2016 Is the Year of VR, Says Sony London Producer

I really really hope VR will be successful, really!
I'm definitely going to buy PSVR and if possible day 1.

I'm extremely hopeful for VR in general... for Playstation vr? Not so much. The system just isn't powerful enough to drive meaningful VR experiences. Consoles have a hard time hitting 30 fps on a lot of games, how are they expected to run at 90 -120 ? An article just came out claiming that even pc gpus aren't up to snuff yet.

I'm just really interested in how they're going to pull it off. Especially because the minimum requirements for an oculus is a gtx 970 which is quite a lot more powerful than a console.. I mean don't get me wrong, I really hope they can pull it off, because Sony would Def make some amazing experiences.. I'm just not convinced yet.

I'm definitely picking up oculus though becsuse I'm dying to play eve:valkyrie and because I'm running a pc with 2 titanX Hybrids.

I have a Gear VR, which is a pretty good entry level VR experience, and I was impressed with some of the games/apps. But looking at the selection of titles (even including all Google Cardboard titles), there are hundreds of pieces of junk software, and a few good (but short) experiences. After a week of having the device (as nice as I think it is), I am not sure what else there is to play/experience on it, except some random 360 degree videos. If Sony doesn't manage to provide a more compelling software lineup, then its going to fail to capture the public.

That being said, I am likely to pick it up (I am a huge fan of Sony, and a lover of tech), but I am afraid that it won't get much more use than my PS Move.

It looks like it could be a lot of fun but also looks to be the most antisocial bit of tech ever so it could be difficult to sell people on it as it's not exactly bringing people together, that might prove to be a bit of an obstacle, time will tell.

Rumor has it that the price is not going to be overly expensive like some have predicted. Probably around the 300 range, which is still expensive for some, but not to bad if you consider some turtle beach headsets go for that. I have a feeling we will get price and launch information at CEO in a few days. Out of all the headsets I have tried, The psvr has been the most consumer ready for a LONG time. I think that has allowed them to innovate more and bring the price down. Either way I am all in for Morpheus!

@mitcHELLspawn That's why psvr has a separate processing unit, which is pretty powerful, to go along with the ps4. It's not just the ps4 pushing the graphics bud, the processing box is about the size of a Nintendo wii.

I also want it to download kung fu moves into my brain but knowing gaming companies, that will probably be an in app purchase. Typical.

The PS VR poses many interesting questions- the least of which being "how well could it sell?". More important are the philosophical ramifications, and not so much the utilitarian or economic. I have little doubt that the device will provide for fascinating gaming experiences, but at what cost (not monetary, but subjective) and to what limit? Obviously, as someone who owns a PS4 and spends a considerable amount of time each week playing video games these may seem like ironic, or hypocritical questions for me to pose. But maybe the VR is the technological marker where some cognitive dissonance starts to really take place when asking, has technology gone too far?

@Neolit Do not try and bend the Spoon/DLC. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no Spoon/DLC

"It's the start of a journey that is going to change the landscape of gaming forever."

Why do developers always seem to think the gaming landscape needs changing?

Nintendo always say this with almost every hardware released. MS said it with Kinect and Sony are also guilty.

At the end of the day people always seems to gravitate back to traditional gaming with controllers or a keyboard after the novelty of a new control scheme wears off. Look how well PS4/X1 are selling with a "traditional" setup v's motion control, eye toy, kinect etc etc...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as the old saying goes...

[Edit - That's not to say I'm totally dis-interested in other forms of gaming though...]

@BodyWithoutOrgan I'll be honest and say that is one of the reasons I want to try one and will possibly purchase it. I want to know how immersive it really is and how close to reality it blurs. If it hits its potential then we are going to see the dawn of a new age of false reality. Whether that is good or bad, I don't know.

i keep reading things like "There are already a great selection of titles announced" but i dont see it. where are ll these great games? all i keep seeing are basicly tech demos. whos got the scoop and can tell me what games are lined up for it? because im MEGA interested and want an excuse to buy the vr when it hits.

@Neolit Maybe the experience with previous screens have allowed them to iterate the tech enough to drive down the price? Sony is still pretty good with hardware IMO. Like I said I think it will be around the 300 range and maybe they take a hit on the profit to keep the price down to get it out in the wild in mass, who really knows. Either way I'm all in and I choose to remain optimistic, they have been doing really well this generation and hopefully that continues for all our sakes.

After being told it has a theater mode for non be titles, it's a day one purchase for me. That option alone will get countless hours of use from me, even if vr flops

@Rudy_Manchego Right on.

First half of this year? For real? First I'v heard of that time frame, guess I haven't been paying very close attention. I knew 2016, but first half means it should be dated and priced fairly soon.

Is the PS4 camera necessary for head tracking? I keep seeing how expensive this thing might be, but does that include the $50 camera? And what about PS Move and Nav? Are they used in the games? I know I'll need the camera for mM's Dreams but I'm really hopeing mM takes that into account and sells a game-camera bundle at a deep discount on the camera. I already have 2 Move and 1 Nav so that's not really an issue for us.

Any word on a PS4+ VR bundle? Would be crazy expensive, but maybe $100 cheaper than buying them separatly so worth it for some people?

My hope is that the thing is so expensive Sony has to drop the price of the PS4 to $299 to sell more VR headsets.

I'll wait until xmas 2016. By then hopefully we will see the titles on offer and how well it is taking off. Maybe a price drop by that point too.

It will swim like a rock, with a boulder attached to it like it's trying to climb the water of Angel falls

@kyleforrester87 im optimistic but i remember the VR push years and years ago with the big arcade units which you had to climb onto and then you were basically fenced into a small circular area,obviously the technology is much more powerful(and smaller!) now but the basics are the same, helmet and a controller in each hand,but this never really took off and was never close to being in people's homes so this year could be VRs time to shine...but i feel your "not this time around" could turn out to be right, and if anything i think we have a way to go before VR becomes the norm

http://i.imgur.com/3paRJ.jpg

@kyleforrester87 this is the arcade unit i was talking about, it was actually pretty fun

@mitcHELLspawn
Sony engineers came up with a way to make VR feel smooth that is as simple as it is brilliant: copy every frame and display it twice. The processing unit they added is mainly there for the excellent 3D audio (this will set PS VR apart from the rest, trust me), but it also functions as a "frame doubler". So all a game needs to do is reach a steady 60fps, which seems to be quite the task at itself, and the processing unit will do the rest with relatively little power.

Why no one came up with this before is beyond me and I hope this will be used to make regular 30fps games run on 60 fps. The thing is that with the human eye we can't see that frames are doubled, yet we do notice the game is running smoother and/ or it reduces motion sickness.

The PS4 isn't powerful enough by far, but Sony engineers are some of the best around. Not only did they manage to deliver a relatively smooth experience, they managed to make a headset that looks like something you'd wanna wear. It's light, it's comfortable and they made the right call to give people the chance to snap out of the VR experience really fast by just pulling the glasses up. You can consider this first PS VR headset as our entry in VR, it'll take another 5 years before we can really have meaningful VR games on our PS5.

They have got to get the details out this month if it's releasing by June/July. Otherwise people won't be ready to buy on its release

psvr is very interesting with games like ace combat and GT Sport supporting it and hopefully a lot more then this thing is going to be amazing I hope no mans sky supports it

@Gmork___ The last issue of Gameinformer had the list of the games coming out for it and the other ones. Track mania Turbo is one of them, with some others added (about 20+ games for it), but a lot of them sound and look like little mini games for one compilation like the Sports Champions.

I think I'll wait for a while to see if the support will continue to be there. After spending the money on Move (which Sony gave up on rather quickly), and Wonderbook (seriously, one game for the US) and all of the other peripherals that have come and gone quickly (Rock Revolution...I know have that large drum kit for one game and one game only), I'll wait for a while...besides, I can think of many other things to spend $300 on besides something that will get me sicker than a dog...wait, if I throw up in real life, does that mean it'll show my puke in the game world????!!!! Questions people, questions!!!!