PS VR hardware and software review: Sony's device is not a threat to the VR world at all

PS VR, which was released half a year later than its competitors, was finally released, and the three-way competition in the high-end VR field officially began. PS VR was favored by the industry and consumers because of its low price of 2,999 yuan, but at the same time, compared with its competitors HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift, the parameters of PS VR are not so impressive. The positioning technology has great limitations. The controller is actually the Move used with PS3 six years ago, and the function of PS4 is also insufficient compared with high-end computers.

At CJ in July, HTC VIVE China General Manager Wang Congqing said in an interview with the media that "the low price of PS VR is a reflection of the outdated technology of the product" and "PS Camera and PS Move are products from a few years ago and the experience is not good."

So how does PS VR perform?

Equipment Installation

The installation of PS VR is very simple compared to HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift, but it is still not very convenient for ordinary people.

The computing unit of PS VR needs one wire to connect to the TV, two wires to connect to PS4, one wire to connect to the power supply, and two wires to connect to the PS VR body. The body also needs to be connected to a headset (PS VR does not support wireless headsets including its own gold headset, because the headset sound needs to be processed by the processing unit to generate a surround effect), and the PS4 also needs to be connected to the PS Camera. Isn't it a headache to see all these wires?  

The processing unit is connected to the PS4 with two cables. One HDMI cable needs to be connected to the back of the PS4, and the USB cable is connected to the front of the PS4. So the cable management is a thing that can drive people with obsessive-compulsive disorder crazy, because no matter how you organize it, it will be a mess.

PS VR doesn’t emphasize moving around like HTC VIVE does, and almost all games can be played while sitting, so the requirements for the play area are much smaller (after all, the single camera has a limited field of view). Because the camera must at least scan the head and hands, it is still necessary to be about two meters away from the camera.  

Wear

Among the three VR devices, PS VR is the heaviest, but after three generations of HMZ head-mounted displays, Sony seems to have achieved great success in the comfort of the head-mounted devices.

Sony distributes the overall weight of PS VR completely on the top of the user's head, and appropriately weights the rear adjustment part to offset the weight of the front body, so that PS VR will not press the user's nose bridge and cheekbones like other HMDs. Users can easily ignore the weight on the top of the head, and the eyepiece of PS VR can move back and forth, which is convenient for users who wear glasses. After wearing it, the user can push the eyepiece forward and use it to see the outside situation from the bottom, find the handle, take a look at the phone, etc. without having to take off the device frequently.

The eyepieces that come into contact with the skin are surrounded by soft rubber pads, which are very comfortable to wear and have a good light-shielding effect. However, the nose pads may leak light because Asians have smaller noses, but it is not serious. It may also be designed to allow air circulation. Unfortunately, the PS VR still has lens fogging. If you are prone to sweating, you need to take off the machine and wipe it from time to time.

Spatial positioning and controller

If there's anything that PS VR sacrifices for the price, it's spatial positioning and controllers. Both the PS Camera and PS Move are old technology.

In the experience, the overall performance of PS VR is still very good, but because there is only one camera for spatial positioning, the light ball of Move will be blocked by the player's body when turning around, resulting in the failure to locate the player's hand. Another problem with ray tracing is that it will affect the accuracy of positioning when the ambient light is too bright. The inaccurate positioning is also reflected in the fact that the PS VR headset and Move often need to be calibrated, especially in games with large movements. The hands in the game will occasionally twitch and shake abnormally.

Another problem with using PS Move is the lack of directional control. Since the left handle of the PS Move with joystick and directional keys released that year was not equipped with a small light ball, PS VR had to use two right-hand handles. As a result, games using dual Move are often games like track guns where players cannot move. Games that require directional control can only choose to use the Dualshock4 handle. Of course, this problem is expected to be solved after the release of the gun-shaped controller PSVR Aim Controller.

Display Effect

Another problem that PS VR has been criticized for is its resolution. When mobile VR products have reached the 2K level due to the development of mobile phone screens, it still uses 1080p. The resolution of 960*1080 for a single eye is really not enough.

But in fact, because PS VR uses a full-pixel RGB arrangement, while VIVE's 2K uses a pentile arrangement where two pixels share one RB pixel, PS VR actually has a slight advantage in terms of the number of sub-pixels, with acceptable clarity and negligible screen door effect. It's just that in the case of a black background with white patterns, the use of sub-pixels to assist composition will cause slight color fringing on the edge of the image.

In non-VR situations, PS VR also supports cinema mode, serving as a substitute for a monitor. However, at a resolution of 960*1080, if the top and bottom sides are cut off to make the ratio reach 16:9, the resolution is only at the 480p level, which is not very meaningful.

By the way, when connected to PS4 via USB, PS VR can connect to any HDMI device and be used in cinema mode. That is to say, the HDMI interface of PS VR does not have the function of detecting devices. After Sony opens the USB interface, PS VR can be connected to PC and other devices for VR play.

Game Effects

Now comes the main point. No matter what the configuration or parameters are, whether the PS VR is worth buying as a gaming device ultimately depends on the quality of the gaming experience.

The overall experience of trying out PS VR can be simply summarized in one sentence: "It feels great to enter the game world."

I know that before, countless gaming peripherals have been advertised as "entering the world of games", but the only technology that can really do this is VR technology. It can put the 3D game world in front of you, allowing you to observe the entire game world from the perspective of the game, and your interaction with the game world is completely intuitive. It is not "press E to row a boat", but you have to use your hands to pick it up and turn your head to watch it.

Although the resolution is not high enough and the handle positioning is not very precise, everything will be covered up by the world you suddenly break into, just like when you win a five million lottery, you will not worry about the taxes deducted first.

What PS VR can provide is no longer a simple game, but a tool that gives users an alternative experience, a key that takes users into another world. In the real world, you can't become Batman, control a huge mecha, become a robber, or ride a roller coaster to a haunted park. With PS VR, you can experience all of this at home.

PS VR Gaming Experience

Different from HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift, which have many small titles but few masterpieces, Sony's PS VR already has a large number of game support at its launch, including popular IPs such as "Batman: Arkham VR" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider", as well as works from top studios such as Guerrilla and Santa Monica. It can be said that players who purchase the first launch of PS VR do not have to worry about the game lineup. Of course, masterpieces such as "Resident Evil 7" that will follow are also worth looking forward to.

When I got the PS VR, I also got a few PS VR games. Detailed game reviews will be released later. Here I will review a few games for reference for those who are interested in purchasing. Ranking by recommendation.

Resident Evil 7: Kitchen: 6/10

Capcom's masterpiece "Resident Evil 7" announced at this year's E3 that it will fully support PS VR play, which has been well received by Resident Evil fans and VR enthusiasts. In order to "compensate" players, the game, which has been postponed to January next year, launched a trial chapter "Resident Evil 7: Kitchen" that supports PS VR play. The graphics of this game are good, and the atmosphere is well created. The Hong Kong server is only 8 Hong Kong dollars. The disadvantage is that there is almost no interaction and the process is only about 4 minutes (to put it bluntly, it is just a short VR film). But considering the low price, it is still worth a try. Use Dualshock4 to play.

Oh! I'm So Godly: 6.5/10

A mini game that uses Move to play the role of a rookie god. The price in Hong Kong is 23 Hong Kong dollars. It makes good use of the characteristics of Move. Players need to use limited divine power to provide rain for creatures on the planet, guide them to worship God, create fire and weapons, resist the impact of meteorites, and defeat evil dinosaurs. Currently, only two planets are open. The game is still under development. The graphics are average, the interface and voice are in Chinese, and it is a game suitable for all ages, suitable for bringing the family into the pit.

Hatsune Miku VR Future Live: 7/10

This game allows players to listen to Hatsune Miku's concert in VR. Players can choose to do whatever they want in the game, and even go on stage to have close contact with Hatsune Miku. It can be played with Dualshock4 or a single Move. The game controller can be turned into a light stick, a small drum, etc. Players need to swing the controller to the rhythm. Each song can be selected by the player, and there is a solo encore performance at the end. The game interface is in Chinese. This game is a must-try for Hatsune Miku fans.  

RIGS: Mechanized Combat League: 7.5/10

Produced by Guerilla Studios, which developed Killzone: Shadow Fall, players can control different mechas to compete with AI or online players in the game. It is a bold attempt by Sony in VR e-sports. There are many mechas in the game, and different mechas have different stunts, performances and weapons. In battle, mechas can switch between three modes: moving, healing and fighting. The game also has three modes: death match, rugby and crash competition.

In general, the game is not friendly to beginners, and the balance needs to be adjusted. The animations at the beginning and end of each game are very long and cannot be skipped, which greatly affects the smoothness of the game. The game graphics are great, but players with poor physical fitness are likely to get dizzy.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 7.5/10

It is undeniable that "Tomb Raider: Rise of the Tomb Raider" is a good game, but the built-in VR level is questionable. The game content is the process of Lara searching for her parents' hidden will in order to avoid being kicked out of the mansion. The game's graphics are very good, but the game is average and not interesting enough. The game has two ways of moving: teleportation and free movement. Teleportation feels weird, and free movement is almost unbearable, and it is very easy to get dizzy.

Here They Lie: 7.5/10

This is a horror game developed by Santa Monica, the studio that made "God of War". In the game, players will explore the subway and a dilapidated building, looking for batteries while avoiding terrifying creatures that look like deer and chasing a glowing woman. The atmosphere is well created, and the game interface and voice are in Chinese. The game interface is very dark, basically black and white, and the overly large scenes make the game screen rough. Press L and R to turn at a small angle, but if you are not familiar with it, you will be confused after turning. You can also use a VR helmet to turn your head, but your neck will hurt after playing.  

Until Dawn: Bloodshed: 9/10

This is a horror track light gun game that inherits the world view of "Until Dawn". It can be played with Dualshock4, but the experience is better with Move. The game interface and voice are in Chinese. The game's graphics are above average, the immersive horror is chilling, the shooting is refreshing, and the map design is also quite innovative. Every level is an unforgettable and wonderful journey. There are many hidden elements that can be shot in the game, there are many guns to choose from, and the timing of changing magazines is also worth studying. It also provides multiple difficulties. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the longest VR game masterpiece at present. It is highly recommended.

Batman: Arkham VR: 10/10

The game is divided into multiple levels, starting from the murder of the parents by the robbers, to the search for clues in the Batcave, to the search for Robin and Nightwing in Gotham City, and finally XXXXXXXXXX (spoiler alert). The game can use Dualshock4, but if you want to experience the full VR experience, you still have to use Move. Unfortunately, the game does not support Chinese. In the game, players can understand the whole story from Batman's perspective 100%, and the story also maintains the high standard of the Batman series.

Drawing blood, doing tests, examining corpses, using grappling guns, bat marks, analyzers, and even observing every vehicle that appears in Batman's works from a close distance, players can confirm that they are Gotham City's outlaw knight - Batman Bruce Wayne. In order to avoid dizziness in the game, players move by teleporting. In order to solve the occlusion problem after turning around in PS VR, "Batman: Arkham VR" can achieve a 180-degree turn at any time by pressing the circle, cross, triangle, and square keys on the Move.

The game process is not long, and the first playthrough time is about one and a half hours. But this is just the beginning. With the help of the novel VR experience, the game has designed dozens of hidden elements and puzzles in various unimaginable places. The puzzles in the game are also closely related to the VR theme and have full interaction with the scene. "Batman: Arkham VR" is not just a PS VR game, it can even be called a textbook for PS VR game design. It has made bold attempts in many aspects and is fully recommended.

"PlayStation VR Demo Disk":? /10

The games I have come into contact with are the ones mentioned above, but I have to mention Sony's "PlayStation VR Demo Disk", a game trial collection, which can be downloaded for free on the Hong Kong server. The game contains a large number of game trials. Although it can only give you a glimpse of the leopard, you can still see that several games such as the tank simulation driving game "Battle Zone" and the game collection "PS VR World" are very excellent, so I will mention them here.

The future of PS VR gaming

Some people have always called VR a concept that has been hyped up by hot money. The lack of VR content is because VR itself is not a platform suitable for carrying content. Many VR games can cause dizziness, and it is an indisputable fact that traditional video content does not provide a good experience on VR.

But this time when I was using PS VR, I had a lot of new ideas. It’s not that VR is not suitable for carrying content, but the content format that is truly suitable for the VR platform has not yet appeared.

Just like when movies were first invented more than a hundred years ago, the Lumière brothers, the inventors of movies, could only use it to record some scenes in life and regarded it as a device for framing. They never thought that their invention had great narrative potential. Why must the same VR game mode be "Call of Duty" and "Uncharted"? Isn't the game form of "Batman: Arkham VR" a charge from the old era to the VR era?

Not to mention that in the past decade, games have entered a vicious circle of over-focusing on functional graphics. Games are becoming more and more similar, and whoever has the best graphics wins the world. When evaluating a game, the graphics are becoming more and more important, and the gameplay is increasingly ignored. However, in the VR era, this problem has been solved. The popular "Battle Zone" does not have real gorgeous graphics. Under the sense of presence provided by VR, authenticity is no longer that important, and players once again have the opportunity to turn their attention to the core of the game.  

PS VR is not a threat to the VR world  

Indeed, the expensive HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift are far superior to Sony PS VR in terms of technology, but the facts have proven that HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift are undoubtedly failed machines in the market.

Any hardware that is not content-centric is just a hooligan.

Although the HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift, which have been on sale for a long time, have aroused the public's interest in VR and received praise from geeks who were the first to experience the products, unfortunately, the high prices of the two devices and the lack of killer software have resulted in very poor sales data. The niche nature of the devices has also caused traditional game giants to have little interest in them, creating a vicious cycle.

The emergence of Sony's PS VR has changed this situation. Sony has successfully gained the support of the giants of game manufacturers by virtue of its strong appeal in the game field over the years and the amazing pre-sale performance of PS VR. The current situation is that the sales of PS VR have attracted a large number of excellent game developers from HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift to switch to Sony.

However, this does not mean that Sony's PS VR is a threat to HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift. Players who were deterred by the game lineup and price when HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift were released are not uninterested in VR, but the high entry cost makes them choose to wait and see VR products. The excellent experience of the machine is too expensive, and the poor experience of the cheap mobile VR box has left a bad impression on many users, pushing them out of the door of VR. Why did the arrival of Sony's PS VR lead to a buying frenzy? The reason is that there is finally a cheap VR device that can provide a good experience and game lineup, not to mention the golden signboard of "Sony Dafa" with quality assurance.

In terms of game brand appeal, HTC, Facebook and Sony are not in the same league. Now, the premium version on Taobao, which originally cost 3,699 yuan, has been sold to more than 5,500 yuan by scalpers who "do not produce PS VR, but just make it return to its value". In addition to representing the charm of PS VR, it also shows that players are not unacceptable to higher prices. HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift have opportunities, but the entire industry lacks such a killer hardware to attract consumers. Therefore, the launch of Sony PS VR is a good thing for the VR industry to take shape as soon as possible, and for competing products HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.