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

Interesting coming back to Index today - after 4 or 5 days with PSVR2. I get solid 90 fps res 500% (45 mill pixels) in SteamVR Home - and played some District Steel 90 fps res 300% (27 mill pixels) + 4xMSAA.

The difference in clarity is night and day better with the Index, no mura, and the columns are hard to see, but there was slightly more glare with Index, not much though, but I do use glasses with anti-glare coating. Res is slightly better with PSVR2, but feels much similar to Index with lenses all dialed-in for both hmds.

Using PSVR2 I feel much more near-sighted, my clear view distance is many times higher with Index. Index did feel like super-deluxe VR, and 90 fps feel smooth as butter in District Steel, no reprojections. Index controllers fit my big hands perfectly, much better than Sense controllers.

But for the content, Call of the mountain wins hands-down. Right now I'm thinking that Alyx and Call of the Mountain share the top position for best VR game ever made. Lone Echo 2 is very impressive too, but that Machine Safari blew my mind - not even Alyx reached such levels.

I like being able to have 3 active hmds, they all have their special purposes and no single hmd can replace another.

If I only used PSVR2, I probably would get used to it fast and be quite happy, especially if it was my first hmd.

The voices behind some of the the npcs in Call of the Mountain:

I'd believe that Call of the Mountain costed more to make than Asgard's Wrath and even Lone Echo 2.

Also finally got some shots of Aloy - nice girl, fun to finally meet her in person 😁

Much effort was put into her hair:

- and the lighting and views are possibly even better than Alyx:

I posted more screenshots here:

http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=7221906&u=https%3A//www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/11fxlya/the_faces_of_call_of_the_mountain_all_screenshots/

I stumbled across one very important thing with the PSVR2, namely this:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/4/23386929/disney-plus-sony-playstation-5-4k-hdr-app-now-available

it even works with the PSVR2 Sense controllers. 

Using the PSVR2, I can see Disney+ in 4K with HDR. For years I tried to get Netflix and Disney+ working with the Rift CV1 and Index, I never succeeded. There's no app for Netflix or Disney+ in the Rift Store or on Steam. Using PCVR I constantly got a black screen trying to stream movies in VR shown on the desktop due to some special overlay copy protection. 

But it all works with PSVR2 - last night I could see Mandalorian S3E1 in 4K with HDR using PSVR2 on a giant oled screen. Granted the PSVR2 mura is still there, but looks like film grain, so it's not that big an issue. 

Seems I finally got that VR 4K Home Theater I've wanted for years. So there's that too 😉

Having a Disney+ app is good.

Although you weren't watching The Mandalorian in 4K. The PSVR2 is only 2000x2040 per eye. So even if you made the virtual screen stretch over the full FOV, it would be downscaled to 2K at best (maybe a tiny bit more depending on the amount of stereo overlap).

Plus while the PSVR was RGB OLED, the PSVR2 is Pentile OLED, meaning there's lower resolution for red and blue subpixels compared to green.

A 4K RGB video would have 24,883,200 subpixels. The PSVR2 has 8,160,000 subpixels per eye.

My other hmds are collecting dust these days, even with its limitations the PSVR2 wins for the content. UploadVR also just reviewed Resident Evil: Village (aka Resident Evil 8 ) for PSVR2 and wrote:

"Everything else about Village’s approach to VR is an absolute joy. After playing an hour or two on PS5 in 2021, I returned to the game properly on PSVR 2 last week and finished it completely blown away. There’s a level of detail and scale present that I haven’t experienced since Half-Life: Alyx. Every inch of Village’s design – from the environments to the sound to the gameplay itself – feels well considered and thought out.

Visually, Resident Evil Village is stunning. The details and fidelity present in the original flatscreen release mean that the game is immediately striking when brought to life on a VR headset. When compared to the visuals of most standalone VR releases of the last three years, it’s a stark and shocking leap (if also completely understandable, given that PS5 can drive multitudes more power than a mobile chipset). 

[...]

Resident Evil 8 Village is a phenomenal launch title for PlayStation VR2. It’s a thrilling and immersive horror shooter with a campaign that reaches a scale of spectacle rarely seen in VR"

https://uploadvr.com/resident-evil-8-village-psvr-2-review/

Gameplay trailer released a few weeks ago - I have not had much time to try the game, I constantly get a call from the mountain 🤓

Also have to be in the right mood for this game, it's much *much* worse than Saints & Sinners. Another thing, when considering entering the Resident Evil 8 portal, I can't help not hearing Bishop's word, lol:

Spoiler

I guess I'll take a deep breath and do as this dude said:

"We choose to go to the Village in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win" 😎

Yeah Sony is pretty savvy. Certainly not their first rodeo.

Linus made one of the better PSVR2 reviews, he also compared it to Quest 2 - and unlike the lackluster RoadToVR review, Linus did not forget to check out the foveated rendering and eye tracking, also using text he does add info about the very important Pulse 3D headphones (some have posted that PSVR2 was made for these headphones, which I'd agree to, but these were not included and make the PSVR2 a $650 hmd):

But I didn't like the sensation-seeking title of PSVR2 being a PCVR killer - his perspective is more that a $1100 PSVR2-PS5 solution is better than the PCVR you'll get for $1100 - and I'd agree with that, Index and Quest Pro still are $1000 and can't be touched paired with a fast rig. But you get PSVR2 for the content, not really for the hardware (although the oled blacks are really deep and pitch-black perfect when you find them). 

Linus thought that Call of the Mountain was running at a "smooth 90", but could tell it was not 120 fps. Kinda embarrassing not being able to see that it's not "smooth 90", it's 2 x 60 fps - all he had to do was to wave his hands or strafe sideways, and reprojections are revealed. If Linus is just telling what he experiences, this may be a nice example of the average Joe not going to be bothered by the 2 x 60 fps 😉 

Fun to hear that Linus' preferred PCVR hmd still is the Valve Index, I guess he and I are on the same page there 😎 

I'm starting to think that the main reason to get PSVR2 is not Call of the Mountain, it's Resident Evil 8: Village (RE8 ). Graphics are indeed close to Alyx levels, also for the motion capture. The graphics are also sharper than Call of the Mountain, thus less subsampled. But RE8 is horror and high-intensity movements and combat. The view distance is impressive (all images below were taken while I was playing the game wearing the PSVR2):

Npcs are very high quality:

Hair looks great too - and hair is important, because it's really hard to make look good:

There will be blood, lol - here I met some 4 meter tall dude (12 feet - or more):

- and looking him straight into the eye:

For greatness, it's important to check out the small things - and these ordinary scenes from a house do show that great attention by the artists were paid to all parts of the game - but RE8 is estimated having cost about $110 million to make - and it shows:

Looks kinda real-ish

Great attention to even small details - like you'll see in Alyx

Also check out the light in this scene, the atmosphere is just great - there are very detailed dynamic shadows in the game:

Guess I'll be off to the castle next (and the above really contains no spoilers, all images are from the first 30 minutes of the game). 

Do note how dark the above images are - this is a very dark game, I really think you need oled for this one. But I'm sure using Rift CV1 ss 2.0+ would be awesome too. The game uses foveated rendering and eye tracking, so if you think some images are blurry, then you know what I'm not staring at 😉 RE8 does feel like one of the most significant VR experiences ever made - right up there with Alyx, Lone Echo 1-2, Call of the Mountain and Asgard's Wrath - even if RE8 stands out by being a 2D port, but you do not notice this when playing, only in the cut-scenes. 

New PSVR2 exclusive game announced, this time a sim - or close:

"The VR game is said to be made “specifically with capabilities of PlayStation VR2 in mind.” While Gaijin hasn’t mentioned other platforms, it’s only advertising PSVR 2 support on the game’s website."
www.roadtovr.com/war-thunder-psvr-2-aces-thunder-release-trailer/

This vid also just arrived:

This is why it's kinda problematic with Resident Evil 8: Village as a launch title and intended system seller for PSVR2:

"Just started the game, arrived to the Village and met my first zombie. **bleep**... this game is disturbing in VR. I heard it's not as scary and more in line with RE4. Well, I played RE4 in VR on Quest 2 and let me tell you, that game was a comedy show compared to what I experienced so far in RE8."
www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/11nd0jn/re8_is_too_much/

"I’m a little embarrassed but I’m really having a hard time playing this one. I haven’t been able to even go past 2 min of the opening sequence… it’s just too freaking scary. I’m not sure how you people can play it so casually. I saw that one character briefly run by and I had to take it off and now I have the image of it keeps playing in my head."
www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/11nk5j8/just_started_re8/

Games like that are way too scary in VR. Many can't even pass Jeff in Alyx, and RE8 is 10 times worse.

Only 25% of Alyx owners have reached Point Extraction (last chapter in Alyx) - meaning that 75% of Alyx owners did not complete the game - and only 20% have killed Jeff. 

My bet is that many will not be able to play RE8, it's way too terrifying - when the monsters/freaks are 1 foot away from your face - and same height as you....

Yup, this isn't Kansas/Alyx anymore:

It's Friday, after a glass - or two - of red wine, I might just have courage enough to enter the RE8 Meat Grinder again  😅 Makes Saints & Sinners feel like a quiet afternoon with the gospel choir...