PlayStation VR

[Kong Wen]

Geez, Sony targetted 1M sold units in 6 months (that would be April), but they're already close to hitting that goal at the end of February. That's actually quite a success—surprising to me, though perhaps not to others with their ears closer to the VR ground.

It's indeed very satisfying to see it doing well. I don't know if I'd call it too much of a surprise. People are hyped and the price is decent. Presumably it would be doing even better but has faced serious stock issues in Japan. Folks just wanna be a bit closer to their waifus and this is the way to do it. What I wonder is how much RE7 contributed to the success. Seemed like a large fraction of PSVR players played it according to the RE7 stats page.

Sony is pleasantly surprised by it, so that's enough for me. If the AAA "launch" had been something other than RE7, I might have been inclined to check it out myself.

When it comes to VR, I'm much, much more put off by hardware obsolescence that I normally am, because it seems like the technology is changing and improving so rapidly. It seems virtually assured (ha) that the tech will be leaps and bounds better by Christmas, so why invest $500 now, as a filthy casual?

[Kreegs]

I played this the week before it came out at the home of a Sony rep. I didn't want to tell her this, but there is no way I could every buy one. I got way too dizzy, and it didn't seems like something I could play for more than 15 minutes at a time. Additionally, the price is extremely high.

[The Shoemaker]

I tried of these for the first time the other day, which also happened to essentially be my first VR experience.

I tried DOOM VFR which was... alright. The game looked a bit rough (I imagine it's the lower resolution of the PS VR and I really didn't like having to teleport to move. Though I played using the move controllers, not sure if it supported dual shock?

That's my complaint with using the move controllers in general, no analogue stick.

I played the Rick and Morty game briefly as well which was just a fun way of exploring a VR space.

The last game I tried was called Sprint (or something like that) where you make a running motion with the two move controllers and race through a track. This game was awesome, and felt like the best and most fully realized use of VR of the three games I tried.

Overall, cool tech! I can really imagine something like Tetris Effect working well with the headset blocking your view and only being able to focus on the game.

[Kong Wen]

Pretty much going to pull the trigger on one of these the next time it goes on sale for $100 off again. $280 + tax would be a mad steal with a couple bundled games. I already have the Move controllers from the PS3.

Gather data from those in the know, I've put together this little list of Kong must-haves:

Superhot VR
Beat Saber
Tetris Effect
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Rez Infinite
Polybius
Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner Mars
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
Déraciné

That ought to keep me going for a while. Any other glaring omissions?

[Spore]

Climbing and parkour games are one of the best genres in VR, but I think the only one available on PSVR is To The Top. Luckily it's really, really good. Play it once you get your VR legs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DljCutE9uDI

[Sharecrow]

I recommend Paranormal Activity even though I know it’s not your kind of thing. It’s fun and immersive.

[Kong Wen]

[Posting first impressions here in case they get lost in the E3 chat, especially for someone like Ouen who doesn't stop by every day.]

Oh man Beat Sabre is fucking awesome.

First impressions of PSVR were hilarious. I got everything setup and put the helmet on and was dicking around in the menus, buying stuff from the store etc. and I was thinking "OK, this is kind of weird, you can look around, there's my screen on my face etc. but nothing too crazy"

Then as soon as I booted up Beat Sabre I literally exclaimed "holy fuck!"

It's SOOO different seeing that game inside the helmet than seeing footage online.

I really can't wait to play Tetris Effect with this rig strapped to my face.

Is DOOM VFR any good? I think it's like $15 at Best Buy right now.

[Ouenben]

Beat saber is something else. Absolutely joy to play.

Doom VFR is fun, a bit clunky to control at first but fun. Need to get used to the teleport to move mechanic

[Kong Wen]

Unearthed patent application(s) for the next-gen PS VR are interesting.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019 ... station-vr

• Wireless headset (Bluetooth signal, built-in power supply)
• Two cameras on the front of the headset
• One camera on the rear of the headband
• One camera on the end of each Move controller
• Optional room camera
• Ability to overlay the actual room over your view (AR utility)

New VR hardware probably won't come out until 2021 at the earliest (maybe 2022, but I can see them trying to get it out closer to PS5 launch given than Sony is dominating the VR market and would like to keep it that way), and it's worth noting that PS5 is going to be compatible with current PSVR hardware as well.

[Kong Wen]

We finally got a look at the new PSVR2 controllers today.

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/03/18 ... ontroller/

They're similar to the "hands do stuff" design of other more established/PC-based VR controllers. Notably, it has some press-free touch-sensing areas, and the controllers are tracked by the headset rather than by a central camera like on the primitive PSVR1.

This is all great but relatively expected news. I'm more excited to start seeing some of what the VR developers are cooking up for this. At the very least, I want to start seeing some more robust ports from the PC-VR systems.

Sony seems to be ramping up its VR marketing, though, as they're also offering a bunch of VR games for free this spring to help people stay safe indoors.