This Tech Turns Any Game Into a VR Experience

Hands-on
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MyDream Swift is a $30 application that turns your existing Steam games into immersive VR experiences.

SAN FRANCISCO — A wealth of dedicated VR experiences are about to arrive for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive owners, but the $30 MyDreamVR is here to make sure your old games don't get left in the dust. Thanks to the company's MyDream Swift app, just about any title in your Steam library can be transformed into an immersive VR game.

The program launches on March 28, just in time for the launch of the Oculus Rift (HTC Vive will also be supported). To use it, you simply fire up the Swift app, pick a game from your Steam library (DirectX 9 and 11 titles are supported, which covers many triple-A games), and get gaming in VR.

I played Borderlands with MyDream Swift, which allowed me to look around the game world by just moving my head. Despite a slight bit of jagginess, this made it easy to gaze at the glacial walls around me, and let me adjust my aim without relying on the right analog stick. It didn't feel quite as seamless as any of the dedicated Rift or Vive games I've played, but heck — I was still playing Borderlands in VR, and it was still fun.

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I tried out MyDreamVR's virtual theater mode, which lets you watch movies and play games in total darkness with a simulated movie screen in front of you. You won't see any living room scenery like you would on Netflix's Gear VR app, but it still lets you shut out the rest of the world and focus exclusively on whatever you're playing or watching. 

MyDream Swift will let you set game-specific profiles, allowing you to choose between VR and theater mode as well as set movement sensitivity levels on a title-by-title basis.

Purchasing MyDream Swift gets you a free copy of MyDreamVR's original, self-titled game. Available separately for $20, the MyDreamSwift VR game is a Minecraft-esque experience that lets you float around a digital world, build objects and engage in some tower-defense action.

If it ends up working as intended, MyDream Swift could make VR headsets a whole lot more appealing for those who want to bring their old games to virtual reality. We look forward to spending more time with it once it arrives in the coming weeks.

Michael Andronico
Michael Andronico

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored. He was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide, where he wrote extensively on gaming, as well as running the show on the news front. When not at work, you can usually catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.