Talking Point: How's Your PlayStation VR Hype Holding Out?

Already sold my ps vr for the pro, I think vr has potential, doesn't have problem when playing vr games. Still interested in ps vr 2 when ps5 launch sometimes in the future.

I'm loving it so far! The games feel so fresh and different from anything else I've played- it's hard to resist buying more than I can reasonably play. I'm curious to see how the Pro is received when it actually releases.

I don't have the headset and I probably won't get one until it either gets cheaper, or a second version is released.

I feel its too early and this is just the semi-affordable tip of the iceberg. Just the introduction. Maybe i'm just getting old.....

@Hoodie718 I'm having that problem too. I played the demo disc and they had the buy button that was so tempting to click. But I'm trying to enjoy each experience fully before I buy a new game. It's difficult and I will cave on grabbing Rez and Job Simulator this weekend.

I had zero sickness or dizziness issues on day one, but since the I've had quite a few occasions where it's made me feel proper ill. I think playing it when I'm tired is a no-go for me. Either that or I'll persevere and grow some kind of vomit tolerance.

My only complaint is not having much time to play it.Since on work days i have to go home to a girlfriend who wants to hog all my free time. Cant wait to dive more into Batman Arkham VR and Headmaster. And for Eve to drop its proce

I can't in good mind spend close to a mortgage payment for a PSVR

I'm genuinely loath to play 2D stuff any more. As long as the content keeps coming I can't see much on the horizon that will tempt me away from it.

ps @get2sammyb - floored, not flawed, unless you were being ironic

I took a punt and loved it instantly. Hard to explain to someone who hasnt tried it but it really is amazing ... when it works. I can turn it on one minute and its smooth as silk ... turn it on half hour later without changing anything, and the controllers are twitching like crazy, vision drifts all over the place. Really is frustrating. Sometimes I try and rectify it for an hour, then rip the headset off in a rage as nothing seems to fix it - lighting, camera position, recalibrating seem to have zero effect. I wonder if the processor box can overheat as I always have best results in the morning after its been turned off overnight. Still, exceptional when it works ... just hope firmware updates can fix these issues.

@Bluetrain7 I love Rez! Job Simulator is one I'm trying to wait on, though it looks hilarious. I have a pretty good setup for seated experiences, but standing is trickier. It seems the window where you can play and have it perform reliably is pretty small.

I wish Rez and Thumper (and any other TV compatible games) had 3D TV support.

I have a nice 3D TV, Move, and PS camera. But I don't really want to deal with VR hassle.

3D games on the PS4 could have been great, PS3 was never strong enough to run most 3D games at full resolution.

1st time i've felt a bit sick today playing rush of blood. Particularly enjoyed Wayward Sky.

Enjoying Playing Battlezone at moment - have most lunch vr games waiting on motoracer 4 next week I be playing whole game in vr.

Will finally get to have a go on PSVR next Wednesday at Game (yeah,I'm going to pay to play,got a problem with that?)so will see what all the fuss is about...
Not sure what games will be available to try but which is best for the first "wow" factor..if there is one..?

Its a fantastic experience however at the moment its flawed, the wow factor has worn off a fair bit and I feel a bit more back to earth.

Firstly, the deep rooted question for me with the PSVR so far is:

Does it do games better than what we have already? The answer based on the launch titles for me is no.

Yes, the immersion is a step up from a 'standard' experience however its at a fairly substantial cost to get that and I keep asking myself if its really worth the trade off.

Graphics are an easy target to begin. Theres no debating that they are a substantial drop from what we are used to.

Player movement is highly gimped in most cases to stop motion sickness. Hence we see quite a bit of teleporting which.. well in terms of VR really is an immersion killer.

The launch titles, for the most part are little more than short experiences, Rigs and Battlezone aside. Which funnily enough are the two that make me feel sick. The short experiences are all about picking up boxes, or throwing things about but that fun wears off pretty quickly.

Games like Wayward Sky and Robot Rescue from the Playroom show that platformers CAN work pretty well in VR but it also begs the question that these games, while nice in the bubble of VR, aren't particularly extraordinary and would probably gather little to no interest if they werent VR enabled.
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Personally, im seriously thinking of getting most of my money back at CEX.. really thinking hard on what to do and its hard not to think that Sony and well..me for buying it, has jumped the gun just a little bit.

Given some more time and launched around the time/after the eventual launch of PS5 with updated move controllers/better tracking.

Ive not had any real tracking issues but at the same time, it is undeniably shaky, the move controllers. Headset tracking is spot on in fairness.

My gut feeling is that once the initial wave of the wow factor is over after christmas PSVR is likely to see a fairly large drop off and Game etc will see trade ins galore for PS4 Pro units.

Only time will tell I guess.

I play it a few times a week. I want to be in the right state of mind when I dive into virtual reality. I don't feel like strapping the headset on after work for example. Right now I'm playing it on my days off or just before bed.

As for sickness, had some problems with Rigs but I'm over that now. DriveClub, however is still unplayable to me.

My overall experience of PSVR is overwhelmingly positive. Nothing like it. Batman Arkham VR is a fantastic showcase of what gen 1 PSVR has in store and that has me excited.
Rez would also be my GOTY if it wasn't for UC4 (shout out to Thumper also!)

I'm having a real hard time playing anything that's not VR. I love my games, but it's not the same anymore. Not when I can pilot a spacecraft in EVE, or travel through the human body as a microscopic organism in VEV. Bound in VR is amazing too, I'm so glad I waited to play through. Lately I've been having a hoot with Harmonix VR. The Easel is so much fun. I do hope this fades though as I have hundreds of 2D games that I still need to get back to.

Its a bit of a hassle to get setup each time (not counting hooking up the box, which is usually a one time thing). A lot more work than I had anticipated.

Position a chair directly in front of the camera (which is generally directly in front of the TV) often times having to adjust the camera on a per player basis. Turn the system on, the main controller on, turn each Move controller on, plug in the headset, turn it on. Navigate to a game (generally outside of the headset, since waiting a minute or more looking at the blackness and a logo of a loading screen in VR is terrible). Once in game, put on the headset, adjust it, put the headphones on, try and visualize where the controller was in front of you, and pick it up (because you need both hands to put on the headset and headphones). Do any in game calibrations. Then when you get the option to use the Move controllers, put down the main controller, and try and visualize where the Move controllers were (a bit harder than grabbing the original controller). This last step generally has me taking off the headset and headphones to find the controllers, grab them, put them on my lap, and reposition the headset and headphone again. And then we are off!

That is the process to play a game in PSVR, every time. Some people might have a slightly easier time by eliminating some of the smaller quirks like using in ear headphones so you don't have to take them off if you take off the headset or maybe have a chair permanently positioned a few feet away from the TV, but that doesn't really alleviate the bigger problems.

Right now, PSVR does not have any titles that make it worth all of that hassle every time, so I only play my PSVR occasionally. I have high hopes for the future, because its damn impressive when you are playing (it makes non VR games seem hollow) but for now, its a novelty that I enjoy every once in awhile.

I still love my VR. I wish I could afford more titles. It isn't without flaws and yes, it is expensive. But I am genuinely excited about going back to it and I haven't felt that way in some time. I see this very much as the PS1 gen of VR in terms of the tech on display. Developers were starting to grapple with 3D environments and enhanced power it it wasn't really until the PS2 that those concepts became better realised. I feel the same is true of how VR will go.

I have shown it to two fellow PS4 gamers and they have both bought or preordered one even though they poo pooed it at launch.

..... just went to Batcomputer and selected Killer Croc profile, put the third "action" cartridge (where he roars down on you) in the console and pressed pause.... Then called my 7 year old boy over n told him I wanted to show him something . Lol. Jumped out his skin when I unpaused. He wont be hastling me for another shot of "daddys blue torch glasses" anytime soon.

@Rudy_Manchego Re your last paragraph, one of my friends here is a near-60 year old cabbie that used to work in London, but he's Spanish. He's a complete technophobe, can't use his phone, can't be bothered with his PC. He's just gone and dropped €750 on the lot based on five minutes in Tumble VR so that he and his wife have something different to do in the evenings, occasionally.

I'd love a poll that shows age vs happiness with the tech, cos so many seem hung up on graphics to the point it's putting them off. I wonder if they're younger gamers, that only know the HD things we get nowadays. That's not a slur, either. I used to hate vector games, but love them now - I guess I just appreciate the technology (or lack of it) more these days.

Tried Playroom (great), Battlezone demo, REZ demo, virtual theater, and 1.5 hours of DriveClub on launch day. I wear bifocals and it was a great experience, but took time to find the focus sweet spot. No motion sickness whatsoever. GF wears trifocals and had a tough time getting focus. Still impressed, but put it down for 10 days cuz I was in the middle of Dark Souls 3. Spent four hours with it again on Sunday to see if I would keep or return it. Got my sweet spot for focus right away, played EVE demo, Thumper (incredible), Here They Lie demo, and about an hour of Battlezone. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Here to stay. Looking forward to a B2G1 sale this weekend to pick up Batman VR and Rush of Blood. I'm a 58-year old gamer and I've been waiting for PSVR to hit the market since the initial revelations of Project Morpheus.

@Drawfull Im in my 30's and while the graphics aren't completely game breaking.. they're a massive stepdown from what we are used to. Detail is lost after a couple of virtual feet in-front of you.

Progress shouldnt mean 1 step forward (immersion), 3 steps back. (graphics, locomotion and motion controls)

And id like to clarify, graphics are the least of the problems in all honesty as my post above highlighted.

@thedevilsjester To be fair, that's your experience of VR, based on the arrangement of your living space. Because of the way mine is set up, I never need to unplug (just wind up and put on media console), but my camera can live the perfect distance away. I need to rotate the camera to play standing games, but it's not a big deal and all the wires reach. With regard to finding stuff with the headset on, just don't clamp it to your face.

@solocapers Fair enough, I'm 42. Graphics are nice, and can improve my appreciation of a substandard game. But lower res stuff (think of all the pixel-art indie titles for vanilla PS4) doesn't matter if the game's good. If there are issues with the way they're implemented, sure (look at Alienation - no turning animation, really?!) it can harm the experience. Nevertheless, from a personal perspective, after 30s in something like EVE: Valkyrie, or Job Simulator (which are obviously poles apart in fidelity), I don't even think about them. Different strokes, different folks, but I still think those playing in late 70s, early 80s, are less impacted by a graphical reduction.

I'm not sure what you mean by locomotion, but I (and many) have had absolutely no problems with motion control. Can it be fixed in firmware? I don't think so, I do think there is a hardware problem outside of user's inability to set up the kit correctly, but as you will tell from that, I think a lot of the drift problems and jitter are user-error. I also think that user-error leads to motion sickness: the entire Gamespot team unable to review Driveclub because they got sick? If the problem affected that many people (percentage-wise) the VR's reviews wouldn't have been so good.

Edit to add, I'm sure there is faulty hardware out there too, but not all of it is causing the drift, jitter. Should have made that clearer.

@Drawfull What i mean by locomotion problems is player movement within a VR space and the problems that all current VR tech is having a hard time dealing with.

The go to fix mostly right now is either..
Teleporting - which breaks immersion of moving about in a complete 3d world.
On rails - which loses freedom - cmon, I thought we were done with that in the late 90's
Very slow movement, slower than perhaps walking pace just to stop sickness.
No movement at all with the game space wrapped around you - which completely limits what you can do in a game.

VR in the current incarnation is thus deeply flawed imo compared to what we already have.

If you've never been motion sick, which until PSVR I thought was impossible for me because you know.. im not some sort of wuss, is not due to being setup incorrectly. Its fluid in your ear not moving and your eyes telling your brain that your body is moving. Combine the two, your brain freaks out and quite a lot of people become motion sick. Thats 100% absolutely nothing to do with setup problems so the solution to that is to simplify the games or limit locomotion. That swings back to, is it really worth it then if you need to sacrifice so much?

And back to the move controls since you touch on it. Hold them out infront of you perfectly still. They will jitter ever so slightly with spikes every now and then.. you are lying to yourself if you say they stay perfectly still.. thats a problem with the technology being 6 years + old. Again not user setup. Obbviously some cases have completely made the situation worse but even in a perfect enviroment the move controllers and tracking of them are a weak point.

Imo after a couple of weeks with my PSVR. I have to say its a lot of trade off for being in a 3d bubble even if its 'only' £350

I love mine. Its actually better than I thought it would be. Ive gotten nauseated a few times, but ive always had some kinda slight virtigo. What impresses me the most are how well the games play. Unlike with the Move which was very spotty at best. But needless to say I'm extremely impressed.

@solocapers All our experiences are different. I don't like games in VR that force me to teleport, or gimp the camera angle (Bound does this, but the rest is good, so I am trying to overlook it): But! I absolutely do not suffer from motion sickness, so that will obviously be my point of view.

I strongly believe the jitter people experience is directly related to the motion sickness they have. Now, for example, in Tumble (using your criterion) yes, there is a very, very slight judder if you stop and look at the virtual-representation of your Move wand. It is absolutely not noticeable for me when playing the game. I have seen videos of Rush of Blood, and yeah, it looks sketchy, with flickery controls depicted on screen. When I played the demo (I don't have the full thing) I had nothing like what's seen in those vids, so for me it's unlikely to be hardware but setup.

Going off what we know now, if it is a hardware problem, then it looks like a massive percentage have it out of the gate. I just don't believe that Sony would release something that suffers so badly, so whilst I don't discount a hardware issue, I would be willing to bet that most are not set up perfectly. Whether that's a marketing thing that should have been addressed prior to launch is beyond the scope of this reply (I agree with you), but in all the previews I read - and I read a lot - it was never mentioned. That tells me that there is an optimum set-up and that getting that wrong will impact on the experience. Your definition of user-error may differ of course, and yeah, I agree with that but I think the hardware is solid and those that are having problems in most cases, have done something wrong.

Hope that's not bashy or negative, isn't supposed to be. Just my point of view, two weeks in.

is psn braking up again -_-

First of all: I love the polls on this site!

Rez (especially AreaX) and Thumper are so different in VR and really shine in the virtual world! Everyone should try them. Not for ten minutes, but really dive into them for a longer period of time to have this super immersive feeling. No video or whateversized flatscreen can give you the sense of beeing surrounded by those very special worlds! Think of fullfledged binaural sound and lowquality monosound and you get a slight idea of what a difference "being there" makes...

Those games are perfect for VR and the main reason I enjoy my PSVR.

@Drawfull "strongly believe the jitter people experience is directly related to the motion sickness they have" sorry but you have no idea what wobbling/jitter means. Go look it up, please. Reddit/psvr and simply everywhere you can read about those issues.

@Neolit I do so no problem there haha. DriveClub VR is my Everest and one day I shall conquer it or drown in a pool of my own vomit trying

@Drawfull "strongly believe the jitter people experience is directly related to the motion sickness they have"

You seem to be talking about something completely different. Yes jittering framerate can cause motion sickness which is why PSVR operates at a high framerate but that with that hurdle out of the way it leaves your eyes telling your brain different things from what your senses are saying.

The move controllers have movement in them. Even in a perfect enviroment.. They do. Either that or you are the only person in the world who's works 1:1 perfect and again as I said.. the one thing that does work very well is the headset tracking is pretty much perfect. The headset itself and its tracking is the one thing sony have nailed without a question.

Motion sickness and hand controller movement are not in any way linked.

Motion sickness is caused by your senses feeling that you are stationary yet your eyes tell your brain the complete opposite.The fluid in your inner ear tells your brain that you are stationary yet your sight say the opposite.

I think it's inevitable that some people will get sick from VR, regardless of how well it works, just because your eyes and ears get tricked into thinking you're moving, but your body is standing still. And that's unfortunate, because VR is so cool! I think it's a mistake to fault VR for not matching experiences we're accustomed to from non-VR games. It's really all about presence, and hopefully that opens up new ideas of what games can be. That's the reason I die a little inside every time I hear someone say they're saving their money for the Pro. I'm sure it'll look gorgeous on an expensive tv, but it's fundamentally the same experience. I wouldn't want every game to be VR, but I hope it continues to have a place in the gaming world!

@Neolit now thats interesting, I'm quite the opposite on DriveclubVR and EVE. I get better at rolling through EVE without getting sick but Driveclub never was a problem for me (cockpit of course)...

@Neolit yes, of course. But I usually dont do barrelrolls in space...oh wait!😂

Btw.: for anyone who is interested in the kind of metacritic for VR games (Vive, Rift, PSVR):
https://vrgamecritic.com

@Neolit Nice color

@Neolit It does seem perfect for VR! Have you checked out Windlands? That might help test your sickness theory. It doesn't resemble anything you've done in real life, but man is it dizzying! In a fun way, I think.

@GamerDad66 I also have a nice sony 3D TV that very few games support now. But id have to ask what VR hassle are you talking about,our of curiosity? Theres one cable
If you haven't tried REZ infinite in VR then may Lord Kutaragi have mercy on your soul if a friend lets you try it.

Not to poop on PSVR but there is a fun VR game on Steam for Vive called Tabletop Simulator where you can play a large amount of community and built in games like Uno, Dungeons and Dragons, Yugioh, Pokemon Trading Cards, and now Cards Against Humanity.

I think this should come to Rift and PSVR because I think this is the best VR game!

I'm waiting until we get a couple full length AAA games that just wouldn't be possible without VR. Everything I've seen so far has been smaller indie games or what basically amount to tech demos.

@Link41x wish I had your mortgage!

Mine arrived today even though I pre-ordered back in March (not using that retailer again). I have so much work on, I've literally had time to plug it in, turn it on and make sure it works.

Hoping to get stuck in tomorrow evening!

Just waiting for the Switch.

For me vr is same like I bought 3dfx voodoo for the first time. Jaw drop but of course I will get used to it. Only thing that I don't like is heavy aliasing in games so I'm looking forward for some pro treatment.

You know when I fly in wraith fighter in eve valkyrie it reminds me Star Wars a lot. I can't wait for some sw stuff mainly the xwing vr mission. It has so big potential in these games ! Do you remember wing commander? Then you now what games I think of

Another great vr concept is asymmetrical multiplayer social games like in playroom vr. Sometimes I think it's more fun then vr worlds and it's free !

And last but not least are experiences which were "demoed" by littlestar app. If there will be support for YouTube 360 videos that would be great. Also if there are some educational apps on ps store it would greatly help to sell platform. Especially in families .

So far so good Sony!

Lots of really useful comments up there. I pre-ordered and cancelled twice because I had my doubts about it. All your comments and feedback hasn't changed my mind though. Like a few people out there, I think I'll wait for the next version and get it with the PS5.
I can't see why Sony didn't produce a 'visor' version where you can simply pull down the front 'as and when' so we could have an AR and VR combo headset.
My dream is to have the PS5 come with AR/VR headset and haptic gloves.
(Yes, I've read Ready Player One)

So far gamers act like the current experiences dont have blurry graphics, when they do, and most of these experiences are glorified shooting galleries with Google Map-style movement.

I'm waiting for RE7 to see what my buddies and trusted reviewers say.

Absolutely loving PSVR, I'm surprised how many games genre's work in it. The Robot Rescue in the Playroom VR was just a fantastic experience, I'm not normally into platformers but that showed real potential, I really hope Japan Studio work on a full release. Games which would be deemed "mediocre" in 2D excel in VR, I have to refrain from buying all the current releases, looking forward to the future of this.

People who keep saying they will wait on VR2, PS5 etc, if people don't purchase or early adopt then there won't be a market for producing later models.

@get2sammyb Cursed nintendo is making me hold off on buying the VR...want the Switch first, but even then, I'll wait until the VR goes down in price and just continue watching the game footage on the few that I think look amazing.
What are your thoughts on Until Rush Dawn Of Blood???

@solocapers We are at cross-purposes, because I worded my post badly. I meant tracking issues in general. The wobble I meant the in-and-out wobble that people report - that can't be good for those susceptible.

Again, I get no jitter of controllers AT ALL*, no drift in the headset AT ALL or jittery tracking AT ALL. I'm using version one camera, new Moves. It is set up exactly at 6' away from where the headset lights are when I'm sitting - which I believe is Sony's recommendation, with the camera on a tripod so I can adjust to eye-level on the fly. The left facing camera lens in pointing at exactly where I sit/stand. There is no direct sunlight when I'm playing, but I do have reflective surfaces between me and behind me with respect to what the camera sees. I make sure everything is fully charged before I start playing and have adjusted the inter-eye distance thing.

I'm not disputing people have problems, but since I don't it proves to me that the tech works, and unless I'm the only guy with a working unit I find it hard to believe that Sony have shipped something that is faulty in high percentages. Sure, there will be duff kit, I get that but would expect it to be in the 1-2% range, but I think a lot of people are not able to set it up optimally for whatever reason (room shape, inability to read and follow advice, windows everywhere), which leads to tracking issues, frame wobble and so on.

*Job Simulator makes you stand further away than Sony's recommendation, I get tracking issues occasionally there, but nothing requiring a reset - barely the slightest of discernible movement of your in-game hands. I do not get this in Batman though, that's rock-steady.

For the other chap who eloquently stated that I don't know what I'm talking about, I own and have played every VR title that's available on the UK store apart from Windlands, Hustle Kings, Kismet & VR Worlds. And anything that's come out since Tethered, (which is excellent, by the way). Job Simulator aside and I'm being incredibly picky, it's been perfect for me.

Wow. Just wow. I've only had a chance to play a couple of the demos, but this is truly magnificent. Batman is a triumph. It's almost total immersion in the game. At one point, I almost tried to put my controller down on one of the tables in the morgue before I remembered they didn't actually exist.

I can't wait to play more - I haven't even tried Driveclub yet!

@professorhat Glad to hear you're digging it! Batmanglij was almost too intense for me in parts.