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EDGE: Sonys VR tech will be revealed at GDC
- Thread starter stryke
- Start date
Fuck!!! You're making me sad now.. Imagine the difference in cockpits between Feisar and like Auricom.
If they use similar tech, it should be pretty trivial to port between. The positioning and orientation would be simple to convert from one to another system, and then it'd just be a case of using a different distortion to account for the different optics.
I also hope that the Sony system works ok on PC. Although Sony don't officially support DS3/4 on PC, you can get it working pretty well. And if the Sony VR headset connects via normal USB and HDMI, I'd expect someone to be able to work up a driver for getting it to work on PC.
Sentenza
Member
Yes, we DO know. It was the Rift. He said it himself.
Hell, he even made a blog entry about it.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
I really really want this. I also really hope it is PC compatible, because I'd rather not buy two of the things when OR comes out.
Prepare for disappointment.
Console VR, more specifically. And no, I don't think that's the sentiment at all. Some people are indeed misled about what it takes, hardware-wise, to power VR, but people are rightly sceptical about how good it will be compared to what happens on the PC side, both in quality and quantity. We know a lot about what we're looking at on the PC with the Rift already. We still know very little of what console customers will be getting, particularly on the software side.
Actually, that's not quite what happened.
He added support for Valve's headset, and announced he'd support Rift and 'any similar devices'.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
Neuromancer
Member
It's not really in Sony's best interest to make it PC compatible.
Believe it was the Valve headset he implemented support for as general VR research.
edit: beaten.
Well said!
SolidSnakex
Member
I think that it is. It would potentially encourage third party devs to look at their device more than if it's just something that you can only use on the PS4. Allowing them to also use it on the PC would streamline development for them.
That's why it has to be tried out. Sony will be smart to put out as many demo units out there.
It's fine for people to be cautious.
I'm torn on whether I'd want the Sony VR unit if its PC compatible. I think I'd get it if I'd have to wait like a year for the Rift or something, but otherwise, I'd rather support Oculus, since they will not stop with just a 1080p version and I'd like to see them do as well as possible to keep that tech push funded. Sony will probably just develop their unit and that will be it.
Frayne Daddy
Banned
This is all I need
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
That depends if sales of the device itself are profitable enough I think, and if there's any room for them to license their logo for use in marketing games that implement it.
It's the only major shift the industry has seen since we had 3D games with analog input.
I know it's difficult to believe it's anything more than a novelty, but it's unlike anything else.
No thanks. Don't want no arcade racer, sorry.How about Driveclub?
TimFL
Member
I know
I am hoping some third parties get it working like they did with DS3/4
I don't think that it's that easy. If they release a VR headset I'm almost certain that it'll work in combination with the PS Camera for head movement tracking. It most likely also works without it (probably lacks head movement then and is a fixed screen/image) but I don't see how they'd waste resources on adding head movement tracking to the VR headset if they could simply use a few LEDs in combination with the PS Camera. Sounds like the only feasible way to go.
I'm no expert on this topic though so I don't know, maybe someone else knows how they could add head movement without the camera and be cost efficient.
seventynine
Member
Neuromancer
Member
Yeah but Sony wants to sell PS4's.
Wow.. I feel sorry for you if you've never played Project Gotham Racing just because you don't like arcade racers.
I'd be concerned about long-term software support, but if it looks good and isn't stupidly expensive, would probably buy. As long as it's handled correctly I don't see why PS3-level graphics couldn't be highly effective in a VR environment, considering the resolution and frame-rate requirements are already integral. A VR Journey, Flower or Killzone 2 for example would probably be enough to be convincing in VR for me.
Seriously, don't feel sorry for me. I've played PGR and am not a fan. Racing sims are more my thing.
Frayne Daddy
Banned
Id say the wii motion controls were the last major shift to gaming.
This will be an add on but not a requirement like say analog sticks and 3D games which are the norm. VR won't be the norm anytime soon. IMO. I could be wrong though. Time will tell.
Why would you stop there? A VR game with the graphical fidelity of The Last Of Us running at 1080/60 is completely possible with the PS4.
It's not? They're still a hardware company. PS4's are flying off shelves, so it's not like holding this product back from PC-only gamers is going to somehow magically produce more PS4 fans because if there are people wanting this for their PC and have no intention of buying a PS4, making this product PS4 only isn't going to change their mind.
Callibretto
Member
I always thought Wipeout would look awesome in cockpit view
Frayne Daddy
Banned
Agreed. I'm not a fan either. PGR is talked up like a god like racing game here, but sales say otherwise and I prefer Forza.
SolidSnakex
Member
I don't see how it'd really impact them selling the PS4. Especially if they're actually making games that take advantage of it as well. I think it's very important for them to gather and show a lot of support for the device early on, and they should do wahtever it takes to do that. It's one reason why Move ended up the way it did. They never really had major third party support for it. No CoD, Battlefield etc. it was just limited to casual for the most part.
well whether you want one is different to whether it'll be compatible
Realistically if you loved the PS4 software for VR, you might want to get the PS4 headset and use it on PC for some games. Or if you have a good enough PC and the OR is higher res or otherwise better, get that and forego the PS4 games. Or buy both
they still would. If they were PC compatible and affordable, people may buy them initially for PC and then be attracted to the PS4 for the VR games they can't get on PC. Just like you might now buy a PS4 for its exclusive games, the same can apply to VR too.
Maybe, but it was an isolated example, and not a lasting trend. At least not in isolation. Obviously motion control is actually likely to become a major part of the VR experience, but in isolation, PC motion controls failed, Move didn't go anywhere, and Nintendo dumped it.
That is an excellent point.
I don't think VR is 'the future' of gaming, I think it's an isolated, but protracted fork within the gaming world. I think it'll surface this year in the first meaningful way from Sony, and it'll never go away, but it'll also never replace 'normal' gaming, in the same way touch screen gaming isn't going anywhere, but also not endangering gamepad/KBM gaming.
StealthGoblin
Banned
Singstar, Quiz games, family games etc.
Sony is in a position now where they could be the highest selling home console for this generation. They've captured and will continue to capture more and more core gamers now that the PS4 is the best system for multiplats and will have more 1st party exclusives.
Being the lowest price next gen system (with the greatest potential to price drop too, I might add) should mean they'll be more appealing to the casual gamer if the games are there.
AllIsOneIsNone
Banned
They haven't shown anything, people are just skeptical. If you go through early Rift threads you'll see that people were very skeptical about that as well (and a lot still are). On top of that, add the fact that PS4 isn't an open platform, and has hardware limitations that seem incongruous with the requirements that VR proponents have stated thus far. I'm hopeful, but it's hard not to be skeptical. We shall see soon!
TimFL
Member
I'll wait for the fully immersed virtual reality booths where I'm put into a simulation of my choice and I have full presence and a realistic experience. That's when gamepad and KBM gaming is going to be dead... if the booths are affordable.
RamzaIsCool
The Amiga Brotherhood
Is it possible that Sony makes the VR headset useable for pc, but only for games that also appear on the PS4?
Frayne Daddy
Banned
Yes agreed as well on the touch screen gaming. Good point. I hope we do see some good VR though. Sadly I don't know if it will be on the ps4 we see it though. I'm hopeful, but just can't see it yet. It will be a good entry into the loving room space I think though.
Frayne Daddy
Banned
Hopefully the booth is puke proof because everyone will probably be vomiting in those things.
It's probably not going to be like the movie "gamer" anytime soon haha.
I don't think so. Any Sony HMD would only be compatible with the PS4 and devkits. Sony must control the development environments for many reasons.
Can you imagine the headache Sony would expose themselves to by having to support any PC?
And what are Sony getting out of it? The margin on the hardware? Probably tiny and not worth someone as large as Sony bothering with at all.
Some slice of the profit made on the sale of someone else's software that just happens to support their HMD? Again, why bother. They have no leverage to demand a % return on the PC platform, the developer and retailer would take the majority of money.
Far better to stick with their ecosystem that they've spent years and billions building, where they are the absolute rulers and can control their returns more easily.
Such a move by a console vendor would be completely unprecedented. The chances of it happening are nil imo.
I'm hoping for full PC compatibility.
How about Driveclub?
Why do people want Driveclub in VR? Just go and take fast taxi somewhere; there you go. We need Wipeout!
TimFL
Member
They should just crypto-freeze your whole body and hack your brain so you never have the feeling of being in a simulation but a real world/reality. I'm sure they'll figure that one out one day, I just hope I'm not dead by then... would atleast want to swing around NYC just like Spider-Man once, or... have sex with all the victory secret models at the same time.
I hope Sony DOESN'T make the PS4 VR device compatible with personal computers. That would be absolutely asinine and ridiculous.
Sony's focus needs to be on making the PlayStation 4 experience as revolutionary as possible. And the PS4 virtual reality device is their ticket in doing so. Once people get to experience it, they'll have no choice but want to support it.
Remember what it was like experiencing Mario 64 for the first time at a demo kiosk in August 1996? Well, the PS4 VR device is going to give you that same "revolutionary" feeling, but even more so.
Sony's focus needs to be on making the PlayStation 4 experience as revolutionary as possible. And the PS4 virtual reality device is their ticket in doing so. Once people get to experience it, they'll have no choice but want to support it.
Remember what it was like experiencing Mario 64 for the first time at a demo kiosk in August 1996? Well, the PS4 VR device is going to give you that same "revolutionary" feeling, but even more so.
I think whilst technology a little strapped, it has the potential to provide the best content.
Obviously PC has the advantage in terms of sheer amount of content, but Sony can spend twenty or thirty million dollars on a VR exclusive title, and no one will do that on PC. In the next few years, no one will do it as a third party producing a game for PS4 and PC either.
Every time we have something like this, the question is always "what's the killer app?", the same way having a console capable of 3D, and an analog, in of itself isn't valuable, Mario 64 is what mattered, and people just needed the box to play it.
The Rift, and Sony's thing, while providing a novel and enjoyable experience, need to have something that is truly impossible without them. Of course Half-Life 3 will be better with the Rift than without it, but Mario 64 has to come from somewhere, and only a company who are invested in the future of VR are going to do it. Maybe it'll be Oculus, but out of them and Sony, my money's on Sony.