I think we are seeing the market shifting, as I expected it would. The $1500 cost of entry is a no brainer when it comes to barriers for mass market adoption. HTC sees that PSVR has a distinct advantage, with it's huge installed platform user-base numbers. The current flagship phones (and phone-oriented hardware) are moving toward faster sensor pipelines and OLED screens, and Google is pushing to be a big player in the market, by offering a unified development package for yet another platform with massive numbers of current users. HTC would be stupid to ignore these facts. High-end VR will continue on, but will be relegated to smaller numbers of users, just as enthusiast-level graphics cards are now. Support for the higher end may suffer a bit, as the market shifts more toward the center, but I don't see it going anywhere.
My PSVR and Move controllers arrived. There are a couple scratches in the AR coating on one of the lenses, but it doesn't appear to affect anything. Outside of that, I got a great deal on the hardware. Sony did a very good job with the design of this unit, but they dropped the ball by not having some means to adjust the focus for each eye independently. They say glasses are ok inside the unit, but I can feel the contact between the lenses, and I won't use them that way. Spacers might work, but will create gaps, letting more outside light in, and increasing the "tunnel-view" effect. From my experience, the lenses should be so close to your eyes that your eyelashes nearly brush the lenses every time you blink. The removable, thin rubber surround is great. You never really feel like the unit is mashed onto your face, which is huge where comfort is concerned. It's also easy to remove and clean. The unit is also well balanced, and very light.
On the performance side, I'm impressed, but at the same time, a little disappointed. The resolution is pretty poor, and from what I gather, this is common to all of the units available, even the expensive ones. It's lower than the Vive, but the difference, at least on paper, is small. The PSVR may actually have an advantage, due to having no real "screen-door" effect, but it has it's own visual issues, namely what I know as a "linen" effect. It's like looking though extremely sheer fabric. Bright scenes seem to lose a bit of contrast, and instead of seeing pixelated images, things tend to appear very soft. It's particularly noticeable at distance. It's like everyone entering the realm of VR suddenly becomes mildly near-sighted
, and the linen-effect is always there, which affects the immersion factor. Color rendition is very nice. The brightness can easily be set to a third of what the unit is cable of, and still be plenty bright and vibrant.
The tracking works well, but is also not perfect. Sony seems to be aware of this, as they have made it very easy to re-center the view. Not sure what the technical reasons are for this, but it seems to lose it's place when moving outside the view of the camera. But it still works, and works well. Error tends to be small, and I haven't really found the need to re-center during gameplay. I think positioning of the camera has an effect on accuracy, and probably works best when it's not a lot higher or lower than eye-height. This is something I will be experimenting with.
On the software side, I've only played with a few things, so this part is of my thoughts is ongoing. Battlezone, as indicated earlier, is a bit "flat". The arenas are huge, and the resolution limitations come into play. The cockpit and close-by objects are rendered nicely, but much of this game takes place at long distances, where visual acuity drops off significantly, unless the targets are very large. In my opinion, this type of title is not well suited to the current state of display technology. The free "The Kitchen" demo from RE7, was interesting, and definitely creepy.
The Playroom VR, on the other hand, is nothing short of amazing. Japan Studio show that they really understand how to use the capabilities of the PSVR to advantage, and the execution of the mini-games is nearly flawless. The games are fun, and off-the-charts cute. So much so, I can see hardcore Nintendo fans like Howard, grinning ear-to-ear from start to finish. You really do feel like you are in the environment with, and not just watching, the crazy little robots, who react to you when you focus your attention to them. The games take place in areas which are no larger than can be effectively utilized by the hardware, with the possible exception of the 3D platformer. In this game, you can see a fair distance into the playing area, and the resolution becomes a limitation to the sense of immersion. But in areas close-by, where the action is taking place, it works perfectly, and shows just how impressive and playable a 3D platformer can be with this technology.
The experience inside the "Playroom" was the first time I really felt a disconnect from the outside world. Specifically, while seated on a swivel chair in the real world, with the VR crane machine in front of me, I spun quickly to look more closely at one of the items in the room, and actually had the sense that I was going to bang my knee on the machine, as I was so close to it. When it didn't happen, I felt my brain try to reconcile the reason why.
That one event was the signal that I had actually become immersed in the environment, and it was a powerful moment.
My conclusion is that the tech is definitely here to stay, but much will depend on developers' understanding of the limitations, and effectively using what they have to work with. If the market gets flooded with "shovelware" it could take the tech down quickly, but unlike other previous tech, there is a lot more here to work with. I already ordered the Farpoint bundle, and I think that will provide a better idea as to where things will be heading. Those with a PS4 already, who have the money to spend or the opportunity to get a good deal on the hardware, should definitely consider picking one up. VR isn't going to be great until the resolution/processing/cost barriers start falling rapidly, but it does have quite a bit of potential in it's current state.
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Topic: I have now tried Virtual Reality and it is amazing (Read 233671 times)
