Be Excellent To Each Other

Perhaps they're hoping to fix things in software? If you needed a 4K PS4 to get the best out of your VR it would indeed suck, but I really wouldn't be surprised.

Yeah, I never said this. I just said it would more likely be a subpar experience not only compared to the Rift/Vive, but also those with the PS4K.

Worth pointing out that in two ways -- subpixel density and temporal reprojection -- the PSVR is distinctly superior to both Rift and Vive.

I thought this was a neat summary of the 3 vee arrrs from Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments ... r/.compact

No, you said that it'll likely need it before it will run well. But most people who have had a go with one seem to report that it already does run well, I don't imagine that this close to launch they were being demoed the thing on some hardware that doesn't even properly exist yet. I might be wrong but that would cause a right shit storm.

Now you're just making shit up.

Wasn't it Sony who used a hidden PC to run the PS3 stuff at E3?

True, you didn't literally say that, but you did say it would be required for "decent" performance and my response is the same: if the standard PS4 doesn't make for a 'decent' experience then I've be very surprised for the same reasons I've already outlined. To go as far as actually letting people order the headset before turning round and adding more hardware requirements in order to even get a 'decent' experience would be crazy. Obviously we can't rule out that level of idiocy on Sony's behalf, but I doubt it.

It's wonderful.

Well, let's clarify what we might mean as "subpar". The PS4 has a fixed rendering 'budget' (ie. GPU and CPU grunt), which is certainly lower than the budget on a VR-capable PC. Traditionally, consoles have dealt with not having enough budget for a given level of graphic fidelity by doing things like sacrificing vsync, lowering resolution, or accepting framerate drops. None of these are acceptable in VR; you have to hit 60+ fps and you have to render at (or very close to) the headset's native resolution.

So what's left? The shinies. In order to hit the VR requirements within the budget you have, you have to give up some graphical effects: lower resolution textures, less detailed meshes, less environmental effects, etc. An example is Driveclub, which in moving to VR loses the rear view mirrors and moves from dynamic to pre-canned ambient lightning; the latter change means time of day is now fixed during each race instead of how it used to shift from day to night.

That's still within the envelope of "works well", as reported by people who have tried it. It doesn't make the experience in any way broken on a normal PS4. But clearly, a hypothetically more powerful PS4k could offer more graphical features, assuming devs bothered to target it.

Nope. It's a thing.

It's a paddlin'.

Yeah, it was myp's "too good to be true" that I was objecting to. I took it to mean that what's been shown so far must be smoke and mirrors somehow.

All right mate

Just run everything in 320p.

I can't tell if you are conceding or challenging my point.

And that's the way I like it!

I assume temporal reprojection is PSVR's name for async timewarp? Sounds like it does the same thing.

What is it about their implementation of it that makes it superior to Rift, out of interest? From what I could gather the Vive basically doesn't really "do" async timewarp, so not surprised it beats that one out!

Yes, that. Same thing, different name (which I may have made up, now I think about it.) I didn't think the Rift had it either, but maybe I was wrong?

Rift has had async timewarp since pretty much forever as far as I know, but it becomes less important when you get close to 90Hz and above.

Vive has "timewarp" apparently, but it's synchronous. Not sure what the difference is, tbh.

//edit: Oh no, I remember - yes, it's long been planned, they've been researching it since the DK1. It's their research into this (that I kept relatively up to date on thanks to an ex-employee of Oculus who used to post on the SA forums about it) that made me want to stick with Rift over any of their competitors.

Presumably async timewarp is how it handles not just head-tracking motion, but body tracking too? I assume it lets you take a step to the *SHOOTS SELF IN FACE*

ToYST.

SUPERHOT.

It's designed to combat the latency that occurs when tracking head movements - the head tracking records your head position at the start of a frame, but by the time the rendering pipeline has figured out what to render to the headset's screens, your head might be in a different position. Timewarp basically gets your current head position at the "end" of the frame, and then tries to "reproject" what was about to be rendered based on this info.

Even small differences in head position between start/end frame can add significantly to the feeling of nausea, which is why it's so important - especially below 90Hz.

Apparently "async" timewarp is not tied to frame rates which is why it's better - although I don't really know *why* it's better.

Talking of Super Hot, that'd be a bit weird watching your replay in your VR headset of choice with your head swirling around in the replay but without you moving your head. That'd probably fuck your eyes up. Same with CoD's killcams.

It'd do more than fuck your eyes up, chances are it'd cover your entire gaming room in vom.

This is very true. Mirror's Edge was a glorious experience but when the cut scenes kicked in and Faith turned her head and you didn't it was fucking horrible.

Did Alien:Isolation do the same thing? I can't remember that it did.

Will I be able to look within the underpants of the next Oblivion game?

You jest, but it's a valid point. Games will have to deal with the fact that the player is going to be able to lie on the floor and look up other character's skirts.

Relevant article: Online harassment in virtual reality is 'way, way, way worse' — but can devs change that?

It's something that needs to be tackled, for sure.

If you tackle them first then you won't have to lie on the floor

...

Manhunt and Bully have made it onto the PSN store as classics for the PS4 - £11.99 each

Manhunt : https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-gb/ ... 0230000001

Bully : https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-gb/ ... 5610000001

Oooh. Never played Manhunt so I might give that a wriggle.

I did download Bully for Xbox 360 but never persevered properly. Much like school. May return to it (unlike school).

I played Manhunt just the other month and found it amazingly dull. I can understand all the controvesy when it came out and it is indeed a bit grusome, but I didn't find it very enjoyable at all.

TOYST

£12 is a bit pricey for emulated versions of old games. I'd otherwise have fancied playing Manhunt again.

I don't have many memories of Manhunt itself just the controversy however I do remember liking Manhunt 2 on the PSP

I thought it was a brilliant game. The sequel on the other hand...

£12 is too rich for my blood though.

Not sure about these titles specifically, but many of the PS2 games on PS4 are based on the original 50hz releases, and converted to 60hz (introducing frame judder).

You are better off getting the US versions which are all in 60hz. Unless you need support for non-English languages.

US versions are a little cheaper too.

Does anyone know if Manhunt supports that thing from the original where the director talks to you just through your headset and you can shout into the mic to distract the baddies?

I never did that on the original and it'd be nice to give it a play that way.

Was that Manhunt? I don't remember that at all.

Yeah. I never had a PS2 mic and I don't imagine many people did, but it was definitely a thing.

This is from Wikipedia. I didn't know this was a thing either.

Weird. I had an Xbox and a headset, never made use of this though.

Yup. Do you want your copy back?

Do you still have that?

Hmm. I'm not sure. Maybe.

Have we talked about Trackmania Turbo yet? Seems like we're missing a really good arcade racer this generation so far.

I was watching some reviews on YouTube about this. It looked quite decent like Burnout 3 meets Super Meat Boy. Sorta. I don't know how much it'd be on your own racing ghosts without some decent leaderboards filled with people's names you know.

Four player split-screen will be nice.