Surprisingly, just as it prefers to do in recent years, Sony has unveiled the shape and characteristics of the controllers that will work with the new PlayStation 5 virtual reality headset, a viewer still in development and kept secret at the moment. The next PlayStation VR is expected to hit stores next year.
How did it go with the first Vr
The first PlayStation VR had an easy life: the competition was mainly made up of the HTC VIVE and the old Oculus models, all very expensive and usable only connected to gaming personal computers anything but cheap. The new PlayStation VR will instead have to contend with a new generation of rivals, including the latest addition to Facebook, that Oculus Quest 2 which, with its all-in-one technology, allows access to the best virtual reality without the use of external hardware and, consequently, no uncomfortable cables between the feet. Low price and the possibility of being used on normal personal computers for even better results, have pushed the Quest 2 beyond the three million units sold in about four months of availability (the sales figures are not official but an estimate by the developers of Rec Room, one of the most downloaded free software). At the end of the group we find the Valve Index, the most expensive and qualitatively better viewer specifically designed for gamers who do not like to compromise, and who can also afford it economically given the almost one thousand euros required to take one home.
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Sony’s move
Sony tries to respond with a viewer that may not be revolutionary, but extremely competitive both from the point of view of the price (under three hundred euros?), And from the software one, with the power of the name PlayStation behind it, undoubtedly able to do. once again the difference. As for the new controllers, we immediately notice the abandonment of the anachronistic and inaccurate luminous spheres that characterized the first version of Sony virtual reality, and a design that does not differ much from that adopted by Facebook for the controllers of the last ones. Oculus. Compared to the competition, the controllers of the new PlayStation Vr will be able to count on all the technology inserted in the DualSense, the PlayStation 5 pad that amazed the world with its haptic feedback, able to transmit different tactile sensations on the user’s hand, and adaptive triggers, able to resist the pressure of the finger according to the type of interaction with which you are grappling. The two new controllers, which will be included in the package of the next viewer as opposed to what happened with the old PlayStation VR, will reveal which fingers will rest on their body in order to allow an impossible gesture with the PlayStation Move.
The challenge of virtual entertainment
The only thing that seems to be missing in the Sony project is that very useful velcro present on the Valve Index controllers that allows the user to fully open the hand, useful in certain interactions, without them falling to the ground. The movements of the controllers will be recorded directly by the viewer, so fortunately this time it will not be necessary to use uncomfortable, limiting and expensive cameras to be placed near the TV. Those who know virtual entertainment and the technical characteristics of the viewers already on the market may not remain particularly impressed by these first details emerged on the new Sony project. The Japanese company is simply making up for the lost ground in recent years, and from the point of view of the hardware, the headset and the controllers, this is more than enough. Where it cannot be satisfied is in the development of exclusive software: it is precisely through its priceless games that Sony can and must demonstrate that the time has finally come for virtual reality to enter a new and more prosperous era.