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Demo PlayStation VR at Select Best Buy Stores (Every weekend through December)

teiresias

Member
Has anyone that's posted that tried it had any experience with a Gear VR? How is the black in the peripheral view on the PSVR compared to that? I tried a GearVR in a BB once and found the black in my peripheral vision very distracting. I know this won't have complete wrap-around like real vision, but is it at least more coverage of the FOV than the Gear?

I think getting full FOV working is more important to me than even resolution at this point to make VR totally immersive.
 
I went to the demo in Dublin. Tried the eve Valkyrie one. The person who was setting things up was friendly but she never told me the control scheme. She said you can figure things out. In the 6 minute Demo I couldn't.

This is my first VR experience and I found it very disorienting. Could not figure where to go how to speed up or slow down. Headset was comfy and light. But I found the images a little blurry. Overall I felt it was a little let down. I do plan to try the underwater demo.
 
This is really fucking dumb the way they set this up...all the websites I've seen that listed locations said nothing about times of day. I just happened to be eating out with my family near a Best Buy that was on the list demoing PSVR today, so I thought I'll stop there after we're done...

Guy says that they were doing it 3-7pm only...and if I want, I can get a ticket for between 12-4 tomorrow... okay, first of all, why the fuck is only 4 hours each day? Second, I don't live anywhere near them, I'm not gonna reserve a spot for tomorrow so I have to drive all the way back out.

This shit is not how they should be trying to sell VR to people. If they want it to take off, they should just have a unit set up for people to try, or at the very least they should've made it more than 2 days with only 4 hours a piece. This is just stupid I think, because I'm one of those gamers whose just hesitant and a little annoyed they're really doing this VR push, and I was getting tired of it, but I admit that since I never tried it before, that I will wait and see if it's worth getting excited for. I figure by going to Best Buy during these demo sessions, I could at least try it, and finally be sold on it or not.

They don't seem to give a shit, or understand that they're supposed to be selling it to me, I shouldn't have to go out of my way to experience this thing that they want hundreds of dollars for in the fall.

Sorry for this sounding like a rant, but...I just got home and was a little frustrated, and do think that as the consumer they should do a better job trying to sell to me if they want VR to take off.
 
I never did post my impressions here. Honestly I wasn't all that impressed. It was solid but the UI before the game was blurry as fuck but in the game it was good. I definitely wanted to play more but not badly enough to go run and preorder and buy it.
 
The nearest one is about 50 miles away and I still want to try it. I just don't know if I want to drive all the way put there for a 10 minute demo. I have a Gear VR and I've already tried a demo of HTC Vive that made me want one, but I can't really afford the Vive or the PSVR right now, so I'm still trying to decide.
It's going to expand from 30 locations to 300 the 24th. If one doesn't come closer maybe you can find other things to do in the city to make it worth it.
 
All of the "no screen door" comments have me super intrigued. Having been on the VR train from DK1 to my CV1 and (now sold) Vive, the concept of not being able to perceive a screen door effect seems really foreign to me. I'm excited.

Yeah, I've seen the PSVR "no screen door" comments for a while. A lot of people in GAF threads really focus on the raw specs, but Sony has seems to have some secret sauce going on with the PSVR. It reminds me of the Android vs iPhone stuff... raw specs aren't the only thing that matters here. Sure, the screen may not be as good, but the overall product design of the PSVR seems to hit a sweet spot.
 
All of the "no screen door" comments have me super intrigued. Having been on the VR train from DK1 to my CV1 and (now sold) Vive, the concept of not being able to perceive a screen door effect seems really foreign to me. I'm excited.

That said, the nearest BB is like an hour long drive for me.

Yeah, I've seen the PSVR "no screen door" comments for a while. A lot of people in GAF threads really focus on the raw specs, but Sony has seems to have some secret sauce going on with the PSVR. It reminds me of the Android vs iPhone stuff... raw specs aren't the only thing that matters here. Sure, the screen may not be as good, but the overall product design of the PSVR seems to hit a sweet spot.

It's a combination of having a Full RGB OLED screen and good optics. PSVR screen has 3 sub pixels for every pixel so she screen door effect is "less" noticeable then Vive or Oculus but the image is going to look softer and lower res.

Not one in Arizona? God damn it.

Next weekend at a few best buys. I'm going to be there.
 

Illucio

Banned
My thoughts from earlier today:

I wasn't impressed with my game options so I chose the Valkyrie demo because I thought it looked the coolest and I wanted something more actiony to play. During the demo I didn't get motion sickness at all so that's a good sign. I was on my toes the entire time playing, the VR experience is very immersive and really gets you into the game. Normally I wouldn't care about this game but the headset makes it a lot more interesting and fun.

But for my Pros and Cons:

Pro:
  • SUPER and I mean SUPER comfy headset. It straps on and fits nicely on any sort of head amazing design and it's very reasonably weighted. I've worn headphones that weighed more then the headset.
  • Visually the 360 turns and all were cool. There wasn't a delay of any kind with the headset with movements.
  • Highly immersive and looks amazing from a visual standpoint.


Cons:
  • I feel like the frame rate of the game didn't feel like a 30FPS. Everything felt slower game-wise. I could be wrong, but it might had just dropped to 50FPS or something. You could really tell a difference in a instant.
  • I wore my glasses while playing, I could had just taken them off but the guy insisted I wore them (I suppose to get feedback on how I felt wearing glasses with the headset?) I felt like the headset should had been more on my face then it was. If I looked down I could see the light from the store and my pants so that wasn't that great. :/ The headset fits fine on glasses, I just don't think it was properly adjusted and the guy working was pretty keen on not having me mess around with the headset.
  • Screen Door effect was on and off. I'd notice it sometimes, but not all the time. Maybe another sign the headset wasn't properly adjusted onto my head?
  • Screen quality felt like it could be better. :/

Overall Verdict:
I give it a solid B.

I don't want to give it an A because I feel like the headset has room for improvement, but the experience is amazing. Makes me really hope Skyrim gets VR support, along with No Man's Sky, and a ton of other upcoming Playstation games. It's really a game changer but it's too expensive to catch on right now. I implore everyone to try it when they get a chance. Its an amazing experience.

VR allowed me to enjoy a game I'd typically wouldn't care about and fell in love with the experience. That speaks loudly in my opinion.
 

Fisty

Member
Lol I moved from VB Florida (which has their demo this weekend) to Hollywood CA (which has to wait until next week) last year. Sonofabitch
 
This is really fucking dumb the way they set this up...all the websites I've seen that listed locations said nothing about times of day. I just happened to be eating out with my family near a Best Buy that was on the list demoing PSVR today, so I thought I'll stop there after we're done...

Guy says that they were doing it 3-7pm only...and if I want, I can get a ticket for between 12-4 tomorrow... okay, first of all, why the fuck is only 4 hours each day? Second, I don't live anywhere near them, I'm not gonna reserve a spot for tomorrow so I have to drive all the way back out.

This shit is not how they should be trying to sell VR to people. If they want it to take off, they should just have a unit set up for people to try, or at the very least they should've made it more than 2 days with only 4 hours a piece. This is just stupid I think, because I'm one of those gamers whose just hesitant and a little annoyed they're really doing this VR push, and I was getting tired of it, but I admit that since I never tried it before, that I will wait and see if it's worth getting excited for. I figure by going to Best Buy during these demo sessions, I could at least try it, and finally be sold on it or not.

They don't seem to give a shit, or understand that they're supposed to be selling it to me, I shouldn't have to go out of my way to experience this thing that they want hundreds of dollars for in the fall.

Sorry for this sounding like a rant, but...I just got home and was a little frustrated, and do think that as the consumer they should do a better job trying to sell to me if they want VR to take off.

did you even check the Best Buy site? It listed the times there

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/clp/playstation-vr/pcmcat748301781160.c?id=pcmcat748301781160
 

That was quite a rant there don't worry these two days were testing days so they could train the reps on how to set everything up and gauge the audience so the demos where very limited. Next week on the 24th going all the way up to December demo kiosks will be available in store hours and will be available in 300 locations instead of the over 30 these two days, check the OP for more info. I hope this make you feel better. Only have to wait a week to try it.
 

daveo42

Banned
Well the ones I've mentioned are full games though?

Sorry, let me clarify.

The big issue I've seen so far with some of the release games for Oculus/Vive is that while there are "full games" available, many are insanely one note and feel more like a way to just show off the VR without providing much of a game experience. Eve: Valkyrie being a prime example where you do some base defense stuff and some dog fighting stuff and that's about it. There's MP too, but it looks like a game you pick up to show off VR for a bit and then never touch again.

Too many early VR games look and feel like that so far. Battlezone was fun and feels like more of the full fledged game, but as well it feels way more like an arcade game than a home console game. Maybe it's just me or I'm expecting too much, but early games feel far too much like a vehicle to show off VR as opposed to creating new and exciting games in the space.

Can people please take pictures tomorrow, like that stuff

I was told none of the screen, but I did anyway. It's a matter of people thinking unreleased stuff was 'final' when it could technically change.

13419056_10208477148421684_2074963298934073223_n.jpg

13417431_10208477149021699_3859425462819868789_n.jpg
 
Sorry, let me clarify.

The big issue I've seen so far with some of the release games for Oculus/Vive is that while there are "full games" available, many are insanely one note and feel more like a way to just show off the VR without providing much of a game experience. Eve: Valkyrie being a prime example where you do some base defense stuff and some dog fighting stuff and that's about it. There's MP too, but it looks like a game you pick up to show off VR for a bit and then never touch again.

Too many early VR games look and feel like that so far. Battlezone was fun and feels like more of the full fledged game, but as well it feels way more like an arcade game than a home console game. Maybe it's just me or I'm expecting too much, but early games feel far too much like a vehicle to show off VR as opposed to creating new and exciting games in the space.

Well, I think your expectations are a little to big. All launch systems start with small experiences, you gotta give developers time to get use to the tech and optimize their games. Right now they are making showcase games so people buy the headset which I completely understand but with Sony supporting the headset full force you can definitely see them making full fledged games for their system, they are already publishing 10 games for the thing and it isn't even out. I have faith that this headset will cater for all genres and people won't be too disappointed.
 
Has anyone that's posted that tried it had any experience with a Gear VR? How is the black in the peripheral view on the PSVR compared to that? I tried a GearVR in a BB once and found the black in my peripheral vision very distracting. I know this won't have complete wrap-around like real vision, but is it at least more coverage of the FOV than the Gear?

I think getting full FOV working is more important to me than even resolution at this point to make VR totally immersive.

what, PSVR won't have full view..? black bars or something? or like you're looking through a hole?

i thought that was the whole point of VR and having this big thing on your head, to allow you to have a full view into a virtual world. if you see the edges at all times there's no point to it, breaks immersion totally imo. so wtf, why?
 
what, PSVR won't have full view..? black bars or something? or like you're looking through a hole?

i thought that was the whole point of VR and having this big thing on your head, to allow you to have a full view into a virtual world. if you see the edges at all times there's no point to it, breaks immersion totally imo. so wtf, why?

None of them do. Every worn a scuba mask or ski goggles? That's what is like. And if it was not then the resolution issue would be worse as you have to stretch those pixels over even larger chunks of view.
 
None of them do. Every worn a scuba mask or ski goggles? That's what is like. And if it was not then the resolution issue would be worse as you have to stretch those pixels over even larger chunks of view.

yeah i have... but umm higher res then?

im suddenly losing all interest in VR, seems pretty half-baked and set to flop. bunch of minigames you look at through a hole.

is the tech advancing rapidly enough so that on PS5 we're likely to get a full view with decent resolution?
 
yeah i have... but umm higher res then?

im suddenly losing all interest in VR, seems pretty half-baked and set to flop. bunch of minigames you look at through a hole.

is the tech advancing rapidly enough so that on PS5 we're likely to get a full view with decent resolution?

If this is the first you've heard of this, you never had much interest in VR to begin with.
 

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
I honestly feel that the FOV needs to be a lot wider for the illusion to work for me otherwise as mentioned above it just feels like your looking at a screen though a pair of scuba goggles, and I've been desperate for VR to take off since the cybermaxx days but I just don't think we're quite there yet.
 

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
Maybe StarVR and it's 210 degree FOV will find some success.

It is not going to be field of view that determines the success of VR. In fact, it will not be the technical aspects that will grow the platform. Content is what VR needs. There is little compelling content thus far.
 

hwy_61

Banned
I guess Schaumburg, IL was yesterday only? I went to the Best Buy site and they only have Joliet, Burbank and the HIP. Sucks man.

What's screen door?

Did you ever press your nose up against a screen door when you were a kid? That's kinda how the picture looks in VR sometimes.
 

Chucker

Member
Glen Burnie is such a shit area, I don't know why they keep holding events there when Annapolis or even Bowie is a better store in MD.
 
It is not going to be field of view that determines the success of VR. In fact, it will not be the technical aspects that will grow the platform. Content is what VR needs. There is little compelling content thus far.

I know. That doesn't have anything to do with my supposition.
 
If this is the first you've heard of this, you never had much interest in VR to begin with.

it's the holy grail of gaming i've been waiting for over 25 years.

i tried an early prototype version of Oculus and it had that limited view, i thought it was just because it was a prototype...

i don't want half-assed VR, it needs to be absolutely perfect when i first try it, to make it worth the decades long wait. (Oculus protype doesnt count because it was so shitty lol, didnt really give me a good idea of whats possible).
 
i live in socal and there's a bb 5 min away that will have it ready next friday

hope i can get off early from work that day or just show up by 11am the next day
 
I'm glad you all are enjoying it. This bodes well for VR as a whole.

Now we need all of you to try the Vive and have your minds blown again.
 
My thoughts from earlier today:

I wasn't impressed with my game options so I chose the Valkyrie demo because I thought it looked the coolest and I wanted something more actiony to play. During the demo I didn't get motion sickness at all so that's a good sign. I was on my toes the entire time playing, the VR experience is very immersive and really gets you into the game. Normally I wouldn't care about this game but the headset makes it a lot more interesting and fun.

But for my Pros and Cons:

Pro:
  • SUPER and I mean SUPER comfy headset. It straps on and fits nicely on any sort of head amazing design and it's very reasonably weighted. I've worn headphones that weighed more then the headset.
  • Visually the 360 turns and all were cool. There wasn't a delay of any kind with the headset with movements.
  • Highly immersive and looks amazing from a visual standpoint.


Cons:
  • I feel like the frame rate of the game didn't feel like a 30FPS. Everything felt slower game-wise. I could be wrong, but it might had just dropped to 50FPS or something. You could really tell a difference in a instant.
  • I wore my glasses while playing, I could had just taken them off but the guy insisted I wore them (I suppose to get feedback on how I felt wearing glasses with the headset?) I felt like the headset should had been more on my face then it was. If I looked down I could see the light from the store and my pants so that wasn't that great. :/ The headset fits fine on glasses, I just don't think it was properly adjusted and the guy working was pretty keen on not having me mess around with the headset.
  • Screen Door effect was on and off. I'd notice it sometimes, but not all the time. Maybe another sign the headset wasn't properly adjusted onto my head?
  • Screen quality felt like it could be better. :/

Overall Verdict:
I give it a solid B.

I don't want to give it an A because I feel like the headset has room for improvement, but the experience is amazing. Makes me really hope Skyrim gets VR support, along with No Man's Sky, and a ton of other upcoming Playstation games. It's really a game changer but it's too expensive to catch on right now. I implore everyone to try it when they get a chance. Its an amazing experience.

VR allowed me to enjoy a game I'd typically wouldn't care about and fell in love with the experience. That speaks loudly in my opinion.

Ditto what I felt from experiencing Into the Deep non interactive session yesterday at Best Buy. The VR experience itself was pretty immersive and I'm now aboard the bandwagon. But that being said, I wore the VR with my eye glasses and it was pretty comfy. But the problem I faced is, despite this little horizontal slider adjustment knob at the bottom of the headset, I just couldn't get this thing up and close to my face, I could see light from the floor in the bottom where I sat and tried. Hope this is just a one time issue. I literally had to use one hand on the center of the headset(the black part of it) and have it push it towards me with the left hand while I kept moving my head to experience into the deep. I am going to experience and see how Eve Valkyrie plays and looks.

Those looking at trying London Heist, don't even bother checking Best Buy. The PS VR lady said according to BB policy they aren't supposed to show content with violence and abusive language. She suggested I try the PS VR demo at Gamestop to check out London Heist.

Any ETA on whether the pre-orders for the VR would go live again? I was a tad slow while proceeding to the pre-order cart checkout in Amazon several months ago and the product became unavailable.
 
it's the holy grail of gaming i've been waiting for over 25 years.

i tried an early prototype version of Oculus and it had that limited view, i thought it was just because it was a prototype...

i don't want half-assed VR, it needs to be absolutely perfect when i first try it, to make it worth the decades long wait. (Oculus protype doesnt count because it was so shitty lol, didnt really give me a good idea of whats possible).

I would expect that it won't be too long before we get a wide enough FOV in most headsets. StarVR will already be there at launch but I don't know much else about it's specs, content, etc. I imagine that five years from now, we'll be wearing 8k headsets with 180+ FOV, foveated rendering, etc. and looking at first gen like the Atari 2600.
 
Just came from the Eve demo. Wow, totally keeping my pre order. That was incredible! Very comfortable to wear, picture wasn't as blurry as people said. Although, the obtrusion of the headset itself was bigger than I thought. In my 180 degree (?) vision of my natural eyes, I was expecting to only see the screen and not part of the eye rest things. Its fine though after I tried it.

My friends took some pictures of me wearing it and playing it. Saw the picture I was like damn, I should be a PS VR model. I look mighty fine in this (Hey Sony HMU).
 
Of course. I spend my whole life in a city, but the year I move away is the year that little ass no-where town gets something cool. Fuckers.
 
Why would they pick these no name places for Florida?

Where's Miami and Fort Lauderdale?

If your talking about Brandon it because it is alway the #1 or #2 store in the state of Florida for sales every year. Place is a madhouse all day every day.

Anyways I just got back from there. Fair amount of people there. Took about a hour before myself and my girlfriend got to try it. She did Playstation Worlds because she loves underwater stuff. She really liked it and had a huge smile on her face the whole time. I did eve because the best buys weren't allowed to do London Heist. Did a shit ton of barrel rolls while boosting to see if I would get sick. For some reason my controller stopped working 15 secs in and I couldn't control the ship and I crashed. After it restarted it ran fine though. It bothered my eyes a bit for the first minute I had it on before the demo started. Reminded me of the first time I used a 3ds and it bothered me but it went away. I think my eyes had to just get use to something new. Anyways can't wait to play resident evil on this thing.
 
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