I went to Niconico Chogikai today, which is a large convention to promote users of Niconico Douga, which is a video site like youtube. One of the attractions there was "Tokyo Oculand", a VR amusement park. Most of the demos and games there were made by hobbyists, but some were professionally made as well. Here is a list of all the demos/games found in Tokyo Oculand:

I wish my scanner wasn't broken, sorry...

The first game I tried was "Hashilus". It is a multiplayer horse racing game between four people. You ride on an exercise machine that is shaped like a horse's saddle, and it moves like a horse would. You can look at the players next to you while in VR, and see their avatar's heads move as they look around, too. All players move to the start line, the gun sounds, AND THEY'RE OFF! You move the lever (shaped like a horse's reins) in front of you up and down very fast to move forward. There is a fan in front of each player, and the fan intensity increases the faster you go. I won my race against everyone else, and had a blast! The game was immersive, I did sort of feel like I was on a horse. This might have been my 2nd favorite demo there. Here is a video of Palmer on the DK2 version of Hashilus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfSw4Hs9Hrs and, a video of Palmer on the old DK1 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4L8jzDRKTI

Next, was "Little Witch Pie Delivery". You stuck a broom in-between your legs, and then flew through a town, using the direction of the broom as your controller. If you angled the broom in a certain direction, you would fly that way (up, down, left, or right). There was a "turbo" button attached to the broom as well, that you can use if you collect a purple orb. It was fun, but it didn't deliver a lot of immersion. Since you are standing on the ground, it doesn't feel like you are riding on the broom and flying. Here is a video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmWVpWK6-yQ

After that, was "HANZO". It is a game similar to "Kuma's Festival Marksman", but you shoot shurikens at ninjas, instead of a pop-gun at objects. There is a "Shuriken controller" that you use, and you flick a little ball on it to shoot. The shurikens shoot where you are looking. This game is really fast-paced, and was a lot of fun! The art style and animations were great. The ninjas would sometimes jump at you and attack you, which really raised the tension of the game. Here is a video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_QLJO0oMU

Following HANZO, was "Kamome Hikoki". You stood on a platform that flew in-game, and leaned left or right on the platform to steer. It was fun, but you couldn't stop forward movement though, and steering was not very responsive, so I hit walls many, many times. The enviroment was cool, since you flew through some valleys and through the mouth of a volcano.

Next, was "VRIDE", a game where you are riding on a hydraulic platform, and are controlling a mecha. I had to wait over 40 minutes in line to try this, but it was a bit disappointing... The platform moves in a way that feels like the steps of a mech that is walking, but you don't have any control of the mech. The only thing on the joystick that works is the "fire" button, and you fire your chainguns at whatever you look at. It is an on-rail shooter. A video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WMtRMr-dmE

Next up, was 親方、空から女の子が! THIS. DEMO. WAS. INCREDIBLE.

You were put into a very strange-looking contraption, with a bunch of wires going to motors hooked up to rotary encoders and a bunch of sensors. Unity-chan falls down from the sky, and the objective of the game is to catch her without dropping her. You hold onto the two plastic balls seen in the picture above, and as you move them around, your hands & arms in the game move as well. You can move in any direction, and rotate your hands how you want. The hands & arms in the game move just like your real ones, and are in the right position. When Unity-chan finally falls into your hands & arms, the motors connected by wires to the balls you are holding yank back with a lot of force, and it gives the sensation of the weight of a person in your hands & arms. Outside of racing games on my G27 and such, this is the first time I have played a game with accurate tactile feedback in my hands. The two do not compare, though.... this was much better. The force and timing was just right, and it honestly felt like I was catching Unity-chan. The second time I tried to catch her, I subconsciously bent my knees and squatted down, to prepare for the weight of her to drop in my hands. It's the first time I've ever been "tricked" completely by VR on a subconscious level. They did a really, really good job on this. I WANT MORE OF IT! This was my favorite demo there (and my favorite Oculus experience EVER), but there were more great demos to come...

Next, I tried "VRちゃぶ台返し". In this game, you act like an angry old Japanese man, and flip a small table up into the air. An arduino was connected to a folding table, that recorded when you flip the table. The faster and harder you flip the table, the further it flies in the game. This was a huge laugh, for such a simple concept. I shouted out "DAMMNIT, Where's my TEA!!" and threw the table, just to get into the mood ^^; Here is an early prototype of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHAwEG91dS4

After that, was "VR Action".

VR Action was a game where you fight a huge dragon right in front of you, on the ground. You have a phone in one hand that is mapped to your sword, and your other hand (and entire body) is tracked by a Kinect. When you wave your left hand, you shoot magic, and you had to dodge his attacks while slashing with your sword. It was fun, but had a LOT of tracking problems with the Kinect. If he could sort out the tracking problems, it would be in my top 3. Video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScxAhAvmLWo

Next, "OcumaRion!" It was a doll with many sensors attached to it, and when you move the doll's joints, it translates in the game. The author of the game told me that any MMD model with proper bone structure will work with it, and all the stuff can be bought online and put together with not much hastle. I hope he provides more details! A video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8z6252KeFM

Next up was an official Unreal Engine booth. The Unreal rep was showing the "Showdown" demo, that was first demoed on the Crescent Bay in Sept, 2014 for Oculus Connect. I asked him why it was on a DK2 here, and not Crescent Bay... and he said that Oculus won't allow Crescent Bay to be shown in Japan, yet. Comon, Palmer!!! =( I got a bunch of Unreal Engine 4 stickers, at least...

After that, was "VR手筒花火" You held a big Japanese-style handheld firework, and it sprayed out a ton of sparks and fire. It was the only demo there on a DK1. Kind of fun, but there wasn't much 3D effect, and the computer running it had a lot of lag...

Next was "Magical Spirit". It is a mod to Second Life, where you can play an FPS-style magic shooting game against another player. You were given a smartphone, and when you tapped the screen, you moved forward. When you waved the phone, you would shoot magic. I battled the other person next to me, and totally mopped the floor with him :P It was fun! I will look more into this tomorrow, and see if this can be implemented easily into Second Life, and if the code is public. EDIT: Doesn't look like the code is publicly available on their website: http://magicalspirit.synvy.com They are using "Firebase" to write the code though, it seems.

After that, "The Gunner of Dragoon". It used the same horse-saddle as Hashilus, but you are riding a Dragon, holding a gun, and blasting at other Dragons. There was a Leap Motion attached to it, and looked at the wand you are holding. You only flew in a straight line (at very high altitude), and the enemies would always spawn directly in front of you. This has so much potential, but needs more work.... the current implementation is kinda boring.

Next, was "Urban Coaster HARD MODE". This demo had the largest line there... I waited almost 50 minutes. You were riding on a roller coaster through Tokyo... but it is a "swing" type coaster. There was a big fan below you that blew air, the staff would squirt water at you when you went through a waterfall, and would "drop" the ride after the coaster jumped off the tracks and back on again. It was fun, but I was a little disappointed, because there actually wasn't that much of a feeling of presence. It suffers from the same thing that many coaster demos do: taking corners far too fast, with no bank angle. If they polished it more, it would be much better. A video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjfnzszheNo

After that, was "Mother Bird". You were a bird with a big tongue, and picked up worms, then delivered them to some bird chicks up in a nest above you. Flapping your wings was done with the shoulder buttons on an xbox controller. Pretty basic, not much to say.

Next, were "BmNuPR1", and a Yamato model viewer. The Yamato model viewer was really basic... you just explored the deck of the Battleship Yamato. For the other game, it was essentially a BeatMania game on a big screen in front of you. Since you can't see which button you are hitting though, it was quite hard to do.

Following those, was "IrukaLus". It's a game where you ride on a blow-up pool dolphin. You lean side to side to turn, and pull up to jump with the dolphin. It felt like riding on a dolphin, except for when you turned, because the game model wouldn't stay under you during turns... it shot a few feet off to the side. It was fun overall though. Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHH1l2NoXng

Next, was "見習い空賊と天空の少女" You were riding in a flying boat, and had to rescue a girl atop a castle. There was a fan blowing at you, with a mist sprayer for the water parts, which really helps with immersion. At the end, you had to turn around, and look under your legs, to pick up the girl as the flying boat flys over her. This was really fun. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exmp7q4CjDU

I really wanted to try this, but it was for females only.... :/ You would get into bed with one of the female staff, and just lay there looking at each other, with DK2's on your head. I have no idea what they were looking at.

Last, was a jetpack game, "飛べると”. You have to jet around and smash into balloons, similar to the jetpack game in Pilotwings. They strapped on a back supporter and sensor to you, and you sat in a swivel-chair. You held a button, which was your "thrust" button. The direction you leaned determined what direction you would thrust. It was hard at first, but after a minute, I got the hang of the inertia and momentum from jetpack thrusting. It was fun! didn't feel like I was flying in a jetpack, though... There were a few other demos there, but I didn't have time to get to them... such as a cycling game, a mod to HL2, an Autodesk model viewer, and some other game that was broken all day.

Oh, there were some Gear VRs there to try as well. They are all 360 video demos, low res, with no 3D effect though... I think the 1:1 scale Patlabor robot in the corner wants to try some VR too :D I might have been a bit hard or harsh on some of the reviews above, because I've tried just about every Oculus demo out there, and my expectations are really, REALLY high... ^^; There was no game or demo there that I thought was terrible, and the vast majority were quite fun! ＶＲゲームの全部は良かったよ！ If anyone is in the Tokyo area, go to Makuhari Messe tomorrow! See the Niconico Chogikai site for details: http://www.chokaigi.jp/2015/abroadEnglish.html