PSVR2 - out now!

[Zombait]

A reminder to those who pre-ordered and might be thinking of cancelling, Sony will start processing payments about a week before release, by which time it's too late to cancel. If you don't want it, cancel asap. Sony CS aren't good to deal with if things get more complicated than a button press. 

[Corranga]

On 25/01/2023 at 22:29, Darwock said:

This is the only hardware launch I can recall that’s actually been done well, in that everyone who wants one has been able to order one (that’s assuming everyone that has an order does eventually receive the product). This has been translated into ‘there’s no demand’ by the gamers. 

 

If it was a typical launch it’s guaranteed everything would have been snapped up by scalpers and we’d all be having the usual frustrating experience. I can appreciate someone getting it right for a change.

I think it’s niche enough (and expensive enough) to ensure demand doesn’t outstrip supply.

 

I think I’m well within the target audience, buy basically all consoles at launch, own a PSVR1 and a Quest 2, am properly into GT7.  
3 things put me off, the cost, the awkwardness of cabled VR, and the fact I can only buy direct from Sony.  I think I’d have impulse bought one from another retailer by now, but I don’t particularly want to support Sony directly as it means I can’t save via cashback / vouchers, I don’t particularly like them due to the shit they pulled with my TV and it’s ever changing feature set, and I don’t want to encourage a monopoly hardware sales as we head towards a monopoly on games sales, and prefer to buy large expensive things from bricks and mortar if possible to try to ensure I don’t get a broken box,  Well, and it’s expensive.

 

Somewhat long way to say, I don’t think they’ve done anything special, and the lack of choice in where to buy makes this a poor launch to me.

[Strafe]

If I buy walking dead saints and sinners is the next gen a free upgrade or a separate sequel?

[Eighthours]

48 minutes ago, Strafe said:

If I buy walking dead saints and sinners is the next gen a free upgrade or a separate sequel?

It’s a free upgrade for the original. There is also the actual sequel coming on launch day.

[Strafe]

1 minute ago, Eighthours said:

It’s a free upgrade for the original. There is also the actual sequel coming on launch day.

Ah right so two separate games but the first one gets a free upgrade to PSVR2?

[Eighthours]

1 hour ago, Strafe said:

Ah right so two separate games but the first one gets a free upgrade to PSVR2?

Correct.

[Strafe]

25 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

Correct.

cheers!

[Darwock]

3 hours ago, Corranga said:

3 things put me off, the cost, the awkwardness of cabled VR, and the fact I can only buy direct from Sony.  I think I’d have impulse bought one from another retailer by now, but I don’t particularly want to support Sony directly as it means I can’t save via cashback / vouchers

I took a trip to a big electronic shop (Yodobashi Camera) over here yesterday and they were pushing PSVR2 very hard so I don’t think it’s a Sony exclusive launch.

[nevsan]

2 questions... anyone know rough WHEN psvr2 will be in our hands (preorders) and will Minecraft for ps5 be updated to use it? I love Minecraft and would be intrigued to play it in VR, perhaps not as 'wholesome' as No-Mans-Sky but interesting.

[Stanley]

They should arrive on launch day 22nd Feb.

 

Minecraft hasn’t been announced for PSVR2 and it’s not backwards compatible with the original PSVR release, there is also no PS5 version yet. 

[rgraves]

On 25/01/2023 at 22:29, Darwock said:

This is the only hardware launch I can recall that’s actually been done well, in that everyone who wants one has been able to order one (that’s assuming everyone that has an order does eventually receive the product). This has been translated into ‘there’s no demand’ by the gamers. 

 

If it was a typical launch it’s guaranteed everything would have been snapped up by scalpers and we’d all be having the usual frustrating experience. I can appreciate someone getting it right for a change.

 

 

[Alex W.]

It’s hard to reconcile “Sony are making a token effort” with “Sony overestimated interest by a factor of two” but as always I can’t actually read the article because of a paywall.

[thesnwmn]

7 minutes ago, Alex W. said:

It’s hard to reconcile “Sony are making a token effort” with “Sony overestimated interest by a factor of two” but as always I can’t actually read the article because of a paywall.

 

I dunno. They can try to do the minimum but still wildly overestimate sales.

[Hitcher]

23 minutes ago, Alex W. said:

It’s hard to reconcile “Sony are making a token effort” with “Sony overestimated interest by a factor of two” but as always I can’t actually read the article because of a paywall.

I always use archive today

 

https://archive.is/toB0y

[Alex W.]

20 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

 

I dunno. They can try to do the minimum but still wildly overestimate sales.

Ah right, a token effort on their side which still winds up accidentally satisfying demand is still a token effort I suppose.

[thesnwmn]

Yeah. And I'd say they've definitely done more than token effort here but I don't think they've done enough to really smash this or expect high sales out of the gate.

 

Much better headset but it's still wired.

GT7 support is great news but where's the real must have for non-racers?

A solid launch line up but what's coming?

Some PSVR game support but incomplete and often costs.

 

None of this is bad particularly, but it's just not what they could do. I actually suspect the issue might be lacklustre developer excitement for VR. Do most traditional game devs want to have to make VR modes for a comparatively small audience?

[Stanley]

Quote

“The PSVR2 will be no more than an expensive accessory for the PS5,” said Damian Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Capital.

As opposed to what? 

[thesnwmn]

Just now, Stanley said:

As opposed to what? 

 

Part of the core platform you can expect the majority of PS5 owners to have and therefore realistically expect developers to widely support.

[Stanley]

Just now, thesnwmn said:

 

Part of the core platform you can expect the majority of PS5 owners to have and therefore realistically expect developers to widely support.

But it would still be an expensive accessory for the PS5, essential or otherwise. 

[thesnwmn]

2 minutes ago, Stanley said:

But it would still be an expensive accessory for the PS5, essential or otherwise. 

 

True. But I think the implication of the statement is what I'm saying. "No more than" is important.

[Stanley]

Just now, thesnwmn said:

 

True. But I think the implication of the statement is what I'm saying. "No more than" is important.

I don’t think it means anything, nothing more than an expensive accessory would imply that it doesn’t do anything, or that it has no inherent value beyond that of just being an accessory. Of course it’s an expansive accessory, but it’s more than nothing. 

[thesnwmn]

1 minute ago, Stanley said:

I don’t think it means anything, nothing more than an expensive accessory would imply that it doesn’t do anything, or that it has no inherent value beyond that of just being an accessory. Of course it’s an expansive accessory, but it’s more than nothing. 

 

Of course it's more than nothing. It's almost certainly going to be great for those who jump in.

 

But to most of the Playstation audience it doesn't exist. It isn't transformative in anyway for the platform. Which I think is the gist of their statement.

 

To be fair, expecting any accessory to be, regardless of cost, is probably stupid. Has there ever been a post-release console accessory that was anything more than a niche addition?

[Stanley]

I mean you could literally say that about all VR headsets, they are all expensive accessories, the VR market is niche, but what it also is to those interested in the VR scene is one of the more advanced headsets on the market with a bunch of experiences unavailable elsewhere. I sound overly defensive here, but the comment, from an analyst of course, is of no value IMO. 

[Alex W.]

I think the question is whether tethered VR has a future versus standalone headsets. VR is a bit niche but investors hope it’s on the verge of breaking through to the mainstream. That growth is almost entirely due to Quest headsets. VR attached to consoles or PCs is a niche of a niche and I think people looking to make big money were hoping Sony would have an answer to this.

 

I’m not sure there is one. Sony and MS went all in on wattage for their consoles this gen so we won’t see PS or Xbox compatible portable hardware. Nintendo of all companies is the best placed to do a standalone headset.

[scoobysi]

I expect they’re hoping it’ll be a bit of a halo item, something that’ll attract people to PlayStation, even if they don’t initially purchase VR.

[Eighthours]

I'm optimistic for PS VR2 at this point. It seems 'next gen' enough to become a desirable item if the software's there, and I can't see how the likes of Call of the Mountain, Gran Turismo 7 and No Man's Sky-with-proper-controllers won't be that at launch. Hype seems to be pretty high in the VR community and that's where initial momentum for the platform will build. Momentum will carry the thing. No momentum, no chance. Momentum caused by good word of mouth (assuming this happens) will sustain the platform until it needs to unleash the big guns. I'm fully expecting Half-Life: Alyx to be announced for the terribly named 'Holiday 2023', as well as either an Astro Bot remaster or a sequel. There are hundreds of games in development for the platform, and while many of these are Quest ports, anything 'new' for both PS VR2 and Quest represents an opportunity to showcase the power differential.

 

You can tell Meta's panicking because it's just lopped $400 off the Quest Pro. Meta has completely fucked up its smooth progression over the past year, in my view. Increasing the price of the Quest 2 was a disastrously silly move, and having little or no first party releases has killed its momentum entirely. If Quest 3 had come out last November, it would be doing gangbusters and would have threatened PS VR2. As it is, Meta will be playing catchup - presuming that Quest 3 will be out at the end of this year instead, it will need those first party games and to be priced under £500. I just think that Meta's a year behind where it needs to be and has basically wasted the advantage it had out of the blocks with Quest 2. Maybe the tech took a bit longer than expected to get right and it isn't their fault, but the company's underlying strategy in the meantime has been flawed. 2022 was a bust for them, completely killing their momentum, and the Quest Pro is an obvious flop even among its intended use case of business/enterprise. Because of all this, PS VR2 is still in the game when it could have been effectively killed before launch if Meta had done things right.

[Steven]

I can't see much changing in terms of the audience right now - PSVR2 is great if you are already in that VR audience but £530 on top of a PS5 , which haven't exactly been widely available, won't have the uninitiated falling over themselves to get aboard. I loved the PSVR and its library, so I'm happy to repeat that experience here. 

[stir fry]

I'm recovering from the decision to click 'purchase' on a 4090, so I think I'll sit out the launch period and just gather post-release impressions for a bit. 

 

I think I'll definitely get one of these, but it needs at least a few people shouting from the rooftops about how great it is before I do it I think. I already have VR, and what's more it just got a massive uplift from the upgrade anyway.

[Zombait]

I think most of us here have been around playing games long enough to start trusting gut instincts and mine regarding PSVR2 is that it's not going to go well.
I initially had ideas of Astrobot 2, Wipeout VR, Blood & Truth sequels and other amazing first party games but I don't think it'll happen, my gut feeling is that Sony 
have given up before launch.

Look at the hype and marketing they did for PSVR 1 compared to this I have seen next to nothing and very little excitement from Sony themselves beyond some blog posts.

But then I remember the magical feeling of trying PSVR for the first time, it felt like a theme park in my own home. I was blown away and the prospect of having that feeling again is appealing. I want to get PSVR2 but I don't want to buy a lemon propped up with Quest ports of Wii type party game shovelware.🤔

[Darwock]

I’ll be happy with PSVR2 if at some point in the life of the PS5, the Project Aces people at Namco do what Polyphony have done and make the next Ace Combat fully in VR. I’d say there’s a reasonable chance of that actually happening.

 

I wouldn’t need anything else tbh, Star Wars Squadrons justified my purchase of the original PSVR on it’s own, even without all the other great games we got.

 

edit - obviously I’ve yet to experience the resolution bump it will get but if Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect look as good as I’m imagining I may not even need Ace Combat…