A much-anticipated addition to Sony’s new VR gear lineup was announced in a recent PlayStation Blog post, in which the company’s senior vice president of platform experience, Hideaki Nishino, unveiled the PlayStation VR2 headset.
Nishino explained that the design of the PSVR 2 was inspired by the aesthetics of the PS5 console and its peripherals, and that the “orbital” look of the headset, intended to represent the 360-degree view that players feel in VR, was made to fit with the recently unveiled Sense VR controllers.
“Our goal is to create a headset that will not only become an attractive part of your living room decor, but will also keep you immersed in your game world, to the point where you almost forget you are using a headset or controller,” Nishino wrote in the blog post. “That’s why we paid very close attention to the ergonomics of the headset and conducted extensive testing to ensure a comfortable feel for a variety of head sizes.”
The blog post also detailed more specific features the team focused on during development, such as better comfort, weight balance and adjustability of the headset. The VR2 will also include a vent for better airflow and a motor to provide rumble feedback.
While little is known about when the headset and controllers will be released, it is suspected that people will be able to buy it around the holiday season of 2022, along with the first exclusive game for the PSVR 2 – ‘Horizon Call of the Mountain’.
The PSVR 2 is expected to be the next step in making VR more accessible and bringing more people into the virtual world. Since its inception, VR has been rather expensive and has required powerful hardware to run, but the latest developments by companies like Sony, Facebook’s Oculus, and HTC have been making the world of virtual reality more mainstream.
However, while there has been a huge spike in the adoption of VR in recent years, it’s also become clear that the technology still has a long way to go in its development. Although it would seem harmless on the surface as a high-tech form of entertainment, the surge of people delving into virtual worlds like Facebook’s Metaverse has revealed numerous unforeseen consequences, including mental health concerns, personal safety issues, existential dilemmas, and even property damage, as people can’t help smashing into their furniture and filing insurance claims.