**“Sony’s PS4 VR Headset Is as Impressive as Valve’s” Says Developer—Can Sony Deliver VR That Gamers Deserve?
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Come September, the big media outlets were all spouting the same speculation, this time however there was a level of confidence that doesn’t usually accompany such headlines. Chief among them was Games Industry’s forthright piece entitled “Inside PS4′s new VR headset” in which it stated that there was indeed a headset and that:
The headset (which is not tied to the company’s existing Wearable HDTV Personal 3D Viewer, pictured above) uses the PS4′s PlayStation Eye camera, like Move did, for head tracking. This, say people who have used it, makes the headset even more accurate than the Oculus Rift – though it does present some aesthetic challenges.
At present, the working prototype for the headset, which select developers currently have in house, looks much like Oculus’ better-known VR system – with ping pong balls attached. The design is not expected to be final.
We’ve now received word from someone claiming to not only have tried Sony’s secretive virtual reality hardware but is actively developing software to utilise the device. Our source describes the HMD as having an FOV comparable to that of the Oculus Rift DK1 but with a much higher resolution.
Perhaps more interestingly, though, is that our developer source claims also to have attended the recent Steam Dev Days event in Seattle and sampled Valve’s apparently impressive prototype VR headset. According to the source, the two HMDs compare very favourably. The general impression was that resolution was comparable between Sony’s and Valve’s unit (reported to use two 1080p panels) and that head tracking accuracy was very close.
Whether the PS4 can offer the kind of processing grunt requires to push high resolution, high fidelity, stereoscopic scenes around at frame rates exceeding 60FPS is another question, and perhaps the biggest obstacle to Sony in this venture. As of writing, the AMD based APU in the PS4 offers performance comparable to that of current mid-range PCs—although a single hardware platform affords benefits which inflate its potential—in PC terms the PS4 is already behind the curve in terms of performance. And despite an encouraging trend for games to target a 1080p resolution, frame rates are another matter. Killzone Shadow Fall (PS4, 2013) looks fantastic, but runs at a locked 30FPS, way below the minimum threshold of 60 FPS recommended by Oculus VR Inc for a comfortable VR experience. If PS4 developers are to offer high frame rate, high resolution visuals, it’s clear something’s got to give, and that’s fidelity. Will gamers accept titles sacrificing their cosmetic looks for more immersive delivery?
As I was writing this article, yet more evidence of the existence of a Sony PS4 VR headset emerged. John Smedley, President of SOE (Sony Online Entertainment), the first party studio behind the likes of the next generation MMO EverQuest Next, appeared to hint at the existence of such a device in a recent Reddit AMAA:
hearing good things about 2 competitors… one of which actually comes from Sony. so I’m thinking this is real and we may have our Snowcrash after all.
Snow Crash referring to Neal Stephenson’s influential 1992 novel which explores the idea of a virtual reality metaverse.
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