Sony PlayStation VR

Who can forget the resurgence of interest from the Lawnmower Man movie in 1992 leading to dodgy looking VR arcade machines? We may have been going mad for it back then, but until recently VR at home has remained out of reach for most people. Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR changed that, but not before the early adopters in the PC world got their hands on Vive and Rift, those rather expensive headsets that require equally expensive PC hardware to run them at their full potential. Sony’s PSVR aims to provide a middle ground to this market with a fuller VR experience than the mobile headsets but with a budget and hardware that isn’t as high end as the PC. It’s important to state this before going any further because it puts the PSVR into perspective, it’s around half the price of the PC VR sets but promises the same sort of experience, albeit with a little less detail. It might the price of a new console, but that’s still far more affordable than the price of a high end PC. But nobody was really sure it could live up to even these expectations, can a device like this really run from a console built in 2013? It seems it can, with some caveats. You’ll also need to ensure you either own or buy the PS4 camera. It came with early PS4 packs but can be bought separately, with a new version out to match the PSVR. Move controllers are optional, but improve the experience in some games. They can be found second hand or in the new dual packs designed for VR. First things first, though. For a fairly small headset, the box is absolutely massive. It’s actually designed really well, with a little piece of material that opens the triangular lid half way and reveals the neatly packed wealth of small boxes that could easily go to form a real life game of Sony’s VR title Tumble. The reason for all these boxes? Wires, tons of them. The box contains the headset itself, a breakout box, a full power supply in 2 pieces, a USB lead, 3 HDMI leads (1 to the Playstation and 2 for each eye of the VR headset). There’s a lead that then comes out of the headset and into the smaller box that takes the 2 HDMI cables and transfers the signal to the eyes. This contains an in-line remote to turn the headset on and off and also allows you to plug in headphones (a set of matching earphones is included, though I can never get in-ear earphones to stay in my ears, but that might just be me. The headset feels very comfortable in use, thanks in part to the high quality materials used. The headband is stretchable to fit any size head and is easy to adjust, while the actual lenses move in and out to fit your face, even if you wear glasses. Once connected, turning the headset on immediately takes you to the PS4’s menu inside the headset, with a picture on the TV mimicking what you see but in 2D. This is great for others who may be watching you make a fool of yourself while wearing the headset or for sharing your PSVR experiences. psvr-trying-on and this is how you look with the PSVR on. Very fetching. The actual experience differs based on the game or application you’re playing. Many games require just the Dualshock to control but have the option of using 2 Move controllers. These might be throwbacks to the previous generation, but they still work fairly well. There were a few instances, though, when the camera refused to pick them up as they were outside of the space, but most games will take advantage of the space and will compensate for this. The camera itself is used for face tracking. It’s possible to look 360 degrees around and see things behind you, the headset can cope with this, but tracking movement of things like the move controllers or targets won’t work. This is similar to the situation with Oculus Rift which is actually getting more cameras to support the forthcoming touch controllers, so this may be an option for Sony in the future. For now, though,it just requires games to realise the limitations and work around them. Thankfully, as Rift is similar, many titles have been ported over easily enough and will continue to share the larger catalogue of games as developers get a grip on the new tech. Sony have managed to get full HD (1920×1080) for the headset via screens that show 960×1080 per eye and up to 120Hz refresh. The Vive and Rift are both 90Hz as well, though they both have better resolutions of 2160×1200 overall. In practice, there is a little difference in picture quality, but in most games this isn’t really noticable when you’re in the thick of things. Motion Sickness is another big issue for VR. Gear VR, Rift and Vive owners have experienced some sort of VR Sickness in games that require fast paced movement without a centre point to keep them focused. It’s the same for PSVR. The 90Hz to 120Hz (depending on game) refresh rate does help to keep this to a minimum, as it does on Vive and Rift, but some games will affect people more than others. I found RIGS in particular to be a bit of a stomach churning experience, whereas games like Thumper and Battlezone were fine. Overall, though, it’s a hefty investment, though nowhere near that of its PC rivals and although there are plenty of launch games to keep you busy, if you’re worried about the outlay then it may well be worth waiting to see what else developers can do with the format. For those that can afford it, the Playstation VR hardware is impressive for the price point as an accessible console Virtual Reality solution that can run happily on a standard PS4.

I pre ordered my PSVR. I love new technology. It arrived Friday evening the day after release which was a bit disappointing from Amazon who usually deliver on release day. They had emailed a few weeks in advance so it was not a surprise. It took about 10 minutes to set up following the simple instructions. Lots of cables as everyone has said but you can leave the ties on most of them and you just move the TVs hdmi so pretty easy. Mine is all in a cupboard as the wife doesn't like the mess so all tidy. I have to keep the cupboard doors open when playing due to the heat but that was always the case with the PS3 and PS4. To give my review context I love gaming, I have three boys (11 and twins 8) and a daughter 4. We play a lot of games, mainly board and card games, together but my daughter can't really play. I started with VR worlds. As I am sore most did with this title first was the shark dive. This really shows what this thing can do, even the wife had a go and was impressed and that's saying something! The London Heist is amazing too, sitting in the old east end pub picking up and lighting a cigar, you can actually smoke it by sucking as the mic picks up the sucking noise! The game is mainly visual again showing off what the device can do. I banged my head because you can lean over and look over things, it's really cool. The game parts are shooting and these are fun though brief. Watch out for kids with this one though because the hard man character shouts the F word pretty much non stop throughout! The other game we enjoyed on there was the danger ball. It's a simple bat and ball type game like the old Atari thing you played with paddles, only you play it with your head. The 3D view makes this awesome. The free playroom app is a lot of fun and this let me and the four kids all play together as a few games are 2-5 player. One in the VR headset, the others either shouting out instructions or playing with controllers. They say the headset is for over 12s but my kids were fine with it. I kept it to short bursts of play, the PlayRoom game (free) helped here. Sunday morning 05:30 my daughter came in to wake me up to ask if she can be the cat again! So lovely that she can play a game with us that she can understand and be properly involved. This was one of the best two mini games where the VR person is a cat and the rest are mice collecting cheese. Lots of fun, basically the cat has to stick their head out of the curtains and catch the mice moving. The mice have to dash about collecting cheese but freeze when the cat sticks their head out. They hide under a can or milk carton. Lots of fun. There are fun visual rewards for the winner. The monster one is fun too but make sure the monster has plenty of space as they are dodging all over to get out of the way of the many things the other players throw at them. I have move controllers from my old PS3 but have not used them yet so can't comment on their use. I can't wait for some sort of tennis game in this. A final word about the graphics, they are not as good as a normal PS4 game but who would expect that, plenty good enough. We all think the experience in the headset is way better than what you see on the screen. No screenshot or video could ever do it justice so try it, lots of shops are doing demos now. I think you will be blown away. My kids and I really love this, it's expensive but what fun! Right my turn to be the cat!

If your reading this then you've probably read and watched countless other reviewers talk about pixel density, screen door effect, sub particle accelerators etc. so I'm going to try and deviate from the flock and maybe touch on the stuff that actually matters. [...]. My Experience: Gamer/Father/Husband/VR Nut What’s in this Review? These are the sections I cover in my review: - Comfort: Like Wearing a Cloud - Experience: Creativity Is Key - Graphics: All in Your Mind - Wires and Set Up: Not an Issue - Content: Lacking - Games: My Thoughts - Video Attached: My wife freaking out after 20 Seconds in VR - Cinematic Mode Review UPDATE: Drift Fix (at the bottom) First, my previous experience: I bought this on Launch day and have spent hours in the thing. I'm an avid gamer, and have always wanted to be an early adopter for VR but the usual price tags have scared me away. I have had other headsets for over a year (FreeFly and BoboVR) and have also tried the Oculus, and now with PSVR being affordable, I am now offically an early adopter! So let's get into this review! Comfort: Like Wearing a Cloud Obviously the first thing everyone notices is how comfortably this sits on your head. My other VR headsets I could never imagine spending more than 20 minutes in them, but I can confirm that you can spend up to 1-2 hours in this before you start feeling any discomfort at all. What discomfort you ask? - Forehead gets sweaty where the rubber piece sits, but this is manageable - Inside the goggles start to get hot so you feel slight heat on your eyes - also manageable - Some games strain your eyes more (Eve Valkyrie) Whereas others where your looking straight ahead aren't as bad. This actually made me stop playing a few times I will note however that Sony are just amazing because they have a button that extends the goggles away from your eyes so you don't have to take it off to get relief from these discomforts. I found myself doing this between levels or on loading screens so my eyes could breath for a while. Another huge benefit to this goggle extension is that you can actually interact with the real world. It's such a major plus point to able to peak around the room to re-orient myself, or to be able to switch between the tv remote/ps4 DS/Move controller/AC Remote. It's also great to quickly look around to see if anyone is laughing at how stupid you look (do you really care?). Though it is bulky (you can feel this when you extend it and mess up the weight distribution) once its on its quite solid. No game I've played so far has caused it to shake out of position or warranted me to stop doing what I'm doing to readjust it on my head. It does not feel like any particular part of your head is in any discomfort. Afterwards your hairline in the front might feel a bit wonky, but nothing major. Nausea. Not a single person that has tried mine so far has felt any kind of nausea. I personally get sea sick and car sick on long drives, but I have felt nothing, not even in the slightest, in PSVR. I even tried to induce it by spinning at full speed on Eve Valkyrie but nada. I'll list all my games with a short feedback at the bottom of this review. Experience: Creativity is Key The experience really varies based on the developer and how well they have understood the medium. Great games make use of the move controllers in ways that really immerse the user. Opening drawers in London Heist is just amazing and natural. I would be keeping my eye on an enemy, whilst opening a drawer, picking up a gun and clip and loading the gun, without taking my eyes off the enemy (Find my Amazon review for PS Worlds to see this video). This kind of immersion, where you don't need to look at something, yet know that it's still there, is just amazing. It truly pulls you into that world. Other games that are simply just ports into VR and don't make use of the 3D canvas are simply not worth it. Jump scares are fantastic in VR. I'm totally desensitized to jump scares in Hollywood movies, you always know when they're coming. But in Rush of Blood, you'll be shooting at clowns, whilst ducking to avoid spinning razors and all of a sudden an apparition will appear right in front of you totally unexpected. Now that's good horror! If you want your friends to try it out, I get my gamer friends to try either London Heist or Batman and my non-gamer friends I stick to Ocean Descent. All of these are fantastic in VR and exemplify the technology and its capabilities. Simple games like Thumper are EPIC in VR. You time your button pressing to the beat and when you hit the right note, it sends a signal to the end of the line with a satisfying explosion that gets your heart pumping. Another experience that really stood out to me was doing 3D drawings in Harmonix Studio. Being able to draw in a 3D space is something that just can't be explained, you just have to experience it to understand how revolutionary it is to art. I'm not an artist, but drawing squiggly lines in 3D that pump to your music just absolutely made my night. You can spend hours in 3D drawing squiggly lines, mark my words (pun intended). All in all PSVR is very immersive, when the developer gets it right. But can be horribly laborious and boring when they get it wrong. Loading Human sounded great on paper, but the movements just aren't right. Pulling open drawers and throwing things around just doesn't feel as natural as in London Heist or Batman. Walking just feels awkward because the character's legs move in the exact same animation whilst you move like Donkey Kongs legs on a Game&Watch (remember those?). I keep popping this back into my console to give it another chance (I paid for it after all), but really can't stand the rigid gameplay mechanics. Graphics: It's all in your mind So many people are complaining about the graphics being low resolution. Yes, they are. But all my friends who tried it just mentioned that as an afterthought. It really does not take away from the experience to have things in low resolution. Job simulator was just a cartoon virtual reality and it was my wife's favorite game. She had a ball of a time figuring out how to make coffee and overload it with sugar, just to chuck it at the guy in the cubicle next door. I think the real issue with graphics is when a game is trying too hard to look realistic. Ocean Descent and London Heist are good examples of this. Yes they do a fantastic job, but because the subject matter is so "real world" it's a target for people to notice that "it just doesn't look real enough". They make up for it by having awesome shark jump scares and satisfying gun and hand mechanisms that feel natural. I remember how my friends mind simply blew when I told him he can stand up and shoot over the counter, or that he can lean out the window and shoot over the car to the other side. Wires and Set Up: Not an Issue Almost everyone has complained that there is too many wires to the point that it looks like snakes and ladders over your carpet. I totally disagree. If you have a smart setup for your TV top then really its no fuss. My wife is an absolute neat freak and she hasn't even once told me off (yet). The wires that come out the back of the processing unit get hidden behind your TV counter. The wires that connect from the front to your headset, you just have to remove when your done and store away. This just leaves the one wire that goes from the front of the ps4 to the processing unit, which I disconnect after each play and let it hang behind my counter. It's not enough work to make me feel like not doing it so I don't hold any grudges against Sony for this. However, if you have no TV counter to hide the wires behind then you will have at least 3 additional wires to manage on the back of the processessing unit (HDMI, Power and USB). At this juncture I'd just like to note that it wasn't too long ago that we had wired controllers and nobody complained then that wires are sprawled all over the floor from the console to the controller, so why are people getting all huffpuffed over this? I'll try to post a picture of my set up to illustrate that it is possible to have this set up without looking anything like how people have been describing it online. Content: Lacking I was so excited for so many of the launch titles, but unfortunately most of them have been disappointments. This is a major point and the main reason I have not given the PSVR 4 stars and not 5. The device is totally dependent on having awesome content that makes use of its capabilities. Some may say it's wrong to penalize a review for a device because of the content of 3rd party developers not being up to par, but we have to be honest here. If the content is not good, then VR will fail and none of us want to do that so we have to raise our concerns to everyone involved. Besides, this is my personal review so if you disagree with anything then feel free to leave me a comment and question and I'll respond within minutes. UPDATE: Everyone had really high hopes for Robinson which just released. Now reviewers are saying that although graphics are great, gameplay is terrible and not thought out well. Just goes to prove this point further. Games: My Thoughts So here is the list of games that I have bought and tried extensively. Eve Valkyrie: The first time you launch from... no scratch that... EVERY TIME you launch from the launch pad is just an amazing feeling. The game itself is rooted in solid game play and mechanics that feel natural. You need internet to play this game. I mean even just to get it to run, you need to have internet and to be connected to PSN. If you really want to have any fun with it then you'll also need a PSN Plus account so you can play with other humans. When you play with the bots you'll just be flying in circles trying to get to them and they'll be flying in the same circle over and over. Playing with other humans online is really fun. PS Worlds:These 5 mini games, though exemplify the technology well, don’t offer any replayability. You’ll try them once or twice and then only load it again when you have visitors. But that’s where it really shines. When it comes to showing off the technology, people want short bursts of VR goodness, which is what this offers. It’s really funny to see if people can make it through Ocean Descent without freaking out. I’ll try attaching a video of my wife bugging out when the lights in the cage go out. - MY FULL REVIEW LINK (with video): https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1DPHD9TW9Z5HT/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm Batman: Guests will be wooed by PS worlds, as for you, your first experience really should be batman. Good graphics, great motion tracking and overall a fun experience for your first dive into VR. Once again, it is quite short and can pretty much only be played once or twice before you want to go onto other things. Rush of Blood: Okay, this is one game that pretty much did everything right. They were aiming for an on-the-rails shooter with lots of jump scares and that’s exactly what it is. Tracking is great, depth is used well and it just basically works really well for VR. This is a MUST BUY game. Nothing freaks me out normally, but this game constantly has me jumping back in fright and emptying a clip after clip in a panic stricken frenzy. Just awesome. Loading Human – Chapter 1: Please don’t buy this game. It’s just wrong and sets a bad premise for how VR games should be. Although at times the visuals can be pretty good, the game play and motion tracking is just terrible. Your hands don’t feel natural when you interact with objects, and that’s the biggest mood killer in VR. When you find yourself adjusting the way you would normally do things, just so that your VR avatar will insert a key straight? No thanks. Call of Duty: The Jackal Mission: This was pretty cool. Considering it’s free I would highly recommend everyone downloads a copy of this (only 1.2 gb) from the Playstore. The gameplay is fun and although it’s only 5 minutes, it does inch just a little closer to the Ace Combat style game that we’re all waiting for. Some honorable mentions: Thumper feels epic in VR. Job Simulator is pretty cool and can keep you busy for hours. Harmonix VR drawing in 3D is a game changer. UPDATE: I bought Job Simulator after playing the demo over and over (and after convincing my wife it was the same price as a meal for 2 at Nandos). I'm already super bored; there simply isn't enough humour or creative flexibility to keep me coming back to play it. UPDATE ON CINEMATIC MODE: Yesterday I decided to stop with the VR for a while so I could finish Rise of the Tomb Raider. After a few minutes I thought, let me just TRY cinematic mode and see if it's as bad as people say. I played for a while and played in the Large mode, but it wasn't working out. It's simply too big and you end up having to look around too much (only the center is focused fully, peripheral vision is a bit blurry). Then I switched to medium mode and played for an hour or so. My observations were surprising: - It does immerse you more into the game. The screen is still gigantic in medium mode and you feel more up close and personal with the action. - The sound does something no reviewer raves enough about. It actually works like a perfectly set up surround sound. The center (voice channel) is virtually infront of you etc. This means when I turn my head when Lara's talking then it feels like it's coming from infront of me whilst the dripping of the cave and wind still comes from everywhere. So if I look left, then Lara's voice is in my right ear, simulating the center channel coming from the screen (where Lara is). This was also very impressive and immersing. - The colours "pop" more in PSVR - After an hour I told myself, let me go back to my 50 inch LCD and surely I'll realize why people were complaining about cinematic mode. I lasted about 5 minutes playing the usual way before switching back to VR. It was simply not fun playing on the dull tiny (in comparison) TV screen. - After this I'm a bit worried as I really don't know how I'll go back to generic gaming - Having said so Fifa 17 was not enjoyable in Cinematic Mode. It just seemed like it wasn't worth strapping a contraption on your head since most of FIFA is about the fun of strategy and skill (and not immersion). To illustrate this point, just think that you could play FIFA without sound and it would almost equally as fun. UPDATE: DRIFT FIX So one thing that I haven't mentioned that nags at me every time I play PSVR is the fact that the world drifts to the left every time I play. On some games holding start will recenter the world, but on other games it permanently keeps drifting and holding start does not recenter. I found a work around this problem that I'm surprised to have not read online yet. When this happens there's 2 methods I have used to recenter the image (after you check that there's no lighting interference). Method 1 Move your head left and right a few times to your fullest extent. Then look ahead and the VR world will be centered again. You look like an idiot doing this but at least it helps you see straight! Method 2 2. Walk right up to the camera and do the same thing closer to the camera. Then just back up and the world should be centered. As soon as I have videos of the above methods I'll post them. Hope this helps someone out there! Everything above is just my humble opinion. Does yours differ? Have any questions? Please let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure to respond asap. Thanks for listening, and remember …*Puts on headset…*forgets punchline

I got this kit because I was excited by the possibilities of VR. I still am. Short story: It's an enjoyable experience, however it lacks the games to make it really shine (although Job Simulator is surprisingly enjoyable) and is imperfectly designed so that basic usage has small irritations which I will explain in the long story. I do like the VR experience, but I will be returning the kit and waiting for the next iteration. Long story: The installation and set up of the kit is pretty simple. No issues there. The kit is surprisingly comfortable although the cables get in the way a little and the headphones can get a little tangled. First impressions were that it was a little blurry and I had trouble keeping a position where it stayed in focus for any length of time. I have since discovered two things: 1. It fogs up fairly easily over time and so it's advisable to use a microfibre cloth every 10 minutes or so. 2. The set up procedure leaves out an important step which measures the distance between your eyes. This is important and shouldn't be skipped. Luckily it's easy to do and is fairly easy to access. Once I did this the blurriness was less of an issue. It still happens, but much less. I then played all the available VR demos, I bought Rez Infinite, and tried the X-Wing mission in Battlefield. In all cases except Job Simulator I had a similar experience which was an initial excitement of entering a new world, followed by a slow dawning disappointment about the games themselves and minor quibbles with the head set. The headset goes over your eyes obviously and this means you can't really see anything else. This is perfect for when you are fully in the game experience, but if you need to pick up a controller, or see what button you are pressing, you'll have trouble. When the headset steams up you need to partially or fully remove it to wipe the lenses. Then put the headset back on, and then feel about for you controller. Not a disaster, but annoying. This is worse if you are using a game with the move controllers (like the excellent Job Simulator) because the move controllers don't seem to be integrated into the PS4 dashboard properly yet. You can't, for instance, select left and right items, because the motion isn't detected in the dashboard, probably for good reasons, and the move controller doesn't have a D-Pad built into it. Version 2.0 should really have a front mounted camera, and some way to vent the inside of the visor. In terms of tracking, I had a relatively ok time with it. There was some noticeable second-to-second drift in Drivetime VR, and I'd have to recalibrate the centre position on most games every few minutes, which sounds bad but all it involves is holding down the option button for a second. Not really a problem, although a slight niggle. People have also complained about the screen door effect. It's certainly there, but it didn't bother me. Your mileage may vary. The games are generally well made. The experience of getting into an X-Wing cockpit is very good. The London Heist demo is surprisingly fun given how simple it is (with Motion controllers). The RIGS demo seems particularly polished and is the only one out of all of them that gave me a distinct sense of movement and motion (which apparently makes some people sick, but I liked it). Job Simulator (with motion controllers) was for me the most fun and immersive. It's very silly and I wasn't expecting to like it nearly as much as I did. With the exception of Job Simulator, and perhaps RIGS and London Heist demos, all the games fell a little flat even within the course of the short demo time. The X-Wing mission seemed a bit rushed. The starfield felt like it was a low res image stuck on a sphere. The battles with TIE fighters felt messy and unrewarding. No where near the fun of the X-Wing/TIE fighter games of yore. Maybe rose tinted glasses there but the original games had much more exciting battles, better UI to determine where things were in space, and a far better shield/engine/weapon mechanic. It felt like it was designed for an audience that were new to games. I hope this is improved in the full experience. As a taster it certainly showed potential. The Kitchen Demo didn't scare me at all. Perhaps I'm alone there. Far more terrifying is Alien Isolation without VR. I hope they do a VR version one day. Drivetime VR felt like I was driving a large plastic toy around. I'm told the environments are impressive in the full game. Rez is great in VR, but Rez is great without VR. Fortunately Rez can be played both ways so when I return the VR kit, I'll still be able to play it. It seems the sensible thing to do is release a game with VR content optional if possible, rather than VR only. I expect there'll be more examples of this in future game releases. All the other demos had their moments, but few of them, and some were just dull games through no fault of the VR tech. I didn't play Batman VR. I hear it's very good. In summary, I think there is a lot of potential here and if you have money to spare it's a good purchase. 3 stars is good. To make it great it really needs to get better designed games and these changes to the kit: 1. A vent for the lenses, or other suitable de-fogging system. 2. Integrate the eye distance setup into the main setup. 3. A forward looking camera you can turn on and off at will so you can look around the room you are in, or a way to easily slide the visor out of the way without taking it off. Or both. 4. Better cable management, although that's going to be tricky to do. 5. integrate the motion controllers into the dashboard better. 6. improve tracking. The system uses old tech and it's passable, but it's not great. It's certainly a good start to VR. If you can't wait to get in, then buy it, I'm sure better games will be coming out soon to solve a lot of the issues here. I'm going to send mine back, rather regretfully, and wait for the next iteration.

I've been a dedicated Playstation fan since I was a young lad (I'm now 25). PS1, PS2, PS3 and now the PS4, I'm a loyal customer and genuinely think that Sony delivers not only the best gaming consoles out there, but some pretty amazing exclusives too. Decided to invest in a Playstation VR after a LOT of debating, and my god, what an experience! None of the reviews or endless gaming videos on Youtube of people wearing the VR do it any justice. It's one of those things you HAVE to play for yourself to fully get how fantastic and immersive it truly is. It is truly the future of gaming, and a very exciting time to be a gamer. Set-up is fairly easy and doesn't take too long. Just be prepared that there are quite a few wires that you'll be fiddling around with. The headset itself is comfortable and adjustable to fit all head sizes. Quality of the lens view itself is fantastic, though make sure you wipe the lens carefully each time you use it (cloth provided) and adjust the eye-distance and other little headset settings with the VR camera (which you will need to purchase separately). The VR headset/experience itself? Brilliant. Nothing I say will do it justice until you try it for yourself. There isn't a huge catalogue of games available currently, but Resident Evil 7, which I'm currently playing in VR, is worth the price alone! Absolutely immersive, terrifying and heart attack worthy. I'm very excited to see what future games developers have in store for PSVR. Another feature that you may be interested in is the recent implement of being able to play 3D Blu-rays (as well as standard) in a 'cinematic mode' on the headset. Oh yes, it's fantastic! It looks like you have your very own seat in Vue or Cineworld. Did you hear that right? Yes! It looks like you have your VERY OWN CINEMA SEAT. So go out and get one of these bad boys. Truly worth the money if you are looking for a little treat for yourself. Reminder: You must own a PS4/PS4 Pro, Dual-shock controller and PS4 camera to support VR. PSMove controller for certain games only/optional. All bought separately. Happy VR gaming!

One day consumer VR will be a sleek, wireless, high fidelity experience – rather than like lowering yourself into a 3DS game inside a rubber diving bell with an air leak while an invisible octopus tries to mate with your arms and neck. One day it will be worth it. Today is not that day. Sadly, PSVR is perhaps the least consumer friendly entertainment product I have ever encountered. Setting up all its cables is like wrestling with an octopus or giant squid. And that's when you can actually set it up at all. The processor unit and HDMI output back into my TV does not work on my launch PS4, nor apparently on many other people's launch PS4s. This actually makes the unit completely inoperable unless you can turn it on, quickly unplug the PS4 HDMI, plug it into the TV and update the VR unit firmware - all before it turns off again. (A process I discovered by accident, following two hours of troubleshooting.) Thereafter, the experience is occasionally wonderful, but most often mediocre or infuriating (and it still won't display on the TV): - The lenses endlessly fog up; you have to keep pulling off the headset and wiping them with the included cloth. - The field of vision feels limited; all your peripheral view is dominated by the rubber mask. It's not like being in another world. At its best it's like being in a diving bell inside another world. - The tracking is maddening: jerking, jumping, shuddering ever few minutes – or subtly drifting to the left or right the whole time so that you find yourself shifting your chair round to follow it, and after half an hour are almost 90 degrees from where you started. I have followed all the guidance on setting up the camera, using it in a dark room, etc. To no avail. - The image is often dull or pixelated and cheap looking. When displaying pitch black or dark solid colours an obvious screen texture is visible. - The headset is exceedingly difficult to get focused properly. One wobble or jog or minor adjustment and it falls out of focus. - The games are very brief and lightweight. You will not believe how soon Batman VR or PlayStation Worlds is over. - The cable attaching the headset to the processor unit is bulky and not very long; it's a constant distraction in games, and you'll often catch your arm on it and jerk the headset violently - a horrible experience. Having to have wired audio adds to this entanglement. - Sony big cheese Shuhei Yoshida recommended the use of the Gold PS4 headphones in conjunction with PSVR, but they only just fit over the top if you have the VR headset in pretty much one rather awkward position (even then it is a serious squeeze). I finally got the VR headset focused and comfortable and it turned out I had to shift it an inch or two just to have audio, thereby losing the focus and comfort. - My unit also had several dead/flickering pixels on the right hand side of the screen. - Watching 360 video is a big letdown. I thought it would be immersive; it left me totally indifferent. This is obviously not PSVR's fault - it's just the first time I've seen video in that format. It's really not that immersive or exciting. I still believe in the potential of VR. There is a fleeting magic in some games of feeling like you're inside another world - especially with motion controls, where your 'hands' are visible in that space with you - but this is such a compromised version of it that it has put me off it for another 5-10 years.

I entered this experience as a Virtual Reality virgin having followed the various VR headsets on the market without actually trying any out. I originally went for the PSVR purely on the basis that I already owned a PS4 and that it was relatively inexpensive compared to the other market leaders (i understood that i would be making some technical compromises but Sony usually put out a quality product and i had faith that that pattern would continue). My decision to purchase this was reinforced by the positive reviews concerning its design and comfort when compared with the Vive and Occulus. If im going to be wearing something on my head/face, possibly for hours at a time, it had better be comfortable otherwise it's a pointless purchase. I've been playing with it for the past five hours (and no, I haven't gone blind!) and i have absolutely no regrets about shelling out 350 quid for what is turning out to be an amazing bit of kit. Out of the box it was simple to set up and although there are a plethora of cables you can tidy things up by removing the headset and (lengthy) cable from the front of the processor unit for storage elsewhere if you're not planning on using it for a while. Calibration was also a simple task and I have yet to experience any tracking issues that have been mentioned in various reveiws, however i did make a point of closing all the blinds in my living room to make it as dark as possible. I had to get up a few times initially to make minor angle adjustments to my (original) PS4 camera so that my head would fit in a virtual square, but never had to touch it again after that (although i was seated for my entire 5 hour playing time because of an achilles injury, so don't know if any adjustment would need to be made when standing up). I am happy to report that I experienced zero discomfort issues although not being able to see whilst trying to reach for various controllers around me took some getting used to, but being able to extend the visor to allow a little external vision certainly helped. It also can get a little warm around your eyes but again, extending the visor periodically helps keep it ventilated. I played Tumble vr, london heist, ocean descent and vr luge and whilst they all offered great experiences, London Heist was by far the most immersive. I actually felt the need to duck during an interrogation scene when a punch was thrown at me! Motion sickness has not been an issue so far, however the visuals are a little blurred at times and could benefit from being a bit sharper but that's a minor quibble for me when assessing the overall experience. I'm building up to playing Batman Arkham VR, Rush of blood and Driveclub with a little PLayroom VR in between. Time will no doubt tell if there are any technical issues but so far I have at times been left in awe of the feeling of 'being there' especially when using a good pair of over the ear headphones. Looking forward to playing an atmospheric horror game such as (hopefully) resident evil and I love the fact that the UK playstation store already allows you to download the demos that formed part of the US demo disc which were not available on the UK one that comes packaged with the headset: here they lie, until dawn, job simulator, rez infinite and thumper (to name the main ones in my opinion). Well done Sony! UPDATE (2300 - 13.10.16) Just had my first taste of a VR Horror demo (Kitchen: Resident Evil 7 demo) OMG! Talk about a brief but extremely intense experience! Turn the lights off, throw your headset/headphones on, crank up the volume and feel your heart rate increase. I'll admit it, I closed my eyes at one point and got goosebumps! I need some virtual fluffy bunnies.....RIGHT NOW!!

Okay, I will admit I am a gadget nerd, and I had to try VR pretty much as soon as it was available, but the price of the PC systems put me off. This system is well priced (assuming you already have a PS4, but to be fair you can get PSVR and PS4 to run it for pretty much the same price as the HTC Vive without a high-end PC to run it. Even so I ordered PSVR "unseen", and I don't regret it for a second. Not every game I have tried is necessarily to my taste, but they have almost all been amazing in some way. This is a genuine VR unit, not a compromised "toy" version - it's a quality Sony product, comfy, easy to use, but most of all it has some genuinely slick and high quality games and apps available. A lot of the early games have a bit of "tech demo" feel about them, but so do a lot of early console games, they will get better. Obviously the 3D display is the main feature, but little mentioned is the 3D surround sound that means that even with the included ear-buds you get amazing sound that sounds like it is coming from above, behind, whatever, and sounds move around as you turn your head and follow the image you see - it really helps to sell the illusion that you are in another place. The moment you put it on and fire up a game you realise why this is the future. You are no longer watching a game from the outside, you are literally in it. No YouTube videos or streaming can begin to convey what it actually feels like to play a VR game, you just have to try it. Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood, Batman Arkham VR and Thumper are the best games I tried so far, and all would be nowhere near as good as TV based games. My wife's reaction to the VR Worlds Ocean Descent (the "shark level") was worth the money on it's own! Sony also did a pretty good job of making a potentially solitary experience as social as possible with a shared screen display and even games that allow some players to,join in on the TV and see something different to the VR user - we had great fun with the Monster game where the VR user plays a cartoon Godzilla type and the TV players play as little robots trying to stop the monster. I'm delighted with the PSVR so far, and I can't wait for some of the upcoming games, especially the Star Wars X-Wing mission coming soon.