PSVR2: Next-Gen Boogaloo

[fishbowlhead]

Facebook needs to be burned to the ground and never ever repeated. The amount of data they have in everyone is just mind boggling.

Anything to do with that company should be shunned. Not that people will, lemmings off the cliff into the good sea Facebook.

[MartyG]

The only data they have is the data that people give them - all I use facebook for is posting photos I take for family, I don't go around liking everything or joining groups or anything else - if you buy a Quest just for the VR experience, the amount of data you're giving them is minimal.

If you have an issue with Facebook or want to hide your VR pr0n usage, don't buy a Quest 2 - that doesn't stop it from being a very very good VR headset for £299.

[Neon Ignition]

I assume the ads will just be on the store front etc. Can't say it would bother me much as I'm not on that end of things much and Xbox was doing it years ago

[MartyG]

If you were to believe Ars, you'd think you're going to be getting mid-roll ads, right at the point of S ranking Escape (ft. Summer Haze) on Expert+ with an unbroken combo in your Beat Saber gaming session.

[Asura]

If you were to believe Ars, you'd think you're going to be getting mid-roll ads, right at the point of S ranking Escape (ft. Summer Haze) on Expert+ with an unbroken combo in your Beat Saber gaming session.

It's fine! I mean they don't.

"presently".

->Open Spoiler<-

[MartyG]

I know you're being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but if your advertising pees people off, it's not very successful advertising. Look what happened when EA tried it in UFC 4.

[Asura]

I know you're being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but if your advertising pees people off, it's not very successful advertising. Look what happened when EA tried it in UFC 4.

True, but when EA did this, people played another videogame. Oculus at present is running unopposed; they have the only decent wireless headset. Like how many users were irritated at their tighter integration with Facebook, but sucked it up and stayed with them because there's no alternative.

[MartyG]

Or because it's not that big of an issue for most people.

[wakka]

Bit of both, I reckon. There really is no alternative unless you've got a beefy PC. It's why it's heartening to see that Sony are staying in the game.

[Neon Ignition]

Question is, would Sony have had a better support making agreements with Indies etc to make their projects PSVR exclusive and make PSVR2 operate more like Quest does where you can connect it for high fidelity VR or still buy one if you don't own a PS5 and run it on its own?

If so, why the old school approach?

[Asura]

There really is no alternative unless you've got a beefy PC.

If you're after a wireless HMD, there still isn't a proper alternative. The wireless PC alternatives use lighthouse tracking, where you need to have base-stations around your room. No-one at present makes a headset which is similar to the Quest but is a dedicated PC headset.

Question is, would Sony have had a better support making agreements with Indies etc to make their projects PSVR exclusive and make PSVR2 operate more like Quest does where you can connect it for high fidelity VR or still buy one if you don't own a PS5 and run it on its own?

If so, why the old school approach?

It's generally regarded that exclusivity doesn't benefit anyone in the VR space, because even for the Quest 2, the install base is still too small. Games generally have to sell across all the storefronts. Oculus is getting around that because, at present, they don't really need their stuff to be profitable to satisfy their business aims (it's like how Microsoft approached the original Xbox; they didn't really need to make a profit in the first 5 years; it was all about getting a piece of Microsoft hardware in peoples' living rooms).

[wakka]

Question is, would Sony have had a better support making agreements with Indies etc to make their projects PSVR exclusive and make PSVR2 operate more like Quest does where you can connect it for high fidelity VR or still buy one if you don't own a PS5 and run it on its own?

If so, why the old school approach?

I think creating a headset that also runs standalone would have pretty significantly increased development and manufacturing costs versus a peripheral that just connects to PS5. That's probably one reason.

[Neon Ignition]

It's generally regarded that exclusivity doesn't benefit anyone in the VR space, because even for the Quest 2, the install base is still too small. Games generally have to sell across all the storefronts. Oculus is getting around that because, at present, they don't really need their stuff to be profitable to satisfy their business aims (it's like how Microsoft approaches all their Xbox's; they didn't really need to make a profit; it was all about getting a piece of Microsoft hardware in peoples' living rooms).

Edited for accuracy

If not exclusive then say, at least making better use etc. The trouble with PCVR in a sense is that the tech is progressing along but very little takes advantage of it in a way that drives it on. I suppose part of the issue is the branching narrative too, if streaming is the future then VR can't be where investment goes etc. But titles like Half-Life Alyx are lightning rods but so incredibly infrequent. Resolution bumps are great for VR perception but if the next 5-6years of PSVR depends mostly on Superhot expansions, Beat Saber song packs and the such then it's hard to see why Sony is continuing or how console VR intends to grow.

[Asura]

I think creating a headset that also runs standalone would have pretty significantly increased development and manufacturing costs versus a peripheral that just connects to PS5. That's probably one reason.

Still, I wish we lived in a timeline where the PSVitaR was on the horizon.

[Neon Ignition]

Suddenly I picture a Quest style headset where you can slide out the screen as a traditional portable. I want it.