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[cakely]

I just tried some headphones and no, the 7.1 speakers are more convincing. Resident Evil even gives options for wide dynamic range, the sounds of squeaking wood floors, to doors closing to the wind are all more convincing on my speakers. Also, it still takes into account which direction you're looking, the 3d effect is still there.

I don't think this is actually even possible. For this to work, the 3d audio would also have to take into account the relationship between where you are standing when playing VR and the position of your speakers in the room.

For example ... when I play, I'm about six feet to the right of my TV, and no where near the center point of my audio system.

Try this experiment: In Arkham VR, in the mansion, hold the phone up to your ear. Can you hear the voice coming directly from the phone? That's the effect that you get when you use a earphones plugged directly into the PSVR.

 

[Pie and Beans]

One controller? Do you have one already?

If so you might want to look at selling that one then getting a dual pack. It might work out cheaper.

The prices are extortionate though.

Yeah I already have one. The dual packs are all going for like £90+ and I'm left with the bitter memory of gifting someone a PS Move 2 years ago with Wonderbook for like £18 all in all and they've since re-gifted it to their nephews never to be seen again.

I keep having the fantasy of walking into some totally obscure on the edge of a Yorkshire moorside hole in the wall gadget shop and just being able to get one for a tenner out a bargain bin.

 

[mckmas8808]

I don't believe you because the 3D sound only works with the processing unit. It is different and you are missing out imo. It CANT take into account how sounds is directly near you. How would that be possible?

Yeah something doesn't add up, because his responses don't match up to the actual science to how sounds work in VR with headphones.

 

[Alienous]

Yeah I already have one. The dual packs are all going for like £90+ and I'm left with the bitter memory of gifting someone a PS Move 2 years ago with Wonderbook for like £18 all in all and they've since re-gifted it to their nephews never to be seen again.

I keep having the fantasy of walking into some totally obscure on the edge of a Yorkshire moorside hole in the wall gadget shop and just being able to get one for a tenner out a bargain bin.

My brother managed that, so it's possible. The person wasn't aware the value of the Move had increased so much recently. So it's worth a shot if you have some gadget shops around.

Best of luck. I gave away Motion controllers too and had to pay the price for one of them.

 

[plagiarize]

Just wanted to say thanks for the great comparison. It wasn't TL;DR at all, and I know how frustrating it can be when you post something that you're sure is meaty enough to start a conversation but gets lost in the stream of rapid updates. This was a great read and it's reasssuring as a PSVR owner to hear the positive perspective from someone that owns multiple hardwares. I love the tech, but my main worry now is in the disparity of opinions from developers trying to figure out what an appropriate VR experience is! It's a little worrying. Some developers want VR to be small experiences within a primary flat game because of cost and audience fatigue. GT sport is a good example.

Then you have beautifully insane devs like Capcom who take the risk of making an entire game that can be played in VR or not in VR, which is my preference.

Then you have devs that feel VR can/should ONLY be smaller one-off experiences like Job simulator or You are here to die, both FANTASTIC games, but definitely NOT what I want out of all VR.

Then there are the troubling words in a recent Ueda ( The Last Guardian)interview about how he's interested in VR but assumed VR should only be enjoyed in first person. From that perspective, he said, titles like The Last Guardian would be too difficult to do, which led to his uncertainty. It read like he never experienced third person VR, and from that couldn't imagine how incredible his specific games could be from a different perspective. Could you imagine Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, or The Last Guardian from the perspective of that allumette free short on PSVR??? Or some of the stuff in the playroom? It's feel like devs aren't talking to each other about what works, and that's concerning.

And lastly there are the issues of locomotion and player sickness. It's perplexing. Some games like RIGS, Battlezone, and RE7 have figured out how to capture traditional movement with teleportation, while others feel like teleportation is the only way to ensure that the audience doesn't get sick. Can u imagine playing skyrim by teleporting g around? Me either.

Regarding the PSVR controller, you mentioned this this was probably the biggest thing holding PSVR behind the big guys. One thing that I can't understand is why the MOVE+NAV controller isn't even an option. A wider range of locomotion + comfort settings seems to be the way to go.

Either way, great post and hopefully this kicks off a good conversation!

Thanks. I think we'll still see games like RE7 and Battlezone for those of us that enjoy them. Serious Sam First Encounter VR on PC lets you pick, but for the multiplayer at least, that reportedly makes things a little easier for the teleporting players.

Yeah something doesn't add up, because his responses don't match up to the actual science to how sounds work in VR with headphones.

Lucasfilm, for example, have demoed VR using external speakers and it got some rave reviews (although that was a full atmos setup if I remember right). It's a pretty simple thing to do if you think about it. You just calculate the sound field based on the players position, but centered on where they are with relation to the camera and not where they are looking. I will test this again when I get a chance, but I'm sure that London Heist works this way if you aren't using the headphones. IE, a character's voice that is coming through the front speaker channel when you are looking straight at them, still comes through the front speaker channel if you turn your back to it.

Like I said, I will test to confirm. I know that RE7 *doesn't* work that way, but since you do most turning through the analogue stick, it generally works pretty well.

 

[Mosse]

Not sure if already posted, but since we're on the subject. Pretty interesting video about the sound and music in vr worlds.
https://youtu.be/y5FLTyRMpOM

 

[joeblow]

Here They Lie is on sale this week ($12, down from $20). Worth it?

 

[RoyalFool]

Not sure if already posted, but since we're on the subject. Pretty interesting video about the sound and music in vr worlds.
https://youtu.be/y5FLTyRMpOM

Wait, you can put your head in the lobby balls in VR World? Why didn't I think of trying that!

 

[Grinchy]

I've seen streamers trying PSVR out for the first time and when people tell them to wear headphones, they say, "Nah, I have a great surround setup. There's no way I'd ruin the sound with crappy headphones!"

Sometimes you just gotta let people do their thing, I guess.

 

[goonergaz]

Yeah something doesn't add up, because his responses don't match up to the actual science to how sounds work in VR with headphones.

I've not wanted to poo-poo but am unsure he's correct due to lack of replies...I mentioned binaural and he's gone quiet. Having said that, what's stopping you taking the headphone jack that should go into the headphones and sticking it into the amp? Easily done.

 

[Mendrox]

I've seen streamers trying PSVR out for the first time and when people tell them to wear headphones, they say, "Nah, I have a great surround setup. There's no way I'd ruin the sound with crappy headphones!"

Sometimes you just gotta let people do their thing, I guess.

It's like people can't read the setup of their VR sets. You also just can't replicate something like answering the phone with a surround sound set...really strange that people don't notice that or don't care?

I've not wanted to poo-poo but am unsure he's correct due to lack of replies...I mentioned binaural and he's gone quiet. Having said that, what's stopping you taking the headphone jack that should go into the headphones and sticking it into the amp? Easily done.

Nothing is stopping you from doing that, but it will still be different. You cannot replicate the feeling with a surround system. Easily tested with answering the phone in Summer Lesson or Batman e.g.

If I wear headphones and put the phone near my ears, I will hear the voice directly like I would like in real life. If I put it away I won't hear it like this anymore.

If I do the same with a surround system, doesn't really matter even if it's a 7.1 or 9.1 system, I won't ever get the feeling like I am answering a call, because the sound distance will be different from me. 3D sound is something entirely different.

Edit: So people that love to play games with their surround system - USE HEADPHONES.

 

[Shoeless]

Here They Lie is on sale this week ($12, down from $20). Worth it?

It's a psychological horror game/walking simulator with one of the higher chances for causing nausea.

I enjoyed it myself, but it does have a few jump scares here and there, and it hasn't been patched for the Pro, as far as I know, if that's an issue for you. But nausea aside, it's one of the more interesting horror experiences on the PS VR.

 

[RoyalFool]

I've not wanted to poo-poo but am unsure he's correct due to lack of replies...I mentioned binaural and he's gone quiet. Having said that, what's stopping you taking the headphone jack that should go into the headphones and sticking it into the amp? Easily done.

The headphone jack presumes the headphones, which are stuck to the side of your head. The moment you hook it up to stationary speakers you'll have binaural audio pointing sound in the completely wrong direction.

When I try to play with only one headphone in so i can talk to people, i lose so much of the immersion. Anybody who completely forgoes it because they have expensive speakers are doing themselves an injustice.

 

[Sebastian Suola]

Guys, about the audio and 7.1 setup and stuff.

It's simple really. When he is playing the game with his 7.1 setup he is hearing the surround mix of the game! And it's really good. And when you turn your head the game/sound engine takes that into consideration and the soundscape will move accordingly. If you have a good setup it will sound good. But it's different from the "binaural" 3D audio that you would get by plugging stereo headphones into the headset.

This is the only logical explanation. And yes, he would be in trouble if he was playing multiplayer games where the tv was showing a different view of the game.

 

[TAJ]

How hard is it to try plugging headphones into your PSVR rig? Jesus.

 

[cakely]

Wait, you can put your head in the lobby balls in VR World? Why didn't I think of trying that!

If you put your head in the water ball and blow, you'll get bubbles. How cool is that?

You can blow into the cigar in London Heist as well, but that's a bit more obvious.

 

[KGoogle]

Why is the ps vr literally out of stock everywhere in the UK

 

[fastest finger]

Why is the ps vr literally out of stock everywhere in the UK

Because they've sold more than Sony supplied?



Retailers are expecting new stocks in January.

 

[plagiarize]

How hard is it to try plugging headphones into your PSVR rig? Jesus.

It's not hard at all, and I will do that for RE7, without question, but for a lot of games, I don't need what it offers and you may think me crazy for not wanting to deal with the extra hassle involved of trying to put headphones on while using a head mounted display, but there's a reason why people praise the headsets that have built in audio.

It really makes that whole process of putting on and taking off the headset much easier. When I'm playing Playroom VR, that's something that's happening every five minutes or so as people swap around the headset.

So yeah, the positional sound is off when playing the mouse game (very obviously when the dog comes running in) but the fun of that game isn't really undermined by it.

Rush of Blood still scared the crap out of me on my 7.1 setup. It's a question of convenience vs experience with the headset on. The audio design in RE7 is amazing. I've played that with the little in ear headphones that come with the headset. Definitely how I'll be playing that as I dive into it for hours at a time...

But for jumping around and swapping between games etc etc... I'll just use my speakers if you don't mind.

 

[cakefoo]

I will test this again when I get a chance, but I'm sure that London Heist works this way if you aren't using the headphones. IE, a character's voice that is coming through the front speaker channel when you are looking straight at them, still comes through the front speaker channel if you turn your back to it.

Like I said, I will test to confirm. I know that RE7 *doesn't* work that way, but since you do most turning through the analogue stick, it generally works pretty well.

A stopped clock is right twice a day.

Social screen audio is for the non-VR spectators. When a sound source is behind the VR player, it plays out the rear speaker. So when you had your back to the NPC and your back to the TV, the NPC dialog was actually coming from the rear speaker that you were facing.

 

[joeblow]

It's a psychological horror game/walking simulator with one of the higher chances for causing nausea.

I enjoyed it myself, but it does have a few jump scares here and there, and it hasn't been patched for the Pro, as far as I know, if that's an issue for you. But nausea aside, it's one of the more interesting horror experiences on the PS VR.

Thanks. For games that have me on the fence, Pro support can be the tie breaker. Too bad this doesn't have it.

 

[plagiarize]

A stopped clock is right twice a day.

Social screen audio is for the non-VR spectators. When a sound source is behind the VR player, it plays out the rear speaker. So when you had your back to the NPC and your back to the TV, the NPC dialog was actually coming from the rear speaker that you were facing.

Like I said, I want to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure it didn't work this way in London Heist.

It absolutely worked the way you describe in RE7 and most of the other things I tried.

There's absolutely no technical reason though that it can't work that way, even if my memory is playing tricks on me. The PS4 can obviously calculate a separate sound field for HDMI out to what's being played through the headphones. There's no reason why that couldn't be centered as described, and not move around as you turn your head in the real world.

 

[Gouty]

The reason I'd stopped talking about the 7.1 thing is that I didn't want to take the thread over by banging on about it.

A properly calibrated 7.1 setup might not being doing the 3D effect in exactly the same way as the headphones, it seemed to me it was but maybe I'm wrong. At any rate its very convincing. I'm not trying to tell anyone its THE way to experience VR, but as for the equipment I have access to its not even debatable.

I don't have good headphones. I have great a home theater. Theater wins.

Thank you for the discussion and input, it was informative. I don't plan to respond any further on the topic.

 

[Mercador]

First gane to give me serious VR sickness, Robinson. Won't play that game ever.

 

[cakefoo]

Like I said, I want to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure it didn't work this way in London Heist.

It absolutely worked the way you describe in RE7 and most of the other things I tried.

There's absolutely no technical reason though that it can't work that way, even if my memory is playing tricks on me. The PS4 can obviously calculate a separate sound field for HDMI out to what's being played through the headphones. There's no reason why that couldn't be centered as described, and not move around as you turn your head in the real world.

Turn right so that the character is to your left. The sound will most likely be coming from the left channel behind you.

 

[valeu]

It's a psychological horror game/walking simulator with one of the higher chances for causing nausea.

I enjoyed it myself, but it does have a few jump scares here and there, and it hasn't been patched for the Pro, as far as I know, if that's an issue for you. But nausea aside, it's one of the more interesting horror experiences on the PS VR.

in the demo it seems you can only walk....slow. can you run in the real game?

 

[Ogni-XR21]

Regadring the use of headphones vs. a surround system there is one thing I want to ad: you might end up with lagging sound when not using headphones. As my TV sucks regarding lag, this also affects sound as it's synched to the image the TV displays. Kills any immersion for me, so playing without headphones is not an option for me, even when friends are over. Of course YMMV depending on your TV.

 

[plagiarize]

Turn right so that the character is to your left. The sound will most likely be coming from the left channel behind you.

I know how to test it I just haven't had a chance. I'm at work right now.

 

[Hale-XF11]

I don't bother with headphones cuz they're a pain in the ass to use with the PSVR headset (cord constantly gets tangled up and hard to deal with in general) and earbuds won't stay in my ears, so I don't bother and just listen to the audio coming from my tv. I fully understand now why Oculus designed their headset with ear phones built in.

 

[ImmortalStyle]

Wow with this thread hijack. Basically, if you are willing and want to sacrifice some immersion for comfort then by all means ditch your headphones, if not then you want to wear them. The end.

 

[Shoeless]

in the demo it seems you can only walk....slow. can you run in the real game?

Yeah, you can. I believe just using the R2 shoulder button is the undocumented-but-perfectly-functional run button for the game.

 

[Shoeless]

First gane to give me serious VR sickness, Robinson. Won't play that game ever.

That's rather unfortunate. I don't know if you're one of the people that's planning to, but if you have any hopes of playing RE7 in VR mode, you may want to either try the demo out a few times, or play Robinson a bit at a time and build up your VR legs.

RE7 was pretty notorious for making people at gaming conventions motion sick as well. Robinson made me a bit nauseous at first, but I cut my teeth on Here They Lie, built up my VR legs there, then built them up some more with Robinson, so by the time I got to the RE7 demo, I was able to play that with all comfort settings off, using traditional FPS "smooth" controls.

 

[Mercador]

That's rather unfortunate. I don't know if you're one of the people that's planning to, but if you have any hopes of playing RE7 in VR mode, you may want to either try the demo out a few times, or play Robinson a bit at a time and build up your VR legs.

RE7 was pretty notorious for making people at gaming conventions motion sick as well. Robinson made me a bit nauseous at first, but I cut my teeth on Here They Lie, built up my VR legs there, then built them up some more with Robinson, so by the time I got to the RE7 demo, I was able to play that with all comfort settings off, using traditional FPS "smooth" controls.

I didn't had any issues with other games, even Driveclub. I think it's the way you turn around that I didn't like. Tried all three options, smooth was better than pie charts. After playing, my eyes couldn't focus and I had hard time just to grab something, my perspective was flat out. I went for bed for 30 minutes and I was ok after that.

 

[Zeta2Reticuli]

Perhaps someone else has already mentioned this, but Hyper Void and the VR upgrade is completely free right now.

FYI I've never played and have no idea if it's good, but free VR games is always nice.

 

[majik13]

First gane to give me serious VR sickness, Robinson. Won't play that game ever.

The thing about this game is the turning is super fast in smooth mode, even if it were a traditional game, and the walking is super slow, even for a VR game. Seems these 2 things should be swapped. And its lame there are no senstivity or speed sliders in the options. I had to put on pie chart turning becaude of how fast you turn. If I could slow down the turning speed Id use smooth turning. If it could have RE7 speed of movement and turning, itd be great.

Still really enjoying the game. Probabaly the best looking VR game Ive played, only played it on the Pro though.

I didn't had any issues with other games, even Driveclub. I think it's the way you turn around that I didn't like. Tried all three options, smooth was better than pie charts. After playing, my eyes couldn't focus and I had hard time just to grab something, my perspective was flat out. I went for bed for 30 minutes and I was ok after that.

Not sure if this relates to your situation or not, and not really sure what "my persprctive was flat out" means? But when I first started this game I was so confused, both my hands, were floating far out in front of me but different distances, and 1 was facing towards me, when Id turn or rotate with the stick, it was not rotating with my head as the origin, the origin was far out in front of me, so it would spin wildely and my camera would go inside objects. There was also a pole or pillar of light out of front of me, and the camera would rotate around that. It would say hold the option button to recenter your view but eveytime Id do that it would just bring up the options screen. Kept trying to figure it out for like 5 mins. Was about to give up or restart. But eventually found out you need to hold option for like at least 3 whole seconds or so to fix the view/perspective, if you hold it for just 1 or 2 seconds it only brings up the options screen. Kinda lame how they programmed that. But maybe thatd fix your issue there, in regard to perspective?

 

[Sidewinder]

Perhaps someone else has already mentioned this, but Hyper Void and the VR upgrade is completely free right now.

FYI I've never played and have no idea if it's good, but free VR games is always nice.

It's 9.99$ for me (US store). Only free with ps+

Played Robinson for about 2 hours, felt strange at the beginning inside the small capsule and pie-chart turning. But outside I tried smooth turn and it was mostly fine. Guess I'll be able to play through it The lack of Move support is really a shame though.

 

[Gouty]

I've noticed I'm more susceptible to motion sickness when I've got smooth mode on during RE7 and the Tomb Raider DLC. I stick to the quick 30 degree snaps.

Any idea on why the quick movements helps with this? I'd have guessed the opposite to be true prior to trying them out.

 

[majik13]

I've noticed I'm more susceptible to motion sickness when I've got smooth mode on during RE7 and the Tomb Raider DLC. I stick to the quick 30 degree snaps.

Any idea on why the quick movements helps with this? I'd have guessed the opposite to be true prior to trying them out.

Same reason teleporting is generally more comfortable than stick movement. Basically its your body/inner ear being confused. Where your vision is being moved, but your body is not making any such movement in real life, so its out of sync.
Teleporting and pie charting cut out all the movement basically.

 

[Shoeless]

I've noticed I'm more susceptible to motion sickness when I've got smooth mode on during RE7 and the Tomb Raider DLC. I stick to the quick 30 degree snaps.

Any idea on why the quick movements helps with this? I'd have guessed the opposite to be true prior to trying them out.

Inner ear conflict. With smooth turning, it's easier to fool your eyes into thinking you're moving, but your inner ear, which detects motion, is telling you that you're stationary. That mix-up of information between your eye and inner ear is one of the causes of motion sickness.

 

[Alienous]

Arkham VR keeps leaving me feeling disconnected from my real hands. The headset has yet to make me feel sick but the Move controllers makes me feel like my actual hands don't belong to me.

 

[NotSmartEnough]

Wow with this thread hijack. Basically, if you are willing and want to sacrifice some immersion for comfort then by all means ditch your headphones, if not then you want to wear them. The end.

It's not that simple. This isn't just a case of personal preference:

The best case scenario is something like RE7; a game with a full non-VR mode that has 5.1 or 7.1 support. The VR version supports surround sound because it's already built for the non-VR mode.

Then you've got dedicated VR games which mirror the headset feed on the TV: these are, IMO, unlikely to have full 7.1 support alongside 3D audio, as there's no benefit to adding it in as an extra feature. Somebody playing without headphones is going to get some downmixed audio feed (or plain stereo?).

Worst case is a VR game with asynchronous multiplayer: this will send a different audio feed to the speakers; players without headphones will hear the wrong audio feed.

It's not just a preference. Sure, you can choose to play however you like, just like you can choose to go and watch a 3D movie without wearing the glasses, but you'll be doing it wrong.

 

[jrcbandit]

Any idea if a Pro patch is still possible for Here They Lie? I'm tempted by the sale this week, but the poor visual quality is making me hesitate. It desperately needs the resolution bump the Pro can offer.

 

[hawk2025]

Any idea if a Pro patch is still possible for Here They Lie? I'm tempted by the sale this week, but the poor visual quality is making me hesitate. It desperately needs the resolution bump the Pro can offer.

Same. I really liked the demo, but it sure could use a graphics bump

 

[Shoeless]

Any idea if a Pro patch is still possible for Here They Lie? I'm tempted by the sale this week, but the poor visual quality is making me hesitate. It desperately needs the resolution bump the Pro can offer.

There's been zero word about this, unfortunately. It's too bad, since this is another game that would have HUGE gains from a Pro patch. But I don't think it sold well enough to justify the added expense. A lot of people got put off at launch by a combination of price and nausea.

 

[gbpackers25]

Arkham VR keeps leaving me feeling disconnected from my real hands. The headset has yet to make me feel sick but the Move controllers makes me feel like my actual hands don't belong to me.

Until Dawn did the same thing for me

 

[joeblow]

There's been zero word about this, unfortunately. It's too bad, since this is another game that would have HUGE gains from a Pro patch. But I don't think it sold well enough to justify the added expense. A lot of people got put off at launch by a combination of price and nausea.

Oh well. I spent the money I was considering for this game on the 50% discount for The Witness instead. It dowsn't have a VR mode, but the Pro support it has is top tier people say.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Will that Google Maps thingie also be released on PSVR? I'd wager not, but I don't know.

 

[GeeTeeCee]

My first two days with my VR headset I've been able to play a few parts of VR Wolrds and Batman Arkham VR for a decent amount of time with no ill effects. I tried out Star Wars Battlefront VR today and had to quit during the fight at the Star Destroyer (after about 15 minutes) because I was in imminent danger of being sick. I felt rotten for ages afterwards too.

Here's hoping I just bit off more than I could chew with regards to my VR tolerance this early, and I'll eventually be able to cope. I'd hate to think this is going to be a common thing.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Just became a world class liar on Werewolves within lol. Tricked everyone

 

[Chronology]

agot about $35 to spend, and I'd like about $14 of it to go to Trackmania Turbo. What other VR game should I put my money towards? Thinking about thumper, but not sure what my other options are. Already have rigs and love it