Early in the next year is when the newest virtual reality gear is expected.
Sony is trying to ramp up the buzz for PS VR2, which is scheduled to release in the first quarter of 2019. The hardware had its public premiere at the Tokyo Game Show this week, and the company announced a few additional games that would be coming to the platform during Tuesday’s State of Play. Early reviews of the hardware are mainly good. Another crucial piece of information, while unfavorable, has suddenly come to light: PS VR games will not function on PS VR2.
Hideaki Nishino, senior vice president of platform experience at PlayStation, stated on the most recent edition of the Official PlayStation Podcast, “PS VR games are not compatible with PS VR2 since PS VR2 is meant to give a genuinely next-generation VR experience” (as spotted by Rebellion). The PS VR2 offers a lot more sophisticated features, such as an entirely new controller with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, inside-out tracking, eye tracking, 3D audio becoming more and more integrated, and of course 4K HDR. Therefore, a completely new strategy than that used for the first PS VR is needed when producing games for PS VR2.
This is still terrible news, even though several PS VR-compatible titles (like No Man’s Sky) have been announced for PS VR2. As a result, if gamers want to sometimes jump back into previous games, they’ll need to keep the old gear around as they won’t be able to access PS VR titles from the new headset.
Unless the creators transfer their games to PS VR2, it appears that novices to PlayStation VR won’t be able to play titles like Astro Bot Rescue Mission or Moss, about which they may have heard wonderful things. The new headgear might not be as desirable to buy due to its more constrained game catalogue.
The PS VR2 employs several tracking techniques, which could have anything to do with the choice. The controllers are entirely distinct. While Sony employs infrared LED to detect the location of the new Sense controllers, PS VR makes use of the PlayStation Camera and light-based tracking. Nevertheless, anyone anticipating transferring (nearly) their entire PS4 period collection of PlayStation games to the current generation upon the release of PS VR2 may feel let down.
