The Gear VR is relatively cheap at $100, but needs separate headphones and a recent Samsung phone.
Samsung has made history of a sort by launching the first major consumer-oriented virtual reality headset. (It comes with an asterisk; prototypes and other not-quite-mass-market versions have been available for a while.) And its Gear VR headset is pretty impressive as first-generation devices go.
The biggest surprise after using the new Gear VR for a few days: There’s a lot of stuff to watch and play in the virtual worlds the headset opens up. Granted, some of that material is gimmicky. But the best of it hint at some of the mind-expanding experiences VR can make possible.
The Gear VR is relatively cheap, too, at just $100. You do need your own headphones, preferably wireless, plus a recent Samsung phone — the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge Plus or Note 5. If you don’t already have one, the package could set you back nearly $1,000. (Other VR systems will also need companion devices, such as high-end personal computers.)
Samsung developed the Gear VR with the virtual-reality startup Oculus (now part of Facebook). It supplants the $200 “innovator edition” Samsung has sold for a year. That earlier prototype was mainly intended to build enthusiasm for VR and to help developers start producing games and apps for it. Samsung bills the new model as its first consumer VR product, although it still requires some savvy on the consumer’s part to use.
ABOUT THE DEVICE
Your phone attaches to the front of the Gear VR headset, just in front of the lens for your eyes. Put the headset on, and your surroundings disappear as the phone screen opens a window into an unreal, three-dimensional world. As you turn your head, the image shifts accordingly to give the sense of being there in real life. You can even turn all the way around to see what’s behind you. The screen projects slightly different perspectives to your left and right eyes to give the virtual world depth.
The Gear VR wasn’t easy to set up. I had trouble figuring out where all the Velcro straps and hooks were supposed to go. I couldn’t get the phone to snap into place. I needed the manual to find a lever I had to switch because I had a larger phone, the Note 5.
Many consumers might need help from a tech-savvy friend or kid.
I also got frustrated having to wait for apps and video to download — a few minutes in some cases. The Gear VR can stream relatively few videos for instant playback.
WHAT TO DO WITH IT
Fortunately, it was worth the wait most of the time, even if many of the videos seemed like concepts intended to demonstrate the Future of Virtual Reality or are merely promotions for regular movies and TV shows. A lot of it is free, though some videos or apps will set you back $2 to $10.
And some apps were surprisingly absorbing. The notion of the Netflix app, which streams video to a virtual TV in front of you, initially seemed silly. Why not watch a real TV? Well, the virtual TV is huge, much larger than what I could afford in real life. And VR also removes the distractions surrounding you — such as Facebook.
Repeat viewings sometimes turned up unexpected detail. Not until a second viewing of a Cirque du Soleil video did I notice performers to my left and right.
In a horror video, I initially kept my eyes on a woman in distress; only later did I see scary creatures crawling out of a playground. You’re no longer stuck with whatever the director chooses for you.
But one video of the Oct. 13 Democratic presidential debate was disappointing. There were four VR cameras around the room, but you couldn’t pick the one to watch. And in 3-D, candidates looked like dolls on stage. It was a novel idea, but it’ll take time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. This one was also long, while the best ones were typically a few minutes each.
A few apps also have interactive elements.
One lets you walk around a cafe depicted in the Vincent Van Gogh painting “The Night Cafe.” Another lets you explore an island and solve puzzles to open doors. It made me nauseous, though. It’ll be great to see interactive storytelling, with plot lines that change depending on which rooms you choose to explore.
COMPARISONS
The Gear VR is meant for use while sitting down, ideally in a swivel chair. You can’t walk around and explore your virtual environment. (You might trip over the ottoman or break things if you tried.)
The upcoming HTC Vive does offer that kind of walkabout experience, though you’ll also need an uncluttered room. That offers the possibility of brand-new VR experiences, such as walking around the surface of Mars or the interior of a building you just designed.
The Vive, along with the Sony PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift, will do much more than Gear VR, but will likely cost many times the $100 the Gear VR will set you back.
Samsung’s gadget is impressive for the price.
The Samsung Gear VR is more than just another fancy gaming platform. Thanks to appsthat can teach you another language, let you get up close and personal with marine life or put you at the top of Mount Everest, the headset is your portal to an ever-growing number of worlds. Unlike regular media, the Gear VR offers total immersion, making you an active participant in your new environment. Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide APPS Want to browse the Web, watch a movie with friends or learn a new language? The Apps section is a hodgepodge of helpful software. Netflix (Free) 
You won't have the ability to watch House of Cards or Orange is the New Black with a 360-degree perspective, but watching Netflix on the Gear VR is fun nonetheless. Transforming your room into a private theater on a mountainside chalet, you'll be impressed by the sharp detail on some of your favorite series. Just don't forget the popcorn. Gamepad optional. Oculus Social (Free) 
Who says that VR is a lonely man's game? Currently in the alpha phase of testing, Oculus Social lets a group of six chat and watch Twitch and Vimeo content in a virtual theater. When it launches, Samsung is hoping viewers will use the headset to watch live streams or television shows with friends and loved ones, no matter where they are physically. Headset only. Oculus Video (Free) If you manage to exhaust Netflix's massive catalog, you can always check out Oculus Video, which includes original and user-generated content. Thanks to the partnership with Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox, you can rent or purchase such films as The Evil Dead and Pulp Fiction. Viewers searching for the next indie darling should feel freeto search Vimeo’s vast library or catch a live stream from Twitch. Gamepad optional. Samsung Internet (Free) Currently in beta, SamsungInternet (SI) is a like a virtual-reality Minority Report. Instead of your usual series of browsers, SI relies on a series of floating panels to display your current or recent Web visits. And forget about typing in your searches; a simple "OK, Google," and you're off to the races. The tabs you're not using will be patiently waiting in the background and will come to the front with a simple look. Gamepad optional. House of Languages (Free) How do you say, "Pass me the popcorn" in German? Learn this and more in House of Languages, an educational appthat can help you become fluent in German or Spanish. Incorporating 10 locations — such as the zoo, cafe or airport — the app will teach you words and phrases that you'd actually use in real-life conversations with your cute little virtual guide, Mr. Woo. Gamepad optional. Vrse (Free) Ever wonder what it feels like to be in the middle of a protest in the heart of New York City? Now you can find out, sans the threat of arrest, with the Vrse app. Pulling from resources such as Vice News, Vrse is your one-stop shop for gritty on-the-scene reporting as well as viewing short independent films. This app is poised to become one of the leading methods of storytelling in the virtual space. Headset only. Night Cafe (Free) To get an idea of how immersive virtual reality can be, drop in on the Night Cafe. Borrowed Light Studios has turned Vincent van Gogh's painting into a 3D scene you can stroll around, to see the inside of the cafe from every angle. Add some surprise appearances from other van Gogh paintings — you'll spot sunflowers on a mantle, starry nights through a window and even a self-portrait of the artist himself — and it's like diving into the world as van Gogh saw it. Headset only Speech Center VR (Free) Standing behind a podium in a crowded conference room may not have been the virtual world you dreamed of visiting, but if public speaking makes you sweat, it just may be the kind of setting you need. Speech Center VR places you at the center of attention, letting you work on presentations and offering pointers to overcome any fears of public speaking. It's the kind of app that demonstrates how VR headsets can educate as well as entertain. Headset only EXPERIENCES Comprised of more esoteric offerings, Experiences cover everything from educational virtual tours to innovative storytelling programs. theBluVR (Free) "Darling, it's better, down where it's wetter." With the Gear VR, you don't have to take Sebastian's word for it; you can see it yourself with theBluVR. Instead of the usual human perspective, this experience places you in the body of several denizens of the deep — from manta rays to Arctic-bound killer whales to majestic blue whales — as a helpful narrator guides you along. It's a mesmerizing app you have see to believe. Headset only. Neon Museum - Massive Square Inc. (Free) It's not like seeing your name in lights, but it's the next best thing. Instead of traveling all the way to Las Vegas to experience the Neon Museum, you can take a tour from the comfort of your own home. Narrated by a helpful museum guide, patrons will have the opportunity to gaze upon some of the more famous signage of old Vegas, like the Sahara. Headset only. Perfect Beach ($2.99) This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Go to your happy place." Designed as a meditation tool, Perfect Beach transports Gear VR wearers to tropical paradise, complete with blue skies, palm trees and gently lapping water. You have the option to follow the guided meditation exercises or import your favorite music or podcasts to beat a hasty retreat from the stresses of the real world. Headset only. Mars Is A Real Place ($2.99) Just because you're not an astronaut doesn't mean you can't get to Mars. DrashVR's educational app, Mars Is A Real Place, allows curious stargazers to check out the Red Planet without having to go through all that training. Using more than 60 high-resolution stereoscopic 3D shots, you can check out the planet's surface and geologic formations, as well as see the view from orbit. Headset only. Sherlock Holmes: The Wagner Ritual ($2.99) It's Elementary, my dear reader! In Sherlock Holmes: The Wagner Ritual, you step into the shoes of the world's greatest detective as he works to solve one of his earliest mysteries. Set in a 360-degree world, you'll explore various locations in Zurich, Switzerland, investigating key objects to progress further in the case. You'll also be privy to Holmes' inner monologue as well as banter between the detective and his bumbling assistant as you make your way through this interactive mystery. Headset only.
Best Gear VR Games
Amazing, insane, goofy, immersive, trippy — these are just a few of the adjectives we'd use to describe the virtual-reality experience you get with the Samsung Gear VR. The $99 Gear VR makes you feel like you're physically in an imaginary world. It's a brand-new frontier for gamesthat offers a level of immersion that gamers had previously only experienced in fevered dreams.
If you've ever imagined having the power to move things with your mind or piloting a tricked-out spaceship with just a tilt of your head, then you're in the right place. There's even a multiplayer game, so your friends can join in on the fun.
Here are the best games that the Gear VR and the Oculus store have to offer.
Land's End - ($7.99)
The makers of the critically acclaimed Monument Valley bring their beautiful artwork and penchant for devilishly complicated puzzles to Gear VR in Land's End. Set on a mysterious island, you're on a quest to revive an ancient civilization using the power of your mind (OK, head movements) to manipulate objects throughout the locale to get closer to the end goal. It's challenging, immersive and downright captivating. Headset only
Into the Dead - ($8.99)
It's two parts Temple Run mixed with one part Dead Trigger. Into the Dead takes a ghoulish spin on the popular endless runner. Once the game begins, your job is to stay alive by navigating through the zombie hordes by moving the left analog stick when one of the undead rears its decomposing head. But fear not, power-ups sprinkled throughout the course will provide guns and even a canine companion to help you run to safety relatively unscathed. Gamepad required
MORE: Best Gear VR Apps
Herobound: Spirit Champion - ($9.99)
If you ever wanted to be a goblin, now is your chance. Herobound: First Steps is a third-person dungeon crawler where you play as the chosen warrior of the Spirit of Life on a mission to freefour captured spirits. During the course of your quest, you'll hack and slash through with the help of your trusty Bluetooth controller. While the action is pretty entertaining, we can't get over how cute the majority of the monsters are. Who knew that mini red-eyed skeletons could be so adorable? Gamepad required
Adventure Time: Magic Man's Head Games - ($4.99)
This latest title from Cartoon Network'spopular animated series pits heroes Finn and Jake against Magic Man, a known troublemaker in the Land of Ooo. Players are on a mission to reverse a curse on Tiny, the protagonists' newest friend, in this third-party platformer. You'll run, jump, fight and stretch your way through the colorful world in a 360-degree playground. Gamepad required
Anshar Wars 2 - ($14.99)
If you're looking for fast-paced first-person shooter action experience through the cockpit of a fighter ship in space, then you've come to the right place. The fight against the vicious Nergal continues, and it's up to you to repel wave after wave of enemy ships in Anshar Wars 2. Utilizing a totally hands-free control scheme, players can control their ship by a quick tilt of the head while firing off a myriad of weapons. It's not Star Wars, but we'll definitely take it. Gamepad optional
Drift ($15)
In most first-person shooters, you fire bullets; in Drift, you are the bullet. You zip around a virtual world, avoiding obstacles as you try and reach your target. The game's visuals are colorful and distinct, though you won't have much time to admire the view as you hurtle through space. We've only had a little hands-on time with Drift, but from what we can see, this bullet simulator is on the mark. Headset only
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes - ($9.99)
One of the first multiplayer VR games, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes places you into a room with a procedurally generated time bomb. It's up to your friends in the real world, who can't see the bomb, to give you directions so you can defuse the bomb before time runs out. In a race against time, are your friendships and communication skills strong enough to survive? Headset only
Audio Arena ($4.99)
The rhythm is going to get you in Audio Arena, but not if you get it first. This musical battle game from Soundome Studios puts you in a 360-degree battle zone, with enemy dots appearing on the beat of the music. You wipe them out by swiveling your head to seize power-ups; grabbing those power-ups on the beat boosts your score. All those years of bopping your head along to music are finally going to pay off. Headset only
Arcade (Beta) - Free
Gamers nostalgic for the arcades of the '80 and '90's can scratch that itch in the Oculus Arcade. After choosing among the three partners — Midway, Sega and Namco Bandai — you'll be transported to a virtual arcade complete with old-school cabinets. Classic titles such as Gauntlet, Joust, Streets of Rage, Galaga, Sonic the Hedgehog and Altered Beast are waiting to take you back to the good-old days of 8- and 16-bit graphics. Gamepad required
Dreadhalls - ($4.99)
Gamers looking for a good scare should definitely check out Dreadhalls. In the game, set in a large dungeon, your job is to escape while surviving the myriad of dangers lurking in the dark. But don't worry; developer White Door Games was nice enough to equip you with a small lantern to help you make your way through. You get no weapons, just some lock picks and a small light. Yeah, good luck with that. Gamepad required
VR Karts: Sprint - ($4.99)
If you're a fan of Mario Kart, you'll enjoy VR Karts: Sprint. Similar to the Nintendo title, you can race down several tracks collecting power-ups and unleashing havoc on your opponents. But thanks to the immersive first-person perspective, levying an attack and roaring into first place is a bit more personal and so much more satisfying. Be warned: The rapid motion of navigating the track can make some drivers a little queasy, earning VR Karts its "comfortable for some" rating. Gamepad required
Bazaar - ($9.99)
For all those times you wanted to ride Carpet from Disney's Aladdin, there's Bazaar. Tasked with collecting stolen relics, you'll be navigating a magic carpet with your eyes. And if you get lost, just look to the skies and plot your course using the constellations. And if that wasn't cool enough, you'll be traipsing through a pastel-colored labyrinth, all while avoiding various booby traps, sea cobras and crocodiles. Headset only
The Samsung Gear VR is now available for $99. It's not a bad price, considering it is the very first virtual reality headset designed for mass consumption. But is virtual reality ready for the masses, and are the masses ready for virtual reality? The new Gear VR is actually the second version of the headset. The first version, which Samsung calls the Innovator Edition, is a developer version designed to attract app developers to build content for the platform before it comes out for the general public. If you have never tried out the developer version, as most consumers may not have, you might find the Gear VR unwieldy to set up, despite the changes Samsung made to the design. You'll need, first and foremost, the headset itself, one of Samsung's flagship smartphones, an ear-cupping headset (preferably wireless) for fully immersive sound, and a wireless gamepad. "The Gear VR wasn't easy to set up," says Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press. "I had trouble figuring out where all the Velcro straps and hooks were supposed to go. I couldn't get the phone to snap into place. I needed the manual to find a lever I had to switch because I had a larger phone, the Note 5. Many consumers might need help from a tech-savvy friend or kid." For all the trouble you may go through, however, the Gear VR may still be worth it. As expected, the consumer-ready version features a lot of major improvements over the Innovator Edition. The very first thing you'll notice, if you've tried on the developer version, is how much lighter and more comfortable the Gear VR is. Specifically, the headset now weighs 0.64 pounds, compared to the full pound weight of the developer version. In fact, as Will Shanklin of Gizmag says, majority of the headset's weight actually comes from the phone that serves as the screen. It also now has a bit more padding and more room for people wearing eyeglasses. Unfortunately, as with all other VR headsets, the Gear VR is not without discomfort. Users can expect varying degrees of dizziness, motion sickness and nausea, depending on their tolerance. The problem comes from the discrepancy created between what your eyes see onscreen and what your brain expects to see. Samsung deals with this problem by incorporating more motion sensors into the headset and promises a 20-millisecond motion delay, but the problem is not completely eradicated. "After maybe 40 minutes of gaming, I noticed my forehead beginning to get sweaty from the heat of the screen, the bridge of my nose aching," says Ben Popper of The Verge. "VR is funny that way. I didn't find the headset too heavy, but its physical, visceral effects came at a cost. Each half-hour session left me with a slight headache and disorientation that bordered on nausea." Samsung and Oculus address this problem by including a comfort level indicator for each of the apps in the Oculus Store, with some apps labeled as "Comfortable for some" and "Comfortable for most." It's important that users deliberately adjust to their surroundings as they slip in and out of VR instead of fully jumping into the experience. "As far as what you can tolerate, take it easy," TechCrunch's Drew Olanoff says. "If you're made dizzy easily, just try something light out like a Netflix movie. Get used to blocking out everything that's around you for a little while. There's nobody judging you or anyone scoring you on how 'VR cool' you are." Speaking of apps, you will find a relatively huge variety of content from the Oculus Store. One of the early problems for virtual reality was the lack of content to make it truly consumer-ready, but the Oculus Store contains around a hundred apps and games as well as some 70 films from Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox. And while some of these may be the short, gimmicky trailers you'd expect from a new platform (you can watch Netflix and other films on a virtual TV screen on a virtual couch), several pieces of content showcase just how far into the future VR can take us. Land's End, for instance, is a Zen puzzle game that has you floating over a gorgeous beach setting while solving puzzles. Popper describes how it feels like to walk and float about in VR while part of your brain knows there's another kind of reality out there. "I knew the 'presence' it produced was strong when, standing on the edge of a cliff, I found myself unable to move my feet toward the edge — the lizard part of my brain insisting that the drop was real," he says. "Moving my feet wouldn't actually move me in VR space, there is no positional tracking, but I still couldn't do it." Partly, it's because the Gear VR is not yet so technologically advanced to provide a really immersive experience. For instance, most reviewers have mentioned a light flickering on the side of the screen that's caused by the relatively low resolution of the Galaxy smartphones. As standalone handsets, the S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and Note 5 have a phenomenal number of pixels, but as VR screens, they're only fair enough for the price. "You won't mistake what you see in there for reality — you can clearly make out pixels, like when you'd sit too close to an old tube TV," says Geoffrey A. Fowler of the Wall Street Journal. "Yet using the Gear VR for a week, I frequently found myself getting wrapped up in its virtual worlds, for longer and longer stretches." So, is it worth picking up the Gear VR at the nearest store where it is available? If you already have one of Samsung's flagship phones, it is definitely a must-have. And since it's a less-than-$100 addition to your smartphone, it shouldn't be too much of a burden on the pocket. However, non-Samsung users will have to shell out $99 plus at least $650 for the price of one of the Galaxy flagships. If you're considering spending several hundreds of dollars for a VR headset, you might want to consider waiting it out for the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive next year. Sure, they are going to cost so much more (since you'll need a powerful PC that'll at least cost $1,000), but they are also expected to offer so much more as well, including hand-tracking to allow you to interact with VR objects. Still, the Gear VR is certainly an important part of VR history, and it will be written down in the books as the first headset that launched accessible VR for the masses. "Gear VR reminds me of the Atari 2600, that affordable game console that brought Pac-Man home," says WSJ's Fowler. And the Oculus Rift is expected to be the SNES of VR.
Samsung Gear VR Review: The Future is Now
Virtual reality has always been one of the most elusive aspects of modern technology. We’ve had motion controllers that do a decent job of replicating things like tennis, and 3D TVs can make you feel like you’ve got snowballs flying at your face for a few minutes before your eyes hurt too much, but we’ve never really been able to tap into that true sense of immersion and presence of self that is required for actual virtual reality to work. That is, until now. I’m not going to waste time in this review boring you with the technical details about the device – you can look that up in the product details on your online retailer of choice’s website – but I will instead focus on what you need to know from a practical gamer’s perspective. How does it feel when you wear it? Is it easy to control? Are there any good games on it worth downloading or paying for? And most importantly, should you buy it? Well, the short answer to all of those questions is that the Samsung Gear VR is a beautiful device that I can hardly stop playing. Samsung and Oculus were smart when they designed this to be as consumer-friendly as possible because you don’t even really need to spend more than a minute or two in the instruction manual. Once you plug your phone into the front of the headset, it walks you through the entire setup process and even teaches you how to control everything. The right side of the headset has a touchpad for swiping, a back button for navigation, and volume toggles. Those controls, the wonderful display, and the motion-detection technology are all you need to get going with some great VR experiences. The Introduction to VR video, BluVR, some of the 360 photos, and the Battle for Avengers Tower are all great starting points for someone new to the device. Once you feel comfortable and don’t think you’re going to pass out, you can move on to some of the games like Smash Hit, the first Anshar Wars, and Temple Run VR – all of which can be played for free without a controller. Then once you get a compatible bluetooth controller and start dropping some cash on games, you can enjoy even more great stuff. And they’ve been doing a decent job of adding new games and experiences steadily over time. 
As someone that requires glasses to get farther than two steps from my bed every day, the Samsung Gear VR is actually incredibly versatile. For games that don’t require reading a lot of text, I found that zooming the focus wheel all the way in was sufficient to enjoy most games and videos. If I absolutely needed to wear my glasses however, the headset was just roomy enough for me to wear them, although I wouldn’t recommend it if you can at all avoid it. Scratching your glasses or the high-quality and delicate Gear VR’s lenses are very real concerns. The stock straps that come with the device could be better. The velcro isn’t the most resilient and they don’t do much in the way of improving the wearability of the headset. I have a comparatively large head, and it was difficult for me to get it to fit properly at times. And as someone that often gets a sweaty forehead, I can imagine the head padding being less than clean after a while. If you’re intrigued about the idea of smartphone-powered virtual reality, then you should get one of these headsets. If you want to experience cutting-edge technology from the comfort of your home, then you should get one of these headsets. If you’re unsure about whether or not the Samsung Gear VR is for you, then you should still get one of these headsets and realize your reservations are misplaced. If you get motion sickness easily, dislike amazing things, or genuinely aren’t interested in a more immersive way of consuming passive and interactive media, then sure, maybe don’t get one. But even then, at least find someone that has one and give it a try. 
With the release of the Samsung Gear VR headset, true virtual reality is not only a thing, but it’s widely available to the public – as long as you’ve got a compatible Samsung smartphone, of course. And it’s not a long list of compatible phones at this time, just the S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, and Note 5. That’s it. But if you do have one of those phones, or are thinking about upgrading to one of those phones, then the Gear VR is an absolute no-brainer at only $100. Virtual reality is here, it’s beautiful, and it’s waiting for you to dive in head-first.
Let’s get this out of the way: if you own a new Samsung phone and have some level of disposable income, the Gear VR is absolutely worth $100. Discounting Google Cardboard clones, it’s the most portable headset ever made. Unlike the Rift or Vive, it doesn’t tie its users up with wires or require a bulky external computer. And with its thin straps (which are much more compact than on earlier versions of the Gear VR), it finally fits in a normal-sized messenger bag or purse. The tradeoffs this requires aren’t nearly as noticeable as one might expect. The lack of positional tracking, for example, creates the jarring experience of being unable to lean or duck. But developers have worked around the issue well enough that it’s often easy to forget about it. The fuzzy headset padding feels like a dirt and sweat magnet, but I managed to wear it on top of a full face of makeup and barely left a smudge. Whatever its shortcomings, the Gear VR is absolutely worth $100 For all that, though, the Gear VR is clearly meant for very specific situations. Under ideal conditions, the experience is seamless, if not flawless. Under anything less, it’s probably fine for about five minutes at a time. Beyond that, it ranges from mildly uncomfortable to nearly unbearable. And while the limits make total sense, they can still come as a surprise once the first thrills have worn off. The biggest issue, by far, is paradoxically one of VR’s big selling points: 360-degree immersion. In order to take full advantage of the medium’s capabilities, you’ve got to be able to fully turn around, whether you’re doing so to catch details in a video or change direction in a game. While most reviews have mentioned that a swivel chair works best for this, it’s really that the Gear VR is often nearly unusable without one. When you stop and think, this is obvious. But for most people, it means that the headset can be tethered to a desk (or more specifically, an office chair) as much as any Rift or Vive. It limits all kinds of uses that seem completely intuitive — like sitting on the couch, lying in bed, or riding in a car. Watching Netflix or other flatscreen video is possible, as is using the web browser and playing certain games, but some of the highest-quality experiences quickly turn into a recipe for whiplash and sore shoulders. Standing while playing is feasible, albeit somewhat disorienting without any kind of motion tracking. But it’s still a distinct barrier, compounded by the fact that simulator sickness is still hovering around the corners of many VR experiences. I’m in roughly the middle of the motion sickness spectrum, and I had to consciously avoid anything that would trigger it, especially heat or stuffy rooms. When your landlord runs stifling central heating all winter, this is easier said than done. It doesn’t help that while the Gear VR is noticeably lighter than its predecessors, it still digs into your face after an hour or less of use. We try out Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes at GDC 2015. The temple trackpad, meanwhile, is an increasingly weird substitute for a conventional controller. Keeping your arm raised is quickly tiring. And using the very sensitive pad is an exercise in keeping your hand close enough to find it without sight, but not so close that you keep accidentally tapping it. Samsung lets you separately buy its Bluetooth gamepad, but it’s clearly not tailored for Gear VR, and only meant to be used for the occasional controller-based game. This is mostly baffling because it seems extremely possible to transfer the exact same trackpad interface to something like a small handheld remote — the Gear VR’s version of a detachable stylus. It’s not surprising that something as totally new as mobile virtual reality would require changes to how we think about consuming entertainment. If you assume that VR will succeed, it’s easy to imagine a future where La-Z-Boy recliners have been replaced by swivel chairs, or even by more active peripherals like the omnidirectional treadmill — chairs are supposed to be terrible for our health anyways. Games like EVE: Gunjack, an arcade-style shooter, already work with a limited range of motion, and more developers may eventually back away from full 360-degree turning. There could be a huge number of exciting changes in the works. VR entertainment requires radically rethinking the living room But it’s possible to look at this much less optimistically. The best technology is something you buy for one purpose and keep finding new uses for. Gear VR is the opposite — using it is a process of figuring out all kinds of fascinating ways it doesn’t work. There’s the occasional welcome surprise, like the fact that playing games in cars made me motion sick, but watching movies seemed to actually help. But there are also a lot of basic logistical problems, like the fact that it interprets every turn in a car or subway track as head motion and turns your view around to match. I can’t think of a successful home entertainment technology that required so much rethinking of conventional wisdom. I also can’t think of a successful medium that punished users for enjoying it longer than half an hour (or less) at a time. I can come up with one notably unsuccessful example, however: the Nintendo Virtual Boy, a supposedly portable device that had to be propped on a table, used a one-color screen, and paused every 15 minutes to prevent headaches and nausea. The Virtual Boy was widely panned, but looking back, reviewers could be strikingly forgiving of what we remember as its biggest shortcomings — arguing that the one-color screen was just like the popular Game Boy, or that a certain amount of headache was simply the price of entry. The fact that the Virtual Boy was unique could make any number of flaws seem insignificant. The difference is that the Gear VR headset is comparatively extremely cheap, and that modern VR’s highs are exponentially higher than what Nintendo imagined in the mid-'90s. The Virtual Boy never inspired the sense of awe that someone gets from watching a circus or diving to the bottom of the sea. Watching someone try a Gear VR for the first time is a thing of wonder. But that sense of awe ends up compensating for serious flaws in the actual content. Despite standouts like Cirque du Soleil show Kurios and refugee documentary The Displaced, there’s a lot of chaff in the Gear VR’s video offerings. Oculus has struck deals with studios like Felix & Paul, so it’s slightly strange that Facebook and Samsung didn’t use their considerable funds to commission a meaty, well-publicized video series at launch, something to draw users in for the days and weeks after release. The VR fiction series Gone looks exactly like this, but its 5-minute episodes are supposedly being strung out over months, and it’s still in the teaser stage. Compared to the scattershot videos, Samsung and Oculus have pulled together a decent games catalog, with more coming out weekly. I played maybe half a dozen I'd voluntarily boot up again, and three I'd play as long as I might a mobile or PC game: cooperative bomb defusal game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, compelling point-and-click adventure Dead Secret, and my longtime personal favorite, the hacking game Darknet. Still, most of them — including those three — feel a little thin or unfinished, like beta versions awaiting new levels and more polished mechanics or graphics. And it’s worrying that the catalog’s tentpole is arguably Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It’s a fantastic and creative project, but one that belongs to the inherently limited local multiplayer genre — in other words, it’s a great party game, but people only throw so many parties. This is, obviously, the "chicken and the egg" problem of virtual reality: people won’t make games unless the headsets sell well, and the headsets can’t sell unless people make games. But it didn’t help that the Gear VR’s launch strategy — two generations of limited-release beta hardware, initially without any kind of payment system — incentivized no-budget demos and game jam projects so strongly. This is probably better than the first wave of Android and iOS games, but those games were padding out a system that people already used for other reasons. Entertainment is the Gear VR’s entire raison d’etre. Headsets are perpetually on the verge of mainstream use Virtual reality is perpetually on the verge of being ready for the mainstream, and the consumer Gear VR feels right on that verge. Whatever Samsung says, this — not last year’s Innovator Edition — is the public beta of mobile VR, the point at which we learn what works, what people want, and whether they’ll pay for it. That’s a great sign, and a great testbed for future projects. The most interesting parts of the Gear VR are the ones that make it feel like an actual platform, even if they’re not all that useful right now. The pass-through camera could someday power a VR version of Snapchat or Instagram. The social apps are still low profile, but virtual worlds like AltspaceVR offer an interesting sense of shared presence. The web browser mostly seems like a substitute for a real YouTube app, and using it makes me feel like a caricature of a B-movie computer geek. But there’s something intangibly awesome about being able to navigate an open system that I use every day. "Don’t mind me, I’m just reading Tumblr... in virtual reality." When I recommend the Gear VR, though, I’m still recommending the general concept of virtual reality, not long-term experiences that the medium facilitates. And I’m recommending it in spite of a slew of shortcomings, including a propensity for causing physical pain. This isn’t like complaining that a phone has a low-resolution screen, it’s like warning buyers that the screen is covered in very fine glass splinters. Yes, this is all getting better. Oculus quite reasonably puts truly mainstream VR several years away, and products like the Rift or HTC’s Vive will offer a totally different set of experiences. Even if the Gear VR hasn’t quite clicked for me, it’s still the product of some ingenious engineering, supported by a lot of very smart developers and artists. This is just the beginning, so it's not fair to write anything off just yet. At some point, though, we have to start treating VR as a product, not a promise At some point, though, we have to start treating virtual reality hardware as a product, not a promise. The Gear VR is not that point, and I’m comfortable with that. Now that the first consumer headset is up for sale, though, how long will it be until we can make that call? Will it be the first generation of high-end headsets, like the Rift and Vive? Or the launch of PlayStation VR, the first of those headsets that doesn't require a high-end computer too? Or the technological advances that make once-expensive gaming PCs available to everyone? Or the creation of a literal Holodeck? For all the work that’s gone into virtual reality entertainment, it remains an industry powered by hype and hope. I’m waiting for the day when people stop wondering if they should get the Gear VR and start raving about what they could do on it, whether it’s an amazing game or a new TV series or, yes, a web browser. For all our sakes, I hope that’s not too far away.
Now that the Samsung Gear VR is a full-fledged consumer product, you might be wondering whether there's enough quality content to make it worth your while. Fortunately there's a damn good early selection that's growing at a steady pace. Let's break down the best Gear VR games (and other content) you can download today. We're lumping the best Gear VR games, apps and experiences (which are similar to games, but less about jumping from objective to objective) into two categories: starting with the must-haves, followed by others that we think are well worth playing, but maybe not quite top-of-your-list material right now. ... really everything in the store is worth playing – if nothing else, just to see if your opinions line up with ours. But since quite a few Gear VR apps and games are now paid purchases (and only some offer free demos), hopefully we can help you figure out where to put your money first.Must-havesHerobound (Spirit Champion and First Steps There are two Herobound games in the Oculus Store – and we recommend making them two of your first downloads. Much like Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog were bundled with the old NES or Sega Genesis consoles back in the day, the Herobound games are not only among the best in VR right now, they're both free for Gear VR owners. Last year's Herobound: First Steps, despite being a full game, has more of a demo feel to it – dropping you straight into gameplay without any story setup, dialogue or RPG-style progression. Gunfire Games' follow-up, Herobound: Spirit Champion, adds all of the above to core gameplay that's nearly identical. That gameplay in this action/puzzler involves old-school Zelda style room-to-room exploration, whacking baddies with your sword, firing arrows and moving blocks to unlock secrets. The intermittent puzzles require just enough thought to be challenging (but not enough to make you want to throw your Gear VR across the room), there's an NES-era level of exploration required (it doesn't always hold your hand and move you on a straight line) and we have loads of fun taking down packs of skeletons and werewolves in VR. While you're exploring Herobound, remember to stop and smell the roses (pause the game if you have to). While you can play the games sitting in one direction for most of the time, looking behind, above and below you adds to the sense of presence in these beautiful cartoon worlds.Adventure Time: Magic Man's Head Games
Another third-person game, Adventure Time (based on the Cartoon Network show of the same name) is the closest Gear VR owners can currently get to Lucky's Tale, a highly-anticipated launch title for the Oculus Rift. Like Lucky's Tale, this Adventure Time game is a cute and funMario 64-style 3D platformer – albeit a simpler and shorter one. Jump on bad guys, whack them with your sword and pound hidden bonuses (in this case, evil sandwiches) from above. The game's length brands it as more demo than full game (you can finish it in less than an hour), but it's still well worth downloading and playing (and re-playing). If nothing else, it gives you a glimpse of how well family-friendly 3D platformers can work in virtual reality. It's a great way to get your fix until the deeper Lucky's Tale arrives with the consumer Rift.Land's End
From the developer of Monument Valley, Land's End is an atmospheric puzzler that has you soaring through mountains and caves, unlocking mysterious entrances and pathways one by one. Land's End is a slower-paced title that's more relaxing than action-packed. It hits many of the same notes (and has a similar level of polish) as Monument Valley, despite the lack of any M.C. Escher themes.Viral
Viral is a first-person, on-rails, physics-based shooter – where you play the role of an antivirus program venturing through the tunnels of some sort of artificial intelligence computer. On a gameplay level, your job is to fire balls at little red and green robots that you pass along your way. Half the fun is in the ragdoll-style physics when you knock them down (and if you don't hit them just right, the robots may get back up). The catchy techno soundtrack is a nice touch as well, adding a head-bobbing backbeat to your swift robot-killing.Darknet
Switching sides from anti-virus software to virus-using hacker, Darknet is a smart strategy game that has you taking over networks of computers, one node at a time. Vulnerable networks are represented as series of spheres, which you enter and try to take over one by one. Each virus you inject spreads across the sphere, racing to get to the core before the defending antivirus programs spoil your plans. Whether the hacking theme resonates with you or not, Darknet is worth a look. That's just a thematic backdrop for an intelligently-designed and addictive strategy puzzler.Dreadhalls
Prepare to crap your pants: Dreadhalls proves that the horror genre in VR is truly horrifying. The game starts off innocently enough, dropping you into a dungeon which you traverse in a first-person point of view. This alone creates what may be the best sense of presence (feeling of being somewhere else) available now on the Gear VR. Be sure to play in a spinning chair to get the full immersion; the fact that the Gear VR is wireless makes this game better here than it is on the wired Oculus Rift. Once you start running into enemies, though, there's a good chance you'll jump-scare and scream out loud. I rarely, if ever, get scared in classic media (movies, TV, traditional video games), but when a virtual bull-like demon-beastie suddenly emerges from the shadows and charges at me – and it feels like it's really happening – well, that's another matter. Dreadhalls is some scary shit.Eve: Gunjack
Eve: Gunjack is the mobile counterpart to the upcoming Rift title Eve: Valkyrie. We've played both, and the art style and graphical detail in Gunjack are surprisingly not too far behind ("surprisingly" because the Rift is powered by a high-end gaming PC, while the Gear VR uses a Samsung phone). Gunjack pulls off this trick by making you the stationary pilot of a turret, rather than a star-fighter zipping through dogfights. Though it's much more arcade than simulation, Gunjack is easily one of the most impressive arcade shooters in VR right now, with a AAA level of polish.VR Karts: Sprint 
Imagine a pared-down and slower-moving version of Mario Kart, only instead of controlling Mario and his buggy on a 2D screen, you are Mario inside a virtual race track – complete with rear view mirrors in your cart that show the sides of your helmet, perfectly mirroring your own head movement. That's VR Karts in a nutshell. That comparison isn't completely fair to Nintendo, as VR Karts' track design and hidden goodies don't come close to hitting Mario Kart-like levels, but it's still a must-have racing game for Gear VR owners.Smash Hit
Similar to Viral, Gear VR title Smash Hit is another on-rails first-person, physics-based shooter, only here you're breaking panes of glass with huge balls. There's something immensely satisfying about shattering glass in VR, and the same principles that make Viral more fun than you'd expect are all in full force here as well.The Night Cafe: An Immersive Tribute to Van Gogh 
The Night Cafe is more experience than game, as you don't do anything but slowly stroll around a small cafe. When that cafe makes you feel like you've been transported into a Van Gogh painting, though, it makes for quite the magical ride (tip: be sure to duck down and look out the window in the piano parlor). The Night Cafe (which you'll find in the new "Concepts" section of the Oculus Store) is one of the best first virtual reality experiences available on the Gear VR, a great showcase app to help introduce a friend or family member to VR.Oculus Arcade (beta) 
If you're of a certain age, you know that playing digital copies of old 80s-era arcade games on your phone, console or PC doesn't quite capture what these games were like at the time – mostly because you can't replicate the arcade environment. Oculus Arcade uses VR to take you back. You get the stick controls, huge pastel-colored buttons and dingy atmosphere (which, in this case, is randomly hanging in space with part of its floor ripped up). Plop in your coins and enjoy pixelated classics like Pac Man, Joust, Rampage andAltered Beast. The Bandai Namcos, Midways and Segas of the world don't like to give away their classics for free, though, so you will have to pay to unlock unlimited play on any of the available games. But you do get 20 minutes worth of free play for each title whenever you want, plenty of time to stir up nostalgia (or show the kids what fun looked like in the old days).Oculus Social (alpha)
If you don't like hanging out with strangers, don't play this. You'll be dropped into a virtual movie theater with other Gear VR-wearing folks from across the world, watching Twitch and Vimeo streams. You and your fellow watchers will only be represented by masks (things like cartoon devils, clowns and cowboys), but the masks move corresponding to each person's head movement and you can hear everything they say as if they're sitting next to you. The effect is almost like being in the same room, to a degree that non-VR forms of online gaming and social media can't replicate. Consider Oculus Social (alpha) a tiny preview of what's to come: social VR is only going to get more lifelike as time goes on – to the point where virtual reality may eventually become a legitimate alternative to air travel.Esper 2 
Esper 2 is the follow-up to one of last year's Innovator Edition launch titles. The sequel is bigger and better, and plays even more like VR's answer to Portal. You find yourself in a mysterious institute for subjects gifted with telekinesis. Use your powers to levitate objects through tubes and around obstacles – at its heart, it's a well-designed 3D puzzler inside a virtual environment. Like Portal, though, there's plenty of witty dialogue and sinister subtext to make it much more than a simple puzzle game you'd play on your smartphone. Unlike the first Esper, you aren't limited to using the Gear VR's touchpad (the finger to temple gesture gets tiring for long periods), as Esper 2 fortunately adds the option of a gamepad.Daydream Blue
This is an experience that we almost wrote off during our first few minutes with it, butDaydream Blue delighted us more and more the longer we spent with it. It's a great example of how the simplest of tasks, when developed with care and attention to detail, can be fascinating inside virtual reality. Things like fishing, popping clouds as you float on a wooden raft, flinging golf balls and throwing wood into a ring of fire ... this doesn't sound like the makings of a great game. But there's a deliberate foundation of exploration, progression and discovery here that shows great restraint on the part of developer RalphVR. Daydream Blue peels back more layers the longer you spend with it.Netflix 
It's the Netflix you already know, only you're chilling in a posh living room watching the service's streaming titles on a big-screen TV. If you already own a nice TV set that's made of electronics rather than pixels, then you may not have much use for this. But if you're in a small apartment or perhaps if a family member or roommate is hogging your set, then the Gear VR version of Netflix can fill that void, making you feel like you're chill-axing in your own luxurious penthouse.Oculus Video 
Along the same lines as Netflix, Oculus Video puts you in a variety of virtual movie theaters (including one on the moon) to watch online video clips, movie trailers or your own media files. Any clips you've shot with your phone will be waiting for you and you can also transfer other (non-DRM) video files into the DCIM/Movies/Oculus/Movies directory on your Galaxy handset to watch in your own private theater. There's no social element to Oculus Video yet, but if you're stuck at home on a night you wish you were out at the movies, VR can give you a good (if lonely) substitute.Anshar Wars 2
Unlike Eve: Valkyrie, Anshar Wars 2 takes you out of the cockpit and puts you behind a starfighter, in third-person point of view. It's arcade simplicity: use your head to control the ship's movement and either the Gear's touchpad or a controller to blast enemies. Many of the Gear VR's games need to be played in a spinning chair for full effect, and Anshar Wars 2 is most definitely part of that group.Bandit Six
Another turret-based shooter, Bandit Six puts you on the guns of an old-timey WWII bomber as you hold off waves of attacking fighters. It's a bit like a less graphically-intensive version of Eve: Gunjack set in a different genre.Ocean Rift 
Ocean Rift is an underwater exploration experience where you swim around various oceanic environments that most of us will never see in person. It's an immersive experience, and the most basic environments can be quite soothing – as you swim past sea turtles and schools of tiny fish in shallow, well-lit water. But some environments are downright creepy (and not a good choice for someone who's claustrophobic) as you float around a dimly-lit oceanic void where you can't see very far above or below you. Oh, and your companions are giant (fairly realistic-looking) creatures like manatees, sharks or plesiosaurs. Whether this was the intention or not, Ocean Rift toes a line between fascinating and terrifying. Come to think of it, that's a pretty good description of the ocean itself.Worth playingEvil Robot Traffic Jam
Our favorite VR tower defense game so far, Evil Robot Traffic Jam has a quirky premise (as its title suggests). Prevent traffic jams by destroying robo-cars, collecting loot, placing turrets and upgrading them as you go along. We only wish the Gear VR had the Oculus Rift's positional tracking, where moving your head and upper body forward gives you a closer look at parts of the environment. We played a Rift demo a couple of years ago that showed off how well positional tracking's leaning in can work in tower defense games.InCell
One of the more roller coaster-like games for the Gear VR, in InCell you ride strands of organelles and other microscopic objects inside a human body, collecting protein packets and avoiding spreading viruses. The game can be a little on the repetitive side, but it also has us shouting "Whooooaaaaa!" more than most Gear VR titles, as we navigate subjects of a high school biology class as if they were Space Mountain.Proton Pulse 
Take the old brick-breaker genre, move it into your local gym's racquetball court, throw in a Tron-like sci-fi theme, and you have Proton Pulse. This year-old Innovator Edition launch title is still fun for a quick arcade fix.Drift 
It's Bullet Time, only instead of playing as Max Payne or John Marston firing the gun, here you're the bullet. Use head movement to navigate obstacles as you fly from room to room, searching for your ultimate target. Our only complaint about this imaginative and visually striking title is that there's no gamepad support. Imagine holding your finger up near your right temple for the entire time you're playing a game – doesn't sound very comfortable for your right arm, does it? It isn't.Milk VR 
Samsung's Milk VR is the best 360-degree video curation app available for the Gear VR, with loads of content across a wide variety of genres. But it has one annoying flaw: you need to download the videos while in VR. Even with a fast Internet connection, this can get tedious quickly, as you sit in Samsung's virtual menu screen waiting for your queue of videos to finish downloading (and don't bother streaming them; they'll be in too low a resolution to completely enjoy).
If Samsung provided a front-end app that let you navigate through videos on your phone, so you could grab them ahead of time, this would have been a must-have app. Unless Samsung adds that, Milk VR will continue to be a promising video hub that can too often feel like an exercise in tedium.Protocol Zero
Protocol Zero turns you into an assassin with a silencer-equipped pistol and Batman-like sonar gizmo that lets you peek through walls and see what's coming in the dark. It's pretty fun, but leans on the point-to-point navigation trick that's common in early first-person Gear VR titles. Rather than moving freely, you tap on a waypoint up ahead and the game automatically walks you there. This mechanic can pace gameplay, reduce nausea and adhere to the Gear's limited horsepower – it's great for atmospheric titles like Land's End. But for an action game like this, we would have preferred free-roaming controls.Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes 
Half fun, half agonizing (or argument-inducing), this is a local co-op game that only requires one Gear VR headset. The person in VR sees a bomb with some wires and buttons on it. The person outside of VR reads through a cryptic instruction manual (read on a mobile device or printed from the developer's website), to provide instructions for the Gear VR-wearing bomb defuser. It requires quick thinking and clear communication – this could be a great exercise for a psychology class. Just know that your discussions with your partner may get pretty intense pretty quickly.Omega Agent
If you want the sensation of flying, Omega Agent can provide it, as you cruise around rooftops and through checkpoint-laden courses using a jetpack. But, despite using a cockpit (a trick some VR developers employ to cut down on motion sickness in fast-moving games), we found Omega Agent to be one of the more nausea-inducing titles for the Gear VR. Proceed with caution (or perhaps a barf bag).
