Sony Reveals What PlayStation VR2 Is Like To Wear
Since the release of the original Oculus Rift in 2016, the VR gaming landscape has generally been dominated by Meta. The affordable $300 Meta Quest 2, released in 2020, solidified the social media conglomerate as the de facto top contender for high-budget VR gaming for the foreseeable future. However, other headset manufacturers like Valve and Sony maintain their niches; the former is still widely considered one of the top PC VR platform holders given the size of the Steam VR library combined with the raw power of the expensive Valve Index, whereas the latter is still supporting its original — albeit outdated — PlayStation VR headset, which is compatible with PS4 and PS5 consoles.
However, some VR fans have been holding out for one of the other competing VR headset manufacturers to make a splash. The PlayStation VR2, expected to fully utilize the horsepower of the PlayStation 5, has long been awaited as a potential challenger to Meta's status as the most prolific VR platform holder. In a quick look at some of the new features the PS VR2 will offer, it's possible to see how the next-generation PlayStation VR headset utilizes some of the Quest 2's best ideas. That said, unlike the Meta headset, this model is slated to be hooked directly into the PS5 console. It is also expected to include 2000 x 2040 per-eye resolutions and support for HDR content, potentially making it the first mainstream 4K HDR VR headset — that is, unless it gets beat out by the Meta Quest 3 (via UploadVR).
PS VR2 includes Passthrough equivalent, room scanning
According to Sony Sr. Staff Product Manager Yasuo Takahashi in a PlayStation Blog post on July 26, there will be a number of familiar features in the PS VR2 that existing fans of the Meta Quest 2 might immediately recognize when the next-gen PlayStation headset launches sometime in the near future, and this could be great for the PS VR2's competitive edge, given its access to a potentially broad library of PlayStation exclusives. Sony has finally broken down the nitty gritty of its Passthrough+ equivalent — called See-Through View — and it looks like it'll be accessible either by pressing a button on the headset itself or activated from a quick view card in the PS5's Control Center, which can be brought into view by pressing the Home button on one of the new Sense controllers.
Once See-Through View is activated, it'll overlay a black-and-white view of your surroundings, not unlike what you'd see in the Quest 2's Passthrough+ mode, and it should allow you to quickly take inventory of your play area, which can be handy if you have a family member or a pet that likes to rush into your play area at inconvenient moments. Using the same built-in cameras, you can also scan your room to define a play area that accounts for the geometric boundaries of furniture, objects, and the room itself. This way, it can generate a boundary marked with lines that appears when you get too close to the edge of your play area, and it can even remember such boundaries until you move the headset into a different room. Additionally, hooking up a PS5 HD Camera will allow you to record a cutout version of yourself and overlay it into gameplay while recording or streaming.