Sony's PlayStation VR2 will use a single cord to deliver 4K HDR gaming at 90/120Hz

[Humza]

Something to look forward to: We still don’t know what the PS5’s virtual companion will cost, nor when it’s arriving. However, Sony shared some useful info about the upcoming hardware at CES, confirming names for the headset and controllers, as well as detailing their specs and features that will enable 4K HDR gaming with foveated rendering and 90/120Hz refresh rates. Sony also shared a glimpse of a new Horizon-based VR title currently in the works for the PS VR2.

Sony’s official specs for the PS VR2 are pretty much in line with rumors reported in May last year. The company’s next-gen VR system will offer a 4K OLED HDR gaming experience, with 2,000 x 2,040 pixels refreshing at 90/120Hz per eye. Unlike the current-gen PS VR with its external camera, the VR2 headset will have four integrated cameras (including IR) for eye and motion tracking.

The system will also benefit from Sony’s Tempest 3D Audio tech and boost immersion with a vibration motor in the headset for added feedback. Sony says that in-game sensations like a character’s elevated pulse, the thrust of a speeding vehicle, and close calls with objects will register for an enhanced gaming experience.

The implementation seems similar to Razer’s HyperSense haptics in the Kaira headset, but this being in VR will likely be even more immersive. Moreover, the headset will have adjustable lenses and deliver a 110° field of view with foveated rendering. It will use a single USB-C cable to connect with the PS5 console and feature an in-built mic and stereo output jack.

We know what the VR2 Sense controllers look like, but the headset remains a mystery

Meanwhile, the VR2 Sense controllers with their haptic feedback and adaptive triggers will use Bluetooth 5.1 to pair and recharge via USB-C.

Sony also shared a teaser for Horizon Call of the Mountain, an exclusive title for the PS VR2. This spin-off game will have a new protagonist meeting Aloy and other characters from the world of Horizon, as well as new faces. The game is currently under development by Guerrilla and Firesprite studios.

Skip to 1:24 to see the brief game footage

Sony says to expect more details about the system, which likely means an unveiling of the VR2 headset, along with the VR2 Sense controllers that were revealed in March last year.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92857-sony-next-gen-vr-system-ps5-use-single.html

 

[DZillaXx]

Should have been wireless...

Shame.

If Quest 2 can do it, so can sony.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Should have been wireless...

Shame.

If Quest 2 can do it, so can sony.

You beat me to it. And the Quest 2 is such a good product, it's shocking everyone hasn't gone the same route.

My guess is that Quest 3 is right around the corner for the "metaverse" and it will support full wireless just like Quest 2 offers.

 

[Jpe1701]

Should have been wireless...

Shame.

If Quest 2 can do it, so can sony.

Does quest 2 connect wirelessly to a PC too or is it dependent on the internal cpu only for wireless? I assume Sony is trying to sell consoles not independent vr headsets, and the ps5 would be way more powerful than whatever smartphone chipset the quest is using.

 

[passwordistaco]

I game strictly on PC, but Sony continuing to support VR is great news. Pay attention, Microsoft.

 

[Puiu]

I wish they also added wireless capability alongside the cable. After playing with the Quest 2, it's hard to go back to wired headsets.

Does quest 2 connect wirelessly to a PC too or is it dependent on the internal cpu only for wireless? I assume Sony is trying to sell consoles not independent vr headsets, and the ps5 would be way more powerful than whatever smartphone chipset the quest is using.

They don't need to make it standalone, just to connect wirelessly to the PS5. It only needs a wifi 6 dongle and a 2000mAh battery (since it doesn't need to run a GPU and CPU like the Quest 2)

 

[Burty117]

Making it wireless would increase cost though and personally, unless wireless has perfect latency and at least 12 hours of battery life, I'd stick with the wired connection, less complication, no chance of inference or sudden latency spikes that are extremely noticeable in VR. Just a rock solid connection that also powers the whole thing.

This might just be the first VR headset I buy if it's priced right.

 

[Aceseven]

Making it wireless would increase cost though and personally, unless wireless has perfect latency and at least 12 hours of battery life, I'd stick with the wired connection, less complication, no chance of inference or sudden latency spikes that are extremely noticeable in VR. Just a rock solid connection that also powers the whole thing.

This might just be the first VR headset I buy if it's priced right.

it wont be priced right though, its sony.

the price of a ps5 must be included with it and at minimum thats 400 by itself, I have a quest 2 and its incredible but sony really messed up not making this thing wireless, not just for immersion but also so theres no chance to kill your ps5.

this thing will need some legit groundbreaking games to fight the oculus at all if its priced high, which it will be.

 

[DZillaXx]

Does quest 2 connect wirelessly to a PC too or is it dependent on the internal cpu only for wireless? I assume Sony is trying to sell consoles not independent vr headsets, and the ps5 would be way more powerful than whatever smartphone chipset the quest is using.

A Quest 2 and even the first Quest will connect to a PC wirelessly. It can play games standalone or connect to PC via a wired or wireless connection. And wired vs wireless connection is no different from each other, the wireless connection is pretty much flawless and supports high refresh rates.

Making it wireless would increase cost though and personally, unless wireless has perfect latency and at least 12 hours of battery life, I'd stick with the wired connection, less complication, no chance of inference or sudden latency spikes that are extremely noticeable in VR. Just a rock solid connection that also powers the whole thing.

This might just be the first VR headset I buy if it's priced right.

You don't need 12hr battery life. You simply don't play that long in a single session. Hell even 4hr's is a long time for a single span.

On my quest 2 I put a battery pack in my pocket if I need to play for more than 2-3hrs in a single go. I just run a usb cord through my shirt, and use wired headphones. Makes for a great experience.

Wireless is cheap, Sony just needs to put a SOC into their VR setup. Clearly is Facebook can do it, Sony shouldn't have an issue. They don't need something as strong as the Quests. having to tie yourself to the console via a cord simply sucks. I hope they come out with a wireless option at some point.

For Sony I think their biggest issue would be not having a dedicated radio for wireless to a headset. But a simple usb dongle could have fixed that....

The Quest 2 needs a good wifi connection and your PC pretty much needs to be hardwired to said wifi network. Sony would have to go down the dongle route if they wanted to go wifi, as many have crap wifi routers from their ISP. Big fail on Sony's part IMO.

 

[bviktor]

Should have been wireless...

Shame.

If Quest 2 can do it, so can sony.

Wireless has its pros. And its cons. It makes the headset heavier, you'll have to charge it all the time, and it causes rendering artifacts every now and then, compromising visuals.

 

[m4a4]

I'd bet they're not wireless to control the experience. Wireless they can't guarantee customers are even setup for it (or there is no lag), wired they can. Probably still aiming for a small play space (or sitting), to target even more people.
Having looked into putting an app onto PSVR, they were veeery strict on how it performs (to avoid nausea at all costs).

And no battery keeps price much lower for better adoption (as the display will already take up a lot of the cost). Some 3rd party can create an adapter for it if enough people want it (as that seems to be Sony's way of doing things now lol).

 

[shark975]

I game strictly on PC, but Sony continuing to support VR is great news. Pay attention, Microsoft.

I'd argue it's a gimmick, ESPECIALLY the way Sony does it tethered to their console. So kudos MS, for not milking it's fans with a expensive dead gimmick (Hi, PS VR 1) that has yet to prove itself.

PSVR (1) never got any real traction, to me all it is is a way for Sony too sell a few more hardware doo dads for profit. Not any kind of real foundation. We see that perfectly in even the title sony showed. Which was literally titled that's a man baby, wait, aloy's adventures, wait, Horizon: vr gimmick subtitle (sorry I forget the actual title). The fact we have titles as: "Real game: Vr Gimmick edition" tells me everything about VR.

I got a Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas for the fam and it was a big hit, but personally it still seems gimmicky. Ask anybody what Quest titles to get and you can tell they really struggle except "beat saber". It's always beat saber. Which in my mind is still a rythm/ wait for it, gimmick! game.


I dunno, I love the business side of video games tech and VR I really had no clear idea which way it would go. Just been observing the market for a few yrs. STILL kinda dont know lol. Doesnt SEEM to be going away, doesnt SEEM to be anywhere near supplanting real traditional gaming either. I did read all VR development for anything but Quest (and now PSVR 2) has basically been suspended, which didn't sound like a great thing for the format.

Well, the worst part of this now is we'll get a new surge of obnoxious fanboy pushing of the VR format as a whole as a proxy for pushing whatever Sony is doing (hi, techspot, and the gaming podcast I listen too). Annoying. I swear 90% of VR hype was just because Sony had it's hat in the ring, and there are untold hordes of Sony fanboys on the net (only Nvidia fanboys rivals them for sheer massive, massive numbers and aggressiveness) and a lot of that died off when only Quest was standing. But it will be back now.

I'm not sure what PS4.5 VR will bring quest doesnt. More power? Granted you could get that with a Pc anyway. Anyways PS4.5 is not true next gen anyway more like Ps4.5 (why Returnal is, checks notes, 1080P in 2022) so it does not have that kind of power. A Quest 3 presumably might give the PS4.5 a run in VR.

What troubles me about Quest is I believe Carmack talked about how there's so much corporate red tape you have to go through 65 conflicting API layers and noone will even push 5% of the real chipset power in quest 2. I dont remember the details anymore but it was really bothersome.

Anyways Metaverse is kinda more interesting to VR future than gaming. We'll see on that one. I do believe Zuck, like Bezos, is a visionary (for all the crap he takes) so maybe there is something to it, but maybe not.

 

[shark975]

I'd bet they're not wireless to control the experience. Wireless they can't guarantee customers are even setup for it (or there is no lag), wired they can. Probably still aiming for a small play space (or sitting), to target even more people.
Having looked into putting an app onto PSVR, they were veeery strict on how it performs (to avoid nausea at all costs).

And no battery keeps price much lower for better adoption (as the display will already take up a lot of the cost). Some 3rd party can create an adapter for it if enough people want it (as that seems to be Sony's way of doing things now lol).

I'd bet they're not wireless to control the experience. Wireless they can't guarantee customers are even setup for it (or there is no lag), wired they can. Probably still aiming for a small play space (or sitting), to target even more people.
Having looked into putting an app onto PSVR, they were veeery strict on how it performs (to avoid nausea at all costs).

And no battery keeps price much lower for better adoption (as the display will already take up a lot of the cost). Some 3rd party can create an adapter for it if enough people want it (as that seems to be Sony's way of doing things now lol).

OR it could be wired because Sony sells a expensive plastic box called the Playstation (4.) 5 they want to tie you down too and it's ecosystem in every way possible, because they are greedy.

Yeah, I think that's it. Hope that helps. Good talk.

 

[m4a4]

OR it could be wired because Sony sells a expensive plastic box called the Playstation (4.) 5 they want to tie you down too and it's ecosystem in every way possible, because they are greedy.

Yeah, I think that's it. Hope that helps. Good talk.

...What? Wired or wireless, it would only be compatible with Playstation. You're just saying nonsense...

 

[Puiu]

Wireless has its pros. And its cons. It makes the headset heavier, you'll have to charge it all the time, and it causes rendering artifacts every now and then, compromising visuals.

it won't be that much heavier since you don't need a big battery like on the Quest (the PS5 is running the game, not the internal SOC). they can definitely make it.

I would love to see an option for one that is 50$ more and which is 100 grams or less heavier.

 

[Puiu]

I'd argue it's a gimmick, ESPECIALLY the way Sony does it tethered to their console. So kudos MS, for not milking it's fans with a expensive dead gimmick (Hi, PS VR 1) that has yet to prove itself.

PSVR (1) never got any real traction, to me all it is is a way for Sony too sell a few more hardware doo dads for profit. Not any kind of real foundation. We see that perfectly in even the title sony showed. Which was literally titled that's a man baby, wait, aloy's adventures, wait, Horizon: vr gimmick subtitle (sorry I forget the actual title). The fact we have titles as: "Real game: Vr Gimmick edition" tells me everything about VR.

I got a Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas for the fam and it was a big hit, but personally it still seems gimmicky. Ask anybody what Quest titles to get and you can tell they really struggle except "beat saber". It's always beat saber. Which in my mind is still a rythm/ wait for it, gimmick! game.


I dunno, I love the business side of video games tech and VR I really had no clear idea which way it would go. Just been observing the market for a few yrs. STILL kinda dont know lol. Doesnt SEEM to be going away, doesnt SEEM to be anywhere near supplanting real traditional gaming either. I did read all VR development for anything but Quest (and now PSVR 2) has basically been suspended, which didn't sound like a great thing for the format.

Well, the worst part of this now is we'll get a new surge of obnoxious fanboy pushing of the VR format as a whole as a proxy for pushing whatever Sony is doing (hi, techspot, and the gaming podcast I listen too). Annoying. I swear 90% of VR hype was just because Sony had it's hat in the ring, and there are untold hordes of Sony fanboys on the net (only Nvidia fanboys rivals them for sheer massive, massive numbers and aggressiveness) and a lot of that died off when only Quest was standing. But it will be back now.

I'm not sure what PS4.5 VR will bring quest doesnt. More power? Granted you could get that with a Pc anyway. Anyways PS4.5 is not true next gen anyway more like Ps4.5 (why Returnal is, checks notes, 1080P in 2022) so it does not have that kind of power. A Quest 3 presumably might give the PS4.5 a run in VR.

What troubles me about Quest is I believe Carmack talked about how there's so much corporate red tape you have to go through 65 conflicting API layers and noone will even push 5% of the real chipset power in quest 2. I dont remember the details anymore but it was really bothersome.

Anyways Metaverse is kinda more interesting to VR future than gaming. We'll see on that one. I do believe Zuck, like Bezos, is a visionary (for all the crap he takes) so maybe there is something to it, but maybe not.

Having a big name in participate in the VR industry is huge for every VR fan and it's understandable why. those "obnoxious fanboys" just understand this better than you.

FYI VR is not a gimmick especially when looking at the sales numbers. The Quest 2 outsold the Xbox series X and S. The number of devs has exploded in the last 2 years and so did the number of people enjoying it.

As for what the console VR will bring that the Quest can't, it's simple: access to a whole new huge market for developers and hardware that isn't tied down to Meta/Facebook.

VR has a problem where devs need a larger market for their games (even with the huge growth that we've seen until now), not just the Quest 2, and this will be a new huge avenue for increasing profits for them.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

You beat me to it. And the Quest 2 is such a good product, it's shocking everyone hasn't gone the same route.

My guess is that Quest 3 is right around the corner for the "metaverse" and it will support full wireless just like Quest 2 offers.

There won't be a Quest 3. There will be a Quest 2 Pro. it's close. It will be much more expensive though. I'm guessing a Quest 3 sometime in the fall.

 

[AMN3S1AC]

PS5 cannot even run normal games at 4K.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I will get it for my kids - they seem to have no problem with current one - for me screen resolution is too low and FOV is too limited . So this should be a big improvement - hopefully I will like it more . Especially if has eye tracking etc to make appearing around more natural like

 

[pencea]

Good stuff. Keen on getting one once it comes out.

 

[Ben1978]

I'd argue it's a gimmick, ESPECIALLY the way Sony does it tethered to their console. So kudos MS, for not milking it's fans with a expensive dead gimmick (Hi, PS VR 1) that has yet to prove itself.

PSVR (1) never got any real traction, to me all it is is a way for Sony too sell a few more hardware doo dads for profit. Not any kind of real foundation. We see that perfectly in even the title sony showed. Which was literally titled that's a man baby, wait, aloy's adventures, wait, Horizon: vr gimmick subtitle (sorry I forget the actual title). The fact we have titles as: "Real game: Vr Gimmick edition" tells me everything about VR.

I got a Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas for the fam and it was a big hit, but personally it still seems gimmicky. Ask anybody what Quest titles to get and you can tell they really struggle except "beat saber". It's always beat saber. Which in my mind is still a rythm/ wait for it, gimmick! game.


I dunno, I love the business side of video games tech and VR I really had no clear idea which way it would go. Just been observing the market for a few yrs. STILL kinda dont know lol. Doesnt SEEM to be going away, doesnt SEEM to be anywhere near supplanting real traditional gaming either. I did read all VR development for anything but Quest (and now PSVR 2) has basically been suspended, which didn't sound like a great thing for the format.

Well, the worst part of this now is we'll get a new surge of obnoxious fanboy pushing of the VR format as a whole as a proxy for pushing whatever Sony is doing (hi, techspot, and the gaming podcast I listen too). Annoying. I swear 90% of VR hype was just because Sony had it's hat in the ring, and there are untold hordes of Sony fanboys on the net (only Nvidia fanboys rivals them for sheer massive, massive numbers and aggressiveness) and a lot of that died off when only Quest was standing. But it will be back now.

I'm not sure what PS4.5 VR will bring quest doesnt. More power? Granted you could get that with a Pc anyway. Anyways PS4.5 is not true next gen anyway more like Ps4.5 (why Returnal is, checks notes, 1080P in 2022) so it does not have that kind of power. A Quest 3 presumably might give the PS4.5 a run in VR.

What troubles me about Quest is I believe Carmack talked about how there's so much corporate red tape you have to go through 65 conflicting API layers and noone will even push 5% of the real chipset power in quest 2. I dont remember the details anymore but it was really bothersome.

Anyways Metaverse is kinda more interesting to VR future than gaming. We'll see on that one. I do believe Zuck, like Bezos, is a visionary (for all the crap he takes) so maybe there is something to it, but maybe not.

If you think it's a gimmick you should go play half life alyx, to the top, any flying/racing game and on and on. It's not gimmicky. However, having said that I find I almost never play with my rift anymore. I think it's the faff of setting it up and literally closing yourself off from the world (and it destroys my hair cut!). A bit like with my racing wheel which I rarely use anymore. Whenever I do get over the mental obstacle of putting on the vr headset, though, I always wonder why I don't do this more often as being inside a game, as opposed to viewing a game on a screen, is such a transformative experience (though it's also physically demanding which might be another off-putting aspect). I think when these things become literally a pair of glasses I'll be fully onboard once more.

 

[Steveb8189]

I just hope the frame rate is better than in the teaser video