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PlayStation has finally revealed the key details surrounding their virtual reality platform, announcing PlayStation VR will go on sale in October at £349.
Sony’s take on a platform that is set to explode in 2016 is intriguing, and differs in some key ways to its main rivals – the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive – both of which launch in the next month or so.
PlayStation VR though, has the potential to outstrip other headsets, meaning this hugely impressive technology reaches and entertains more users. Here’s why you should be excited.
At £349, PlayStation VR is available at nearly the same price as a new games console, but – crucially – significantly less than both the Oculus Rift (£499) and the HTC Vive (£689). For anyone who’s looking to get into VR this makes PSVR a very enticing proposition.
Another reason PlayStation VR will entice is that in terms of set-up, it is far and away the most convenient of the high-end systems. This is because unlike Rift and Vive, PSVR doesn’t require a powerful gaming PC to run – it’s plugged straight into a PS4. Not only that, the game you’re playing appears not only inside the headset but on your TV, too, making the normally solitary VR experience a lot more social for anyone else in the room.
As a piece of hardware the PlayStation VR headset looks pretty cool as well – there’s more colour than the all-black designs of the Rift and Vive, plus there’s some LED lights and a cool headstrap as well.
At the announcement confirming the October launch, Sony also promised 50 games will be available between the release and the end of the year. There are also said to be more than 200 developers and publishers working on content for PSVR. This is on top of what we know is coming – games such as The London Heist, Robinson: The Journey and Rigs all look hugely impressive.
A major coup for Sony was able to confirm an exclusive virtual reality version of Star Wars Battlefront is coming to the device. While there is a VR experience also coming to the Vive, Battlefront has already established a player base, and that could make a profound difference.
As well as new, dedicated games for PSVR, you’ll be able to play your PS4 games in a virtual space as well as watch movies in a similar fashion. There’s already a Netflix experience for other headsets that does a similar thing.
Because of the amount of developers already involved in PSVR, and the platform it’s going to join in PS4, PlayStation VR has a huge amount of potential going forward. 50 games due in the first two months of release, and no doubt hundreds more to follow along with various other experiences, fuelled by the most successful of this generation of gaming consoles. Which means there should be a lot to come in the future.
