What is PlayStation VR?
PlayStation VR (usually shortened to PSVR) is Sony’s new virtual reality headset, that works with the PlayStation 4 console. It gives you a 360° view of a game’s world, as if you were really there. PSVR games are usually viewed from a first person perspective, as in Call Of Duty, but they can also be third person as well, like Uncharted.
Games won’t work with PSVR unless they’re specifically made for it or an update patch is released. However, many existing franchises don’t work well with VR in general, as fast-paced games where you have to turn or move quickly can cause nausea and headaches in some people. The effects are different for everyone and every game though, so you should definitely always try before you buy.
How does it work?
In simplest terms the PSVR places two small TV screens very close to your eyes, which give the impression that you are in the world of the game. As you move your head the game world moves with you, allowing you to look around without using any controllers. Lights on the front of the PSVR are tracked by the PlayStation camera, as it looks out from the direction of your TV, allowing the game to know exactly where your head is and how it’s moving.
Games can also track the movements of a DualShock 4 controller by watching the position of the lightbar on its back. Some games can also track the PlayStation Move controllers that were originally released for the PlayStation 3. These are sold separately though, as is the PlayStation camera.
PSVR also displays what you’re seeing on your TV at the same time, so other people can watch. Or the PlayStation 4 can display a different image from the same game, so other people can play at the same time in multiplayer or co-op.
The headset also has a built-in microphone, plus there’s a cinematic view for watching movies or playing normal non-VR games. This looks like you’re watching on anything up to a 226-inch screen, although it is subject to the same resolution limitations described below.
The PlayStation VR will be £349.99 when it’s released in the UK on Thursday, October 13. That’s a lot of money but it is considerably cheaper than VR headsets for the PC, where the Oculus Rift costs £549 and the HTC Vive costs £759.
You’ll also need a PlayStation 4 Camera which costs £39, although you may already have that. PlayStation Move controllers cost £29.99 each, although they’re not necessary to make PlayStation VR work and aren’t used by every game.
Other peripherals will likely be released over time, and there’s already a lightgun style gadget planned that holds a PlayStation Move controller.
There’s also the PS4 Pro coming out next month. This is a more powerful version of the PlayStation 4 console, that will be particularly helpful in making PSVR a better experience (see the ‘What are the negatives?’ section below). It will cost £349, so that’s when the costs really start to mount up.
Is it actually any good?
In short: yes! Considering its price the PSVR is an extremely impressive bit of hardware and does almost everything the much more expensive headsets do – especially when used in combination with the camera and PlayStation Move. It works perfectly well when standing or sitting, and requires very little space to use.
Trying PSVR (or VR in general) for the first time is a literal eye-opener and one of the most important steps forward for video games technology since the move from 2D to 3D in the mid ‘90s. Being able to look around the game’s environment as if you’re really there adds enormously to the sense of immersion, and simply standing around admiring the game world can be an awe-inspiring experience all on its own.
One of the main benefits of Sony getting involved with VR is that they can bring the full brunt of their PlayStation experience to bear on the games, so there’s already an impressive launch line-up planned and support from almost every major publishers and developer.
At first a lot of games will be little more than tech demos and experiments, but these titles – such as Batman: Arkham VR – are priced accordingly and still well worth a look. And even on the first day you’ve got a wide variety of games, from sports titles such as pool sim Hustle Kings VR and football game Headmaster, to more complex games such as space combat simulator EVE: Valkyrie and racing sim Driveclub VR.
Some of these games we can’t talk about in detail until next week, but VR completely transforms a game like Driveclub. Where previously using the cockpit view in a car meant being stuck in a fixed view, looking out the front windscreen, here you can turn and look wherever you want. That not only adds to the immersion but makes it much easier to tell where other cars and obstacles are.
With two horror games in the line-up (Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood and Here They Lie), developers have also realised how much more effective VR is at scaring you, and there are many more such games planned for the future – including Resident Evil 7 (the existing demo doesn’t have a VR option yet but Capcom are releasing the prototype Kitchen demo next week).
But a lot of VR games are a lot gentler than that, and even simple puzzle games like the Jenga-inspired Tumble VR are a lot of fun to play around with in their own little worlds. While games such as Job Simulator are essentially played for laughs, and allow you to interact with a virtual world in ways that are impossible in ordinary games.
What are the negatives?
Although it’s extremely capable for the price, there are a number of limitations with PSVR, some of which are unavoidable. One of the primary issues is the resolution of the image you’re seeing, which is just 1080p per eye. But even the more expensive PC headsets are only 1200p and that’s not really enough either, leading to a slightly fuzzy view that seems less sharp than your TV (because the screens are much closer to your eyes).
That’s just where technology is at the moment though, assuming you don’t want to be paying thousands for a VR headset. But where the PSVR suffers more than the PC headsets is that the PlayStation 4 is only just powerful enough to run virtual reality. It has to do much more work than for a normal game, and that means PSVR titles have to have the detail turned down compared to a regular title.
That means some games that aren’t PSVR-only will have more detail when played on a TV. And you can see in some of the early PSVR exclusives, such as PlayStation VR Worlds, that the developer has had to turn down the quality of the image even further to get the game running at a playable speed.
As time goes on developers will get better at wringing more power out of the PlayStation 4, but that’s also where the PS4 Pro comes in. It is more powerful than the standard PlayStation 4, and although Sony has been a little coy so far (so as to not put people off from buying the PSVR) it seems obvious it’s been made with virtual reality in mind.
It won’t be able to do anything about the maximum resolution, because that’s a limit of the hardware, but it should mean that PSVR games running on the PS4 Pro have more detail and are less blurry.
This may also help with the headache problems, although what causes them is very complicated and based on a number of factors. It’s also impossible to say that one game will cause nausea and another won’t, as it’s different for everyone. (Some people get nausea from just playing a first person shooter on a TV screen.) But again that’s a problem for all virtual reality headsets, and not specific to PSVR.
The Games
According to Sony there are more than 230 developers and publishers working on PSVR games at the moment, with 160 titles in development and 50 due out this year alone. It’s always worth taking those sort of claims with a pinch of salt, but the launch line-up is impressive and it’s likely that in the future many games will feature either a VR mode or some kind of shorter VR exclusive experience (such as the X-wing mission for Star Wars: Battlefront).
We’ve already started reviewing some of the games today, with PlayStation VR Worlds and Batman: Arkham VR, but many of the other titles we’re not allowed to discuss until next week. Here’s a list of the major launch games though, and some of the other titles confirmed to be coming in the near future.
Launch games:
PlayStation VR Worlds – 5-in-1 game compilation
RIGS: Mechanized Combat League – arena-based giant robot shooter
Driveclub VR – driving sim adapted from the existing PS4 game
Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood – on-the-rails VR ghost train
Super Stardust VR – Asteroids homage with a new ground-based VR mode
Tumble VR – revamped version of the Jenga-like puzzler
Batman: Arkham VR – the ultimate Dark Knight simulator, and PSVR tech demo
Battle Zone – reboot of the classic tank simulator with full online multiplayer
EVE: Valkyrie – space combat simulator spin-off from the popular MMO
Here They Lie – full-on survival horror that’s not for the faint-hearted
Hustle Kings VR – pool and snooker simulator that works great with PlayStation Move
Job Simulator – comedy view of ordinary office life that also works best with Move
Headmaster – football sim based on headers (obviously)
Coming Soon:
Rez Infinite – new version of the classic on-rails shooter, with a new level
Robinson: The Journey – dinosaur-themed adventure from Crytek
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration – PS4 version has a new VR specific section
Eagle Flight – does what it says on the tin, one of Ubisoft’s first VR games
Star Trek: Bridge Crew – exactly what it sounds like, plus it’s played in co-op
Resident Evil 7 biohazard – not a VR exclusive but it’s clearly been made with it in mind
Gran Turismo Sport – hopefully it’ll work at least as well as Driveclub VR does
Air Combat 6 – Namco’s famous combat flight simulator returns
Farpoint – the game the gun controller was designed for is basically Starship Troopers
Final Fantasy XV – another major game with its own separate VR-exclusive mode
Project CARS – VR is perfect for racing games and this hardcore sim knows it
Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin – spin-off from Double Fine’s cult comedy adventure
Surgeon Simulator – another game idea that seems ready made for VR
War Thunder – ditto this massively multiplayer land and air sim
Will you be the first amongst your friends to get a PSVR?
The big question, but it’s one only you can answer. The PlayStation VR itself is an extremely well made bit of kit, and Sony has worked wonders to make it function as well as it does, while still being as affordable as possible.
The biggest unknown though is how much of a difference PS4 Pro will make and whether you can afford that as well. But many of the experiences we’ve played on a normal PlayStation 4 are already very good, and extremely encouraging for the future.
The best advice is just to have a go yourself, either at a shop demo, a friend’s, or the Sony tour. Try to experience a range of games and get an idea of whether nausea is going to be an issue, and if virtual reality in general is for you.
VR is clearly going to be the future of gaming, and although this is just the very start – that’s going to look painfully primitive in a few years’ time – it is a very impressive one.
[Source:-Metro]
