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Announcement of the Playstation VR successor at the CES tech fair: Sony means business
Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP
In the past few months, one company in particular caused a stir in the virtual reality headset market: Meta.
Company boss Mark Zuckerberg raved almost penetratingly about the science fiction idea of a metaverse, while Meta's flagship glasses, the Quest 2, became a hit in the USA in the Christmas business.
Meta is now said to have sold around ten million copies of Quest 2.
An impressive number when you consider that the glasses didn't hit the market until autumn 2020.
In the near future, however, Sony also wants to get more involved in the VR market.
During the CES in Las Vegas, the Japanese company presented technical details for its next VR system, which will be called the Playstation VR2.
The headset specifically for the Playstation 5 was announced for the first time in February 2021.
The key data that Sony has now presented in a blog post includes the following information:
The new headset is based on an OLED display with 2000 x 2040 pixels per eye and up to 120 Hz (for comparison: the Meta Quest 2 offers an LC display with 1,832 x 1,920 pixels per eye, also with up to 120 Hz).
Sony promises experiences in 4K HDR.
The field of view is given as around 110 degrees, which would be 20 degrees more than its predecessor.
The headset is connected to the Playstation 5 via a single USB-C cable.
As with the Quest 2, no external camera or extra sensor is required for so-called inside-out tracking.
Four cameras are built directly into the headset.
The controllers contain built-in batteries.
Not only the hand controller called Playstation VR2 Sense Controller should be able to vibrate.
In contrast to conventional glasses, the headset should also provide haptic feedback.
As a player, you can, for example, “feel a character's increased pulse, the rushing of objects that fly close to the character's head, or the thrust of a vehicle when the character drives forward,” says Sony.
It remains to be seen whether the feature is ultimately more than just a gimmick.
Likewise, unlike the Quest 2, the headset should offer eye tracking.
That means: The eye movements of the player are recorded, games can react more precisely to where the player is looking.
A technique called foveated rendering should also be used.
Only that section of the image that the eye is currently looking at is rendered in detail.
As the first exclusive game especially for Playstation VR2, a VR adaptation of the "Horizon" series with the title "Horizon Call of the Mountain" was promised
It remains unclear what the glasses will cost
Sony has not yet revealed exactly how its new headset will look.
It also remains unclear when and at what price Playstation VR2 will appear and whether popular PC VR games such as "Half-Life: Alyx" will appear for the system.
Recently, however, there had already been the first rumors of an imminent start of mass production for the system.
Sony's first headset, released for the Playstation 4, cost around 400 euros when it launched in 2016.
In addition to the headset, you still needed a Playstation 4 camera and so-called move controllers, which together cost around 130 euros.
Meta offers its Quest 2, which works both independently and can be connected to a PC, at a competitive price of around 350 euros.
In Germany, however, the glasses were never officially released due to a legal dispute.
If you want to use it in this country, you have to buy it in countries like France or Italy.
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