Welcome to VR Week

Virtual reality is here. The Oculus Rift is now shipping in its very first consumer form, Valve's HTC Vive will be arriving in homes next week, and Sony is sailing into the market in October this year with an attractive $399 price point for its imaginatively named PlayStation VR.

It’s an exciting and, frankly, confusing time, as publishers attempt to sell the virtual reality dream using words, pictures and videos that capture only a snapshot of the immersive experience. To celebrate the dawn of a new era – and hopefully, add clarity to what is a fairly major buying decision – we've got a week of features focusing on virtual reality in its varying forms.

GR loves VR - and it's not just because our names are slightly similar - but appreciate it can be hard to fully pass on exactly how virtual reality can make you feel. We’ll do our best to capture the thrill of VR – plus its potential pitfalls – and can guarantee no motion sickness whatsoever, from our adventures with rock dropping pterodactyls to eagle flights across Paris; taking you closer to experiences unlike any you’ve encountered before.

We’ve got you covered, whether you're looking for the most anticipated PlayStation VR games or exactly what you'll need for your PC to be VR ready. We'll keep this page updated with all our virtual reality articles as the week progresses, including our most surreal VR moments yet and exactly what it's like to spend a full day gaming in VR. Clue: thrilling, and… you’ll see.

So stay tuned, and please let us know in the comments how you currently feel about VR, what you’re looking forward to – or fearing – and we’ll include the best comments in our Weekly News Show this Friday. Best of all, you have the thrilling glow of your comments being read by an actual human, before we all go to live in jelly pods with headsets and get harvested by malevolent robot AI for our energy output, under the illusion that we’re surfing on Neptune with Taylor Swift.

Friday

What does (and doesn't) work in VR games
The smartest VR company of all? Microsoft
VR unlocks the true vision of Rez Infinite

Thursday

Here's what you need to be VR ready
Superhot explores the dark side of VR
11 visions of VR movies got wrong. Very wrong
This is how you wear VR with glasses
Palmer Luckey tells us about the future of gaming

Wednesday

Why Virtual Reality will change the way we play AND think about games
Trapped in a VR diving suit, gasping for air: the horrors of Narcosis
Why PS VR (probably) won't repeat Sony's history of failed tech
The 10 most surreal moments we'v experienced in VR
9 game series we'd love to see in VR

Tuesday

Alien Isolation, with Oculus Rift, is the most terrifying thing ever
Sony is considering PlayStation VR working on PC
PlayStation VR core bundle pre-orders are open now
Goofing off is one of the greatest things you can do in VR

Monday

The most anticipated VR games
Which virtual reality headset is best for you?
I have seen the future of VR and it is pterodactyls dropping rocks on my head

Louise Blain

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode.