60 bucks, not bad!
PS VR2 was designed from the ground up specifically for PS5 – so you’ll notice that some key features, like HDR, headset feedback, eye tracking, adaptive triggers, and haptic feedback (other than rumble), are not available when playing on PC
Well that’s disappointing.
Adaptive triggers make sense because not many games use it even on PS5 and it’s a very specific function that isn’t replicated by any other hardware yet; but why doesn’t eye tracking or HDR work with existing software on the PC side?
Because their eye tracking and HDR software are made with proprietary licenses they don’t want to pay to port over from PS5’s flavor of BSD to whatever OS you run on PC.
But why would I have to use their software? There’s no other options for the triggers that I am aware of, but there’s tons of software for HDR and face tracking. A lot of it is FOSS, too.
They probably don’t see any value paying development time and resources for something they won’t ever use and won’t be able to recoup the costs of, when they can better spend it on shit that helps them make money.
I’m just wondering if the internal camera would at least be picked up as a generic camera so you could use any of the things that let you get face tracking just from a camera feed (as I do now), or if they literally have no translation drivers for it to even be detected on Windows or Linux as hardware.
Because support is missing from SteamVR, existing games, or both.
I’m new to VR. Over the past few months I was considering a Meta Quest 3, specifically because I wanted to finally play Half-Life Alyx. However, I really didn’t want to give Meta money/data (I deleted Facebook back in 2019), so that’s why I’ve held off for so long in hopes that either Valve updates the Index or another option comes out.
Could you elaborate what I’m missing with some of these features compared to a Meta Quest 3 or Valve Index from a PC perspective? In my eyes, playing this on PS5 is a bonus to me.
HDR - I understand colors won’t be as deep and brightness/blacks as high/deep which is a bummer considering the OLED screens inside the PSVR. I don’t think the Meta Quest 3 had HDR? Neither does the Index?
Headset feedback - vibration on head? I’m assuming the other headsets don’t have this, so I’m not missing much from PC games that don’t leverage this.
Eye tracking - I don’t believe Meta Quest 3 has this, neither does the Index? So it’s in parity with the PC feature set?
Adaptive Triggers - I have a PS5 and when this feature turns on, it’s kinda cool for a second but then it gets old fast. The only really good execution of Adaptive Triggers I’ve experienced so far is in Returnal. I just finished up FF7 Rebirth and the adaptive trigger sequences in there seemed dumb and unnecessary.
Haptic feedback - is this just a more detailed rumble?
I guess my main question is, doesn’t this seems like the better option when compared to a Valve Index or Meta Quest 3? For my particular circumstance,I don’t mind being tethered by a cable (at least I don’t think I will, again I’m new to VR. Besides I’d be tethered anyway using a meta quest 3 on PC) and the headset screens on the PSVR2 seem to be really nice compared to the others.
It really depends how the release turns out. Eye tracking is often used in social VR games like VRChat, and it can help increase peformance, but that often requires setup. The other “features” are not standard or completely lacking in PC VR, like “headset feedback” or adaptive triggers. These wouldn’t be used in any games even if the hardware/software was capable of it.
Compared to the Valve Index, the PSVR2 has a higher screen resolution, OLED, no finger tracking (different controllers), and inside-out tracking instead of base station tracking. It looks like a really good option, at a really good price (compared to other “consumer” PC VR headets like the Index). From what I can tell, you’re not really “missing” any major hardware features when using PSVR2 on a PC compared to an Index (depends on implementation, will be obvious at release). Although the lack of eye tracking when the hardware is capable is kind of a bummer.
Wait this one out for initial reviews, but if those are good, the PSVR2 seems like a very good option for PC VR (Although only “casual”, like playing games, social vr, etc. compared to “competitive” like very high level play at Beat Saber, shooters, etc).
Do note that this is just looking at PC VR exclusive headsets. “Standalone” headsets like the Meta Quest lineup offer similar VR hardware specs at a similar or lower cost. These come with the downside of having to “stream” from a PC rather than using raw display output (for games not natively supported on the headset). The privacy aspect of standalone headsets needs to be considered too. Most run a version of Android, which comes with just as much (or more) telemetry as an average Android smartphone.
As for being tethered, you get used to it pretty quickly. The main problem is that the cable is being used, and will break after some time. They are often expensive to replace, like on the Index. With standalone headsets, the cable is often USB-C and a lot cheaper to replace. I don’t know how replacement cables for the PSVR2 are handled.
This seems pretty promising. This may be my first VR headset.
How is 60 dollars not bad for what a slightly better USB C cable could also do if Sony had cared to develop a proper firmware update?
Woo proprietary bs!
Basically, we could give you these features, but we still want to sell you a console.
Sony seems to have the delusion that their recent PC plays will get people onto their platform. It’s silly
Sounds like a dumb move. I thought the money was in software/game sales, not hardware that’s sold at a loss?
They want people on the hardware as they don’t need to share a cut with valve on software sales. Makes it easier to pitch other services to users when they’re locked into your platform too.
That still doesn’t make sense. All this does is enable the PS VR headset to be used with a PC to play steam games. It gives people that already own a PS VR another option for usage: plugging it into a PC and playing VR games they purchased through steam. It lowers the barrier to entry for the user to experience PC VR games by being able to use hardware they already have on hand instead of having to purchase an Oculus or Index. Valve still gets their software sales cut because you can only use the PS VR to play games in your steam library on PC.
But do they need a PSN account for it is what I want to know.
Fuck yeah!!! The hardware is great for this headset just not many games on the PS5. Which has made me disappointed
Most of that hardware isn’t supported in pc
