Art_Vandelay

@NEStalgia Oh yeah, I guess this is part of the ecosystem, right? And I'm with you there, the world has become a caricature of itself. These are the dark ages. VR to the rescue lol.

Now, getting back to the matter at hand, I think the main target audience for this first iteration is actually the developers. If Apple can convince this group alone and, again, if the tech is solid, it will eventually thrive.

And honestly, it does have its little tricks. The outward facing screen, the dial, the 3D camera; these are all unique features. And the specs are also pretty impressive, price notwithstanding.

But what I hate about Apple is how they present all the other 99% of features as the innovation of the century. You know, stuff that have been present in competitors offers for years. And… people f'in fall for it. It's disgusting.

@NEStalgia You're failing to see the big picture here. Yesterday's presentation made it clear that this product is geared towards both professionals and consumers. But not this product per se, but this product line.

XR is ground breaking technology that will still take years to mature. Apple's first foray into this market is clearly an early adopter stepping stone that has the primary objective of planting the seeds of a healthy ecosystem. If the tech is solid, it will attract both enthusiasts and developers which is a fundamental first step for future mainstream adoption.

The same sources that had been reporting on the Vision Pro have leaked Apple's roadmap, which point to both a cheaper version in one or two years and a "true AR/MR" iteration further down the line.

Look, I hate Apple but its influence in the tech industry is undeniable. So, I actually think that Vision Pro will be good for VR in general because it does shift people's perspective. You know, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Oh man, I'll be all over this. The 7th Guest was one of those momentous occasions back in the day, along with Wing Commander 3, Rebel Assault and Under a Killing Moon, which required an obscene 16 MB of RAM to run.

@gaston "why are all the gaming media so negative in regards of vr and playstation's vr in particular?"

That's a bloody good question. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is the good old resistance to change. People feel threatened when something so radically new comes about. It seemingly jeopardizes their very identity in a rather subconcious level.

I know it may sound like a bit of a stretch, but what else?

@TrickyDicky99 So, which is the argument? I was referring to your comment about the Quest 3, which is totally apples and oranges.

Supply and demand, well... it could make sense if you ignored all the other variables that compound the price of a product.

But mainly: PSVR2 is not supposed to sell in huge numbers like the console itself. It's a value add. It makes the PS5 look state-of-the-art. "It even does VR". It is geared towards tech enthusiasts that pay whatever price and buy games by the buckets. And since it is relatively small in sales volume, Sony has to make a healthy profit on the hardware itself. Add that to the aforementioned high attach rate, and you have a winner.

In addition, it's a marathon not a sprint. Lowering the price to $400 now is a bad look. It's stupid marketing. Now, temporarily lowering it to $499 on black Friday.. that would be smart.

@gollumb82 Yeah, PC compatibility would be a game changer...

For Valve, who would get all of the profit with Steam sales without moving a finger.

People need to understand once and for all that console manufacturers make their money on content and services, not hardware sales. That's their whole business model.

@TrickyDicky99 That's like saying that Sony needs to lower the PS5 price because Steam Deck packs a screen, controller and all the processing onboard.

Sure, except that the difference in processing power is like 10X.

Geez, can we just enjoy PSVR2 for what it is? Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it is hard for Sony to justify funding AAA titles for the platform. Yes, it is niche. Yes, there are tens of flat-screen game releases for every VR release. So, does it make PSVR2 a failure?

Maybe it is, for those who have "no interest" on it and yet waste their time reading and commenting articles about it. But for me, PSVR2 is a massive success because it solves the two main problems I have with games these days: time investment and lack of innovation.

Sure, GOW Ragnarock was awesome, but it was more GOW. Forbidden West was also great, but it was more Horizon. Same goes for Spider Man 2 by the looks of it. I've been gaming for 35 years, and I felt like I had seen it all until VR came along.

Not to mention the time investment. I'm a 44 year old with adult responsibilities. I'm lucky if I can get 1 hour of playtime on a given day. So these games take me months to complete, which in turn adds to the feeling of sameyness.

Now, VR turn games like Resident Evil, Horizon or GT7 into completely new experiences. Also, AA or indie games suddenly become super interesting because they're not the average side scroller or whatever that I've seen and played a million times on the flat-screen. And they're much cheaper and only take a few hours to complete. Jackpot.

So, not enough games? Well, I'm new to VR so I already have a backlog that will take me a couple years to go through. And new games are coming out slowly but surely; more than I will ever be able to handle. Plus, I have an endless source of gaming fun in GT7 alone with my racing rig and headset.

But, you know… it's 2023 and people's main hobby is to complain online.

People must stop referring to how things used to be done back in the PS3 or even the PS4 days. The comparisons simply don't hold up because the realities of games development have changed dramatically over the last decade.

The 3-year cycle is now the exception, with the rule being 5, 6 or even 7 years for a game to go from concept to release. Therefore, we need to adjust our expectations accordingly, otherwise we're poised to eternal frustration.

The alternative is to have games being announced half a decade before they come out. Not ideal, if you ask me.

@JB_Whiting That's the way it goes in 2023. The pace of tech has dramatically decelerated when compared to the PS1/PS2/PS3 days.

With node shrinks inching closer to atomic limits on the hardware side, and games development getting increasingly complex, we won't be playing anything close to that Matrix Awakens demo in 60 fps anytime soon.

If you want to get blown away by new games, you really need to look elsewhere. VR is where the real revolution is happening now. Feels like the good old days.

I must say I wasn't expecting that, given that the wording in the original announcement was "VR content also in development". Sounded like DLC, with a total lack of commitment for full game support.

It makes sense though, given the brilliant work they've done with Village. Probably the best thing to come out of that Showcase.

As some of us have been saying from the start, the February 22nd has most definitely been a soft launch. Consider all of the following:

• PSVR2 only launched at Amazon/retail stores on May 12th.
• PSVR1 launched right into the shopping season (October).
• The console install base for PSVR2 is several times smaller at the time of launch when compared to the original PSVR.

Now, PSVR2 is strategically important to Sony and this is why:

• It's another tick in the console box. Even if a consumer doesn't plan to get a headset right from the start, it's nice to have the option. That indirectly drives console sales.
• The attach rate is sky high with VR headsets (games bought per user). The average PSVR owner has the characteristics that platform holders love: they're mostly hyper enthusiasts with disposable income.
• VR still has this patina of bleeding edge tech, thus making the related console look more advanced hence more attractive. I look at the main competitor and see, you know, "services", "value", and so on. These are great, but what is more exciting (not to mention the games, of course)?

Great to see a Brazilian game studio getting some attention. Specially with it being in PSVR2, which has become my default platform. Flat-screen gaming has lost its flair to me.

@Balosi Maybe there won't be an army of 80+ gamers, but surely there won't be no gamers of that age in a few decades. The truth is always somewhere in the middle.

Statistically, the age of the average gamer is constantly raising, meaning many people do stick to the hobby. Sure, many fall off, but I'd guess many more get in. That's why the industry as a whole keeps growing.

On a side note, the idea of shorter, simpler games does appeal to me. And that could be a reason why I'm loving VR right now. It's surely not the main reason, but a compelling one nonetheless.

Whenever the subject of accessibility is raised, there's always the empty virtue signaling that is not truly helpful. Being empathetic is great of course, but what most people seem to miss is the fact that many of us will eventually need it.

Gaming is still a nascent industry, to the point where the vast majority of gamers have not reached an age where they would need any form of accessibility support. But that moment will eventually come, when you can't see or hear as clearly as before, and your reflexes are just not up to par with the game's original design. I'm 44 and my hands and fingers clearly don't move as quickly as they once did.

So yes, accessibility is super important. Not only for the others, but for admittedly self-centered reasons too.

@Snackfood I've noticed that too. Both the general politeness and the average age. Not only in VR, but also in places like Reddit.

Now, the age part really piques my interest, as I'm 44. Why is VR so appealing to older gamers? I've raised a few possible reasons:

• We were there when the fake VR hype stormed the nineties. So modern VR feels a bit like vindication. It's been a long couple of decades of painful blue balls.
• We've been gaming for too long. We've seen it all. Not only that, but games have evolved in an increasingly slower pace over the last couple of decades. VR feels fresh and exciting.
• VR is still an expensive hobby, making it impenetrable to a much larger demographic than flat-screen gaming. In that sense, I wonder about the attach rate for PSVR2 games.

To be fair, one of the original sources of this rumor was Colin Moriarty, who is a legit journalist with real industry connections. Which doesn't make it real, but lends it some credence. Now, he hasn't mentioned it for a couple years, so take it as you may.

And to those saying that this remake wouldn't be justified because Bloodborne is a bit of a niche title: it might be, but you need to see the big picture here. Bloodborne fans are the hardest of the hardcore. This is the sort of group that can make waves far beyond their inner circle. These are PlayStation evangelizers, influencers and so on. It is a super smart marketing strategy to appease this sort of customer.

@thefourfoldroot1 I'm pretty sure it's a typo. Afaik, PSVR2 only supports native 90 and 120 fps, or 60 with reprojection to 120.

Technically, you could run a game at 70 fps, but then you'd need to fit it inside either a 60 or 90 Hz container. In the first case, it would just mean that the framerate would be capped to 60 fps reprojected. In the latter case, frame pacing would be all over the place, making it look actually worse than capped 60.

@SgtTruth Well, I'll take a 7/10 PSVR2 game over any flat-screen title. This headset has ruined traditional games for me. VR is just on another level.

I got the impression that the resentment is kinda mutual...

@zupertramp Yeah, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.. just released. I don't know how widespread it was, but I did see a decent number of complaints about Cal. How unlikeable he was, and all. I even saw some journalist complaining about his beard lol. I played the first one (Fallen Order) some time ago and didn't have any issues with the protagonist. Not remarkable in any way, but that is par for the course with Star Wars these days.

Now Deeke from Days Gone.. Wow, that bothered me. Not the guy, which was also totally fine, but the discourse around the game. I loved Days Gone and thought it was totally mistreated by the press. And the protagonist was a centerpiece in many outlets. Anyway, don't wanna get into it here but the point stands.

@zupertramp "Can anyone imagine people analysing a male protagonist this much? Maybe I just don't notice but I feel like this never happens."

Well, I see it happening right now with Cal Kestis. Another remarkable example that immediately comes to mind is Deacon St. John.

@Splat I was in the same boat as you, as I'm super prone to motion sickness. To give you an idea, I downright don't play first-person-shooters as I get nauseated withing minutes of playing them. Any of them. Heck, sometimes I can barely sustain sessions of games in third person. It's that bad.

But I've always had a massive interest in VR and, with PSVR2, I decided to take the plunge. And I couldn't be happier. Yes, some games are a no go for now, especially ones that involve acceleration.

But I have no issues with games that are either stationary or have constant movement, such as Moss, Tetris, Thumper, Pistol Whip, Job Simulator, Puzzling Places, C-Smash, Drums Rock (the most fun I've had with a game in years) and many others.

I'm still trying to build my "VR legs" so I can graduate to games that have full locomotion. I've tried Horizon and RE8 and, even if I can't play them for very long yet, I can definitely feel improvement day after day. My final goal is GT7, but I'll take my sweet time as it will be totally worth it.

@cragis0001 You're taking a single specific metric and failing to look at the big picture. What good is that growth when it does not translate financially?

• Microsoft is not selling consoles at the pace they expected.
• Xbox owners are not buying games anymore.
• Game Pass' subscribers base is not growing at the rate Microsoft envisioned.
• Microsoft's biggest bet yet - the ABK deal - is now under threat.

Put all this together and see the big picture. I gotta say it spells troubled times ahead, my friend.

@ThomasHL This is true, but what happens in the end is that most of the people from these studios end up in other studios; either existing or new. The studios vanish, but the talent remains. And I don't see demand for games shrinking anytime soon, so those people will be fine.

I totally agree as I've been saying this from day one. Now, the big question is: what is Microsoft going to do? They've gone too deep down that path, and are now seemingly realizing the mistake they made. The change of tone has been remarkable as of late.

The obvious approach would be to gradually reverse course. The problema is that a few decisions they made are really hard to turn around, with the main one being day 1 releases. And there's the whole ABK deal, a ridiculous $69 billion bet on the subscription model.

On the other hand, they clearly can't compete head-to-head with Sony. Not without profound changes in the Xbox division.

At the end of the day, it's funny how the narrative has completely shifted from the start of this generation to now.

It's one thing to say that the merger does not pose the risk of a future monopoly. I disagree, but there's a discussion to be had here.

But Kotick has the audacity to say that "this deal is good for competition", then he immediately loses the plot.

@Member_the_game Look at the big picture. This is a soft-launch through and through. VR is tricky, and Sony understands it. I personally think this approach is the smart strategy for an unproven product segment like this. You get it in the hands of the enthusiasts first, then gradually expand it into the mainstream.

Either way, I'm having the gaming time of my life.

@ShogunRok When you think about it, cloud gaming and subscription services are intertwined. The real threat here is Game Pass.

Microsoft has been playing an unfair game (pardon the pun) by sustaining an unsustainable business model, hoping that it would weaken competitors with shallower pockets in the long run. Bringing COD to GP would be another major blow in that sense.

Sure, they offered Sony to put COD on PS+, but that is such a cynical proposition as Sony cannot withstand the short-term loss in revenue.

At the end of the day, the subscription model the way Microsoft envisioned is only viable if it's close to a monopoly. This has always been the endgame, and I'm glad some regulatory bodies are seeing right through it.

@RonnieL I won't judge his character because I don't know him personally and the media will spin any narrative to make you believe whatever they want.

And I don't measure anyone's success by the money that have, but by the accomplishments they achieved. And by that yardstick, Elon is the most successful living human being, period.

If you or I had all the money in the world, we still wouldn't be able to revolutionize a number of industries by sheer entrepreneurship. As a matter of fact, most sons and daughters of billionaires turn out to be spoiled losers.

I'm not "simping" for anyone, I just admire the guy as an entrepreneur myself. And on top of that, he surely has made much more for me than most people, even though he hasn't addressed me personally lol.

@Flaming_Kaiser You really don't get, do you? Being rich doesn't mean anything. In Elon's case, money is a mere consequence of the many incredible deeds he has managed to accomplish.

Again, everyone makes mistakes. What matters at the end of the day, is the balance between the amount and size of your successes and failures.

@naruball Of course everyone makes mistakes. That doesn't make them stupid. Actually, being the most successful entrepreneur on planet Earth is proof enough that he learns from his mistakes faster than anyone else.

@nessisonett Well, he is the most successful entrepreneur amongst 8 billion people currently alive.

He has revolutionized the financial, automotive, energy and space exploration industries to name a few. And lately, he's on a quest for truth and freedom of speech.

But sure, the fact that you don't align with his takes automatically makes him "stupid".

@Ooccoo_Jr Maybe they should change the name do just "Pass", since the "Game" part well, you know...

@NEStalgia You make very good points there. Having realistic expectations is key to enjoying VR; or rather, to enjoy any form of entertainment to a degree.

Some people are delusional if they think Sony would invest a couple hundred million to fund one first-party VR game. That would actually be totally irresponsible.

And on top of that, it's not even necessary. I'm more than happy with the combination of hybrid AAA, third-party indies and the occasional second-party AA.

PSVR2 support, please. Please.

The concept is solid, but we're still years away from hardware that could truly leverage it.

@TheCollector316 Again, you're failing to do the math.

On one side, you have the revenue from the few Sony first-party games potentially sold on PC. On the other side, you have the massive engineering investment to make this thing work reliably on PC. I guess you have no idea of how expensive this would be. The PC ecosystem is a mess, and the VR scene there is a nightmare. The risk far outweighs the gain. Sorry, not gonna happen.

I get that you want PSVR2 on PC. It would be a great deal, that's for sure. But note: a great deal to you, not to Sony. Wishful thinking always gets in the way when making this sort of analysis. Look through your own bias.

@TheCollector316 I'll break it down for you:

Companies exist to generate profit to shareholders, hence financial incentive is the only incentive.

The small margin Sony has (if any) on the PSVR2 device itself is not enough financial incentive for the product to exist. As with any corporation that is in the games console business, the real money comes from the software side. The hardware is a mean to an end.

Sony gets a 30% cut on every third-party game sold on PlayStation. 100% on first party. Sony makes no money on PC software sales. So why on Earth would they support PSVR2 on that platform?

@Zander1992 "PSVR2 is going to be a complete failure".

For the gamer inside me, it has been the biggest success since the original PlayStation.

@GrimReaper You've clearly not given modern VR a good try.

I've been gaming since the early 80's, and I have not been this excited since the PS1. PSVR2 has brought back some of that magic that was long lost.

Flat-screen gaming is great, but it has become too samey. VR has turned it on its head, suddenly making everything look interesting again.

Give it a go. You might be surprised by how a "7" somehow turns from "pass" to "must-have".

It's mightily unfair to say that there is no PSVR2 first party roadmap. There is no public Sony first party roadmap, period. Apart from Spider-Man and Wolverine, of course.

People need to chill a little bit. It's been a month, for God's sake. This is clearly a soft launch all things considered. And a great launch for the few of us enthusiasts, that's for sure.

The Quest 3 and Apple's headset will surely raise a lot of awareness for VR by the year's end, and that could also help. The next holiday season is what will make or break PSVR2.

The next holiday season is what will make or break PSVR2.

Right now, it surely looks like a soft launch strategy. Which is smart, because VR is still in its early days as an industry.

On the one hand, Sony has done a great job at providing more than enough incentive for enthusiasts, with exclusive bangers like GT7 and RE8 in addition to a large and solid lineup of smaller but awesome ports.

On the other hand, the marketing campaign and device availability are clearly barebones.

All in all, this allows Sony to better mature the product in order for it to appeal to a more mainstream audience by the time the shopping season kicks off. And yes, a price cut would surely sweeten the deal and is definitely in the cards.

I've been totally convinced that a PS5 Pro would not happen anytime soon simply because AMD cannot provide Sony with a viable SoC. But here is an interesting idea: what if the Pro is essentially the same hardware as the base PS5 except for 2 things:

1) Double the storage space, since SSDs have been plummeting in price.

2) An additional chip that would virtually double framerate through accelerated FSR3 frame generation.

That would potentially add little strain on developers and still offer twice the performance of the base model. And be sold at a reasonable price.

Food for thought.

I'm really worried about the sustainability of the games industry. Here is the recipe for the upcoming meltdown:

• Raised expectations with every new generation - bigger games, better graphics - have reached a breaking point.
• Multiple SKUs - PS4, Pro, PS5, PC - have created the need to design with too many variables in mind, not to say "QA-ing" and optimizing each and every version.
• The clamor for multiple graphics and performance options even on consoles has added yet another layer of complexity for developers on top of the previous point.
• Game price increases have not followed the raise in production costs, creating the need for a AAA title to sell in the millions to be profitable. Not to mention the race to the bottom that Microsoft is trying to impose with Game Pass.

And here is the canary in the coal mine: super long development cycles with multiples delays that still result in bug riddled games. What gives?

I bet they had to optimize the game like crazy to get it running rock solid in VR and, as a side effect, this work unlocked 120 fps in pancake. Now, it probably fluctuates between 60 and 120 and thus VRR becomes paramount.

I remember a similar thing happening with Ace Combat 7, where the PS4 Pro version ran better than the Xbox One X's. Probably also because the PS4 version required further optimizations for the VR missions.

Getting back to GT7, this is by far my favorite game on the PS5. Polyphony are just masters of their craft.

I can almost literally see the cogs of the machine at work here. Microsoft is now putting all their corporate weight into making the Activision deal go through. Not in court, where it belongs though.

The sad thing is this deal will exponentially raise the damage that Microsoft's business model is causing to the industry at large. And the sadder thing is that most people will only realize this when it is too late.

@rjejr Oh, I know. I didn't get that interpretation at all.

And to be fair, all those Quest ports do contribute to create this idea that VR games look simpler. But on PSVR2, that is not the case at all. GT7, RE8 and Call of the Mountain look superb in the headset.

Now, VR is so awesome that I can easily look past the low polygon count and low-res textures even in the aforementioned Quest ports. And that is saying something, as I'm one of those graphics afficionados that watch each and every Digital Foundry video.

@NEStalgia Yeah, me too. PS1 was the last I remember, since the shift to 3D felt a lot like how VR does now. But I could even go further back and refer to the Master System and Genesis days. Man, I would play whatever was available to me. Even the secret snail game.

Btw, I should be getting my replacement headset in the next couple of days. I've been tracking a few Reddit threads on this "world shift/wobble" issue, and it does seem like a (hopefully) rare hardware defect.

The weird thing is that, with many people, it started suddenly, with the firmware update being the main culprit. But not everyone. Some have reported that Sony tech support is aware of the issue.

We'll see.

@Reeneman Yeah, but don't push it too much, as you could end up with the opposite of VR legs: that is, creating a negative association with the medium by feeling sick often.

VR is too much of a different paradigm to the brain, and the variables are many. People focus a lot on the movement aspects, but there are other important ones such as the vergence-accomodation conflict caused by the fixed plane of focus in current headsets.

There are loads of excellent stationary games like Moss, Puzzling Places and Drums Rock. These are the best starting point. Then you can move on to games with constant speed movement (no acceleration) such as most rhythm-based titles - Thumper, Synth Riders... Then to the locomotion-based ones with good comfort options, until you can finally and progressively take the wheels off.

To me, GT7 is dead last, but I'll get there. I'm having enough fun in the VR showroom already.