The PlayStation 5 might be shiny and all, but another piece of important Sony tech still making waves (just about) is, of course, PSVR. The original headset launched in 2016, having recently celebrated its fifth anniversary on the market. As such, we found ourselves wondering: where does Sony’s take on virtual reality currently stand in 2021, on the brink of next year when its second hardware revision is imminent? That’s the question we ask in today’s reflective video.
From the benefits of picking up a PSVR headset today, to the quality and number of games it's received this year, the holidays are a time of reflection, so we turn our attention to all these subjects and more. After all, PSVR remains the third pillar of PlayStation’s vibrant eco-system alongside PS4 and PS5, but is there still life in this little device yet, or is it worth waiting for the so-called PSVR2? Whatever your stance on VR, exciting times lie ahead.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 40
The technology is definitely tired at this point, and we need the new headset soon. But I still thought Hitman 3 was incredible in VR this year, for example.
Sony sent me a survey the other day, I can't remember exactly what the question was, but my response was that PSVR is too confusing to buy and I hoped that they would address that with PSVR2.
There's so many different PSVR bundles and they all come with different equipment, I honestly have no idea which one I need to buy to play games.
Have my 1st gen PSVR headset still hooked up to my PS4. Sony sent me the free camera adapter but not looking forward to moving the breakout out box over to the PS5. For 1, there is no space for the box anywhere near the massive PS5, and it's not like the box is going to sit flat on top of it while it's horizontal. Also, the lack of HDR passthru is still annoying. Not even sure if it does 4k passthru.
Don't think I use it enough to justify 2.0 on PS5 so I may keep my PS4 set up just as a PSVR machine and not worry about all of it. Thanks for the camera adapter anyway Sony.
@get2sammyb Hitman 3’s great in VR but as soon as I got my PS5 I couldn’t be bothered hooking up the headset and faffing about with PS4 versions of certain games etc.
@nessisonett Yep. It's a shame.
Yup, still have my gen 1 PSVR hooked up to my PS5. Some great games (Astrobot the best imho).
Slowly working my way through Moss and can't wait for PSVR2. I just hope its backwards compatible asI have more of a pile of shame on PSVR than PS4/5.
I still play my PSVR when I get the chance. Some of my favourite gaming experiences in the last 10 years have been with the PSVR:
Wipeout is astounding and probably the best showcase in my opinion and the graphics are astonishing to me.
Polybius is also brilliant and really scratches a certain itch.
Obviously astrobot is truly brilliant and gave me the same ‘feels’ as the first time I played Mario 64!
I tried to get psvr for my ps5 this holiday season and it is out of stock everywhere and marked up online. I also had trouble tracking down the camera adapter for a reasonable price. I have all the ps plus titles they’ve released for it and a couple other games psvr compatible.
Because of my difficulties finding it, I went with quest 2. Less games available but they are improving and the tech is far superior to psvr
In my opinion, they should abandon VR and focus on a new handheld powered buy one of those Ryzen APUs. Make it play all PS4 games and maybe even PS5 indies and it will sell very well.
Hell, maybe in 1 or 2 years they can make one with the power of a Xbox Series S or PS4 Pro and put all PS5 games at lower resolution on it. That would be amazing.
VR game is already won by Oculus. Everybody loves the no cable headset.
@Sil_Am I don’t agree that they need to abandon AR but I totally agree that PlayStation needs to up their handheld gaming. It doesn’t even need to be as powerful as you suggest. The ps vita can remote play the ps4 games…. And the smaller the screen the less resolution matters. Priority on fps and storage should be high. If the console is capable of storing and running ps5 games at a lower resolution and locked 60fps, it’d be a slam dunk for me.
I hooked it up to PS5 to finish my vr backlog, but then sold it off. The tech was an innovation at release and made strides at breaking VR into the mainstream...but once youve tried headset tracking without all those bloody cables, its tough to go back to this beyond dated tech. Sony is still supporting it with great exclusives (Fracked, Arashi and Hitman 3 were great this year), but ill stick with Quest 2 until the next gen PSVR.
I'm hoping Sony implements their hybrid VR strategy fully. That means that instead of making typical smaller VR games, their big first party games (like Horizon or Gran Turismo etc) will also be fully playable in VR.
This is much better than splitting the playerbase between flat and VR games - let us just play the games the way we choose to.
Of course, not every flat game will makes sense in VR, and vice versa, but most will.
Can’t pretend I can be bothered to watch the video (seriously, is writing so hard?), but, as for PSVR, as phenomenal as it is, I still haven’t connected it to my PS5. I’m keeping my PS4 as my PSVR box but haven’t turned that on in a while either. Kind of want the PS5 enhancements but without the worry of whether the breakout box will degrade the presentation of standard PS5 games when played on the TV. I’m also kind of in PSVR2 headspace since it was announced…
A big issue has been ps move controller availability for several years.
They unexpectedly shot up in price overnight several years ago (I've always suspected one of those reseller groups), and they never came back down again.
Considering that most of vrs biggest games (beat saber most importantly) require them, it was a major hit to psvrs initial usp, the affordable price.
2021 has all be about wireless vr and what a difference it makes
@Milktastrophe
It’s simple, Iron Man bundle or any bundle that includes the move controllers. Sony releases a lot of bundles for all of its systems, not just VR.
@Balosi all GameStop’s in my area have brand new move controllers in stock, and cameras too. If you want to build your PSVR system ala cart, there’s plenty of components ready to be bought.
Psvr is probably the worst vr unit on the market. Its controllers ruin the experience with clunky clicking buttons instead of analog sticks. That aside its a good unit and I recommend for any game where you don't have to move around.
Psvr 2 has to fix headache effect, hdr and resolution, and connectivity issue its so much cable on mine to just play..the game was so so except for astrobot and Batman it was great and has potential to deeper development
I feel like I got my money’s worth out of the PSVR, sold it and put that money toward an Oculus Quest 2 for my family for Christmas.
I plan to buy a PSVR2 in the future.
I got a PSVR after it being out for two years and I've really enjoyed it, especially games like resident evil 7 and persistence I'm a sucker for horror immersion. But with the recent PS5 coming out and the transition being a little clunky with having to always adjust the screen settings when going between PS5 and PSVR games as well as cable management I've not really played much recently since the reveal of the PSVR 2 offering a more seamless set up and me not having to much time to play games.
I can't wait to NOT have to use those terrible Move controllers again. The PSVR2 controllers look AMAZING!!!!
@Milktastrophe It's really not the confusing you need the headset, camera, 2 move controllers and a ps4 controller. Some games use move controllers and some don't. Pretty simple really
Really really excited about this. Use VR alot with myself and the kids. Considering selling my current setup ready for when the new one is released. I just need to wait to see if the previous games will work with the new controllers if the Move controllers are done away with
What's people's issues with cable management. There's 1 wire with 2 plugs for the headset it's never something I found an issue and can't see why so many people get upset about it.
Still waiting for my free PSVR camera to PS5 cable. Ordered it the day it allowed orders over a year ago, they still have the balls to say it’s probably delayed because of covid. They just keep replying “Please allow a further 30 days and if it hasn’t arrived, contact us again and we will look into it.”
Seems like a lot of people never got theirs too. Reddit has a huge thread of people who never got it.
I don’t expect to ever get one, but it’s funny to keep emailing them every month and getting the exact same response.
I just bought one from the UK eBay site in January and it was internationally delivered in 3 days. So yeah, their covid excuse is *********.
Love PSVR and I can’t wait for PSVR 2.
PSVR 2 can't come quick enough.
@get2sammyb, do you reckon there's any chance of the new headset coming out in 2022 ?
@hypnotoad That's definitely what we've heard Sony is aiming for, but who knows how the pandemic has affected plans.
@get2sammyb Understandable.
Thanks for the reply, mate.
@Kylek1898 if that's what you need, then that's what PSVR should come with. There's bundles that don't have all those things.
Am I the only person who just wants a decent racing game on PSVR? I still play GT Sport in VR every now and then and Dirt Rally (which is incredible if you’ve never tried it) but I just want someone to complete against.
Here’s hoping GT 7 sorts this.....
i enjoyed the vr headset , so im pretty excited to see what comes next for the next vr headset.
I mainly use the cinema mode to play 2D games. Yes the resolution isn’t as good as on a TV, but in the summer the cable is long enough so I can play games on the balcony 🙃
@nessisonett with hitman they missed a trick by restricting it to the PS4 version on the ps5 too...that was a shame. And nobody wants to go back to the days of downloading PS4 and ps5 versions on their ps5
@mastrz tbh I'm really hoping psvr1 is supported day 1 for gt7. There's no viable reason it shouldn't be. The headset offers no physical/gameplay limitations in racing games. So I'd love to be able to play the whole game (rather than racing against one car) in VR on psvr1 this time round. I reckon they'll use it to sell psvr2 headsets though
I keep getting tempted by the Quest 2...the barrier of entry is so little. It's only the fact that they release new hardware so quickly that puts me off. But yeah...the ability to play decent quality vr without any wires in any open area sounds more attractive than the wired alternative.
Thankfully psvr2 is bound to have some quality games. But not gonna pretend it still restricted to wires isn't a bit of a disappointment. I just hope drift is never an issue again.
Meanwhile I'm still waiting here for VR tech in general to reach immersive full body simulation...like Sword Art Online or dot hack where your literal mind is copied/transported into the games.
That's when I'll finally give in and order an unit...until then no thanks Sony.
@Bleachedsmiles totally agree and can only hope but I suspect they’ll save GT 7 for PSVR2 as you say. Surely a decent driving game would be a system (or tech in this instance) seller.
Personally I’ve never understood why no one has been able to take say the ps3 version of Grid or even GT 6 and convert it into a PS4 PSVR game. Surely it could handle the graphics and physics. I can’t believe there’s not consumer appetite out there. We’ve had so many remasters why not onto PSVR?
I appreciate the corner cuts PSVR1 took to get the cost down, and Id even say that decision led to much greater VR growth than the PC headsets could have achieved without Sony... but man Im passed ready for some decent tracking of the HMD and controller.. and Im equally eager for thumbsticks.
Im also looking forward to seeing how PSVR2 stacks up against modern PC headsets. PSVR held up very well against PC VR even when PC VR had everything going for it on the hardware front. PS innovation was all it took to get a comparable experience on much lower end hardware, and they even beat the competition on screen door effect through tricks that sound awfully similar to PS4 Pro's rendering technique for 4k. This time around PS can games can be developed from the ground up for SSD.. something I dont expect on PC very soon. Im confident there will be a window where the most impressive VR game is on PS5, not PC.
Im also hoping Naughty Dog has something to contribute this gen.
I was speaking to my wife about this whole playing the Mafia trilogy a bit ago, how it would be great to be able to play most of the game on the TV, but when you get in a car you can pull on the headset and it puts you in the driver's seat with all the mirrors and everything, because it's generally really hard to drive sensibly in video games as you don't have the right sightlines, etc
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