During the GDC 2016, Sony has presented its new PlayStation VR headset. With this new unveil, the company has finally entered the battle with HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
The first interesting thing about this new headset it that it will be cheaper than the competition’s. The new PlayStation VR will be available at the price of 399 dollars, which is an incredible thing. It looks like Sony is aware that to be able to enter the virtual reality market and compete with the famous Oculus Rift, it needs more than just a VR headset.
So, the first thing that Sony has accomplished is to lower down the price. However, releasing a VR headset at a lower price is not as easy as it sounds. Making a VR headset, a technology that uses goggles to strap a display so close to the users’ eyes, tricking the mind into thinking it is transported into another, computer-generated world, is not cheap at all.
That world can be anything from an underwater cage to a spaceship or a jungle, but one thing is sure, it was created by major companies, including Oculust Rift, a Facebook-owned company, HTC, Google and now Sony. The new PlayStation VR will be available on the shelves starting with October 2016.
The 399 dollars price is amazing, especially knowing the fact that HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are priced 799 dollars and 599 dollars, respectively. Moreover, these two headsets also require hefty PC builds, with configurations that can go up to approximately 1000 dollars.
However, we don’t know at this point if the 399 dollars price will also include the PlayStation Camera, a piece that is required for gameplay. To be added that this camera is already available on Amazon at the price of 45 dollars, which is not a major cost and most likely numerous users already have this device.
Another piece that would probably not be included in the package is the orb Move controller, but it is good to know that PlayStation users will also be able to use the motion-tracked DualShock controller that is included in the system.
It is obvious that the new PlayStation VR is built to work with the PlayStation 4 video game console. It is a great thing, especially for gaming fans, who will find this headset to have an excellent piece. PlayStation VR will offer a lower quality image compared to HTC or Oculus, but at the price of 399 dollars it is a compromise that had to be done.
“Virtual reality represents a new frontier for gaming. Once again, PlayStation will be leading the charge to advance the future of interactive entertainment,” has declared Andrew House, Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO.
“These kind of new platforms take a long time to develop,” Zuckerberg has declared last year in November. “Virtual reality and augmented reality could be the next big computing platform,” he continued.
We just need to wait for the moment when Oculus Rift, HTV Vive and PlayStation VR will hit the market.
