Whats the general verdict here
I don't own one so I'm not speaking first hand, but I think, from the description here, its a huge, cumbersome system and there are too many inconveniences
Play Station VR
Huge/cumbersome/inconvenient might be things you can say about VR in general when comparing it to regular console couch gaming... but that's apples and oranges. Within the VR market, it's no more cumbersome/inconvenient than the other VR products.
I'm looking forward to trying it out more.
We've had devkits at work for a long time, and IMHO the design of the headset itself makes the Oculus and Vive designs look amateur. It's also more comfortable (Vive squeezes your whole face, Rift squeezes your cheekbones, PSVR squeezes your forehead), easier to take on/off without smudging the lenses, easier to adjust, and has its foam covered in pleather so that it wont soak up gamersweat (oh god - don't use a Vive/Rift at a convention like PAX unless you want 10000 people's sweat on your skin)... Sony sure do know how to make consumer electronics! :D
In terms of specs, it's lower resolution than Vive/Rift, but with better lenses which make better use of that resolution. It's got primitive tracking compared to Vive/Rift, but in my experience the accelerometer data can make up for poor optical tracking, so I'm keen to see how this has worked out in practice.
My personal rankings from best to not-best in different areas would probably go:
Tracking: Vive, Rift, PSVR
Screen: Vive/Rift, PSVR
Lenses: PSVR, Rift, Vive
Comfort: PSVR, Rift, Vive
Audio: Rift, Vive/PSVR
Motion Controllers: Rift, Vive, PSVR
Price: PSVR, Rift, Vive
Motion Controllers: Rift, Vive, PSVR Price: PSVR, Rift, Vive
Does your price include the Rift motion controllers? Vive is the most expensive but it does include everything. I believe Rift and Vive are pretty much the same when you include the motion controllers too.
In terms of specs, it's lower resolution than Vive/Rift, but with better lenses which make better use of that resolution.
What do you mean by 'better lenses'? The screen has richer colors or better refresh rates, or does the screen curve in a superior way?
Now that PSVR is publicly available .... :D
I see this holiday as the bend in the curve, the tipping point, where enough people with enough wealth are going to have them, bring the devices to grandma's house, show 20+ extended family members who call people up the neighbors and show 100+ total people over the holidays, and suddenly everyone says "I absolutely need to buy one of these VR entertainment devices."
Among the four headsets currently on my desk and assorted motion trackers that are probably giving me cancer, I personally prefer using the Vive's motion controls and the grip for my virtual hands feels best. I think in the marketplace it will be PSVR becoming the console edition of VR, and Vive becoming the PC edition of VR, and I see them both fighting madly for an enormous multi-million-unit install base next year.
However, the way the headset lenses distort the display make it look reasonable as you move your eyes around, the Vive's lenses distort and detract from the world much more. While the screen itself is not the best, the lenses visually look better to me, there is less visual distortion on PSVR.
Following Hodgman's list for these three devices:
Tracking: Vive, Rift, PSVR -- Agree.
Screen: Vive/Rift, PSVR -- Agree, but it is a mixed result because of the next item...
Lenses: PSVR, Rift, Vive -- Agree. While PSVR has a technically worse screen, the lenses are a serious strike against Vive.
Comfort: PSVR, Rift, Vive -- I'd say PSVR, Vive, Rift. I really want to get my hands on the wireless Vive headset adapters that various groups online have been discussing, as that may change my answer, the tether is annoying.
Audio: Rift, Vive/PSVR -- No preference, I think this varies more by the software used than the device itself.
Motion Controllers: Rift, Vive, PSVR -- I'd swap Rift and Vive.
Price: PSVR, Rift, Vive -- They could all be cheaper.
Even so, all of them are great, and everyone we've brought in to try stuff has been amazed and wanted to come back regardless of the system used.
Author
Since there is no ranking on the biggest problem that has dogged VR for years -> motion sickness in @[member='Hodgman']'s list or @[member='frob']'s follow-up, does that mean the problem is dying/dead or is this a game dependent problem rather than headset/hardware resolution dependent? Personally I think its a headset resolution problem and it still exist (though getting better) but was inadvertently omitted in the rankings
I've only played around with a Rift DK2 for about a year. Resulting in both wanting more and experiencing motion sickness. I'm curious if PSVR will improve on this. So next month I'll replace my ps4 by a ps4 PRO and I'll get the PSVR in december.
The reason I'm going for PS versus PC HMD/setup is both financial and laziness. I expect PSVR to be more user friendly when it comes to getting it running etc
The reason I'm going for PS versus PC HMD/setup is both financial and laziness. I expect PSVR to be more user friendly when it comes to getting it running etc
Since there is no ranking on the biggest problem that has dogged VR for years -> motion sickness in @[member=Hodgman]'s list or @[member=frob]'s follow-up, does that mean the problem is dying/dead or is this a game dependent problem rather than headset/hardware resolution dependent? Personally I think its a headset resolution problem and it still exist (though getting better) but was inadvertently omitted in the rankings
Sickness is bad if you let it happen. For me, it comes on as a tightening in your throat, and if you stop immediately then it's not a problem. I once tried to "push through it" with the DK1, and played for over an hour after the sickness came on after about the 15 minute mark... the result was 11 hours of nausea and dizziness..
My experience and longest comfortable gaming sessions on each:
Rift DK1: Sick between 5-30 minutes.
Rift DK2: Sick between 30-60 minutes.
Rift DK2 with 3rd party tracking: 1 hours straight with no sickness (length of a zero latency session).
Rift CV1: 2 hours straight with no sickness.
Vive Pre: 2 hours straight with no sickness.
After 2 hours in the Vive, being sweaty and needing a break is the real reason I stop. I haven't got sick from it yet.
The things that seem to cause sickness are (A) Latency, and (B) bad tracking.
PSVR could in theory have better latency than the Vive/Rift, thanks to it's 120Hz display. PSVR's tracking is inferior to Vive/Rift in theory, but it should still be good enough to avoid sickness.
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