Read my first thoughts on the Playstation VR

Me (@Ashpeat) on the VR

When myself and a few members of the PowerFocus Team were offered the chance to get our hands on a Playstation VR headset a day before the official launch, of course we couldn't refuse!
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There was two games on offer ​"The Deep", and EVE: Valkyrie. After watching someone else play the deep on a big screen, and being a big horror/jumpy game fan, I couldn't wait to get involved and try out the Deep.
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The first thing I noticed when putting the headset on was that it was connected by a wire reaching down to the floor, ​however this didn't cause any mobility problems and was not in the way. Im also quite happy that its not wireless, call me a health freak, but not having 2.4ghz signals right next to your brain for hours on end can only be a good thing.

The second thing that caught my attention, was that although comfortable and well weighted there was a gap around the nose meaning some light got in and I could see the floor. This could be poor design, or perhaps I just have an odd shaped schnoz. Maybe the light could be blocked out with some adjustments, but it did ruin it a bit. Maybe go and try it on before you buy one.
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The game starts with you placed in a Shark diving cage​. What was immediately impressive, was due to the immersive vertical and horizontal aspects, you can look through the bottom of the shark cage down into the expanse of the ocean or up right up to the surface with all manner of marine activity going on around you.
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We were all provided a pair of stereo headphones giving a full surround sound experience and think that was vital to it all feeling as real as possible. When the shark comes zipping round the back of the cage you hear it first, spinning round to try and see it. The cage also rattles and moves and because your sight and hearing are controlled you do occasionally feel the illusion of you moving as the cage descends.

Me (@Ashpeat) on the VR

I think that is one of the best things about Playstation VR is, compared to playing games on a large TV or even Cinema Projector where nearly everything in the game is provided within your normal scope of vision and no more than a flick of the eye is needed, PSVR makes you want to look to the side or behind you to make sure you haven't missed anything interesting. This ads another dimension, making games feel much bigger than they really are and providing a lot of replay value.

The innate desire to reach out and touch things like the control panel on the cage was really hard to resist. Playstation provide those crappy light batton things they shipped with the Playstation Eye. Those things are awful, inaccurate and unrealistic. What they should have provided was a glove that can be picked up by sensors, so that realistic dextrous actions could be performed and represented within the game, maybe this will follow in time, but somehow I doubt it will materialise.​
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The only other thing I will mention, is that considering its 2016, although its the best VR graphics to date, I still feel they should be better, but I thought that about the PS3 and PS4 when they came out too so maybe I'm just hard to please.

With the overall experience being really a lot more enjoyable than expected I am left thinking positive things about the system and the possibilities for the future, imagine full size cities in GTA, or how good PT (Silent Hill) would have been in full VR, possibly simulator games will actually be good now? Even the possibility of having Photoshop in VR with a multi dimensional canvas, the options are really endless. So the PSVR is definitely a step in the right direction, but its not without its flaws.

The Bad	The Good

• Realistic "other world" feeling	• Relatively Poor Graphics
• Immersive and stimulating	• Crappy Light Battons
• Lots of potential	• May not fit your nose, letting light in

Our Overall Verdict: 4/5

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