Sony ridicules PSVR: How to resolve the contradictions in the early stages of virtual reality development?

If Samsung had told everyone in advance that the Note 7 would explode, not so many people would have had their faces and butts injured. In comparison, Sony's discussion of its new product launch was much more honest.

As the date of Sony PSVR's global simultaneous release is approaching, Sony Interactive Entertainment updated the PlayStation blog to answer the most common questions about PSVR, including whether room lighting and reflective objects will affect the operation of the device.

Sony officially stated that ambient lighting generally does not affect the operation of PSVR, but bright light sources directly from behind the PSVR user, as well as light reflected from windows, indoor lights and mirrors may interfere with the PS Camera and affect the tracking of the LED light source in the headset. At the same time, users are advised to remove bright light sources behind the PSVR player.

From this, it seems that this VR headset device made by Falun Dafa may not be as perfect as you imagined.

The most popular VR experience may be the worst

Putting aside the piles of VR glasses that you can play with your phone, the VR world has unknowingly become a three-horse race among HTC, Oculus, and Sony. And because of its affordable price, Sony PSVR will undoubtedly become the most popular device among users.

Compared with Oculus rift and HTC Vive, Sony PSVR's accurate positioning should be described as a PS4 console peripheral similar to the DualShock 4 controller. Unsurprisingly, it "cleverly" utilizes many ready-made accessories on the console, including PS Camera and even the PS MOVE controller left over from the previous generation of consoles.

Of course, Sony’s “reasonable use” of old equipment is precisely the main reason why PSVR faces problems such as “bright light source”. The simple and crude method of using the somatosensory camera to capture the light source of the headset naturally cannot avoid interference from ambient light. Users can only stay opposite the camera and move their heads, and they cannot even look back.

Oculus rift and HTC Vive are currently better choices for experiencing VR. The infrared and laser positioning base stations specially developed for head-mounted display devices allow you to move freely within a certain space. Unfortunately, behind these technical terms, you need to pay more money.

Price or experience? VR’s inevitable dilemma

The PSVR, which starts at RMB 2,999 in China, can be considered the most expensive hardware product currently on sale if viewed solely in the field of game consoles. However, in the VR world, it is more than half the price of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Not only that, the PS4 console, which PSVR can and can only be paired with, currently has a market price of only around 2,000 RMB, which is almost less than the price of a graphics card in a PC that is worthy of VR's attention.

Although Oculus recently lowered the hardware threshold for VR experience, chip manufacturer AMD also recently launched an entry-level VR console priced at about RMB 3,300. However, compared with the GTX1080 and four-way Titan equipment of wealthy players, this entry-level console with an RX 470 graphics card does not look very optimistic.

Therefore, the VR provided by Sony emphasizes the cost-effectiveness created under the PlayStation ecosystem. If you already own a PS4 console and don't mind spending money to play genuine games, coupled with Sony's strong appeal to bring exclusive content and limited-time exclusive works like "Resident Evil 7", this experience is worth the money.

Similar to the difference between game consoles and PCs, Oculus rift and HTC Vive require spending money everywhere, spending money to buy headsets, spending money to build PCs. Especially for domestic users, some products cannot be purchased overseas without spending money, even though their VR experience may be better.

Money problems need money to solve

In fact, what has always been more controversial than the "bright light source" issue is whether the PS4 console, a gaming device with a floating-point computing power of less than 2TFLOPS, can meet the hardware performance consumption of PSVR. This makes the birth of the more powerful PS4 Pro console a natural thing.

There is no doubt that in the face of many regrets and defects, users are also looking forward to the release of products like "PSVR Pro" as soon as possible, with better positioning methods, higher display resolution, and even eliminating the annoying connection cables tied to the head.

"When you release hardware 'A', the development of 'enhanced version A' is actually already underway." Sean Layden, president of Sony Global Studios, recently stated that the enhanced version of PS VR is on the way and will add technologies not used in the current PS VR. In the future, PS VR will not only focus on games, but will also be more oriented towards film and television, industry and education.

What is more noteworthy is that with the increase in processor and graphics card frequency, the price of PS4 Pro has increased by $100 compared to the original PS4 console. Will the price of PS VR enhanced version increase? If Sony has not developed the so-called black technology to control costs, it still seems inevitable.

Looking at the current VR landscape, buying phone-clip VR glasses that cost a few dollars to a few hundred dollars is the cheapest, but also the most "toy-like". The mid-range PSVR has the potential to become an ideal choice for more "aspirational" users, and the expensive Oculus rift and HTC Vive have laid the benchmark for current VR devices. The future enhanced version of PS VR is bound to join this level.

As for truly achieving high cost-effectiveness, it is indeed difficult to achieve at this stage when VR technologies are just starting out.

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.