move on to the real games. This blew me away. See my recent posts above for my initial impressions.
14) HL2 - Mind blown again. That floating camera robot...my god... All of the NPC's look and move so realistically. It's wild. Barely got 5 minutes in before I started feeling sick again. As you can see I did plenty beforehand though, I think it was a gradual thing instead of HL2 that set me off. Taking a long break now, will probably dabble a little more latenight.
Damn, I typed a lot.