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A technological (and creative) leap for Virtual Reality

2023-02-27T10:59:04.985Z


The new PlayStation VR 2 glasses make you imagine where the future of video games is headed The first steps of a new technology, of a new format, are usually floundering, involved in a game of trial and error until the paths open up and the creative possibilities become clear. Last week Sony's new virtual reality glasses, the PlayStation VR2, for PlayStation 5 hit the market, a remarkable artifact that comes to somewhat define the (until now) cloudy virtual reality ecosystem. The first


The first steps of a new technology, of a new format, are usually floundering, involved in a game of trial and error until the paths open up and the creative possibilities become clear.

Last week Sony's new virtual reality glasses, the PlayStation VR2, for PlayStation 5 hit the market, a remarkable artifact that comes to somewhat define the (until now) cloudy virtual reality ecosystem.

The first PlayStation virtual reality glasses were born in a hurry.

Emerged in 2016, the technical limitations of the time made the experience cumbersome: it had several cables and a camera placed on the console (PlayStation 4) had to be permanently recording us to capture our movements.

In addition, the irruption of the VR glasses of the competitor Meta (Facebook) in 2019 and 2020 did it no favors: the Oculus Quest did not have cables (they were not a peripheral connected to a console, but the glasses themselves were the device ), were intuitive and several steps ahead technologically.

In addition, it was almost impossible to get dizzy with the Meta glasses, which could happen with the Sony ones.

It is a very advanced technology: easy to use (the glasses are light, the controls very intuitive and sensitive) and immersive at a very deep level.

The audio is the best

It was all promises, projections, dreams.

But make no mistake: Virtual Reality has been a hard sell for the past few years.

Oculus has had great technology, but few games.

And, conversely, Sony has had better games and more outdated technology.

These newly arrived PlayStation VR 2 glasses, price apart (600 euros), come to correct that short circuit that prevented VR from taking off.

It is a much more advanced technology, much easier to use (the glasses are light, the controls very intuitive and sensitive; again Sony hits the mark with the controls) and immersive at a very deep level.

The audio is the most improvable, but Sony makes up for it with what it does best, coming out with a good handful of very solvent games, including the formidable

Horizon Call of the Mountain

which, based on one of Sony's most powerful intellectual properties, already raises the bar for what a virtual reality game for a console should be.

That is to say, the PlayStation VR 2 establishes a new canon as far as console video games in VR are concerned.

And, most importantly, they solidify a creative path that until now was as fascinating as it was ethereal.

With all the semiconductor problems stemming from the pandemic and war, PlayStation 5 has already sold more than 30 million units.

These are extraordinary figures for a console.

It means that the creative possibilities that a device like this opens up represent a watershed in the culture of videogames, because it is difficult to imagine where it can take us, when it comes to thinking about interactive experiences, something like this, so well done and with a potential audience. so big.

It remains to be seen if the price is stopping users and if they want to take a step further in the evolution of interactive entertainment.

It seems that the industry bets on it.

It remains to be seen if the players will dare: a new creative door has finally been opened, now all that remains is to cross it.

Promotional image of the VR version of 'Gran Turismo 7'.

In first person

Daniel Sinta is CEO of Garage51, a Spanish studio with a game released on PlayStation glasses:

Drums Rock

.

It is, in the words of Sinta, "a

Guitar Hero

, but with drums", that is, a game in which instead of playing the guitar we will move our hands to do percussion in VR.

It is very interesting to see how Sinta describes the creative process of a game for virtual reality, how a game is conceived "without that abstract barrier that is having a controller in hand."

That is, in VR the movements are transferred naturally to the game, and that is what a designer has to think about to perfect the gaming experience.

Not all are advantages, of course.

With VR, a certain cognitive framework that restricted the experience of a video game to the flat screen is broken, so the creative possibilities multiply.

But, at the same time, new dangers arise: "the biggest design flaw in a VR game is to make you dizzy," says Sinta.

"Because if someone gets dizzy, he will be" afraid "and will not trust virtual reality."

Sinta does not consider that Virtual Reality is going to overshadow the gaming experience on a flat screen, but rather that it opens up another evolutionary path when it comes to exploiting the creative possibilities offered by video games.

"They will not cancel, they will coexist," he adds.

Hopefully so, because the technical and creative possibilities that open up to a mass audience are enormous.

It is inaugurated, as that voice would say in the introduction of

Star Treck

, the last frontier.

Sales skyrocketed and 'stock' resolved

Cristina Infante, Senior Marketing Manager of Sony Spain, spoke to EL PAÍS at the press presentation of the new PlayStation VR 2. With more than 30 million PS5s sold, she considers that "it is the best time for the console since its launch (at the end of 2020)” because several elements are combined that make the company optimistic:


“On the one hand, innovative developments, such as VR 2 or the DualSense Edge controller.

Then, in terms of content, we come from a very good year, with

God of War: Ragnarök,

with

The Last of Us

and its jump to the small screen.

And lastly, we are in the best situation since launch in terms of manufacturing and distribution.”

That's an important point, as the PS5 (like so many other consumer tech gadgets) has been slowing down production for a long time due to the global semiconductor crisis.

Infante assures that Sony has "a production capacity capable of meeting demand better than ever", and that "today, any player who wants a PS5 will find it much more easily."

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-02-27

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