Will PlayStation VR Be Sony's '3D Redemption'? Pricing, Games And The Tech
2016 is 'the year of VR'. We're all going to be tripped out virtual reality junkies and we're going to love it, so say tech wizards. Sony has its own sleek weapon in the new war; the PlayStation VR. Many remember that other third dimension revolution that never was...
However the ground game for VR is a lot different from 3D which was all about having a fancy 3D-supporting television or monitor, which at the height of the 3D hype campaign weren't exactly at bargain prices. Sony pushed hard and fast that 3D was were all the cool kids were going to be, but it never happened. Despite this setback, another form of 3D stepped out into the spotlight.
Virtual Reality is something we've all dreamed of getting to enjoy in the digital media space, particularly with games, but now it finally seems within our grasp. It's no longer just all fancy prototypes with wires hanging out; it's a sleek and consumer-ready product.
PlayStation VR is Sony's almost-apology for how the whole 3D era thing didn't take off, but that's likely because your standard silly glasses wearing 3D moments just weren't enough to ignite excitement. Putting on a VR headset and getting dumped into a virtual world where we can feel as if we're actually there, as opposed to feeling like were just looking through a window to action outside? Now there's a revolution waiting to happen, and Sony is ready to arm us with the needed tech... for a price.
PlayStation VR Pricing
Exactly what is Sony's VR headset going to cost us? The official word is 'no comment' from the corporate giant, but there's already a number of hints of what they're not going to be slapping on the price tag. Sony distanced itself from the Oculus Rift announcement of a $600 pre-order, commenting that was a little too high.
A Swiss retailer allegedly leaked a price for the PS VR at around £347, which is certainly lower that Oculus' £499 price mark. The issue here is that the technology in Sony's headset isn't as powerful as the Oculus Rift, meaning they can take advantage of a lower price point and enjoy a huge advantage of being a major platform holder. Sony knows more hardware in the hands of users equals bigger software sales. It's long been the company strategy of keeping tech priced reasonably to encourage game purchases.
A recent 'source' from Reddit also claimed that "a Sony rep" heard rumours of $300 for the headset.
The truth is we just won't know until Sony spills the beans but somewhere between $300 and $400 sounds likely.
PlayStation VR Features And Tech
What's our money going to get us with Sony's engineering prowess? Well it has full positional tracking so it can interpret 'where we are' in real-time, and that's an essential bit of tech wizardry to have these virtual reality worlds feel more authentic to us being part of them, especially as we're no longer limited to a field of view constrained by a monitor screen.
Sony has also integrated some of its PlayStation Move periphery with VR so that all those hand-waving gestures are more meaningful as now they can be tracked directly in the VR space too. We can feel as though our limbs are where they should be relative to the player character, providing it's an experience that supports it of course. Surgeon Simulator anyone?
Features and the technology go hand-in-hand so we get an OLED display to view all these through, which supports 1920 x 1080 across 5.7 inch screen, which doesn't sound all that big but of course it's right in front of you. It has a 120hz refresh rate that is necessary to produce the needed VR effect. Another key component is low latency to help us feel 'live' in the action - it's below 18ms.
Can the PlayStation 4 hardware manage a whopping 120 frames per second? Not exactly on its own, no. To that end Sony is going to be releasing a firmware update to the PS4 that boosts performance more, as well as include an additional unit that will need to be plugged in to the console adding more processing power. It's about the size of a handheld device, say Sony.
PlayStation VR Design
All that tech, all those features and a good price would be for nothing if the headset itself was poorly put together. Luckily Sony has a pretty good track record when it comes to their designs for devices, and the PlayStation VR has undergone a heavy amount of scrutiny.
For how long gamers could be wearing these things it's crucial they don't feel heavy or they can risk making people's heads feel sore. This has long been a minefield in the audio headset market. Fortunately Sony's VR team seemed to have been paying attention.
A solid headband is strapped around to the back of the head and so it doesn't sit atop pushing down, but rather balances from back to front. It's not elastic either as that risks going slack overtime but rather expands when a button is pushed to adjust the size. The front visor can also be moved forward or back depending how close to the eyes you want it.
Unlike the Oculus Rift for example, the PlayStation VR does not include an integrated audio system. Sony has opted to let you add whatever your preferred audio delivery device is, hence why they made sure there's plenty of room atop your head for headphones.
It's come a long way from its Project Morpheus days but isn't too far from its original prototype design.
PlayStation VR Ready And Exclusive Gaming
All of the above is fine and good, but what about the real meat of the PlayStation VR experience? What about the games?
Understandably many have been waiting for the initial hype of VR to die down a little to let cooler, more rational enthusiasm to bubble up among gamers and development houses. This has happened and VR does look far better positioned than 3D did to capture genuine interest and fuel this 'new platform'. Nothing helps hardware take off like some must-have games.
The indie scene is no stranger to already tackling virtual reality, and some in fact just need some adjustment to really shine making the leap to VR. Admittedly some of these are just quirky for the sake of it, but it's that kind of thing that fuels a tech revolution.
Here are some titles to keep watch for in 2016:
Eagle Flight - 2016
Ubisoft
This was originally a VR demo but Ubisoft saw there was a market for soaring like an eagle over a major city. The city of choice was Paris which first made Assassin's Creed fans jump to the conclusion that it was AC: Unity's Paris and you were embodying an eagle of the Brotherhood. Ubisoft dispelled this and said you’re an eagle flying over Paris - it's just coincidence.
EVE: Valkyrie - 2016
CCP Games
EVE Online has a massive following and it's an MMO juggernaut conquering the twinkly stars in a virtual galaxy. To help make things even more tense CCP Games has been working on a first-person cockpit dogfighter called Valkyrie were you get to be hotshot pilots. Naturally this lends itself very well to virtual reality and better yet it connects to the wider EVE Online universe.
100ft Robot Golf - 2016 (Launch Title)
No Goblin
Remember I said something quirky can win you a revolution? Well it's hard not to categorise a game about 100ft robots playing golf in a city that's destructible as not being quirky. It's this kind of crazy premise that made gaming consoles so fun and successful. Add to the fact it supports multiplayer and you've got yourself a recipe for quirky success.
Robinson: The Journey - 2016
Crytek
The creators of Crysis know how to create some pretty lush worlds and they've gone all out in a virtual reality experience as a young boy stranded on a world 'lost in time', with an AI droid attempting help you survive the very real dangers of roaming dinosaurs. It turns out the dinosaurs might be VR's actual secret weapon, and Crytek are among the first to exploit it.
Gran Turismo Sport - 2016
Polyphony Digital
Racing fans love getting into the driver's seat and real enthusiasts even go so far as to buy special chairs with foot pedals, steering wheel - the lot. Well the logical conclusion then is going into the VR space and Polyphony is busy refitting their Gran Turismo franchise with new VR tyres, and this will be a standalone release heavily advocating PlayStation VR.
These were just some of the titles in the works for Sony's PlayStation VR and it's by no means a small list. Not long ago we put together a growing behemoth of titles supporting the VR headset and it's only going to keep adding new titles and studios.
PlayStation VR is scheduled to release in the first half of 2016.