PlayStation VR 2 Announced - PSVR - Launches Feb 22 - $549.99 £529.99 €599.99

[Vincanws]

Originally Posted by bradnoyes

I probably would have bought a PSVR2 at launch if Sony had planned this from the start

Fair enough to you, as a person who bought one from launch it's been an amazing VR year. Even without PCVR support!

[bradnoyes]

My general impression is that it's been a nice time to be a VR enthusiast, but I think the main issue with Sony and the PSVR2 (and VR in general) has been attracting casual audiences. The split market has been a big issue for me, which is why I wish Sony had done the right thing and made this compatible with PC from the beginning. They must have known they didn't have enough 1st party support and exclusives to create an appealing product for newcomers so it's a mystery to me why they waited this long to do something to keep the headset from becoming irrelevant.

[Zivouhr]

Zombie Army VR - Reveal Trailer | PS VR2 Games - YouTube

Zombie Army in VR. These games are interesting. You enter an area, and then have to fend off the increasing zombies walkers with your guns. Could be interesting in VR, though wish it still had the 3rd person view too.
The regular games are playable in stereo 3D on a 3DTV.

Originally Posted by dyne

Something I'd hoped for since they launched it. Wait, is this entitlement or brand devaluing?

https://blog.playstation.com/2024/02...hood-and-more/

Originally Posted by heyadol

PlayStation going full third-party!!

I was hoping Sony and Valve would come to an arrangement to get Half-Life Alyx on PSVR2, but having PSVR2 officially work on PC is the next best thing.

Interesting and potentially good news, thanks. I wonder how those games will work with PSVR2's unique set up. Maybe only games that are easily compatible, I'm not sure.

Specifically PC designed VR games, playable on a PS5 PSVR2. Emulation Sony software might adjust the game's setting to work with PSVR2 or something. Not sure. I'd want every game avaliable, not just a select portion that Sony is able to make compatible with their selective choices.

Expanding the library is always good news.

[emailking]

Does Zombie Army have a story or not really? it seems like there are different maps.

[heyadol]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

[Show spoiler]Zombie Army VR - Reveal Trailer | PS VR2 Games - YouTube
Zombie Army in VR. These games are interesting. You enter an area, and then have to fend off the increasing zombies walkers with your guns. Could be interesting in VR, though wish it still had the 3rd person view too.
The regular games are playable in stereo 3D on a 3DTV.

Interesting and potentially good news, thanks. I wonder how those games will work with PSVR2's unique set up. Maybe only games that are easily compatible, I'm not sure.

Specifically PC designed VR games, playable on a PS5 PSVR2. Emulation Sony software might adjust the game's setting to work with PSVR2 or something. Not sure. I'd want every game avaliable, not just a select portion that Sony is able to make compatible with their selective choices.

Expanding the library is always good news.

Any game with inside-out VR should work, but advanced features like PSVR2 Sense would require an update from the game's dev/publisher.

Sony will have to write a driver that exposes PSVR2 and its functions to a PC, it will likely require a PSVR2 firmware update as well. Another option would be for Sony to allow Valve to publish Steam Link on PSN and stream SteamVR games, similar to what Valve and Oculus worked out last November. I think Steam Link already worked on Oculus, but did not support SteamVR.

We're excited to announce the streaming technology of Steam Link is now available on the Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro, allowing you to wirelessly play VR games from your Steam library.

Steam Link is a free app that uses the power of your PC to stream Steam games onto phones, tablets, and TVs — and now, on Meta Quest.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/...53915991825335

I suppose a third option would be for Sony to create a PlayStation on PC storefront/game launcher and make it the exclusive supported location for PSVR2 on PC. That way devs/publishers would not have to port anything, just publish on the store; it would also allow Sony to collect their PSN fee since we would have to buy the games again.

[Vincanws]

Originally Posted by bradnoyes

I think the main issue with Sony and the PSVR2 (and VR in general) has been attracting casual audiences...

They must have known they didn't have enough 1st party support and exclusives to create an appealing product for newcomers so it's a mystery to me why they waited this long to do something to keep the headset from becoming irrelevant.

PSVR 2 is clearly attracting gaming enthusiasts with a wallet as opposed casuals. And not necessarily you, but someone throwing around observations like "becoming irrelevant", really needs to give a bit more information. What games in the library have they tried? Are they even invested in VR full stop anyway? Even PS5 barely gets AAA exclusives from Sony these days, why should VR be held to such a higher standard? In a year of GT7, RE4 VR, Horizon and others I just feel the issue is less Sony support, and more general VR apathy.

I agree about one thing, PC support would be a plus, but it would need to benefit PS5 gamers in some way other than just handing off the headset for use by PC gamers. Will it make more PC VR games available to the headset via PS5, for example?

Also: **** IGN

[bradnoyes]

Originally Posted by Vincanws

Even PS5 barely gets AAA exclusives from Sony these days, why should VR be held to such a higher standard?

Because it's an extra $550 on top of the base console price. Sure the PS5 should have more exclusives in general but for $1000 entry fee, yes, I expect a lot more from the PSVR2.

[Vincanws]

I get that argument but the VR market as a whole is also something like 1/50th the size when looking versus traditional flat gaming and you have people looking for all the AAA name experiences on the scale of a PS5 as the purchase driver but ignoring what is actually on the headset or going to be on the headset. Expectations just need to be more in check, and people into VR need to be open to exploring things that are more indie and 3rd party because there are some gems in there.

[heyadol]

My biggest concern right now is first-party VR games really only came out of four places (Japan Studio, Team Asobi, London Studio, & FireSprite); three of those no longer exist and we have no idea what Team Asobi is up to, VR or otherwise. Adding VR modes to existing games like GT and RE is a definite value add, but it just seems weird that the most exciting news about PSVR2 is the potential for PC compatibility instead of new games from one of PlayStation's internal studios.

[Zivouhr]

There was a VR game preview shown before Dune 2 in theaters, I think called Asarath Rising, or Agarath Rising or something. They said it's a great game for VR. It showed the player attacking giant monsters in a medieval type setting.

Dreams VR, if there was ever a time to be ported to PSVR2, now would've been the time! But instead, Media Molecule has stopped all support for Dreams PSVR1 from what I heard, and maybe dropped the servers? I don't know, I'll have to check.

Okay, not too bad:

On 11 April 2023, Media Molecule announced on their website that they would end live service support for Dreams in September 2023, in favour of an unannounced new project. Online server support will continue, as will bug fixing, in-game curation, official streams, and community engagement and promotion. The game will remain available for sale after this date

Dreams is playable offline for your own creations or the base game which is just okay in VR. The tools were a bit too complicated and I wasn't in the mood to learn a whole new system despite having experience in computer 3D software.
Some mildly interesting homemade games that were playable while online with PSVR1. All those games are apparently still playable, but for how much longer? Maybe another few years?

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

The fact the PSVR2 didn't get the purchase of past PSVR1 gamers like you, me and Steedeel says something about Sony's questionable strategy with PSVR2.

it's not just about their approach to PSVR2, it was also about issues with the first one. My biggest ongoing gripe with the PSVR was that it didn't have dedicated controllers. There are numerous games that are compromised by either the limitations of the Dual Shock or Moves. Moves are great to double as guns, but otherwise were lacking for the most part. I wanted to play Skyrim where I could use motion controllers as a sword or axe etc, swinging them as if I'd be using them in a fight. but there was no way to do that, the game was too awkward with the Moves, so had to resort to using the Dualshock. Just one example. After that, it made me feel a little weary, as it's something they should have done at the time.

It's kind of how I feel regarding Playstation Home as well, I loved PSHome and spent a lot of time, and fair bit of money in it, and then Sony just pulled the plug and it was all gone. It's hardly surprising that I, and others, didn't take to it's successors, Atom Universe and Nebula Realms, as everything could just suddenly disappear, and Nebula closed down in December now.

Once bitten and all that...

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Eidolon

it's not just about their approach to PSVR2, it was also about issues with the first one. My biggest ongoing gripe with the PSVR was that it didn't have dedicated controllers. There are numerous games that are compromised by either the limitations of the Dual Shock or Moves. Moves are great to double as guns, but otherwise were lacking for the most part. I wanted to play Skyrim where I could use motion controllers as a sword or axe etc, swinging them as if I'd be using them in a fight. but there was no way to do that, the game was too awkward with the Moves, so had to resort to using the Dualshock. Just one example. After that, it made me feel a little weary, as it's something they should have done at the time.

It's kind of how I feel regarding Playstation Home as well, I loved PSHome and spent a lot of time, and fair bit of money in it, and then Sony just pulled the plug and it was all gone. It's hardly surprising that I, and others, didn't take to it's successors, Atom Universe and Nebula Realms, as everything could just suddenly disappear, and Nebula closed down in December now.

Once bitten and all that...

Yeah, the controllers were an issue with PSVR1. The Sony Move sticks didn't have analogs that I wanted, so I never bothered buying them and missed out on a lot of games. The light tracking was just okay at best too, so that's another reason.

PSVR2 sounds much improved with the controllers, so that's a plus. Just a matter of not enough games I'm interested in playing yet, along with the hefty price tag for the unit and newer, expensive games. Definitely seems like a neat option, but Sony priced it higher than a Quest 2 at $300 to 400.

[Mavrick]

Sony has paused production of the PSVR2 until it clears a backlog of unsold units.

Sounds like they could do with a really good price cut.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ntory-piles-up

[i007spectre]

Or maybe you know release some games for it.

[Zivouhr]

I did play PSVR1 last night for an hour. It's really cool, but the novelty of it can wear off if the game isn't great too.

I was going through my library of PSVR1 games, and of the 60+ PSVR games and demos I have, I think there are only about 10 that I felt were worth it, while the others are interesting to play once, but not beyond that. That's a significantly different type of video game compared to regular 2D games that I play.

VR games are much more limited in many ways if they're only allowing the player to warp move, or click turn, or only sit in one spot for the entire game. I normally don't play games like that for any length of time. I want freedom and more adventure.

The best PSVR games I can count on one hand:
Astrobot VR Missions: 10/10
Moss 1 and 2: 9/10, 8/10
Lucky Fox: 7/10
Along Together: 7/10

And a few other good ones. Skyrim is interesting, but unfortunately I get sick often from it. Xing is interesting and clever, but again, I feel sick/nausea when playing. Having to rest for 30 minutes after.
RE7, good game and amazing in VR, but the garage car boss, I almost vomited in VR.

I think that's a barrier to VR. How many people can actually experience VR without feeling sick from sudden stops of movement. Jumping, then landing suddenly is the number one cause of illness for me. Along with turning running and stopping fast.

More games like Astrobot Missions and Moss 1 and 2 please! But on PSVR2? They're nowhere to be easily found. Other than ports of Moss 1 and 2. Astrobot yet to arrive. Not hopeful.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vincanws

I get that argument but the VR market as a whole is also something like 1/50th the size when looking versus traditional flat gaming and you have people looking for all the AAA name experiences on the scale of a PS5 as the purchase driver but ignoring what is actually on the headset or going to be on the headset. Expectations just need to be more in check, and people into VR need to be open to exploring things that are more indie and 3rd party because there are some gems in there.

You have to get the balance right, both are needed if the tech is to ever get out of first gear. With last gen, you had the clever indie games, but you also had big hitters like RE7, Astrobot, Blood And Truth, The Walking Dead S&S, etc..
The dream of highly engaging multiplayer never really came to fruition because the user base is simply too small, so that was so,egging else that needed improvement.
Many of us expected that launch games were going to be severely lacking, certainly that’s why I held off with this gen, and that’s been the case. You simply must have a handful of hugely appealing games from the stat to have a chance.
Plus, the timing was all wrong. Maybe the combination of console delays, game development challenges and the cost of living crisis have simply been too big of a hurdle for the headset.

[dyne]

I wonder how much it hurt sales when they said PSVR1 games wouldn't just work automatically. Both with existing customers and potential new that sat and said "if they're willing to throw away the libraries of the existing gen 1 pricy peripheral what will they do going forward."

They could have made a small team to write a translation layer that would have kept the compatibility out of devs hands.

[Zivouhr]

There is still time for PSVR2 to increase the library of games in 2024, 2025 hopefully. Such potential there despite the high cost of entry.

If PSVR2 had 10 unique 3rd person games on there that I haven't played and were as high quality as Moss and Astrobot, I'd be interested.


PSVR1 gripe: Most frustrating thing about PSVR1? There are only 2 USB ports on the PS4, and I need one of those to charge my light controller to be able to play many PSVR games, and the left port MUST use the PSVR USB box cord, or it'll say "USB Not connected" error. So where am I supposed to connect my external hard drive? A USB hub will not be accepted by PS4, and it rejects the hub for both options. Awful.

Originally Posted by dyne

I wonder how much it hurt sales when they said PSVR1 games wouldn't just work automatically. Both with existing customers and potential new that sat and said "if they're willing to throw away the libraries of the existing gen 1 pricy peripheral what will they do going forward."

They could have made a small team to write a translation layer that would have kept the compatibility out of devs hands.

Good point.

Sony could've hired a team to do that and port over the top selling hits from PSVR1 to PSVR2, but Sony I think handed this headset off to indie developers to handle on their own. No incentive from Sony it seems.

To not have Astrobot PSVR1 on PSVR2, that's a huge loss IMO. I'd pay $19.99 if I had a PSVR2, just to have Astrobot on PSVR2 (Having already paid $39.99 for it) if that was required for Sony to feel motivated to port it over. That's how incredible that game is with VR even on PSVR1. PSVR2, it would be even better.

And Sony should've made that game playable in 2D for 2D gamers too. Really fun game overall, even without VR. Though there are elements that use VR really well, like holding the controller up as a tool in the game, using the headset to knock through barriers or bounce a ball back at the enemy while Astrobot is platforming with the player's controls at the same time.

Thankfully Moss developers ported those gems over to PSVR2.

Usually when a game is a huge hit, others try to follow with their own versions and inspirations, but hardly much on PSVR1 that emulated the fun of Astrobot and Moss. And on PSVR2, it's a lot of FPS view style stuff. More 3rd person games please.

[emailking]

cyubeVR seems like it could be pretty good, no?

[Vincanws]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

You have to get the balance right, both are needed if the tech is to ever get out of first gear. With last gen, you had the clever indie games, but you also had big hitters like RE7, Astrobot, Blood And Truth, The Walking Dead S&S, etc..

This point isn't wholly convincing. You had that last gen over a few years, Astrobot took 2 years, Blood & Truth more than 2 years, etc. In year one on PSVR 2: RE8, RE4, The Walking Dead S&S 1+2, Horizon, GT7, etc etc. To name a few. Then indie stuff like Legendary Tales just out, Synapse, Red Matter 2, Pavlov, Switchback, Propagation Paradise Hotel, Zombieland ... and on...really varied and cool experiences sorry, I don't buy the "severely lacking" remark, that's very Ryan @ IGN talking and also a load of codswallop. I know as I've played many of them.

People could just say they're tired of VR and have enough to play flat, or just too expensive and I'd actually much more go with that honesty. And it's fine! VR isn't for everyone it's niche & will probably always stay that way. Just don't pretend the games out on PSVR2 already aren't already superior than PSVR had in the same timeframe with more cool stuff like Metro VR, Behemoth coming.