Sony PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2)

[Karamazov]

So i preordered it, i'm sure i'll regret it when they announce the wireless version in one year, but hey i'll keep it for games that don't need standing !
i don't think i'll be in the bunch who get it at launch, but who knows...

 

[Deleted member 11852]

So i preordered it, i'm sure i'll regret it when they announce the wireless version in one year, but hey i'll keep it for games that don't need standing !
i don't think i'll be in the bunch who get it at launch, but who knows...

This is me too. An wireless version would be better, which is only an issue when extended play times exceed what can reasonably be done with batteries. Anybody with a younger family will tell you that extended playtimes are a rare luxury that never manifest themselves.

That said, the breakout box and dual HDMI cables of PSVR to the single USB4 cable of PSVR2 is a massive improvement.

 

[swaaye]

The PSVR HMD is connected with just a single cable though so it's not all that much different in practice. All the other junk is stuffed in by the console.

I'm not excited enough to preorder PSVR2. Gonna watch and see how it turns out. Hardware/software bugs, new game announcements, etc.

 

[snc]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1607382126529503238

 

[swaaye]

RE 2,3,7 and Village can be played in VR on PC.

Is Switchback exciting to see? I didn't finish the original. It's fun enough but it's an on rails shooting gallery. The other Dark Pictures games are forgettable but this would be much more interesting if it was to be a full Dark Pictures horror narrative experience.

I recently got Firewall and the Aim controller on clearance for $27. The game is very basic stuff like a Counterstrike VR with small maps and has no single player component really. The bots are some of the dumbest AI that I've seen though that could be intentional to keep it easy. Hopefully they have much bigger goals for the sequel.

That Horizon game seems iffy to me and might be essentially an on rails game. I wonder why Forbidden West wasn't built with both 2D and VR in mind. I'm going to guess they don't think VR is worth that investment.

 

[snc]

RE 2,3,7 and Village can be played in VR on PC.

Is Switchback exciting to see? I didn't finish the original. It's fun enough but it's an on rails shooting gallery. The other Dark Pictures games are forgettable.

I recently got Firewall and the Aim controller on clearance for $27. The game is very basic stuff like a Counterstrike VR with small maps and has no single player component really. The bots are some of the dumbest AI that I've seen though that could be intentional to keep it easy. Hopefully they have much bigger goals for the sequel.

That Horizon game seems iffy to me and might be essentially an on rails game. I wonder why Forbidden West wasn't built with both 2D and VR in mind. I'm going to guess they don't think VR is worth that investment.

Watched first impressions of Village and reviewer who played it also with pc mod said its just on another polished level on psvr2

 

[swaaye]

Watched first impressions of Village and reviewer who played it also with pc mod said its just on another polished level on psvr2

I'm sure it will be solid. RE7 PSVR was a great port at the time too and is easier to jump into than the homebrew RE7 PC VR conversion. (I played the entire PSVR game about a month ago and an hour or two of RE7 PCVR). However, RE7 PSVR was quickly abandoned. Like they did what Sony paid for and that was the end of it. No PS5-aware update. No fixes for the funky texture loading lag. So the PC VR port is much nicer in quality and controls. That might happen with PSVR2 RE8 once the modders see how it works and get ideas.

 

[PSman1700]

Wouldnt call it vr exclusive if you can play it somewhere else at no additional cost, assuming you have the base game.
Psvr2 seems to mostly get non-aaa/aa anyway, they need to widen the available hitters for the already niche market.

 

[snc]

I'm sure it will be solid. RE7 PSVR was a great port at the time too and is easier to jump into than the homebrew RE7 PC VR conversion. (I played the entire PSVR game about a month ago and an hour or two of RE7 PCVR). However, RE7 PSVR was quickly abandoned. Like they did what Sony paid for and that was the end of it. No PS5-aware update. No fixes for the funky texture loading lag. So the PC VR port is much nicer in quality and controls. That might happen with PSVR2 RE8 once the modders see how it works and get ideas.

Psvr1 and ps4 combo the tech just wasnt there, now is other story

 

[swaaye]

Psvr1 and ps4 combo the tech just wasnt there, now is other story

That wasn't my point though.

 

[snc]

That wasn't my point though.

I mean I wouldnt take psvr1 experience as base of what you expect from psvr2

 

[Karamazov]

I'm sure it will be solid. RE7 PSVR was a great port at the time too and is easier to jump into than the homebrew RE7 PC VR conversion. (I played the entire PSVR game about a month ago and an hour or two of RE7 PCVR). However, RE7 PSVR was quickly abandoned. Like they did what Sony paid for and that was the end of it. No PS5-aware update. No fixes for the funky texture loading lag. So the PC VR port is much nicer in quality and controls. That might happen with PSVR2 RE8 once the modders see how it works and get ideas.

RE7 got all the DLC PSVR compatible, PSVR2 is releasing 5 years after RE7, why would they have to do an update for it ? Plus there is Village coming for it, that's more than enough.

 

[BRiT]

RE7 got all the DLC PSVR compatible, PSVR2 is releasing 5 years after RE7, why would they have to do an update for it ?

PSVR2 is not backwards compatible with PSVR1 titles.

 

[Karamazov]

that was not my point, he said RE7 PSVR was quickly abandonned, which was not the case.

 

[BRiT]

that was not my point, he said RE7 PSVR was quickly abandonned, which was not the case.

Oh, I didn't take that as your point initially, but now I do after you stated it.

 

[swaaye]

RE7 got all the DLC PSVR compatible, PSVR2 is releasing 5 years after RE7, why would they have to do an update for it ? Plus there is Village coming for it, that's more than enough.

There are a few PSVR games that were made PS5 aware so they can run higher resolution and detail. They could also address the low resolution texture swapping quirk.

Why is RE8 more than enough? You should want everything!

Though I just remembered RE4 is also going to be VR capable. It will be interesting to see how fast the PCVR guys get that figured out.

 

[Karamazov]

I think on ps5 using psvr1 re7 should stay at max res most of the time, on ps4 pro it could sometimes drop hard and become a pixelated mess.

 

[swaaye]

I think on ps5 using psvr1 re7 should stay at max res most of the time, on ps4 pro it could sometimes drop hard and become a pixelated mess.

You will still run into some moments of resolution drops and moments of low resolution textures lingering for too long. Going from the mansion into the backyard is guaranteed to show you some uglies. I played through all of it with PS5 in November. Except the DLC.

It probably runs somewhat better than PS4 Pro but if a game isn't patched to use enhanced backward compatibility features on PS5 it is mostly locked to a PS4 Pro level of performance. One example of an updated game is Blood & Truth which on PS5 runs 4K 90 fps and constant full detail level. On PS4 Pro it was 1440p 60fps reprojected dynamic LOD.

 

[snc]

Some quotes from Edge magazine interview with Dark Pictures Switchback Supermassive Games dev:

The dev process is all a little easier, of course, when you have a single format in mind. Our demo of The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR illustrates how Supermassive is using every part of the buffalo to bring its theme-park ride of a shooter to life. “We wanted to create this feeling of being there,” game director Alejandro Arqu Gallardo explains. “So, for example, with the haptic feedback you feel the motion of the rollercoaster on the rails. You feel the wind, and the rain on your hands. Then we used the adaptive triggers to create the feeling of different guns being very different, with different levels of
resistance.” Some of the features are a natural fit for horror, including 3D audio. “We have a scene where [a demon] whispers, literally at the back of your head, and you can feel it just there,” Arqu Gallardo says. “And then, if you look around, maybe she’s there, maybe not – or maybe she gets closer to you.”
It’s an eye-tracking feature, though, that lingers longest after our demo. A door painted with the instruction ‘don’t blink’ opens up into a room of blood-smeared mannequins in harlequin masks, their bodies twisted into unnatural poses. Eventually we can’t help it any more, and let our eyelids flutter closed. When they open again, the mannequins have been rearranged – or have rearranged themselves. Another blink, and it happens again, except that one of them has now come to life. As we repeat this process, we learn to use our eyes tactically, only blinking once our guns are readied. It’s a strange, startling application of the tech.

Tentacular game dev:

One of the biggest changes to Tentacular’s PSVR2 edition, Cubasch says, is in its use of eye tracking. In previous versions, the player interacted with the game’s quest-giving villagers by tapping them on the head with a tentacle. “And that’s something we really enjoyed, because it symbolises the balance of power between you and the little people,” he says. But player feedback said that this grew “a bit tedious over time”, and now, on PSVR2, you just need to look at them and tap a button. Cubasch was initially reluctant to try this out, worrying it risked losing part of the game’s charm. “But when we implemented it, we realised how elegant it is,” he says. “It really helped to fix something we were trying to fix but couldn’t before.” Bousfield tells us he felt similarly about incorporating headset haptics into The Last Worker: “I was a little bit wary of the head vibration initially. Because obviously, when you do the first test, you just kind of fire it off, and it does actually shake the headset a bit if you’ve got it on full power.” Once again, though, it was a case of “working out where feels appropriate, where it’s going to be suitable” – namely, in a sequence that has you in an enormous mech, smashing through the walls of the fulfilment centre, in place of the traditional version’s screen-shake effect. “It does add to the overall feel. It gives you a little bit more oomph.” Do any of these features feel like essential considerations for game design, or are they just fun add-ons? “It’s not going to create new genres or anything,” Cubasch says. “It’s just really nice to have them, and to realise that this really helps, if it’s used in a good way.” He doesn’t hesitate to call Tentacular’s PSVR2 edition the best version of the game, thanks largely to these enhancements. “After you add this stuff, you realise that, beforehand, something was missing. We have some moments in the later game, a boss fight and a big geological event, and if you play them with the new features – the haptics, the HMD rumble – and then you play the version without, it just feels like there’s something missing.”

 

[snc]

Also from Edge Magazine, Song in the smoke will get psvr2 version

One way that Sony might bolster the library is with titles developed for the previous hardware, but PSVR2 doesn’t support backwards compatibility, requiring extra work from developers. Some are making the effort, though, including 17-Bit – a new ‘Rekindled’ version of its survival game Song In The Smoke, incorporating all of the new hardware’s features, will be out at launch. “It wasn’t a light upgrade – it was a ton of work and up-rezzing of so many visual systems,” creative director Jake Kazdal tells us. “It stands alone, even compared to the highest-end version possible on PC VR – it’s honestly not even close.” And where does this leave people who bought a copy of the original version? “We want to make it a free upgrade for PSVR1 owners but still need to figure out the logistics of that.”