Guide: How to Pre-Order PlayStation VR in USA and Canada

Not sure which I want to pre order yet. Am definitely getting it but I already have a camera and would rather an the games with the ds4 honestly. Decisions decisions.

@get2sammyb Thanks for using the pic w/ the clearly visible earbud.
Where does that white wire go to though, shouldn't the earbuds be plugged into the visor, or do they plug into that external box? And who wraps earbud wires around the back of their neck like that, I don't recall ever seeing anybody doing that, ever. Probably b/c the wire constantly touching the back of your neck would feel like a bug and freak people out. And where's the black visor wire? Why show 1 bu not the other?

I'm not even going to talk about the $499 price.

This will be the least pre-ordered thing in Canadian history.

@Link41x What, $699 for the advertised $549 PSVR not working for ya eh?

@get2sammyb "sound control remote"

Well if this pic is to scale that earbud cable is so short it could probably only reach the visor. I do see the remote on the visor cord, which this guy is probably wearing under the back of his shirt to distract him from the feel of the earbud wire on the back of his neck.

Do you think you could borrow Alex from NL to make a vid hooking all this stuff up? That guy is hilarious. And it would be interesting to see where all these wires go. I would need to build yet another bookshelf - already built 2 for Skylanders toys and videogames - just to keep all of this stuff.

Edit - Found some pics on Ars explaining the set up. Found it interesting that you have to take your PS4 HDMI cable out of the back of your TV and plug into this box, then plug the included HDMI cable from the back of this box into the tv. Or perhaps easier, leave the HDMI cable in the tv, discconnect it from the back of the PS4, plug it into the back of this box, then plug the included cable into the back of the box and then into the back of the PS4. So I don't think it's as simple as just plugging the box into the PS4 as it has to go between the PS4 and the TV, and the box to the visor on the front.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/sonys-playstation-vr-will-arrive-october-for-399/

I think they need the PS4.5 w/ 2 HDMI out, 1 on the back to the TV, 1 on the front to the visor. Lose the box.

I'll wait until the standalone version comes out. I already have the camera and the controllers.

I'll wait on PSVR to see what / how appealing the Nintendo NX is first.

@get2sammyb I already have Move controllers and the Camera, where is the love for the rest of us? I want to pre-order this bad-boy but I am not going to spend an extra $100 on accessories I don't need!

@get2sammyb Well technically the PS4 outputs to the visor, not the TV, so you don't really even need a tv. That said, I assumed - incorrectly - that the visor "processor unit" would plug into the 2 USB ports in the front of the PS4. Not sure why I thought that b/c it really doesn't make any sense, but it does make more sense than Sony saying:

Just Plug and Play
Getting into PlayStation®VR couldn’t be easier. Just plug the PlayStation®VR headset and your PlayStation® Camera* into your PlayStation®4 system*. You're ready to go.

That is such an oversimplification as to be a blatant lie.

1. Plug the earbuds into the visor cable.
2. Plug the visor cable into another cable.
3. Plug that other cable into the "Processor Unit".
4. Plug the AC adapter into the "PU".
5. Plug the power cord into the AC adaptor,
5a. then into the outlet.
6. Plug 1 HDMI cable from the PU to HDMI on your tv.
7. Plug 1 HDMI cable from the PU to HDMI on the PS4.

That's too many steps to be called "easy".
Make a PS4.5 - plug the visor into the VR ports on the front of the PS4.5 - done. Now THAT would be easy.

@rjejr

To be honest this is what annoyed me the most about my Wii U (and is also a personal neg on PSVR), some great games, but the clutter of that system (motion sensor, gamepad usually needed to be plugged in, pro controller somewhere else and didn't support the Wii VC so you needed a Wiimote, HDD hanging off the console but needed it's own source of power).......it just annoyed me a bit.

Keep it simple, the cleaner the better. That's why I like the base PS4 from a design aspect.

@sub12 My Wii U has a 4 port USB hub literally hanging from the front of it w/ my Skylanders and Disney Infinity portals plugged in, and an external HDD sitting on top of the DVD player next to it. Hopefully NX has more internal storage than my tablet. It's going to take a lot for Nintendo to win me over w/ NX to be honest. Though I am more likely to buy a NX than PS VR.

@rjejr

I get Dreamcast vibes from the NX,.....here is a great video game company with one last attempt to win over the console market after a big failure.......so I'm hoping, almost expecting, a very solid lineup of 1st/2nd party titles and much better support for things like the VC.

@sub12 I really try not to expect anything from Nintendo, they operate beyond all reason and logic. I try to chalk it up to them being a Japanese company and I'm a born and raised NYer.

@rjejr

To be honest, ever with the dumbest of their decisions, you can make logic out of it if you look at it from a certain perspective,......it's just not always going to gel with what a general gamer would like (it some cases the very opposite).

I need the standalone. I have everything else.

@rjejr
"you have to take your PS4 HDMI cable out of the back of your TV and plug into this box, then plug the included HDMI cable from the back of this box into the tv. Or perhaps easier, leave the HDMI cable in the tv, discconnect it from the back of the PS4, plug it into the back of this box, then plug the included cable into the back of the box and then into the back of the PS"

I don't think anyone could have made that more confusing than you I decided to go ahead and preorder PSVR. I can always cancel later if need be. But that functionality where it works as a huge screen for all pre-existing games- that really sold me on this.

@sub12
I don't think we're anywhere near Dreamcast yet with Nintendo. For one, the parallels between the two companies are almost nonexistent- it was imperative they support the Wii U for a generation despite poor sales for the sake of integrity (and they did) unlike Sega that would release a console, fail, immediately release another, fail, immediately release another... to the point people didn't trust buying anything from them because they didn't support their platforms.

Also, Nintendo has a history of extremely successive handhelds dating back to the Gameboy, and that is something (I think) they're going to leverage for this next console (hybrid theory). It's basically gotten to a point where they simply cannot sustain two separate platforms simultaneously. Which is exactly why I think they're going to combine them into one platform, which not only will leverage the success of their faithful handheld fanbase, it would allow them to create twice as much 1st party software since they would no longer need to support a 2nd platform. As long as NX has a mobile component to it, it's almost guaranteed to be at least moderately successful.

@JaxonH

I was referring to the home console space, which I still think it's pretty close to the Saturn / Dreamcast situation. If the NX fails, they might as well give up on making traditional home consoles. At this point, its pretty obvious that support for the Wii U is winding down, so looks like the NX is some kind of proper replacement. Again, if the NX does fail, Nintendo will still be financially ok, but they will be irrelevant compared to the PS4 and XB1.

@sub12
Maybe, I guess I just don't think it's going to fail. Because if it's the only platform they put out next gen (as opposed to 1 console and 1 handheld) and it works as both, as a console/handheld in one, then failure would mean nobody wants to play their games anymore, period. And I just don't see that happening, especially with such a large handheld base to fall back on.

It would be an utter shame if they ever stopped making home consoles. Don't get me wrong- I will play the heck out of their handhelds, but there's nothing like playing their games on a home console. I'd rather see their games on another platform altogether than see them not make console games at all

@JaxonH Yeah, I know it was a bit confusing, but did you see my streamlined post #12?

And besides, I'm not the marketing genius who came up with:

Just Plug and Play
Getting into PlayStation®VR couldn’t be easier. Just plug the PlayStation®VR headset and your PlayStation® Camera* into your PlayStation®4 system*. You're ready to go.

As @get2sammyb said - "It is what it is" - but they shouldn't market it as something it isn't. Drop the "couldn't be easier" and I'd stop harping on it. Finding other things to harp on easy for me anyway. And it's a lie anyway, your PSVR headset doesn't plug into the PS4, it plugs into another cable. And that cable plugs into another box. And that box plugs into the PS4. Kevin Bacon is less separated from the PS4 then the PSVR is.

Don't worry sammy, there's been a PSVR article on NL, we're just trying to balance the scales of justice.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/03/talking_point_sonys_playstation_vr_launch_adds_pressure_to_nintendos_holiday_-_and_perhaps_nx_-_plans

@get2sammyb

You can't get mad at us for turning just one out of your hundred or so 2016 VR articles into a NX thread.

@sub12 Thanks. I was about to go off on one of the moderators - who shall remain nameless - but your comment ninja'd me before I could hit reply.