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mocoworm · Dec 16, 2015

The retail PlayStation VR's processing box is about the size of a Wii - PlayStation VR still remains the most consumer looking of the VR kits

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/16/10287734/retail-playstation-vr-box

https://www.facebook.com/polygon/posts/1092330687446225

The final retail version of the PlayStation VR headset — codenamed Project Morpheus — will plug into a sizable black box before plugging into the PlayStation 4.

While PlayStation officials have discussed the need for the VR headset's processing box, it wasn't clear what form it would finally take.

I got a chance to check out the retail version of the headset during a demo of the VirZoom bike earlier this month. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures or ask the VirZoom developers any questions about it, other then to confirm it was the final retail version, not a dev kit. But I was allowed to examine it closely and try it on.

As we learned earlier this year, the PlayStation VR headset doesn't plug directly into the PlayStation 4. Instead, it plugs into a processing box, which in turn plugs into the PlayStation 4. This allows people to use the TV and PS4 to interact with, or just watch, the person playing their VR game.

The black box looked a bit smaller than a Wii and is used to process the VR graphics and sort out the second-screen social experience on the television.

The headset itself felt refined in a way that only a company like Sony can deliver. Everything felt comfortable, futuristic, neatly designed, from the way the headset slipped onto your head and tightened with a dial built into the back of the headband, to the ability to pull the 5.7-inch OLED display away from or against your face while playing.

It is, to date, the most comfortable VR headset I've tried on, a list which includes both Oculus and Vive. It feels like a device designed to be treated like a game controller or a remote; something that you can pick up and put on with out much fuss.

Project Morpheus was announced at the 2014 Game Developers Conference and made appearances at a number of other conferences as development on the device continued. This September, Sony changed the name of the device to PlayStation VR and confirmed that it would be coming out in the first half of 2016.

A number of games were announced for the device during the PlayStation Experience earlier this month.

https://youtu.be/LMq8gQkljMw

sj00 · Dec 16, 2015

I can't wait to get my hands on one.

TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared · Dec 16, 2015

I find it difficult to think I'd put say, 300 - 400 down on one without trying it though. The price tag is hefty for something thats difficult to demo and what not.

Infinite_Daremo · Dec 16, 2015

TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared said:
I find it difficult to think I'd put say, €300 - €400 down on one without trying it though. The price tag is hefty for something thats difficult to demo and what not.

There'll be Kinect like "demo" stalls everywhere for it I imagine. Can't think of any other way they're gonna shift it besides word of mouth and Oprah plugs.

RdN · Dec 16, 2015

I'm curious about this "processing box" that the headset is plugged in.

LiquidMetal14 · Dec 16, 2015

Getting closer to VR and PS4 and PC we can taste it.

Turkoop · Dec 16, 2015

LOL, Polygon wrote positive things about Sony ^^

FATALITY · Dec 16, 2015

i have a feeling we will have another ps4 price situation here.
ps vr will be £200.

Transistor · Dec 16, 2015

I'm in for one on day one. It's going to be the most successful VR platform, hands down.

stryke · Dec 16, 2015

I'm not seeing thread title anywhere in the article...?

TheAusHulk · Dec 16, 2015

I'm all in! Give it to me now!

spectator · Dec 16, 2015

Veins. NOW.

I'm curious if they're going to sell this bundled with the EyeToy and/or Move as well.

BrettHeazy · Dec 16, 2015

it's coming...

jmaine_ph · Dec 16, 2015

The size of a Wii? That's not huge but I didn't expect it to be that big.

But forget all of that! Give it to me now!!!

DizzyCaffeine · Dec 16, 2015

I'm really looking forward to VR, but after Move and EyeToy, I have a hard time trusting that Sony will give this the support it deserves.

Raist · Dec 16, 2015

stryke said:
I'm not seeing thread title anywhere in the article...?

It's from their facebook post.

Mihos · Dec 16, 2015

I am still seduced from before. Just release it and some games and I will give you my credit card number, no questions asked.

sense · Dec 16, 2015

The standalone box will also help in running regular ps4 games at higher resolutions is my prediction

Mikeside · Dec 16, 2015

stryke said:
I'm not seeing thread title anywhere in the article...?

it's what they posted on Facebook to link to their article

mocoworm · Dec 16, 2015

stryke said:
I'm not seeing thread title anywhere in the article...?

https://www.facebook.com/polygon/posts/1092330687446225

Better now?

That link was also in the OP.

RealityCheque · Dec 16, 2015

Infinite_Daremo said:
There'll be Kinect like "demo" stalls everywhere for it I imagine. Can't think of any other way they're gonna shift it besides word of mouth and Oprah plugs.

Bring your own antibacterial wipes.

And I'm guessing the box is basically a graphics card. Some more cash to keep AMD on life support!

shortsFortallPeople · Dec 16, 2015

the VR box being the size of a wii, wow. I thought it was going to be PSTV sized but Wii sized is kinda chunky.

Raist · Dec 16, 2015

jmaine_ph said:
The size of a Wii? That's not huge but I didn't expect it to be that big.

But forget all of that! Give it to me now!!!

Well there's been plenty of pictures of it. Granted that's like a dev kit version, but I wouldn't have expected it to be dramatically smaller.

valkillmore · Dec 16, 2015

I'm guessing it will push $400 Canadian which is a shame, but I'll pony up. I bought an iPad when they first came out, no way I'm not getting VR as soon as I can.

darkside31337 · Dec 16, 2015

shortsFortallPeople said:
the VR box being the size of a wii, wow. I thought it was going to be PSTV sized but Wii sized is kinda chunky.

Agreed but hey you're never going to actually see the thing if you're wearing the VR goggles 24/7.

jmaine_ph · Dec 16, 2015

Raist said:
Well there's been plenty of pictures of it. Granted that's like a dev kit version, but I wouldn't have expected it to be dramatically smaller.

Yea I never payed that much attention to it to be honest.

DjRalford · Dec 16, 2015

FATALITY said:
i have a feeling we will have another ps4 price situation here.
ps vr will be £200.

£200 and I'll be there day 1, over £250 and I'd have to think, over £350 and I'd be out.

OléGunner · Dec 16, 2015

Good to know.

Sony's design and aesthetics for consumer electronics is usually world class.

Now we pray for price.

Tadpole · Dec 16, 2015

This is the future folks. Can't wait.

mocoworm · Dec 16, 2015

For me, this will be a day 1 purchase. It's a tech that can't wait to get involved with.

reeperdotcom · Dec 16, 2015

stryke said:
I'm not seeing thread title anywhere in the article...?

That's because that was the title Polygon put on their Facebook page.

sploatee · Dec 16, 2015

mocoworm said:
For me, this will be a day 1 purchase. It's a tech that can't wait to get involved with.

Ditto.

I look forward to shedding my corporeal form and living entirely in the future.

cyberheater · Dec 16, 2015

If they have final hardware now hopefully it will be out next quarter.

I'm also looking forward to getting this modded to work on PC.

Possumowner · Dec 16, 2015

Can't wait to try it,but I'm still conflicted on the VR devices coming out.As I have a powerful PC I may have to go with Occulus or Vive over this.Guess it all comes down to games and price.

mocoworm · Dec 16, 2015

sploatee said:
Ditto.

I look forward to shedding my corporeal form and living entirely in the future.

READY PLAYER ME !

dragonbane · Dec 16, 2015

Cool, that others can watch what you see on the TV as well.

Portugeezer · Dec 16, 2015

Infinite_Daremo said:
There'll be Kinect like "demo" stalls everywhere for it I imagine. Can't think of any other way they're gonna shift it besides word of mouth and Oprah plugs.

Get those antibacterial wipes ready.

revolverjgw · Dec 16, 2015

darkside31337 said:
Agreed but hey you're never going to actually see the thing if you're wearing the VR goggles 24/7.

Still big enough that I'll have to rejigger my gaming arrangement, it's not trivial. It's worth it for what it brings though.

valkillmore · Dec 16, 2015

cyberheater said:
If they have final hardware now hopefully it will be out next quarter.

I'm imagine the waiting game is now all about titles and experiences. What are you most looking forward to experiencing?

I tweeted Shu and asked if we can expect a creative suite of art tools to be made available from Day One. I know Dreams is coming but it's not a launch title, at least not to anyone's knowledge. Do we know of any other creativity based software due to release at or near launch?

kyser73 · Dec 16, 2015

RdN said:
I'm curious about this "processing box" that the headset is plugged in.

It does the following:

3D binaural sound processing
Post-processes the split 'fisheye' images sent to the HMD into a single 2D image for viewing on the TV by non-HMD wearers.
IIRC it also does some kind of lifting with the sensor data from the HMD too.

What it doesn't do is carry out any GPU/CPU work, nor does it assist with frame reprojection/warp (which according to a slide at a Sony VR dev talk, 'runs on a light asynch compute job').

GeoramA · Dec 16, 2015

Price, date, and marketing campaign soon. Plz don't screw this up, Sony.

OverBlood 3 · Dec 16, 2015

I know absolutely nothing about this headset (or any vr headset) so i'm shocked it's coming out so soon!

I assume you can use it to play non vr games on it too?
What about films?

AllIsOneIsNone · Dec 16, 2015

I'm never this pumped for new tech. Please hurry up. I'm gonna purchase the OR and Vive, but I'm going to try to build my PC later so it'll be 4k/60fps ready, i.e. ready for VR round 2.

gofreak · Dec 16, 2015

RdN said:
I'm curious about this "processing box" that the headset is plugged in.

The processing is mostly the bin-aural audio stuff and a bit of post image processing/splitting to feed the required type of image to both the headset and TV for social viewing. The simulation and rendering processing is happening on the PS4 (including the reprojection processing).

reeperdotcom · Dec 16, 2015

I seriously cannot wait for VR to take off. It's going to change everything in media. It's most definitely a good time to be alive.

Memory · Dec 16, 2015

Can't wait to get one of these, I'm hoping PlayStation don't fuck up and under ship to the or create artifical scarcity UK.

I got £500 set aside already for the unit and some launch games. Even my GF is interested in the non game applications after I showed her the E3 tightrope demo.

backbreaker65 · Dec 16, 2015

Damn Polygon is late as fuck, VR Focus has pics of all this shit 2 weeks ago and Polygon talking about they couldn't take pics. WHY?

Thread that was made about it
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1151816&highlight=
Processing Unit

Cable with buttons volume control, a microphone input and a power button

Hermii · Dec 16, 2015

If this thing will be expensive I wonder if Ps5 will support it, or it they want to sell me a new one when that time comes.

ChaosXVI · Dec 16, 2015

I'm still on a "wait and see" basis with PSVR, but damn if it hasn't been slowly winning me over in recent months. I was dead-set against VR up until this year, but now I really, really want to try it out.

I also wish Nintendo would get on board with this...I'd pay $1000 for Metroid Prime HD-VR.

shiftplusone · Dec 16, 2015

Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb Dot Com (a website about video games) is also super impressed with the Sony headset.

I think he ranks em Oculus > PSVR > Vive for comfort/control

I was originally just going to get one of the PC headsets but Sony has shown me enough that I'll be jumping in asap on their solution, too

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