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[Chris_C]

Was at a local mall today to return something (SM Megamall for PinoyGAF) and noticed the Sony store had a PSVR booth set up with a pretty short line. Waited 10 minutes and I got to play Battlezone. Here are my thoughts.


- First, I should state that I've got a Gear VR and have used it extensively.

- Comfort was great. I've never been able to forget that I'm wearing a Gear VR helmet, but I totally forgot I had the PSVR on once it was in place. No pinching, it was light and the lack of a strap was excellent.

- I know the PSVR uses an SRGB sub-pixel arrangement, but I expected a more pronounced SDE. I was pleasantly surprised at how clear the screen was relative to the Gear VR despite the lower res.

- It was great that the vast majority of the screen was crisp. The outer edges were blurry, but I wasn't constantly fiddling the way I am to find the sweet spot with the GVR. To be clear, elements of the image obviously slightly pixelated, but the overall image quality, and the color depth in particular felt a step up over the GVR.

- The biggest negative was controller tracking. It was cool to see the actual controller, but I was disappointed that there was a certain amount of jitter, as has always been the case with move.

- Overall it was a wonderfully polished experience, considerably better than I expected. I felt some slight hints of motion sickness when doing donuts, but as soon as I had targets to aim at, that went away.

EDIT: Adding notes on FOV. I'm almost always aware of this with the GVR, but it was far less of an issue with the PSVR. Might have been because I wasn't just limited to rotational tracking though.

After the demo I put $50 down on a preorder. Prior to trying it out, I'd decided against a PSVR and got a GTx 1070 instead. Needless to say, I'm not getting both.

 

[Heidern98]

Went to a local Best Buy on Friday (West Hartford, CT) to try out the PSVR during the demo, but the rep didn't show. I met another person there waiting to try it and he mentioned that he's shown up on a few occasions to not find any demo at the time shown on the web site. I was fairly disappointed and hope that Sony can get everything straightened out here.

Edit: Looked at the site and it shows additional demos coming this weekend, but I really don't have a lot of confidence that they will actually proceed as expected.

 

[KevMan1815]

When I tried this in mid-July the Sony rep said there might be new demos starting in August. Anyone know if this is actually the case? My Googlefu turned up no concrete results.

 

[Magicman103]

When I tried this in mid-July the Sony rep said there might be new demos starting in August. Anyone know if this is actually the case? My Googlefu turned up no concrete results.

I don't think August has been confirmed per say, but they have said there will be new demos at some point throughout the summer.

Granted, I've heard mumblings that there should be new demos popping up very soon. Someone on reddit mentioned that their rep said they'd be getting the Batman Arkham VR demo.

 

[Grinchy]

It may not mean much as far as new demos, but I did notice that a 3rd location was added near me that begins at the end of this month.

 

[cleveridea]

The whole demo situation is odd, because you cant actually preorder devices.

I did the demo at a gamestop many weeks ago, and was impressed - I found the effect of the VR experience very similar to my Rift, just lower detail (as expected given the high end PC you need for a Rift opr Vive) bit it had just the same impact if you never tried VR before.

It was odd finishing the demo, because the lady just asked if I like it and that was it. I said "you cant preorder one right" and she said "yeah they all sold out". So it was a strange ending to the procedure, I can imagine it frustrating for someone that was sold then found out they cant even secure one for October. If its like the Rift then PSVR will be $200+ more expensive on ebay, possibly more if it becomes the must have holiday item given when it releases.

 

[vivftp]

Went to try it for the 4th time at an EB Games location in Toronto today. Each and every time I try it I tell myself I'm going to focus on the graphics to try and point out as many negatives as I can, and each and every time I fail to do that. Oh I start out that way, but after 30 seconds I get drawn into the experience and that's the end of that. This time, I finally forced myself to focus on the graphics and any negatives. I went with Ocean Descent again since it's a passive experience. The lenses weren't perfectly clean, but it wasn't bad enough to make me stop and ask them to clean them off.

Starting out in the menu before the demo, you can definitely notice the SDE, but as soon as the demo begins you're hard pressed to really see it even when looking for it.

I did notice some aliasing here and there, but nothing too extreme. I will say I didn't actually notice the aliasing the last time I tried Ocean Descent because I was too drawn into the experience, and I did have to actually look for it to notice it this time. I also have to imagine Neo is going to help minimize this anyways.

I finally paid attention to the FOV and only then became aware of how relatively limited the viewing experience is compared to what my eyes are capable of viewing. This doesn't bother me in the least since it took until my 4th try to really pay attention to the FOV, whereas all previous times I was sucked into the experience and didn't care about it.

I paid more attention to the audio this time as well and it was excellent

I'm pleased that after my limited experience so far I'm able to slip on the headset and adjust it very quickly to get the perfect viewing experience.


I can't wait to try out games like Driveclub VR on this thing. 2 months is going to be a loooooooong wait... then I have to actually manage to secure one

 

[vivftp]

The whole demo situation is odd, because you cant actually preorder devices.

I did the demo at a gamestop many weeks ago, and was impressed - I found the effect of the VR experience very similar to my Rift, just lower detail (as expected given the high end PC you need for a Rift opr Vive) bit it had just the same impact if you never tried VR before.

It was odd finishing the demo, because the lady just asked if I like it and that was it. I said "you cant preorder one right" and she said "yeah they all sold out". So it was a strange ending to the procedure, I can imagine it frustrating for someone that was sold then found out they cant even secure one for October. If its like the Rift then PSVR will be $200+ more expensive on ebay, possibly more if it becomes the must have holiday item given when it releases.

Unlike the Rift though, people wanting PSVR will be able to obtain them at retail stores at launch if they didn't pre-order them. I don't really have a problem with the way Sony is handling this. They have the opportunity to pre-order to those who wanted it, and for those who couldn't, they get an opportunity to pick one up at stores immediately. Now how hard it will be to find one... we'll have to see.

 

[cleveridea]

Went to try it for the 4th time at an EB Games location in Toronto today. Each and every time I try it I tell myself I'm going to focus on the graphics to try and point out as many negatives as I can, and each and every time I fail to do that. Oh I start out that way, but after 30 seconds I get drawn into the experience and that's the end of that. This time, I finally forced myself to focus on the graphics and any negatives. I went with Ocean Descent again since it's a passive experience. The lenses weren't perfectly clean, but it wasn't bad enough to make me stop and ask them to clean them off.

Starting out in the menu before the demo, you can definitely notice the SDE, but as soon as the demo begins you're hard pressed to really see it even when looking for it.

I did notice some aliasing here and there, but nothing too extreme. I will say I didn't actually notice the aliasing the last time I tried Ocean Descent because I was too drawn into the experience, and I did have to actually look for it to notice it this time. I also have to imagine Neo is going to help minimize this anyways.

I finally paid attention to the FOV and only then became aware of how relatively limited the viewing experience is compared to what my eyes are capable of viewing. This doesn't bother me in the least since it took until my 4th try to really pay attention to the FOV, whereas all previous times I was sucked into the experience and didn't care about it.

I paid more attention to the audio this time as well and it was excellent

I'm pleased that after my limited experience so far I'm able to slip on the headset and adjust it very quickly to get the perfect viewing experience.


I can't wait to try out games like Driveclub VR on this thing. 2 months is going to be a loooooooong wait... then I have to actually manage to secure one

Yeah I read lots of complaints about the PC headsets not being ready such as resolution not being good enough, screendoor effect etc. I was just blown away when I first used the Rift - I thought it looked incredible, and with any of the good experiences/games I didnt have any complaints. I also think that its unrealistic to expect much higher resolution for a long time given that VR requires rending both the left and right images, and at very high framerates, preferably 90+ fps

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Me and my brother went today to try it out. Both did heist.

Honest to God, it felt like I was in that world. Mid game I said to myself "ohh yeah, you're in ebgames and there are people watching you"

It was fucking surreal. The graphics or whatever did not put me out of that experience.

I want one and so does my brother.

VR in like 10 years is going to be ridiculous.

 

[vivftp]

Yup, those saying VR isn't ready yet either have unrealistic expectations, or haven't really tried it yet. It's definitely ready to go and will only improve from here on.

I have to imagine the PSVR2 will at least use a 4K display. With all the talk of Neo and Scorpio dipping their toes into the 4K world (in whatever ways that happens), I have to believe the PS5 will be a true 4K console and would have enough headroom to fully run the PSVR2.

Very excited about the future of this tech.

 

[……forgetit]

Tried this for the first time today and I gotta say, I'm blown away by how comfortable the headset is, it felt like I wasn't even wearing the thing. The games were good too, the ailising was bad and textures in eve were awful, but it was the best VR experience I ever had and really felt like I was in the game. Really glad I have one preordered.

Yup, those saying VR isn't ready yet either have unrealistic expectations, or haven't really tried it yet. It's definitely ready to go and will only improve from here on.

I have to imagine the PSVR2 will at least use a 4K display. With all the talk of Neo and Scorpio dipping their toes into the 4K world (in whatever ways that happens), I have to believe the PS5 will be a true 4K console and would have enough headroom to fully run the PSVR2.

Very excited about the future of this tech.

Considering how well current high end graphics cards do in 4K I'd say PS5 being true 4K is very likely. a 4K psvr 2 would be awesome.

 

[Maligna]

Asked this on a different thread but I'd like more opinions.

For those of you who have tried PSVR, I have a question.

My only VR experience is Google cardboard. It's a fun distraction but I know it's nothing like real VR. My biggest issue with it is that I can't get anything in focus. The way everything looks is as if I am crossing my eyes and I have double vision. With some adjustments I can make it slightly better but there is always an element of blurry double vision. Reading text is really difficult for instance.

Now reading some PSVR impressions I've heard several people complaining that the image is blurry. Is this blurriness on par with what I'm experiencing on cardboard? If it is, I don't know if I can handle this thing.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Yup, those saying VR isn't ready yet either have unrealistic expectations, or haven't really tried it yet. It's definitely ready to go and will only improve from here on.

I have to imagine the PSVR2 will at least use a 4K display. With all the talk of Neo and Scorpio dipping their toes into the 4K world (in whatever ways that happens), I have to believe the PS5 will be a true 4K console and would have enough headroom to fully run the PSVR2.

Very excited about the future of this tech.

If you show someone a screenshot or video yeah, it doesn't look too hot. But the instant you start that demo, for me, all that went away. I was instantly transported to that world. It helped that I could move around so much.
It was awesome shooting at a bad guy, then as I'm shooting him, looking behind me for other bad guys.
And my brother, first time playing vr and really not knowing much about it, looked behind him, and was able to pick up a clip and load it into his gun without looking at it. And he didn't even think about it. It just came naturally. Thats what sold him, haha.

 

[……forgetit]

Asked this on a different thread but I'd like more opinions.

For those of you who have tried PSVR, I have a question.

My only VR experience is Google cardboard. It's a fun distraction but I know it's nothing like real VR. My biggest issue with it is that I can't get anything in focus. The way everything looks is as if I am crossing my eyes and I have double vision. With some adjustments I can make it slightly better but there is always an element of blurry double vision. Reading text is really difficult for instance.

Now reading some PSVR impressions I've heard several people complaining that the image is blurry. Is this blurriness on par with what I'm experiencing on cardboard? If it is, I don't know if I can handle this thing.

I didn't find it blurry and found it better than cardboard and Gear VR, they really outdid themselves on the screen in that thing imo, but of course it might be different for you. I really suggest trying before you buy. That and it was less noticable in motion, I tried the shark cage one and that was the worst because I had nothing to focus on other than the gmae happening around me. Eve is so fast everything just melts away besides the game.

 

[vivftp]

Asked this on a different thread but I'd like more opinions.

For those of you who have tried PSVR, I have a question.

My only VR experience is Google cardboard. It's a fun distraction but I know it's nothing like real VR. My biggest issue with it is that I can't get anything in focus. The way everything looks is as if I am crossing my eyes and I have double vision. With some adjustments I can make it slightly better but there is always an element of blurry double vision. Reading text is really difficult for instance.

Now reading some PSVR impressions I've heard several people complaining that the image is blurry. Is this blurriness on par with what I'm experiencing on cardboard? If it is, I don't know if I can handle this thing.

I responded in the other thread, but really you don't have much to worry about. Are you in a location where you can demo PSVR for yourself though?

Also, on the subject of comparing it to cardboard there are some factors to consider. What's the resolution and screen size of the phone you're using? Does it use a pentile or RGB pixel pattern? The quality of cardboard lenses will be significantly lower than the quality of PSVR lenses. Sony has also designed the PSVR screen to have less space between the pixels (at least in the middle area), minimizing the screen door effect. Smartphone displays don't do that. All of these combined, plus the additional processing power and motion tracking of PSVR + PS4 should give an overall experience superior to what cardboard can give you.

Still, I wouldn't mind trying cardboard for myself as something to play with for the next couple of months. It just sucks that there aren't any solutions large enough to support my phone

 

[Eusis]

4K VR will probably be its SNES/DC/PS2 moment, a massive leap where it REALLY comes into its own.

 

[Hey_Blinkin]

I really want to try VR but I don't know what to expect. I have a "lazy eye" that barely works unless the other eye is closed. I wonder if it will be anything more than giant screens in my eyes to me.

 

[vivftp]

I really want to try VR but I don't know what to expect. I have a "lazy eye" that barely works unless the other eye is closed. I wonder if it will be anything more than giant screens in my eyes to me.

As far as I know it should appear just as the real world does to you. It's not like 3D where both eyes have to work together or you get a messed up image.

 

[……forgetit]

I really want to try VR but I don't know what to expect. I have a "lazy eye" that barely works unless the other eye is closed. I wonder if it will be anything more than giant screens in my eyes to me.

The motion control is a factor. I'd say give it a shot and see what it's like.

 

[whitehawk]

Went to try it for the 4th time at an EB Games location in Toronto today. Each and every time I try it I tell myself I'm going to focus on the graphics to try and point out as many negatives as I can, and each and every time I fail to do that. Oh I start out that way, but after 30 seconds I get drawn into the experience and that's the end of that. This time, I finally forced myself to focus on the graphics and any negatives. I went with Ocean Descent again since it's a passive experience. The lenses weren't perfectly clean, but it wasn't bad enough to make me stop and ask them to clean them off.

Starting out in the menu before the demo, you can definitely notice the SDE, but as soon as the demo begins you're hard pressed to really see it even when looking for it.

I did notice some aliasing here and there, but nothing too extreme. I will say I didn't actually notice the aliasing the last time I tried Ocean Descent because I was too drawn into the experience, and I did have to actually look for it to notice it this time. I also have to imagine Neo is going to help minimize this anyways.

I finally paid attention to the FOV and only then became aware of how relatively limited the viewing experience is compared to what my eyes are capable of viewing. This doesn't bother me in the least since it took until my 4th try to really pay attention to the FOV, whereas all previous times I was sucked into the experience and didn't care about it.

I paid more attention to the audio this time as well and it was excellent

I'm pleased that after my limited experience so far I'm able to slip on the headset and adjust it very quickly to get the perfect viewing experience.


I can't wait to try out games like Driveclub VR on this thing. 2 months is going to be a loooooooong wait... then I have to actually manage to secure one

Wait, there are demos in Toronto? Which location???

 

[farisr]

Me and my brother went today to try it out. Both did heist.

Honest to God, it felt like I was in that world. Mid game I said to myself "ohh yeah, you're in ebgames and there are people watching you"

It was fucking surreal. The graphics or whatever did not put me out of that experience.

I want one and so does my brother.

VR in like 10 years is going to be ridiculous.

hmmm... Me and my brother also checked it out today. And the both of us also decided to play heist. Coincidence? I think not!

Spoiler

It's a coincidence

Anyways, I had heard that it was blurry from other people's impression so once I had put the headset on and adjusted the distance I left it like that and it was blurry, not realizing there was another adjustment that could be done (which my brother did after). Even playing it while blurry I totally forgot about the bluriness and got fully immersed in the demo. So I totally get what you mean.

Also grabbing a clip and reloading the gun without looking felt badass even though it's such a simple little thing.

I'm totally sold on this. Glad I have it preordered.

 

[vivftp]

4K VR will probably be its SNES/DC/PS2 moment, a massive leap where it REALLY comes into its own.

Ya know, I do have to wonder... If PS5 is a 2020 product, then the actual resolution of a PSVR2 could well exceed 4K, even if the console itself isn't outputting that many pixels. We know Samsung are working to create 11k displays which they hope to have in smartphones by 2019. PSVR2 could use a higher res display than 4K to mask the perception of individual pixels

Ah well, getting into wild speculation territory here anyways... I think at the very least we can expect tech like eye tracking and foveated rendering to be incorporated into PSVR2. That alone should be a huge bonus to giving us better quality experiences without the performance penalty.

 

[UpUpDownDown]

Wait, there are demos in Toronto? Which location???

First I've heard of it.

Turns out it's 2mins away from where I live.....and ended at 5pm today.

:/

 

[vivftp]

Wait, there are demos in Toronto? Which location???

https://www.playstation.com/en-ca/explore/playstation-vr/trial/

Just type in your postal code and see what's near you. Click on the individual locations to see the dates

 

[ChouGoku]

FYI it looks you can still order one off of amazon.co.uk for 349.00 euros, I got mine off there for 300 euros. I cant wait

 

[Nakazato]

Tried it last week and played Eve. My god its my dream come true. Being a cockpit of a Valkyrie living out my Macross dream

 

[ShadowKingpin]

Sandusky, Ohio has one on the 24th!! It is my turn to try it!

 

[bryanee]

FYI it looks you can still order one off of amazon.co.uk for 349.00 euros, I got mine off there for 300 euros. I cant wait

You have been able to pre-order on there for awhile they just don't guarantee you'll get it at launch.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Wait, there are demos in Toronto? Which location???

There are a ton, and have been going on for a while.

 

[vivftp]

Yeah, I can pre-order from Walmart.ca, but the ETA they're listing is the start of November. I'm going to try my luck at picking one up on launch day. Might have to set up camp overnight or something, but I can live with that.

 

[ckohler]

I posted my Best Buy demo impressions in a different PSVR thread so I'll repost here:

I was super impressed!

My friend demoed Ocean's Decent and I did Battlezone. The motion tracking on both the headset and the controller (you can see it in the game) was perfect. 1:1 tracking and it was silky smooth.

I did not notice a screen door effect although my friend said he did at the loading screen only. My only complaint was that a few distant objects did look slightly lower resolution sometimes (kinda jaggy?) but the closer an object was to my face the more defined it was. Objects that were very close were crystal clear.

The overall sense of presence was fantastic and I gasped several times. In particular, the cockpit of the tank and examining the floating, glowing Dualshock 4 controller in front of me as I held it up was probably the highlight of the demo. When I looked down at the seat and the controls beside me, it totaly felt like I should have just been able to grab them even though I couldn't. I just loved leaning in and looking at all the details... the screens and buttons directly in front of me looked like they were really there.

Outside the cockpit, when the sun's god-rays came in, it kinda gave me the feelling of going outside. The game has a very good lighting engine. The tank itself controlled well but it was basically just 3D battlezone in a Tron-Like setting so it wasn't really all that deep except for the very end when this huge swarm of little drones flew in and started circling around. That looked really impressive and was fun to shoot at with the machine guns.

I think what I learned the most about the experience is that I'm sold on PSVR and VR in general and I now have a greater appreciation for "VR experiences" and not just "VR Games". I'm looking forward to more things that simply take you places and let you explore the environment. Games are fun but now I know they aren't as necessary for me to enjoy VR. I'd simply love an experience that just let me look at virtual stuff close up. You know those collectable figurine galleries games have? Imagine that in VR with the ability to actually have the figure standing full size right in front of you. That would be awesome!

I wrote this last week. For the record, I've not used a Vive or Oculus but I did briefly try the Gear VR and it didn't hold a candle to PSVR, imo.

 

[Burglekutt]

Having already tried Battlezone,Eve and The Descent, I went to Gamestop to try out The Heist today. Wow. The move controllers along with the interactive environment really impressed me. If you're demoing at a location that has The heist I really recommend that demo to get the full vr experience.

 

[t hicks]

Just got back from best buy, only one other person was there so I got to play some of the demos I haven't played yet. played Battlezone, the shark demo, and Eve for a second time (didn't really feel like playing the soccer game or super hyper cube, but that one looks cool too)

God damn Battlezone was really cool! loved how you could hold your controller up and see it represented in the virtual world,and it was pretty fun to play too, will get at launch

 

[Sidewinder]

Ya know, I do have to wonder... If PS5 is a 2020 product, then the actual resolution of a PSVR2 could well exceed 4K, even if the console itself isn't outputting that many pixels. We know Samsung are working to create 11k displays which they hope to have in smartphones by 2019. PSVR2 could use a higher res display than 4K to mask the perception of individual pixels

Ah well, getting into wild speculation territory here anyways... I think at the very least we can expect tech like eye tracking and foveated rendering to be incorporated into PSVR2. That alone should be a huge bonus to giving us better quality experiences without the performance penalty.

11k for smartphones? What for? FullHD is almost too much already, but proceed, whatever makes them VR displays cheaper is a win.

But yeah, PSVR2 will be a real beast compared to PSVR, huge leaps are imcoming for VR in general.

 

[VanCityGamer]

11k for smartphones? What for? FullHD is almost too much already, but proceed, whatever makes them VR displays cheaper is a win.

But yeah, PSVR2 will be a real beast compared to PSVR, huge leaps are imcoming for VR in general.

All rumors point to the Galaxy S8 having a 4K screen. The biggest reason is to drastically improve their Gear VR experience.

 

[FaintDeftone]

I finally got a change to check it out yesterday at Best Buy. I played EVE Valkyrie and had a good time with it. I'm definitely sold; however, did anybody notice some blur to the image quality in EVE? I'm not sure if the Sony rep poorly calibrated the headset or if I didn't have it adjusted correctly, but everything looked slightly blurry to me. I chalked it up as an issue with the session since I've never heard anyone complain about it before.

 

[msdstc]

Was at a local mall today to return something (SM Megamall for PinoyGAF) and noticed the Sony store had a PSVR booth set up with a pretty short line. Waited 10 minutes and I got to play Battlezone. Here are my thoughts.


- First, I should state that I've got a Gear VR and have used it extensively.

- Comfort was great. I've never been able to forget that I'm wearing a Gear VR helmet, but I totally forgot I had the PSVR on once it was in place. No pinching, it was light and the lack of a strap was excellent.

- I know the PSVR uses an SRGB sub-pixel arrangement, but I expected a more pronounced SDE. I was pleasantly surprised at how clear the screen was relative to the Gear VR despite the lower res.

- It was great that the vast majority of the screen was crisp. The outer edges were blurry, but I wasn't constantly fiddling the way I am to find the sweet spot with the GVR. To be clear, elements of the image obviously slightly pixelated, but the overall image quality, and the color depth in particular felt a step up over the GVR.

- The biggest negative was controller tracking. It was cool to see the actual controller, but I was disappointed that there was a certain amount of jitter, as has always been the case with move.

- Overall it was a wonderfully polished experience, considerably better than I expected. I felt some slight hints of motion sickness when doing donuts, but as soon as I had targets to aim at, that went away.

EDIT: Adding notes on FOV. I'm almost always aware of this with the GVR, but it was far less of an issue with the PSVR. Might have been because I wasn't just limited to rotational tracking though.

After the demo I put $50 down on a preorder. Prior to trying it out, I'd decided against a PSVR and got a GTx 1070 instead. Needless to say, I'm not getting both.

I thought they weren't taking pre orders though.

 

[Maligna]

So I'm going to get to try this at Best Buy on August 18th. To my surprise it's coming to my podunk east coast Canada city.

For those that have tried it, when I put it on my head what adjustments should I make/check for to ensure the best experience and picture quality?

 

[farisr]

So I'm going to get to try this at Best Buy on August 18th. To my surprise it's coming to my podunk east coast Canada city.

For those that have tried it, when I put it on my head what adjustments should I make/check for to ensure the best experience and picture quality?

After you have the headset on, there are two adjustments. One adjusts the distance from your eyes via a button underneath the headset (which I did), and there's another one adjustment for like the angle or something from what I understand (that I didn't do or ask for so I don't know exactly how it's done) but my brother asked for it and got it to look clear. Make sure to try out all the adjustments or ask the reps about adjusting it especially if it looks blurry.

I thought it was supposed to look blurry based off a couple of impressions I read here and there (mainly from people who had tried higher end headsets) so had a bad immediate first impression, but looks like I messed up and it can have a much better level of clarity than I experienced. But yeah, despite the blurriness, about 30 seconds into the demo I was fully immersed and forgot about it.

 

[foolishoptimist]

Unlike the Rift though, people wanting PSVR will be able to obtain them at retail stores at launch if they didn't pre-order them. I don't really have a problem with the way Sony is handling this. They have the opportunity to pre-order to those who wanted it, and for those who couldn't, they get an opportunity to pick one up at stores immediately. Now how hard it will be to find one... we'll have to see.

Is it though? I've seen 2 different labels on pre-orders at my local games shop. There were "Launch day" pre-orders, and "2016" Pre-orders. And now there's no pre-order options.

This suggests that the entire 2016 allotment is already claimed.
But if Sony are still having units available at launch, then the people who don't have "Launch Day" pre-orders may be screwed like the Rift customers.

Hopefully Sony will be able to produce enough to more than satisfy all pre-orders on launch day. But the in-store promos I've seen don't indicate that they will.

 

[Burglekutt]

So I'm going to get to try this at Best Buy on August 18th. To my surprise it's coming to my podunk east coast Canada city.

For those that have tried it, when I put it on my head what adjustments should I make/check for to ensure the best experience and picture quality?

The clarity mostly comes from adjusting the part that sits on your head up or down, not adjusting the screen closer or farther away from you

 

[vivftp]

I thought they weren't taking pre orders though.

You can still pre-order from various places, it just won't be a launch day unit you get. For example if I go to walmart.ca's website I can pre-order, and the ETA for it is Nov 1st

So I'm going to get to try this at Best Buy on August 18th. To my surprise it's coming to my podunk east coast Canada city.

For those that have tried it, when I put it on my head what adjustments should I make/check for to ensure the best experience and picture quality?

The first time I tried it I didn't take the time to adjust the unit properly and the entire bottom half of the image was blurrier than the top half. I'd say adjust the back part first to both make it feel comfortable on your head, and give the entire picture an even focus. Adjusting the back is kinda like adjusting a headband (up or down). Then use the button under the display to bring the unit closer to your face until it's nice and in focus.

Now I can get the unit on and in perfect focus in about 10 seconds.

Is it though? I've seen 2 different labels on pre-orders at my local games shop. There were "Launch day" pre-orders, and "2016" Pre-orders. And now there's no pre-order options.

This suggests that the entire 2016 allotment is already claimed.
But if Sony are still having units available at launch, then the people who don't have "Launch Day" pre-orders may be screwed like the Rift customers.

Hopefully Sony will be able to produce enough to more than satisfy all pre-orders on launch day. But the in-store promos I've seen don't indicate that they will.

Still don't see the problem. There's launch day pre-orders, which are sold out. There are future pre-orders, which will be covered by future shipments by Sony to retailers. Then there are in-store units which will be available launch day, and will likely sell out very quickly. After those initial in-store units are sold out then future resupplies that go into stores will prioritize people who had post-launch pre-orders, and whatever's left will go on the store shelves.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I finally got a change to check it out yesterday at Best Buy. I played EVE Valkyrie and had a good time with it. I'm definitely sold; however, did anybody notice some blur to the image quality in EVE? I'm not sure if the Sony rep poorly calibrated the headset or if I didn't have it adjusted correctly, but everything looked slightly blurry to me. I chalked it up as an issue with the session since I've never heard anyone complain about it before.

Lots of people complain about this issue.

 

[Eusis]

Oh, yeah. I tried this yesterday at a GameStop that had both this AND Vive, and tried the Valkyrie demo first. It was alright but didn't impress me in the ways I hoped to be, but tried the Vive and really liked being able to walk in a space and using the motion controls for things like Tilt Brush and shooting, so I asked if there was something I could try that used the Move and got to take Heist for a spin.

That definitely impressed me more for a demo even if it was clearly lower end than what the Vive had (although thanks to the resolutions not by as much as I suspected) and Move worked really well. I also liked that I could be an asshole and just throw around the soda cans, though I kinda hope we get more games with that nonsense yet more reactivity. I'd like to actually ANNOY the people rather than them acting like flinging around soda cans is perfectly normal.

 

[Chris_C]

I thought they weren't taking pre orders though.

Well, I put down about 2,500 Php to get the base version (22,900 Php) since I have the camera already and will be getting Move controller's separately.

I was also at Greenhills this weekend and stopped by the PC section of Vira Mall. I noticed a bunch of posters up at one of the game stores where you could preorder (it wasn't Datablitz or one of the larger stores tho).

The clarity mostly comes from adjusting the part that sits on your head up or down, not adjusting the screen closer or farther away from you

I noticed this as well. When the headset was placed on my head initially, everything was a little blurry, moving the screen down slightly snapped everything into focus. The very edges of the screen were still blurry, but unlike the GearVR, I felt more of the screen was in focus, rather than just a narrow tunnel.

 

[DangerMouse]

I posted my Best Buy demo impressions in a different PSVR thread so I'll repost here:

I wrote this last week. For the record, I've not used a Vive or Oculus but I did briefly try the Gear VR and it didn't hold a candle to PSVR, imo.

Cool. Good to hear those impressions since I hadn't seen them yet.

 

[Maligna]

Thanks for the advice on how to adjust it everyone!

 

[FaintDeftone]

The first time I tried it I didn't take the time to adjust the unit properly and the entire bottom half of the image was blurrier than the top half. I'd say adjust the back part first to both make it feel comfortable on your head, and give the entire picture an even focus. Adjusting the back is kinda like adjusting a headband (up or down). Then use the button under the display to bring the unit closer to your face until it's nice and in focus.

I think this was my issue when I played. The bottom of the screen seemed blurry compared to the upper half. I was holding the button and sliding the "eye piece" but I didn't have a chance to adjust the top at all. It felt like the headset needed to pivot down a bit more. Good thing that it seemed to be an adjustment issue because I was going to be seriously bummed if that was how the quality of the screen really was.

 

[RandSec]

I had my first VR experience in a PSVR demo here in South Austin on Sunday. I was really looking forward to it, but did not, in the end, experience the VR "immersion" effect everyone describes.

The London Heist was not available due to bad language. My experience was the under-water adventure with the shark, and it was pleasant enough, but the limited resolution was apparent in visible pixels. The equipment seemed fine, with the headset being very well designed and constructed. The 3D effect seemed most prominent nearby, when head movement caused viewing changes to nearby things, but seemed (to me!) mostly lost at a distance.

For me, "immersion" would seem to depend upon a certain amount of interaction. For a sense of "being there," one needs to be able to touch or move or do something which in some way interacts with "there." At least one should see one's own moving body and shadow, and NOT be able to see through your lap, the seat, and the floor, because that is not realistic and (to me!) breaks immersion. And an experience which creates a desire to touch, coupled with an inability to touch, naturally highlights unreality, also breaking immersion.

The guy after me got Eve, and I asked if he could see his controller. Apparently he could not, which, again, is not realistic. An alternative would be a space fighter (or tank) which drives with a game controller which looks like a game controller in game. I might be happier with a "reality" of being "immersed" in controlling external robots or drones, rather than personally starring in an adventure which I cannot touch. Of course we cannot touch in a game, but then touching is not the point.

After having looked forward to VR for quite some time, it seemed to me, sadly, much like a 3D movie. It was nice to be able to look around, but most of the action was front-ish anyway, so it just seemed (to me!) like a very wide screen 3D movie. Which is not necessarily bad and could be quite enjoyable in a game where one could move and do things, and where things actually happened in the rear.