We figured out how to play Nintendo Switch in VR and it’s amazing
A dream of mine has always been to play Xbox One or Nintendo Switch on a huge cinema, but that generally required a lot of cash and a movie theater willing to let us do it. Today, I finally figured out how to do it: pipe it into my computer then use Bigscreen to get it into VR!
It seriously works, and it’s an incredible experience — you can just play on any size screen you like! Bringing it into VR makes the Switch next level immersive to the point I could lose a few hours just playing the same match!
How to do this at home
You’ll need a bit of extra hardware to do this, but it’s not too much hassle. We found after about half an hour tinkering we could get it working to a point where we wanted to just keep playing!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A capture card (we used this Blackmagic one)
- A console like Nintendo Switch (the Xbox One and PS4 have apps you can use instead of a capture card)
- An HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or a Windows Mixed Reality headset
- A powerful desktop (or laptop!) PC
- A second screen will make setting up easier, but it’s not required if you don’t have one
Once you’ve got all of those pieces in place and the capture card is configured, it’s fairly straightforward to throw your console into Bigscreen.
First, you’ll need a way to show the HDMI input from your capture card on your desktop.
We used Open Broadcast Studio (OBS), a free piece of software you can download for both Windows and Mac to display it in full screen.
Here’s what you need to do to have your computer ready for console gaming in VR once you’ve got the capture card plugged in:
- Fire up OBS and add an input source by clicking the ‘+’ button
- Choose ‘Video capture card’ and hit OK
- In ‘Video Settings’ match the resolution to the device you’re using. For Xbox One this should be 1080p60, and for Switch it should be 720p60
- Hit OK twice, then fire up your console
- In a few minutes you should be able to see the Switch or Xbox on the preview area of OBS — drag it around and resize the preview until it takes up the entire screen
- Once that’s ready, get your VR headset setup, open Bigscreen from Steam and jump into VR
- Use your mouse to right click the preview area in OBS (where your output is being displayed) and choose ‘Fullscreen Projector (preview)’, then you’ll have it in full screen and ALT+TAB into Bigscreen
- At you should be able to see your console from inside Bigscreen! From here select any Bigscreen environment — get comfortable, grab your controller, and have fun (My personal favorite is the campfire, just because it feels cozy for playing in, but Void is most performance focused).
You might need to play with the settings a little bit to get it right, particularly if it appears to tear as you’re playing. If you do see that, you can right click the preview area again and choose the ‘Deinterlacing’ options to see if they help.
Once you’ve done all of this you’ll be doing something magic just like this:
I’ve got bigger aspirations for my next go at this — we think it’d be fun if we made a multiplayer Bigscreen room where we could play Switch on a giant screen together at the same time using Mario Kart’s split screen.
If we’re feeling really crazy, and can get our hands on a bunch of capture cards, the natural evolution is trying to play online multiplayer Switch with someone on the other side of the world.
I’m psyched this worked — my TV isn’t the biggest so the thought of playing my console games at whatever size in my own private space is so dope and I’m excited to try and do it with friends soon.
