PlayStation VR Is Growing, But Virtual Reality Is Stumbling

VR is still so inaccessible for most people that I think it needs someone like Sony to hold the course, keep it relevant and a viable option as both people and developers learn about what makes it work and doesn't.

I think Sony needs to leverage PSVR for other things like general media.

No really. As a peripheral it's a STEEP ask JUST for games. Make it clear this is a device you use with all of your PS4 functions.

Or just concede that appearing and wiping out the competition with an excellent entry level product wasn't the best move in a fledging market, since that effectively kills it.

Be interesting to see where VR goes in future, but I maintain it's largest future is like the Kinect - in other not-gaming fields.

@adf86 I agree - I think the hardware can be improved but it needs to be baked into the PS5, but also maintain backwards compatibility so that the large pool of games carries over.

@Neolit Whatever happened to HoloLens? That was a more interesting version of VR because it actually projected a "Virtual Reality" for you to interact with rather than isolating you in a screen you can move in.

They need to get it out there.

PlayStation is an official sponsor of the Champions League.
How good would it be, if I could watch Real Madrid absolutely obliterate Liverpool in VR!!
Get the match day experience from the comfort of your own home .

I’d pay top dollar for something like that.
Maybe next year.

@Neolit MS is being pretty quiet. I hope they have something up their sleeves to make all gamers sit up and take notice come E3.

@Fight_Teza_Fight I have been saying it's since I got a PSVR. What they need to add is live VR sports coverage.

Because it’s too expensive and the quality isn’t great. 3D showed that isn’t a great combination! Only now with passive 3D on 4K TV’s is the picture great at home - I suspect VR will need at least another gen (realistically 2) to be at the required level.

Personally for me I can't play VR too long as the display is uncomfortable to look at for long periods at a time.

@YummyHappyPills @Neolit MS spent all of that time, money and effort crippling Xbox1 by bundling it w/ Kinect 2, how much money are they supposed to waste on gimmick products which may fail? Sure, VR could take off and MS will find themselves behind again, but they've been battered in so many other hardware fields - Zune, Nokia - I don't see why they would have been in a rush to jump into expensive VR headsets. They have enough problems trying to sell Surface tablets that everyone calls iPads and Surface notebooks which can't compete on price w/ Chromebooks. Do they really need a flop VR headset on their resumes next to AR flop Hololens?

If VR does take off they can always jump in later when the price is competitive. They already have the software on probably all PCs running non-PSVR VR headsets, why waste money on the hardware?

Wish this article had posted 30 minutes earlier, just commented on PSVR repeatedly in the other thread, oh well.

They need to fix some aspects of VR before PSVR 2.

Too many cables. It's a bear to set up and to have all of those cables laying all over my living room floor. The Cylon eye doesn't need to turn on every time I turn on my PS4 either.

Camera is too finicky. I returned GT Sport in part b/c the game had me sitting backwards in the car facing the back seat and I couldn't fix it. I spent an hour playing another game w/ my head titled sideways b/c I didn't realize the camera was a little off centered. My kid stopped playing it b/c he could never get himself centered.

Transitioning from using it not nto using it is always a bit awkward. W/ the headset on once I put my earbuds or Move controller down it's difficult to find them again. The visor should slide up and down easily, it's a nuisance now.

So yes I like using it, but sometimes I think abut using it but look at all of that junk on the floor and say "nah, forget it, too much work." And I keep ti hooked up and ready to go. I can only imagine people looking at all of those wires wanting to get it for their kids but skipping it to avoid the set-up hassle.

One thing I do like about PSVR over Vive, the games seem to be focused more on standing still. I played Superhot on PC at a friends house and kept punching the wall. You need a lot of uncluttered space for VR and not everybody has that.

I am hopeful for PSVR 2, but it does need some work.

If the headset was 33% less bulky and had no wires everyone would be onboard.

After the initial wow this is great phase, due to family and other commitments its way too much hassle. We need a wireless headset.

Thanks to PSVR that VR is growing. And the gaming media said that VR on console would be a failure, lol. Keep pushing your wrong agenda.

Hopefully VR will improve with PS5. Was looking forward to VR but so far not that impressed.

@themcnoisy

if you want no wires then go with the oculus go

@Neolit "On the subject of wireless"

I didn't mean completely wireless, just less wires. Like plug 1 wire from the headset into the PS5. There are 6 wires in the PSVR box not counting the one attached to the PSVR headset. That's about 5 too many. And that break out box has to go.

The PS5 being powerful enough, hopefully, to do native 4k, but the PSVR headset hopefully being 1080p, hopefully means Sony can build that breakout box into PS5 at not too great of an added expense.

I can't imagine a wireless PSVR headset, that would be a very big battery pack w/ very limited battery life. I'd rather have the wire. Just not 6.

Our camera problem may have been b/c I never used the stand, just sat it on the tv stand and I think the weight of the wire pulled it to the side. Since I've put it in the stand it's worked ok. Though we do have to adjust it up or down depending on who is playing, I have 1' on my kid and he likes to play w/ just the camera sometimes so he has to point it at the floor. That will probably always be an issue if they continue w/ camera games but I still think it could be a little more forgiving. Maybe the next gen camera will help.

@hotukdeals funny you mention that I looked into it recently, its not the same due to the lack of in and out movement. So you get to view stuff in 3d but as there is no camera the device cant measure relation to an object. Im terrible at explaining stuff but the 3d experience the go is aiming for is different to psvr.

@rjejr your box is in amazing condition mate!

Luckily I have a tiny table to the right of my setup so the breakout box fits on there. But it still looks like a major mess.

PSVR is pretty cheap now when bought 2nd hand. Can find them with camera for £150. Really wish there was just "ONE" more Resi 7 type full game experience. Sony should really have made one or two NEW 1st party BIG games themselves. I just upgraded to the new PSVR headset with camera v2 for £180 (and then sold my original model for £200) as I'd had enough of scratching my Pro's HDMI socket by changing cables due to the HDR breakout box oversight.Think for a VR to be really successful it should be bundled with PS5 and ALL future games should have a VR mode in the same way that all games were supposed to have a Pro mode after the Pro was released. I restarted Resi 7 in normal mode the other day and switched back to VR after 5 mins. Just seems flat and dull now. Even in 4K HDR it pales in comparison to the lower res VR experience. Really looking forward to the next iteration ... higher res, wireless!
Downloaded that crappy Iniesta demo thing and got me thinking... really wish theyd live stream footy in VR. Set up a single 3D camera in one part of the stand at the Nou Camp (and all the other grounds) and let people watch the big game with their PSVR sets, with the crowd around them going nuts!

I hope Sony are in this for the long term. That devs stick with it, and we eventually get a PSVR2.

Bring back PlayStation Home for VR! It would be awesome.

Also, we need more games !!!!!!! Especially some FPSs like the upcoming Firewall.. but I have my doubts about that one

Dreams should be good for PSVR

@themcnoisy "your box is in amazing condition mate!"

I took that pic as soon as I opened it, doesn't look like that anymore. Right now I'm using the box to keep the headset in. Actually I took one box out of the other, so 1 has the headset, 1 has the stuff. I have to say, Sony did a fantastic job boxing all of that stuff up. I don't normally pay attention to that stuff but the flip cover and how it was all in there - we got the GT Sport bundle w/ the camera - was really well organized. Heck I was impressed the game was on disc, not a download code, I traded the game in for $22. And the camera came w/ that nice folding stand. All for $200.

@Neolit They have to make a decent exclusive game on their regular co soles before they can even attempt to support VR with anything decent that PSVR won’t be getting.

Finally got to try PSVR not too long ago and enjoyed it. Having said that, I'm not sure I could recommend it to anyone as I think that it has nothing to rival a 'real' gaming experience. Much like the motion control craze that came before it, it needs something more than what (admittedly limited) stuff I've seen.

If they manage to bring large open world games and other good first person games to it while solving the motion sickness problems it could truly be something worthy of the hype, but until then I'm guessing most people will adopt a 'wait and see' approach. As we all unfortunately know though, that can often spell the end for otherwise promising tech.

In terms of gaming, it's most likely going to prove to be little more than a fad - again - at least until there are massive improvements in all areas of the various technologies involved.

I love my PSVR & it has dominated my gaming since it's release.

Having said that, I picked up the Oculus Go on day one & it's a phenomenal piece of electronics right there.

The abundance of non-gaming apps is why I purchased the Go. And I haven't been disappointed at all.

PSVR should have more of that. Non-gaming apps. I'm learning Spanish in VR. For free. Viso Places. It's basically Google Street View in VR. I visited every place I've lived growing up. For free.

All those movie tie-in experiences that never come to PSVR... they're on the Oculus Go. Actually, pretty much all the free experiences that come out for Rift & Vive but not PSVR are on the Go.

PSVR should have more non-gaming apps. That's all I'm saying. And of course I'm trying to hype the Go. Because if you're into VR, you'll love the Go too.

PSVR 2 is what makes me excited about the PS5. I couldn't care less, without it. The Ps4 games are so impressive right now, I don't care about an ultra super mega resolution or what. Full HD really suits me so... 4k ? 8k ? Sure, if you want, but it won't be a selling point for me.
But VR ? What is EXTREMELY EXCITING about PSVR is :
1) How AWESOME the technology is RIGHT NOW (I really love this piece of hardware)
2) How easy it is to see what can be upgraded.

It's like we're on the first playstation again : we can see how awesome the future will be. Better graphics, better resolution, better tracking, better controlers... PSVR is just so great right now, even with all its infancy limitations, so just to dream about the future...

Just imagine : what VR will looke like in 40 years ? Can you imagine ?