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Would a bigger television get me back into Pancake gaming?

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
I really like VR, but the lack of AAA games is making me feel I also need to get back into pancake gaming. I currently have a 42" television and I'm just wondering if I get a 55" or 65" television, if this will get me more immersed in a game like VR does? Since VR came along I've struggled to get back into 2D gaming and there's some really good pancake games that will never come to VR.

So do you think a lager screen would get me more immersed in a game or not?
288 REPLIES 288

LZoltowski
Champion
I bought an LG Ultrawide Curved (21:9) 34 incher ...3440x1440 res, made me want to replay some of my favourite games and the level of immersion is incredible, with your peripheral vision filled in. Since most movies are 21:9 aspect ratio, watching them has been a completely new experience, no black bars! It definitely made me play more pancake games.
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black
ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) 

Be kind to one another 🙂

Anonymous
Not applicable
The only downside with this telly is that it's only a 50Hz 4K telly so any 60Hz signal is halved to 30Hz so that it can display it. 1080p at 60Hz isn't a problem though.

I still can't get this Netflix app to work though, I was thinking that it might be down to the 60Hz issue but in the stick settings I changed the resolution from 4K 30Hz to 1080p 60Hz and it still isn't working. Also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app and doing a factory reset and setting the stick up again from scratch but still no dice. Very odd.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Hmmm, my TV has MotionFlow XR 1000 Hz (yup, "one-thousand"), now I'm wondering if that could mean that 30 fps 4K games on the XBox One X will be converted into 60+ fps or better... Actually that may be quite true... Still I think I'll continue waiting for the PS5...

https://youtu.be/wkNJy9zNBAk

Info about the older MotionFlow 200 Hz to illustrate the principle (although the frames have to be recalculated to fit 120 Hz refresh rate):

https://youtu.be/thX6uNI5YFk

https://youtu.be/prF93YQJW_0

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
So tonight I completed the entire collection of, The Longest Journey. It took me damn near a year!

I played the original release of Longest Journey back in 1999, and it always stuck with me as one of my favorite adventure series of all time. For me it comes second only to Myst/Riven.

I knew of the sequel, Dreamfall, back in 2006 but I kept prolonging acquiring it. Then in 2017 they released the third and final chapter (or chapters I should say), with the Dreamfall Chapters - the Final Cut.

I started from the very first 1999 version of the game and played all the way to the end. I began replaying them in summer of 2018, and finished everything tonight, in March of 2019.

I found the entire experience and story to be quite amazing. Which is why I am posting about it.

But I also can't help but notice that it took me way too damn long to get through what should have taken maybe 2-3 months tops. A large part of this is simply due to the fact that... not matter how challenging, compelling, or intriguing a game is, in the end if it is not an immersive experience (VR) then I'm gonna struggle committing time to it.

In contrast, I have completed over a dozen VR Games in the last year, and have written reviews about the most memorable. So this experience is just more confirmation (to me) that pancake gaming has taken a permanent back seat. There are other flat games I do plan to engage in, such as the Metro series. But I can't even imagine how long it'll take me to play through them (assuming I can actually commit to the end).

It's not just PC games that have suffered in this way. Consoles are even worse. It was a damn chore to play through Assassin's Creed, and any time I load a console it's usually just to show someone something real quick.

Then there's mobile app gaming. Where I once enjoyed mobile games like Clash of Clans, I haven't even installed a mobile game since I acquired my Rift in 2016.

Once true AAA VR Titles start hitting the market, pancake gaming will be in for some serious change. I imagine that flat gaming will serve as an extension to VR Gaming. Although this shift probably won't happen until 2025 or later.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
I fully agree with Zenbane's last post, but also - maybe - large black 4K mirrors may work their magic to some extend when gaming in true 4K (not upscaled). This is gaming in true 4K (PC) on a 75" 4K TV comparing PC and consoles (PS4 Pro 4K upscaled and more). The depth of the perceived image is indeed much better in 4K, when everything is sharp.

https://youtu.be/CfMlqiaYrlo

Then again - even though the 2D image quality is great, you don't have real arms and hands in game - and remember that the VR screen is virtually unlimited = *much* bigger than any 2D TV will ever be. No matter the resolution and image quality I don't think any TV can even remotely beat VR. But if you're used to gaming in 2K on a small TV, then using a large 4K TV in 60+ fps (native 4K res) may be a night and day experience. 

I might get this player next week and see if I can see any difference between 4K vs. "1080p upscaled to 4K" in movies - most persons I've asked about this couldn't see any difference, but of course movies are a 24 fps blurry mess 😉

drck2dq4tenk.jpg
Fun thing - this is the Sony UBP-X800, and there's also the Sony UBP-X1000ES, which more or less looks exactly the same when turned off - but X1000ES is 2 or 3 times as expensive compared to X800. Among Amazon users, some observed the X1000ES to have much better image quality than the X800. This is quite funny, because X800 and X1000ES (and even the X700) use exactly the same drive and image processers. So the image quality is exactly the same comparing X700, X800 and X1000ES (even Sony has admitted that). But the X1000ES has much better audio options (including optical output and much more - and it has a front display, while X800 is pure Japanese minimalism - requiring a TV for display). My point with all this being that knowing you payed more for option A vs. B may introduce a cognitive bias, and may get you to notice things that aren't true. Therefore we need blinded-experiments to get rid of all the mumbo-jumbo. And therefore videos like this one is of great interest (love the white coats and the protective glasses - does Linus expect the monitors to like ... explode? 😄 😞

https://youtu.be/ehvz3iN8pp4

But note that they're using relatively small screens for gaming. For 4K I'd love to see a similar blinded test using really big TVs - like 75" or larger (like the first video in this post, but the reviewer was not blinded in that video and may - at least to some degree - be subject to a cogitive bias).

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

pyroth309
Visionary
Zen, the good news is the first 2 Metro games are only about 12 hours each unless you're a completionist, but Exodus took me more like 35. Game definitely drags on in the middle of it, but not bad enough to make me quit playing. It was worth it because the end is awesome. 

I agree Rune that if you compare them with the same game, then VR is a more impressive/better experience. But it comes back to content for me. One of the most impressive games I have ever experienced in VR is Titan Slayer...and it's like 20 minutes long. But battling huge bosses like that and having to side step attacks really opened my eyes early to the potential of VR. Now we just need a game like that that's 30+ hours lol. It really made me dream about playing a MMORPG with that kind of combat in VR. Sadly though, Titan Slayer was one of the earliest games I bought and I'm still waiting for something to compare to it that's longer. 

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
Has to be a really good 2D game to get me interested. I have lots of 2D PC games that I need to play, but soon get fed up with. But I purchased a PlayStation just because I didn't want to miss out on Red Dead Redemption 2, and I have to say I just love this game. If Red Dead Redemption 2 came to VR, it would be a dream come true. I also like games like Xcom 2 and other strategy games, but VR has come nowhere near delivering something like Xcom 2.  

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

pyroth309 said:

Zen, the good news is the first 2 Metro games are only about 12 hours each unless you're a completionist, but Exodus took me more like 35. Game definitely drags on in the middle of it, but not bad enough to make me quit playing. It was worth it because the end is awesome. 




I started the first Metro game tonight!

It does pull you in much quicker and time just flies by due to nature of the "mission" approach. The same thing happens to me in games like StarCraft where the story of the Campaign that connects missions together makes you forget how long you've been playing.

A 12 hour game is right up my alley. That's like VR game numbers lol

pyroth309
Visionary

Zenbane said:


pyroth309 said:

Zen, the good news is the first 2 Metro games are only about 12 hours each unless you're a completionist, but Exodus took me more like 35. Game definitely drags on in the middle of it, but not bad enough to make me quit playing. It was worth it because the end is awesome. 




I started the first Metro game tonight!

It does pull you in much quicker and time just flies by due to nature of the "mission" approach. The same thing happens to me in games like StarCraft where the story of the Campaign that connects missions together makes you forget how long you've been playing.

A 12 hour game is right up my alley. That's like VR game numbers lol


Yea, 4A games has exceptional storytelling. I was kind of disappointed with Arktika.1 even though I enjoyed it. It became obvious after the first couple of missions that they simply didn't have the budget or time to make it up to their usual standards. It's a very Poor man's metro. 

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
Am I wrong in thinking you can play Metro in big screen using 3D? I know I've done this with a few 3D capable games and it's not bad if you pull the screen quite close to you.