established82.com

PSVR, the Playstation Virtual Reality headset finally arrived at my door last night and after a confusing look at the box, I got a brief glimpse into the future of gaming. Despite what some naysayers think, PSVR is the only affordable, mass-market solution available currently and it doesn’t fail to make a good first impression. Certainly, my previous excitement was justified.

Out of the box, a complicated diagram shows you what to do.

In reality, it isn’t too bad. The processing unit acts as an HDMI splitter and is wired up like a mini PS4. One USB into the front of the PS4, the existing HDMI into the processing unit and a provided HDMI between the two. There is also an AC adapter for the processing unit but after some wiring, it should sit nicely between or on top of your PS4.

After this, you are left with two USB connections on the front of the processing unit to connect your headset to. All being well this will leave you with just the two wires coming from the unit to your chosen position of play.

After this, there is a short firmware update and then you are into PSVR.

The experience is relatively seamless. As long as your PS Camera can see you and you are within a frame. Think your early Wii experiences and you will be able to ignore any inconveniences. I managed to get a decent and cheap PS camera clip and have decent space in front of your tv.

ORB Camera TV Clip/Wall Mount (PS4)

The early experiences have a few faults. You will feel the loading times on the free demo are very long. Probably not when compared with normal games but when in a darkened headset the sight of a spinning white circle seems to last forever. You also have the confirm your frame picture coming up before most games. This may be only because I am switching between games on the demo, but you will get used to that screen a lot.

Then you get onto trying the games. The sensation even in the demo games is amazing. This truly delivers VR at a quality that shouldn’t be available at this price. Games in the Playroom VR and PSVR worlds introduce you to the potential. It is now up to Sony to deliver the games. The demo they have available on the PS store gives a very short introduction to lots of games. RIGS, Eve Valkyrie, Battlezone and other games have 5-minute tasters. The feelings they give will vary from person to person and some will depend on the controllers. The Dualshock 4 is adequate for most games and excellent on RIGS and Eve, however, move controllers should be considered if you wish to experience the gunplay in the London Heist Demo.

PSVR IS AVAILABLE NOW
Sony PlayStation VR

Stay tuned for impressions when the games start flowing.