TechRadar have a tipster who has said that the much rumoured PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset will be revealed at next month’s GDC2014 in San Francisco,
The inside source has spent some time with the new tech and has said, “The quality and resolution are really, really good. People will definitely be impressed with what Sony’s built”.
Rumours of the headset have been floating around for over a year, starting with a tweet from Shuhei Yoshida himself.
I say Oculus, you say _ _ _ _?
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) January 24, 2013
Later on it was rumoured that Drive Club (remember that?) would be supporting the tech and a VR version of Super Stardust was also being made.
Fact of the day:Â The oldies amongst you will remember the 1992 VR film, The Lawnmower Man. What you may not know is that the CGI for the film was created by American developer Angel Studios – who later became Rockstar San Diego.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJer9aivOrA
Source: TechRadar
MrYd
Oh, I hope not. Expensive pointless thing that 3 people will buy and so nothing will use. And you’ll look like an idiot wearing it.
And surely it’s best to try and forget about The Lawnmower Man. A film so shit, Stephen King had to sue them to get his name taken off. And he’s not usually that fussy ;) (Ok, so his name is usually attached to crap films that involve more than just the title of one of his short stories)
So that makes me old then, I guess.
Geeby
Well ain’t you just a barrel of sunshine!
I’m actually ridiculously looking forward to the VR headset, mostly for games such as the Elderscrolls/Fallout titles and other great FP experiences.
It’ll be expensive yeah, but providing it’s supported enough I’m hopeful it’ll be worth it.
Oh, I just registered solely to reply to you by the way; felt that passionate :P
bunimomike
MrYd can be a touch cynical from time-to-time… but there’s also a decent point to his reply. VR (for the masses) has been tried many times and it’s painfully obvious that people don’t want headsets. Heck, maybe not even augmented reality with Google Glass.
However, Geeby… it’s a pleasure to have you commenting and on board! :-) You damn well enjoy whatever you purchase. :-)
MrYd
A barrel of sunshine? Not quite sure how that would actually work. But if you can manage to work it out, I’m sure you could make a fortune from it. Especially with this rubbish weather lately. Or export it to those countries where it gets dark for 6 months of the year.
Still can’t work out why Sony would make a VR headset. It might be quite fun to start with, but surely not enough fun to cover the cost of the thing. Which won’t be cheap. (Or if it is, it’s not going to be good).
And since it’ll sell tiny numbers, who’s going to make anything that takes advantage of it? At best, it’ll add 3d to games and possibly play 3d films.
Which they’ve already done. Nobody bought that either.
On the plus side, I’ve made someone register with a website just to reply to me. This makes me slightly less cynical today. About 3%. Which is about as cynical as I was when I was 39.
boeboe
Looking forward to my first threesome!
lambchop
There is no substitute for the real thing…..;o)
boeboe
Good God.
SamBeThyName
It seems that everyone who tries the Oculus Rift is a convert and if Shuhei Yoshida is happy to compare the quality of what they are building to the OR I think you might have to eat your words, if you get to try it out ;) I thought all gamers have always wanted something like this…?
MrYd
I want a robot monkey butler than can shoot lasers out of it’s arse.
Doesn’t mean that (a) it’s a good idea if you think about it for more than 3 seconds, (b) it’s going to be cheap, and (c) it wouldn’t end badly if it _did_ happen.
bunimomike
I’ll be honest, I’m not interested in it one bit. Never have been… but always willing to see what happens in the future.
Thing is, with Sony, is that they want us to buy their tech. The TV manufacturers wanted us to dive into a world of 3D with both feet first. It didn’t happen. So… it’ll be onto 4K and/or OLED screens next.
There’ll always be something for us to spend our money on. It’s just whether it’s deemed must have/might get one/utter shite by the general public.
RudeAwakening
Well I’m definitely interested in the VR headset, can’t wait to try it out. Imagine the VR headset with Outlast! Now that would be one hell of a shit scaring experience!
Plus most of us have blinds or curtains in our homes, so you can be safe in the knowledge that only yourself would know how much of a pratt you look with a VR headset on….and maybe the Mrs!
To me VR is the next logical step for gaming, just has to be pulled off right.
TSBonyman
If it doesn’t beam directly into my brain it’s just a wraparound version of the 3D tech that failed to gain ground last-gen.
jonny_bolton
I was 5 when Lawnmower Man came out. I remember it scaring the absolute crap out of me…
Starman
If they back it as much as PS Move it’ll do well. Oh wait..
mclarenrob2
Hopefully it has a camera attached so you can hold the move controllers and you look at them and you’re holding a sword/gun/bat.
Lanselta
I have been eagerly awaiting this. I’ve had some Oculus time, and felt all it needed was more resolution.
But on having a quick skim through the Sony Patent, I believe it might be like looking at a 1 metre diagonal screen, not encompassing the whole field of view like the oculus. If this is the case, it will so dissapointed.
Sony, please get this right, or don’t do it at all.
Lanselta
I have been eagerly awaiting this. I’ve had some Oculus time, and felt all it needed was more resolution.
But on having a quick skim through the Sony Patent, I believe it might be like looking at a 1 metre diagonal screen, not encompassing the whole field of view like the oculus. If this is the case, it will so disappointed.
Sony, please get this right, or don’t do it at all.
bunimomike
Did you post this twice just so you could have stereoscopic comments? Cunning bastard. :-)
Lanselta
Bloody slow net!
camdaz
Made by Sony it should be a good piece of tech, I just hope there’s plenty of support on the software side.
blarty
It might seem an irrelevant move to some, but it’s an interesting one though, if only for the amount of vitriol that gets shouted at you on some gaming sites if you dare to criticise, or even be realistic about, the Oculus Rift and the fact that the Oculus CEO thinks people will not only shell out for the headset but pay a premium price on top for each game for the benefit of using OR.
Rift has been one of the key, ‘Look PC gaming can do this and you can’t’ goto lines for the PC brigade for the last 12 months, more or less since the PS4 and XBO were given reveals.
The irony that Sony could possibly produce this and get it to market before Rift shouldn’t be lost on some people.
And for those that might say well the Rift is technically better – more often than not it’s not the best, but the first to market that either sets the ground rules, or gets the traction due to marketing or being more wallet freindly
TSBonyman
No guarantee that the first tech to market will be the most successful,Sony brought out Betamax in 1975, poorer quality VHS trounced it in 1976.
blarty
True, but if it’s more wallet friendly, which was the thing with VHS machines, then it affects peoples choice.
TSBonyman
That is also true. :)