Sony hasn't forgotten about PSVR2 after all, as it appears to be developing new features for its virtual reality tech.
Currently, in order to play PSVR2 games, you need to use either a DualSense pad or a pair of PSVR2 Sense controllers, depending on the title. While the latter has built-in finger tracking, it looks like Sony is taking that a step further with full hand tracking technology.
Already a feature on some PC VR kits, hand tracking means you can play games without the need to hold any controllers at all, with the software registering the positioning and gestures of your hands in order to interact.
Sony has been demoing PSVR2's hand tracking feature, captured below at tech exhibition Siggraph Asia 2024:
The demo has participants playing a cleaning minigame, using only their hands to spray water and cleanse the characters. The hand tracking tech is described as "smooth" and "low latency", displaying the onscreen hands at 60 frames per second.
It's hard to tell how far along this is, and whether the tech will be implemented into PSVR2 games, but it's at least encouraging to see Sony continue to invest in virtual reality.
Are you excited by full hand tracking on PSVR2? High five in the comments section below.
[source x.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 36
If this ever drops down to 200 I might pick one up
@Americansamurai1 I grabbed one during the Black Friday sale and so far, I noticed that it's getting out of stock almost everywhere in stores, except Amazon. The headset suddenly became popular due to the price cut. Sony said it wanted to liquidate the overstock first but there's not confirmation if they'll resume production for now. It's not abandoned, but it's not a priority I would say. At almost half price, it's still a good price for the kind of device.
That would be a nice feature.
Fighting/boxing games would be ace with this.
Love me some VR!
Picked one up in the sale purely for the resi games, it's clearly been abandoned unfortunately but at that price worth it for a few good games
I'm skeptical that it would work well enough for most uses. Happy to try and happy to be proven wrong, but feels like it would be more of a gimmick or supplement to controllers than a stand alone offering.
Cool. And great for cross platform, meaning more games.
Might be required for me as my right dual sense is going out and Sony doesn't sell replacements making it a $600 brick.
I think it's latest sale price should be it's standard price going forward. The main draw back of the VR2 from the get go was always the price and if you want a lot of people to get into VR gaming for the first time (especially as its niche) then it needs to have a low entry price.
The second draw back is the lack of exclusives, with the competition having the cheaper headsets the VR2 needs exclusives for it to stand out and to justify people buying that over the competition. Apart from Horizon and maybe Moss there's no incentive to get a VR2 over the Meta Quest which has just got the Batman game as an exclusive and has games like Assassin's Creed Nexus, Asgards Wrath and Hitman 3 VR.
It also helps that Meta Quest has some of its own developers purely dedicated to VR, something else Sony is lacking.
If Sony want to shift more units and take VR seriously then they need to secure more big name exclusives, a permanent price drop and maybe an acquisition or two that's purely for VR games.
They should bring the wishi washi window cleaning eye toy game back for this
@aethermath yeah maybe next holiday it might get closer to the price I would want to pay for it. The more people who buy it hopefully helps them reduce the price of it.
@aethermath sony never officially stated they stopped production or wanted to liquidate stock. Bloomberg are a questionable source most times and since it was them who put the "report" out id say it was probably rubbish, certainly if they are still investing a bit in VR tech.
Show me some first party PSVR ports please Sony. I would love to play Blood & Truth, Astro Bot and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood with PSVR2 tech.
I will buy these at launch and you would make me very happy. 🙂
"Playstation hasn't abandoned PSVR2".
I don't believe you. Lol. The VR2 truly has some of the best VR experiences available (No Man's Sky, RE4, RE8, Moss1 and 2, Call of the Mountain, etc.) but I lost all hope that they care anymore when Astrobot skipped it entirely. Sony hates the VR2. Call of the Mountain is literally the only first party title. Haha
Given sony's first party output for the PS5 in is nowhere near what it was during the ps4 era I'm not surprised 1st party VR titles are practically non existent. And given how sony wants to output ones first party title per year now I don't see VR output increasing much. Thank god for 3rd party support though. Just did my S+ professional play through for the plat of resi 4. Was an absolute blast. If you've got your VR legs I recommend it to everybody.
@Americansamurai1 brand new, I doubt it will ever drop that low not in the current economic climate anyway. But this does bring back the point that if VR is ever to attract big numbers companies like sony really should release a "lite" headset that is just dirt cheap but keeps a quality screen and lenses.
@Yozora146_ true, would be great if they could get it down to a standard 300 price point maybe include an Astro bot rescue mission port and I think it would really sell great
All I want, is a revision, with pancake lenses (huge sweetspot), and an option to be able to play wireless.
Used finger tracking on Quest 3, and sure, easier to do things in the menu, puzzle games etc. But in action games, you need an actual controller, with sticks, buttons and triggers, to get that feeling of using a gun or swinging a sword, and moving around.
To me it just felt like a gimmick, that I quickly forgot about.
As mentioned, there are more important things to fix and improve. But with the lack of first party games, that actually uses the power of the PS5/Pro hardware, I still don't see things turn around, and making PSVR2 a success.
And even on sale, it's too damn expensive.
Interesting. I already play some VR games now that utilise hand tracking and I really like it. I would definitely play on my PSVR2 a lot more if they introduced it there.
@__jamiie I hate fishing out my PSVR 1 to play Astro Bot Rescue Mission. It's just an absolute cluster BLEEP with all of those wires.
Gaming is evolving in 2 directions:
Sony is clearly focusing on both.
Pancake lenses are the real winner for me too and the reason I tend to buy multi-platform VR games on my Quest 3.
Haptics etc. on PSVR2 I'm not too fussed about and the graphical downgrade doesn't bother me too much either.
Arkham Shadow is my GOTY.
@__jamiie
Yeah I was committed to getting a VR headset this year and ended up going with the Quest 3 as well for Batman.
Don't regret it one bit. Arkham Shadow is pretty spectacular!
Less tech demos and more first party support.
@Korgon It's absolutely incredible isn't it!? I didn't get it with my headset because I bought it a few months ago but it's amazing.
I got Asgard's Wrath which is also great.
I've actually double dipped on a few games because of the Quest lenses and ease of use.
Send me your username.
@Americansamurai1 No you won't
$350 (US) at Costco, with Horizon and a charging station bundled in, I decided was worth a shot.
We'll see. I'm not sure the games will keep rolling out, and I wish there was compatibility with the old PSVR since I picked up some of those titles from PS+ years ago, but maybe there's a chance the PC adapter might improve its longevity.
As for the original question...I figure more options for play are good. If there are games where using your hands as a controller make sense, then this is a huge plus. I just don't see how a cleaning mini game is better because it doesn't require a controller - someone has to deliver a more compelling experience than that. It's not just the tech, it's the application of the tech that matters.
@Aventurier I won't? Do you know me?
@Jayslow as someone that just bought one during Black Friday that sounds like my worst nightmare!!
Part of me wouldn’t mind trying VR but with my CFS I think it’ll make me nauseous super fast. Even if it didn’t, you’re locked out of other storefronts unless you have a specific headset… it’s ridiculous.
If hand tracking becomes available on psvr2, could that lead to Half Life Alyx being playable on PS5 if it got ported over? or are there other barriers?
@__jamiie
Sure my username is Korgon117. Feel free to add me on there.
Fair enough, they did with Vita, still supported it hardware production wise till 2019, remote play was till 2019 before going to Android and iPhone later.
Or repairs or whatever the case. Third parties will still support it just Sony won't and can't justify it I guess. Nothing new here.
The PC support is nice at least but whether it's enough for a 3rd headset aka PSVR3 I doubt it but enough changes/next PSVR2 model then sure I can see that happening to make tweaks and do as much support up to the end they have planned for it.
Just purchased meta 3s for sons Christmas (it's for him honestly 😏). Would've preffered supporting psvr but don't feel they supported me when bought the 1st one. I'll hopefully, if they support psvr2 and cut price still pick up in a year. Sony can't compete with meta how it looks to me right now. Sony have consoles, Nintendo have handhelds and meta have vr in my opinion. Hate Facebook and sad it's came to this
Games. Work on games.
@__jamiie Arkham Shadow is fantastic.
@Juga_Juga I thought it already was available on PSVR2, even on their 30th anniversary page their quiz even says it supports it.
It's even on the PS Blog post about finger/hand tracking (for actual evidence). I haven't pulled out the headset in a bit but I still remember besides the Foveated rendering eye tracking.
I assume on PC it's not supported through the Steam app, but I don't know. I think it was only the Foveated rendering that wasn't but I don't know for sure.
Even in trailers I remember finger/hand tracking being a thing.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=psvr2+ps+blog+post+finger+tracking&t=ffab&atb=v320-1&ia=web general search about it with a list of articles
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