I got to try my cousin's Oculus Quest VR system yesterday. First time I'd ever tried anything VR. The Quest's standalone, so no PC or console needed, and it's completely wireless. I was impressed. It didn't blow me away: I've heard some people say that the first time they put on a VR headset, the impression of actually being in the game was incredible. I didn't have that feeling, but I still thought it was quite cool. Also, I didn't get motion sick at all, which was nice, although I didn't walk around much with the headset on. The Oculus Quest itself seemed nice. It felt well-made, the headset wasn't distractingly heavy, and the way the controllers worked seemed pretty intuitive once I got used to them. There were
two pistol-grip shaped controllers, one for each hand. On the tops, they had thumbsticks and buttons like you'd find on a console controller. On the front, there was a trigger right where you'd expect it to be, where you could squeeze it with your index finger. Then, on the side of each controller there was a grip button (like another trigger) that you could use by squeezing your middle finger around the controller. You'd move your hands IRL, and your virtual hands would move in the game. You'd reach toward an object and then press the grip button to pick it up. The computer seemed pretty smart about understanding what you were trying to do, and things felt fairly user-friendly and intuitive.
I only played part of the tutorial, but there was one section where I could pick up a paper airplane in the game, and then make a little motion with the controller to throw it. Get it right, and it'd fly. Mess up the throwing motion, and it'd crash. Or at least that's how it seemed to work; I only did a few times. As someone who probably made hundreds of paper airplanes when he was a kid, I thought that was pretty cool that it worked in the game like it does in real life.
From what I could tell, you didn't have to make big gestures or wave your arms around; for what I was doing, small movements were all I needed, but my cousin showed me where he'd done some serious damage to a couple of ceiling tiles in his basement by hitting them with the controllers.
Then there was this target shooting mode, which was where I had the most fun. It wasn't like shooting in a PC game where you move your mouse to aim. You held a gun in your (virtual) hand, moved your hand to point it at the target, and clicked the trigger on the controller to fire. It was point and shoot. It felt really natural. All in all, it was a cool piece of technology. However, my uncle said it cost like $550, including tax. I'm not ready to spend that much for one of my own, but I'd definitely be up for trying my cousin's a couple more times.