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Whenever I say I like the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation VR2, I get one of two questions: “Is it worth it at that price?&rdqu𝔍o; and “Don’t you know that virtual reality is dying?” And to ans♑wer them both: No and yes.
Which is a strange thing to say because I love the PS VR2. It solves all the problems I had with the original PlayStation VR: it’s comfortable, it’s easy to set up, and many of the games available at launch were fantastic. Playing 🔜 in virtual reality is an entirely different - and I’d argue better - experience than playing on a traditional television. Weird bargain-barrel-looking games like Kayak VR: Mirage are in fact gorgeous, relaxing experiences that feel more akin to a video game vacation.
Yet the PlayStation VR2 costs $550 - more than its already-expensive console. At that point, you’ve sunk over a thousand dollars into hardware before you buy any games. And considering that a large portion of the amazing games for the original PS VR aren’t ported for the PS VR 2, it’s not even like you can take your collection with you. A few games offer free upgrades. Some offer paid upgrades. Most just ✃aren’t available.
And I’m aware that virtual reality is an ever-dying medium. It’s꧒ clearly very expensive. It’s often uncomfortable or even unworkable for people who rely on glasses. If you’ve got a weird head shape, you’re screwed. If your eye spacing doesn’t quite line-up with the adjustment dial, you’re screwed. If you accidentally swing your fist too hard into a television, you’re screwed. These issues aren’t very appealing to the average consumer.
Worse, it’s hard to show off. Yes, you can col𒁏lect friends in a room and let each one try it on and f*** around while everyone hoots and hollers at the TV. But that’s in person. There’s no Nintendo Direct-style video that’s going to give you a real sample of how a game plays in VR. When you see a trailer for a game, you recognize that the game will probably look like that. When you see a VR trailer of the game, you’re onl♛y getting a two-dimensional approximation of how it plays.
So why do I stick with virtual reality? Because I love it anyway. Tetris Effect in virtual reality is still one of the best video game experiences I’ve ever had. Duck Season - 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a title nobody seems to have played but ꦚ꧂me - is still the scariest experience I’ve had in any game. And little things like mini golf, walki🥂ng simulators, watching movies in fake movie theaters, and visiting different locations on the plan꧒et helped keep me sane while I lived alone during the pandemic.
When it works, virtual reality fulfills the promise of video games. With the right game - and exact right placement of a finicky headset - I can feel the way I’ve dreamed of feeling since I was a kid. I’m immersed in the game. I’m lost in it. For a few brief seconds, I forget what’s outside of the headset. I know great traditional games do the same thing. I felt like I was part of Elden Ring. I’m sure I’ll feel like I’m part of Tears of꧑ the Kingdom. But with virtual reality, I can really just spend a second looking. Just looking around myself. Not turning the right stick to change the camera - but actually using my own head and eyes to survey a landscape.
I recognize virtual reality is struggling but it’s not a disaster. Companies wouldn’t keep trying if they didn’t think there was at le♔ast some profit. I’ve got absolutely zero interest in Facebook’s dedication to making peop🌼le work while wearing electric eye masks for ten hours a day. But there is something to say about trying to make this technology more accessible and more affordable for normal human beings who aren’t adult monsters with no future.
But yes, I’m aware virtual reality is dying. It’s always dying. In a cycle that seems to have no end, virtual reality is released to the mainstream, people only kind of buy it, and it dies. Then a few years later, virtual reality is released to the mainstream, people only kind of buy it, and it dies. We all seem to know ther💮e’s something there, but there seems to be no way to match that something with what people are willing t🧸o pay and why they’d be willing to pay it.
Yet here I am. I’m going to keep buying games for the PlayStation VR 2. Not because I think it’ll win the console wars, but because I want to enjoy it while it lasts. There will inevitably come a point in which Sony stops releasing games for it. They&r🌄squo;re already at a trickle. I expec🐲t that trickle to turn into a drip before, everyone once in a while, a company will throw a bone with a tacked-on VR mode. But until that point, I’m going to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of this thing that I can.
Do I wish virtual reality was more popular? Of course I do. I wish ther🀅e were more experiments and more weird experiences and more horror games ꧑and more roleplaying games. I’m all set on virtual table tennis games though, thanks. We don’t need more of those.
We exist in a landscape in which video game fans a🌱re encouraged to pick a winner. It’s not enough to own an ; the Xbox Series X has to win the console war. Game Pass h🐷as to be the best deal. It’s not enough to own a ; the PlayStation 5 has to be verified by experts as the best console. PlayStation Plus has to be the best deal. It’s stupid and it makes us all look for what’s doing well rather than what we might want to actually play. One of my favorite consoles of all time is the Neo Geo Pocket and that thing sold like shit. You think I’m new here?
I ꦑcan accept that virtual reality will likely never - or at least, not for a long while - breakthrough to the level of other games. I know it’ll likely remai🐷n a niche genre with niche hardware. But I’ll keep supporting that niche. Not because it’ll make a difference but because I just enjoy it. And because playing normal PS5 games on a massive virtual screen is kind of cool.