Fans of PlayStation VR have a reason to celebrate after Sony announced several new features that will be present in the upcoming follow up to its virtual reality headset. In a press conference that took place August 3 behind closed doors for prospective developers for the new VR system, Sony indicated the direction it intends to go in with VR on the PlayStation 5. PSVR Without Parole, a gaming channel on YouTube which focuses on Sony’s virtual reality system, reported on the news that came out of this press conference.
The first piece of news to come out of this press conference is about the name of the system itself. Instead of simply being referred to as PSVR2, the new system is currently being called NGVR, which stands for Next Generation Virtual Reality. This is similar to what was initially named Next Generation Portable and eventually became the PS Vita, suggesting the NGVR may adopt a new name by the time it’s released.
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The second topic covered in the press conference was the hardware. The new headset will feature Fresnel OLED lenses, with a resolution of 2000×2040 per eye, which gives the headset a 4K HDR display. This is in contrast to the original PSVR’s OLED display with a resolution of 1920×1080 per eye. Also, the NGVR’s field of vision is going to be 110 degrees, ten degrees more than the original PSVR. Processes such as flexible scaling, foveated rendering, and eye tracking will be implemented in order to reduce strain on the players’ eyes as well as the PS5’s hardware. The controllers will have adaptive triggers as well as capacitive touch sensors for the player’s thumbs, index, and middle fingers, which will sense the fingers’ positions on the controllers.
The third and arguably most important topic covered in the showcase was the direction Sony intends to go in regarding the system’s games. As opposed to “VR experiences” which describes most VR games up to this point, Sony wants to host AAA titles for the system in the form of “hybrid” games which would be playable with or without VR. Players who purchase these games would be able to download either VR, non-VR, or both versions. In regard to backwards compatibility, Sony says they intend to make some original PSVR games available on the NGVR.
With the release of this new information regarding a move away from “VR experiences,” Sony makes it clear that they want to change how people see VR from a gimmicky attachment to their console to potentially the best way to play some of their games. As technology continues to advance, VR may begin to take on a new role in gaming, and Sony wants to be at the forefront of that.
A release date for NGVR was not announced, but Sony says it will announce the launch details for the system in early 2022.
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Source: Upload VR
