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

[RuneSR2]

EDIT: See the new specs here:

https://www.roadtovr.com/sony-playstation-vr-2-announcement-psvr-2-specs-field-of-view/

Original post:

Close to breaking news - if true - I just love oled so much more than LCD (well at least if oled gets similar ultra-low SDE like modern lcd panels):

"One important holdout remains: Sony Group Corp. plans to use Samsung Display Co. OLED panels in its next-generation PlayStation VR goggles, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese console giant sold more than 5 million units of the original PS VR, launched in 2016, and is aiming to release the successor in the holiday period next year, the people said, asking not to be named discussing internal plans."

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/fading-iphone-lcd-screen-maker-pivots-to-virtual-...

Depending on the panel, lcd could still have more subpixels and higher res (like Vive Pro 2) - there're tons of things we don't know yet. And Sony hasn't confirmed anything. 

Red arrow marks the arrival (first impact) of PSVR2 oled 🙂

 

Spoiler

[RuneSR2]

First review of 7th Guest for the PSVR2 ended with a rating of 78% - not bad:

That may mean I could reach a 90% rating for PCVR with the full power of the RTX 3090, lol. The PSVR2 exclusive game Switchback also just got a 7GB patch with a new horde mode:

PSVR2 is getting an exclusive demo for Tin Hearts VR, which arrives November 2:

Still I do not buy PSVR2 games which also will arrive for PCVR, as PCVR is much superior to the PSVR2, if you have a gpu which is significantly faster than the PS5. I'm still greatly awaiting Resident Evil 4 Remake VR.

November 2, we also get Vampire the Masquerade - Justice (only for Quest and PSVR2, no PCVR), which may benefit much from the PSVR2 pitch-black oled panels - see the new short video here from the developers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/17amxzt/behold_as_darkness_becomes_your_ally_infiltrate/

Lastly, I just saw this trailer a few days ago - and a fun one if you have not seen it:

[RuneSR2]

A few recent trailers for upcoming PSVR2 games:

Vampire the Masquerade has been massively enhanced for PSVR2 compared to the lowest-end Quest2/3 version, devs wrote that for PSVR2:

"Hi! Erik from FTG here! Lots of questions in one post, so I'll begin with this one!
* For the PSVR2 version of VtM - Justice we're using the standard 4000x2000 resolution per eye, but on top of that, since we're using dynamic foveated rendering, we're able to go up to 6800 x 3468 for the areas you're gazing at.
* We're rendering the game at 120Hz (meaning 120 fps)
* We're using HMD haptics, controller haptics and adaptive triggers and are quite proud of the implementation! It really adds a lot to the immersion.
* In addition to the technical improvements mentioned above, and the use of cool haptics, we've also added dynamic lighting, and tons of more VFX."

- and:

"Hello! Sara from FTG here! I understand you're most interested in the tech point of view, but here comes an Artist's take on the PSVR2 enhancements 😉

There are indeed dynamic shadows in the PSVR2 version! However we don't use fully dynamic lighting because we don't want the visual style of the game to deviate too much between versions, but we've added plenty of flair on the PSVR2 when it comes to lighting, effects and cool shaders (the blood is especially juicy), as well as nice reflections, improved LOD distances, higher resolution on textures, and other quality of life improvements to the visuals. I hope you will enjoy all the hard work we've put into it!"

So I went ahead and pre-ordered 😇 

Also PSVR2 will get a high-end-ish version of Arizona Sunshine 2, but I bet it can only do 60 fps with reprojections 😉

- and some fighting is coming up...

[RuneSR2]

Vampire the Masquerade - Justice is out, and has gotten some nice ratings. PSVR2 Without Parole rated the game a massive 8.7, which is higher than the Quest reviews I've seen (RoadToVR rated the Quest version 5.5), but the PSVR2 version is greatly enhanced compared to the low-end Quest 2/3 version:

- Unfortunately even with 120 fps, better textures and lighting for the PSVR2, this game still looks like phoneVR to me - really low-poly npcs and environments. Clearly the game suffers greatly from being a Quest port. I have cancelled my pre-order - but may consider the game when it costs no more than 10 bucks - which is kinda my max for phone games. As shown here, polygon levels are the same for all versions:

Getting so many bottom-end VR games made for phone gpus really is killing the PSVR2. I do hope soon to get some VR games made ground-up for the PS5. 

[RuneSR2]

Gran Turismo 7 just got an 8GB patch, and now there's snow 🙂 This probably is the best VR racing game on all platforms - it's made for VR from the very start and is true AAA:

[RuneSR2]

New video is out about Arizona Sunshine 2 with the PSVR2:

Even if the PS5 is extremely fast compared to the very slow Quest 3 gpu, I would never dream about buying the PSVR2 version though - the PS5 is extremely slow compared to the power of a high-end PCVR gpu. 

But PSVR2 is very important, because it makes it possible for devs to make a high-end version, which can be sold for both PSVR2 and PCVR users. Without the PSVR2, I doubt we would have gotten any high-end Arizona 2 version for PCVR - we might just have gotten some low-end Quest port. So I'm very happy for the PSVR2 - even if I rarely use it, lol. 

[RuneSR2]

Arken Age is made by the devs behind Shadow Legend and arrives for the PSVR2 early in 2024:

The game is only available for high-end VR, so PCVR and PSVR2, no Quest version.

I'm getting the PCVR version of course, no way the PSVR2 stands a chance against my RTX 3090 with 24GB vram - so I'm still only buying exclusive PSVR2 titles, and these aren't plenty, lol. 

Still PSVR2 deserves great credit for letting users get a taste of high-end VR, even if full-blown PCVR quality still is far away. To better understand what I mean, 7th Guest may provide a good example. The 7th Guest works in 90 fps with the PCVR2 using full panel res at 8 mill pixels per frame. But I can run the PCVR version using max graphics settings (shadows, 4xMSAA, post processing, effects) using 36 mill pixels per frame. Even if PSVR2 may look like running the same code, it does not - and 36 mill pixels for PCVR provides an image quality and antialiasing way beyond the PSVR2's capabilities. 

PSVR2 may look like PCVR in the trailers, but when you put on the hmd, PCVR is in a league of its own. 

[RuneSR2]

With a Metascore of mind-blowing 93, same as Alyx, this game has the potential to become VR Game of the Year 2023. And it arrives next week! 

[RuneSR2]

More 🙂

[RuneSR2]

So VR Game of the Year is...

- but it's too premature to give that honor to Resident Evil 8 (Village) VR - because the king of (evil) VR games arrived today, namely Resident Evil 4 Remake VR.

Probably going to be my game of the year - there is not much competition at this extreme end. Like Alyx, RE4 VR has a Metascore of 93, but for the 2D version. Very hard to take good shots because the game is very dark - and totally shines with oled - but here are a few impressions:

Arriving - quite a lot of trees/vegetation, and the water looks great

Looks like some did some evil stuff here 😉

The scenery is just awesome - many polygons, and 60 x 2 fps, but feels close to 90

Wood looks like wood - not the best wooden textures in a VR game, but fine

Moonlight shining through a window

Real-time lighting

High-res textures for the gun - the VR Mode DLC is 4GB - the game is 65GB like Alyx

Some dude cooking some evil dinner...

Examples of shadow quality - for the dynamic shadows

They didn't make it... 

Texture quality and reflections

Entering a small village - but note the high view distance

Some dude with a chainsaw cut me in two - but I'll be back tomorrow 🙂                

[RuneSR2]

My game of the year is still Call of the Mountain - but Undead Citadel really also is awesome, but needs a very fast gpu to shine and might work best only using Index. Still my number 2 would probably be RE4 Remake VR - a few more shots:

Face details

Real-time lighting

Note how the hand is increasingly illuminated when approaching the light source - now try that in a Quest game like Bonelab 🙂

High-res textures (the game is 65GB like Alyx - or more the 2 x Asgard's Wrath 2)

Environments

The game is also pretty hard - I'm not much into all of the shooting, and using normal difficulty I had to shoot even old ladies twice in the head before they died. In Arizona Sunshine 2 I'm used to popping one head per bullet, lol - and using Assisted difficulty in RE4 Remake, sometimes you can also kill with one shot, but far from always. Using Assisted mode, but turning off the laser pointer and enabling easy reloading, the game now plays much like Arizona Sunshine 2.