*insert stuff about why Virtual Reality is the next big thing*
With that out of the way let's jump straight into what we know:
UPDATE: 2014:
John Smedley (SOE) basically confirmed it on Reddit: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=99327533&postcount=139
2013:
In September of last year it leaked from trusted sources to Gamesindustry.biz/Eurogamer, CVG and more that Sony is prepping their own Virtual Reality solution (indirectly challenging Oculus Rift) for the PS4. Apparently they were/are surprisingly far into development with various devs having received dev-kits already:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-09-04-inside-new-ps4-vr-headset
In October CCP (the makers of Dust 514 on PS3 and EVE Online) made an interesting remark on where Valkyrie (their Oculus Rift space shooter) might end-up: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/10/24/very-odd-ccp-refuses-to-confirm-eve-valkyrie-on-pc/
On the live November PS4 launch stream it was revealed that the engineers behind EyeToy and PlayStation Move (Dr.Richard Marks) has had their studio branded as Magic Labs. In their Behind-the-scenes doc they mention that they're looking into eye-tracking (most likely for the far-future) but also that they're cooperating with NASA on a product in-development. Surely these guys would be key in the development of a VR device: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/0hu5h0/playstation-4-magic-labs-behind-the-scenes
In December Jonathan Blow tweeted a mysterious photo of The Witness being played in split-screen stereoscopic view with the message “What could it mean??”. Considering the genre and it's PS4 time-exclusivity it would be a perfect VR launch game. The photos were labeled VR1 and VR2: http://www.officialplaystationmagaz...ess-teasing-oculus-rift-or-vr-support-on-ps4/
You also have Media Molecule whom are receiving some limelight focus again from Sony, seemingly warming up the media for their next big reveal. Based on the February 2013 PS4 reveal it seems like they're creating a Play Create Share title where you can sculpt 3D models using the PS Move controllers and you can make them come alive through puppetering. VR seems hugely beneficial with those features in mind. A Media Molecule developed AAA title at VR launch would be an absolute homerun and likely a landmark product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYY-J3ckeSI
CES 2014 behind-the-scenes doc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjX1zJp7lkQ
Onto the speculation:
Orientation and Positional-tracking: Pretty much guaranteed to work just like the PS Move or the DualShock 4. The PS4 camera detects a light-visor or similar and it just works. Still the most reliable motion controllers on the market. The PS Move is down to 22milliseconds latency which includes the complete processing of the camera image etc.
Screen resolution: The PS4 is a home console comfortable at running games in 1920x1080p resolution meaning that this would be the natural choice for VR visuals as well (obviously splitting that resolution in two, 960x1080 for each eye). Assuming a 90degree Field-of-view like the Oculus Rift you will still have some of that screen-door / pixely look. Nomatter, the current public Oculus Rift devkit is blowing minds at 1280x800p resolution (640x800 for each eye) and the 1080p Oculus Rift just won the official Best of CES 2014 award. 1080p is acceptable and sufficient for a revolutionary experience.
Screen-technology: Highly likely OLED/AMOLED. If GamesIndustry.biz is to be believed it sounds like they might go for a single screen solution like the Oculus Rift but I wouldn't be completely surprised if they went for 2x 1280x720p screens either (but unlike their current HMZ products it would probably have optics for each eye to increase the field-of-view).
The biggest doubt or 50/50 I have in regards to a PS4 VR solution is if they will include support for low-persistence-pixel-illumination. This is to effectively remove motion-blur or pixel smearing. This was first blogged by Michael Abrash at Valve back in July: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/down-the-vr-rabbit-hole-fixing-judder/
John Carmack (Oculus Rift CTO) talked about this in detail later on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbW9IwVGpX8
Interestingly he mentions that a game need to runs at 90+ fps, ideally 120fps and above for low-persistence to work comfortably without creating a strobe effect (the pixels are illuminated only for a millisecond while they remain black/dead until the next image). It might be that Oculus Rift have created a software solution for this after in where they 'strobe' the same image multiple times in case of framerate drops but who knows. In the same video Carmack mentions that the ideal solution would be for something like G-sync to also dynamically adjust the persistence of the pixel illumination (as the framerate drops just increase the persistence to prevent strobing).
Power-supply: Wired or not? Sony are aware that they cannot compete with the continuous technological progress of the Oculus Rift in releasing better and better models. Sony will want this in consumer hands and they out of anyone have probably the best ecosystem to do so (plug-and-play simplicity of consoles, in-house AAA developers, the standard DualShock 4 controller is fully compatible with a VR environment, PS Move controllers etc). By having this be a wired solution (probably connected to the PS4 AUX port?) they can drop the batteries and have the kit come under $200.
Release: I'm betting it's a November 2014 release with the announcement done at E3 or the week before. I don't think you will see a console bundle (would put the box at $599 or above) but I think you will see a VR 'Starter kit' (VR HMD + Demo Disc) for $199. I also believe you'll see a VR bundle containing the VR HMD, PS Move controllers, PS Camera and Demo Disc for $299. Great value but still pricey...
I believe the launch games will be a new Media Molecule title, The Witness, The Unfinished Swan, Tumble and Everyone's gone to the Rapture.
What is your prediction and opinion? Technology, release, titles, hopes...
With that out of the way let's jump straight into what we know:
UPDATE: 2014:
John Smedley (SOE) basically confirmed it on Reddit: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=99327533&postcount=139
Forum member Astral_echo said:Hearkening back to the EQN Black Box video and the bit with Terry wearing the Oculus Rift...are you thinking about experiment with any other VR solutions in EQN such as the Virtuix Omni, STEM System etc.?
John Smedley said:hearing good things about 2 competitors.. one of which actually comes from Sony. so I'm thinking this is real and we may have our Snowcrash after all.
2013:
In September of last year it leaked from trusted sources to Gamesindustry.biz/Eurogamer, CVG and more that Sony is prepping their own Virtual Reality solution (indirectly challenging Oculus Rift) for the PS4. Apparently they were/are surprisingly far into development with various devs having received dev-kits already:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-09-04-inside-new-ps4-vr-headset
The headset (which is not tied to the company's existing Wearable HDTV Personal 3D Viewer, pictured above) uses the PS4's PlayStation Eye camera, like Move did, for head tracking. This, say people who have used it, makes the headset even more accurate than the Oculus Rift - though it does present some aesthetic challenges.
At present, the working prototype for the headset, which select developers currently have in house, looks much like Oculus' better-known VR system - with ping pong balls attached. The design is not expected to be final.
In October CCP (the makers of Dust 514 on PS3 and EVE Online) made an interesting remark on where Valkyrie (their Oculus Rift space shooter) might end-up: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/10/24/very-odd-ccp-refuses-to-confirm-eve-valkyrie-on-pc/
Just recently at CES they confirmed it will launch with the OR but maybe there's a console outing coming as well (thanks SolidSnakex).“Hold on a second, we haven’t confirmed that Valkyrie’s on PC,” he interjected when I idly noted that Dust 514 is the only non-PC extension of the EVE universe. “It’s capable of playing on PC right now, but we haven’t confirmed what we’re going to launch it on.”
“It technically works on PC, and it’s working fine, but there are other platforms it could run on. There’s nothing that technically prevents it from running on a console, for example.”
On the live November PS4 launch stream it was revealed that the engineers behind EyeToy and PlayStation Move (Dr.Richard Marks) has had their studio branded as Magic Labs. In their Behind-the-scenes doc they mention that they're looking into eye-tracking (most likely for the far-future) but also that they're cooperating with NASA on a product in-development. Surely these guys would be key in the development of a VR device: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/0hu5h0/playstation-4-magic-labs-behind-the-scenes
In December Jonathan Blow tweeted a mysterious photo of The Witness being played in split-screen stereoscopic view with the message “What could it mean??”. Considering the genre and it's PS4 time-exclusivity it would be a perfect VR launch game. The photos were labeled VR1 and VR2: http://www.officialplaystationmagaz...ess-teasing-oculus-rift-or-vr-support-on-ps4/
You also have Media Molecule whom are receiving some limelight focus again from Sony, seemingly warming up the media for their next big reveal. Based on the February 2013 PS4 reveal it seems like they're creating a Play Create Share title where you can sculpt 3D models using the PS Move controllers and you can make them come alive through puppetering. VR seems hugely beneficial with those features in mind. A Media Molecule developed AAA title at VR launch would be an absolute homerun and likely a landmark product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYY-J3ckeSI
CES 2014 behind-the-scenes doc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjX1zJp7lkQ
Onto the speculation:
Orientation and Positional-tracking: Pretty much guaranteed to work just like the PS Move or the DualShock 4. The PS4 camera detects a light-visor or similar and it just works. Still the most reliable motion controllers on the market. The PS Move is down to 22milliseconds latency which includes the complete processing of the camera image etc.
Screen resolution: The PS4 is a home console comfortable at running games in 1920x1080p resolution meaning that this would be the natural choice for VR visuals as well (obviously splitting that resolution in two, 960x1080 for each eye). Assuming a 90degree Field-of-view like the Oculus Rift you will still have some of that screen-door / pixely look. Nomatter, the current public Oculus Rift devkit is blowing minds at 1280x800p resolution (640x800 for each eye) and the 1080p Oculus Rift just won the official Best of CES 2014 award. 1080p is acceptable and sufficient for a revolutionary experience.
Screen-technology: Highly likely OLED/AMOLED. If GamesIndustry.biz is to be believed it sounds like they might go for a single screen solution like the Oculus Rift but I wouldn't be completely surprised if they went for 2x 1280x720p screens either (but unlike their current HMZ products it would probably have optics for each eye to increase the field-of-view).
The biggest doubt or 50/50 I have in regards to a PS4 VR solution is if they will include support for low-persistence-pixel-illumination. This is to effectively remove motion-blur or pixel smearing. This was first blogged by Michael Abrash at Valve back in July: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/down-the-vr-rabbit-hole-fixing-judder/
John Carmack (Oculus Rift CTO) talked about this in detail later on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbW9IwVGpX8
Interestingly he mentions that a game need to runs at 90+ fps, ideally 120fps and above for low-persistence to work comfortably without creating a strobe effect (the pixels are illuminated only for a millisecond while they remain black/dead until the next image). It might be that Oculus Rift have created a software solution for this after in where they 'strobe' the same image multiple times in case of framerate drops but who knows. In the same video Carmack mentions that the ideal solution would be for something like G-sync to also dynamically adjust the persistence of the pixel illumination (as the framerate drops just increase the persistence to prevent strobing).
Power-supply: Wired or not? Sony are aware that they cannot compete with the continuous technological progress of the Oculus Rift in releasing better and better models. Sony will want this in consumer hands and they out of anyone have probably the best ecosystem to do so (plug-and-play simplicity of consoles, in-house AAA developers, the standard DualShock 4 controller is fully compatible with a VR environment, PS Move controllers etc). By having this be a wired solution (probably connected to the PS4 AUX port?) they can drop the batteries and have the kit come under $200.
Release: I'm betting it's a November 2014 release with the announcement done at E3 or the week before. I don't think you will see a console bundle (would put the box at $599 or above) but I think you will see a VR 'Starter kit' (VR HMD + Demo Disc) for $199. I also believe you'll see a VR bundle containing the VR HMD, PS Move controllers, PS Camera and Demo Disc for $299. Great value but still pricey...
I believe the launch games will be a new Media Molecule title, The Witness, The Unfinished Swan, Tumble and Everyone's gone to the Rapture.
What is your prediction and opinion? Technology, release, titles, hopes...