Sony next-gen PlayStation5 VR 120Hz 4K oled hmd (=PSVR2) - can now be used for PCVR too!

The interesting point with PSVR2 is the foveated rendering and how much performance is gained. A RTX 2080 has about the same tflops as the PS5 - which is a massive gpu force within the PS5 when devs can totally focus and optimize for just one gpu. If foveated rendering can save let's say 50% - you could end up with a graphics quality in PSVR2 games that would require a RTX 3080 or better for PCVR. 

And the PS5 gpu seems born for those Unreal 5 games - this is Unreal 5 demo running on a PS5:

Really interesting what kind of games we're going to see for PS2VR - and how many will remain exclusive to the PSVR2. I do suspect Sony kinda having the hardware ready - but that we're waiting for devs to finish some awesome games for the PSVR2 launch. Hardware often is the easy part for VR - the hard part is making awesome content. 

I do believe this looks like Alyx quality or even better - thus this is the PSVR2 Ferrari flexing its muscle (check out the water quality and the animation of the giant foot):

Check the trees, branches and leaves - the flowers - the transparent water - the light and shadows - it looks awesome, but graphics alone of course do not make a great game, even if it helps tremendously 🙂

I'm really close to buying a PS5, but it's big and clunky - really hope we get a slim version soon - and before PSVR2 arrives - although I guess the odds for that aren't great... Also we know that awesome VR games take 3 - 4 years to make, like Alyx and Lone Echo 2, and such a short PSVR2 trailer indicates to me that devs may still have much work to do. 2c. 

So much to say where do I begin. Haptics are so weak on vr headsets in general. I just bought a ps5 and for me it's a game changer because of the haptic controls. A character ice skates, the haptics feel silky smooth.  The surfaces feel different when walking. The guns feel so different based on the type used. It's a profound change for me. The resistance the triggers can have is crazy good. On the psvr2 with haptics even in the headset might make it mind blowing for immersion. Bullets going by your head, rain etc. If sony pushes the aaa developers to include a vr option for most of their games this headset will be my daily driver even with the wire. My quest 2 or hopefully the cambria will be in my tool box for beat saber etc. That's when for me wireless is a need. The fov 110 is decent. On my ps1vr the 100 fov for me was noticebly better than even the original rift that claimed 110 fov. This is a preorder for me in day 1. 

Personally I think Cambria isn't about selling games, nor is it about Meta funding high-end... unlike previous headsets Meta have said that project Cambria won't be subsidised by them so it'll be sold at a price that covers it's production and development, in other words, we (those of us who are looking forward to getting our hands on one) will be funding it.

It's also not necessarily about high end although it may have what people consider high-end features, the focus will be about trialling future Quest technology, things that may be incorporated into the next Quest or the one after, such as eye tracking, colour passthrough or controllers incorporating cameras, maybe pancake lenses.

Funding games is what games developers should now be doing, not Meta, now that the headsets are out there. There has never been a funeral procession imo, each successive headset has been capable of more things than the predecessor. But the consumer headsets should always be targeted at the same price bracket I think with more tech included as developments become cost effective.

Cambria will help bring those developments to the next consumer Quests and give devs a change to play with them and come up with apps and games that make use of them. At the same time we'll have a chance to try these things out too.

Recent post CES 2022 developer interviews seem to indicate that most are looking at AAA development for PSVR2 - with a raft of yet to be revealed games in development. Sony looking to apply serious muscle to the launch of this system, wonder how competitive they will be with the price?

I moved to PC gaming from the original PS back in the day because of 3D and the games I wanted to play were starting to be PC exclusives. So much has changed since the Xbox has come on to the scene, to me it seems we PC gamers are pretty much just feeding from the scraps of the big two platforms now. 

I will likely always have a mobile HMD like the Quest

 I'll always have a computer and PCVR equipment for the retro gaming I like to do but nothing short of an early death will keep me from a PS5 and the new PSVR.  

 I'd like to think that Oculus and Valve are just complacent now since there is no real competition in the consumer high end market. Easy to get complacent when the only real competition is as complacent and still the best things going.  My hopes are Sony VR is a big success with many AAA titles and can possibly reinvigorate the big two's confidence and commitment to higher end stuff.  If not we may at least get some ported scraps that aren't PS exclusives on PC. 

 I do plan to wait for an official release date to even get a PS5 but if they really do it, I'm really buying it.  I love PCVR but have no loyalties. I'll be wearing the HMD that entertains me the most.    

I mean content. IMO the hardware advances are just icing on the cake, I'm happy where we're at now with hardware.  Though I'm interested in your review of your Varjo when you get it and one I may get. If PCVR content is going to stay a slow trickle of mostly demo stuff with no new ideas. PSVR will probably be where the content I'm most interested in will be. 

To me, image quality with the PSVR2 may be the primary point of concern. Maybe it will be fine. But right now I'm used to very high image quality with the Index, like using res 500% in MaskMaker (admitted that's an outlier, but still) - and if PSVR2 uses little super sampling and produce some jaggies or semi-blurry image quality it will be an issue to me. Then again, all devs can fine-tune the image quality for same hmds and same hardware, it might not be an issue. 

It just struck me last night using the Rift CV1 that even if Rift CV1 is old, then it's still very fresh - because I'm not just using the CV1, I'm using the CV1 powered by the brute force of the RTX 3090. 

When the days come in 2028, will Rift CV1 powered by the RTX 6090 be a worse solution than PSVR2? I'm not so sure about that - at least for new and very demanding VR games in 2028, lol. This is just a thought experiment - and who knows, maybe the PSVR2 + PS5 won't be a fixed solution for many years - rumor has it, a new version of PS5 (=PS5 Pro) targeting 8K res may arrive in 2023:

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/ps5-pro-tipped-to-arrive-in-2023-with-big-performance-boost

If PS5 Pro arrives in 2023, and PSVR2 might not be within reach before 2023 anyway, maybe worth waiting for the PS5 Pro 

 I can see how those who are use to a certain level of graphics quality can be skeptical about how the graphics are going to age on second gen PSVR. I have a strong feeling Sony will have their stuff together and will understand and implement all the scaling and upsampling techniques we have available on PC now. 

 It may be prudent for some who are dug in PCVR enthusiasts to wait to see what the PS5 pro has to offer if it release is close to the release date of the VR gear, but the way I see it, I'd rather upgrade a console every few years than a GPU @ 3x the cost. 

 I'm exceedingly happy with the performance of native titles on the Quest 2, especially game mods and titles from applab. I'm confident I will personally have no problem with the power of the system.

 With native apps like plutosphere where you can remotely play PCVR games on whatever remote system and GPU you choose becoming a viable possibility for future PCVR on mobile.  I foresee much less need for my own high end spec system here.  I've had probably 20 to 30 video cards since the 4 mb era, a trend I look forward to breaking. With no future 3D content and PCVR not catching on the way I'd hoped for.  PSVR gen 2 looks to be the best option for me.      

More about the PS2VR and especially the lenses:

https://www.roadtovr.com/psvr-2-product-page-fresnel-lens-dual-display/

- and you can now sign up for the latest news and more on Sony's new official PSVR2 website: 

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/ps-vr2/

Does sound like something really big is going to happen here. Interesting that we still don't get to see the hmd, and the trailer for the first major game is very short. Thus we may be waiting on some hardware design to finalize - and/or we may be waiting for devs to finish some games. Surely Sony does not want to launch hardware with no new awesome content. And great VR content usually takes many years to make... Like Alyx and Lone Echo 2...  Hardware may in fact be the very easy part, lol.