The PlayStation VR is the last of the big three high end VR solutions that are all slated to launch this year- and while people anticipate it to be largely the most successful VR set, due to its wider accessibility (it is projected to be cheaper than Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and it will be paired with a PS4, as opposed to the far rarer high end PCs), it is also considered to be a bit lower end on the technical side than either Oculus or Vive.
Which is the point that Alfonso del Cerro, the founder of Pentadimensional Games, currently developing Megaton Rainfall for the PlayStation VR, takes issue with. Speaking about the PSVR, del Cerro was fairly passionate.
“Sony showed a lot of interest in our game since they played it at GDC 2015. They were looking for projects por PSVR and I was showcasing MR at the Indie Megabooth. Since then they have been very friendly, they helped us with the visibility, showing the game in videos, their blog, and events like PlayStation Experience and next week at GDC 2016. They even offered an exclusivity deal so I’m happy with them. And of course being one of the first games for PlayStation VR will give the game a lot more visibility.”
Of course, this sounds typical for Sony, who have been far better with outreach for smaller developers, and giving them a platform to develop and showcase their games, than others in the industry. However, del Cerro proceeds to lavish praise on the PSVR, pointing to a feature that it has that Vive or Rift do not, which makes it a better VR experience.
“I think PSVR will ship millions,” he said. “Here in Spain I know a lot more people who own a PlayStation 4 than a high-end PC ready for VR. Technically, what surprised me the most was the reprojection feature. It generates 120 frames per second, taking into account the movement of the head, even when the game fails to achieve 60 frames per second. Which means that there is no jittering at all. You can play Megaton Rainfall for 1 hour and won’t see any frame out of sync. I can’t say the same for the VR experiences on my PC. Megaton Rainfall will work at 60 fps in PSVR (120 with reprojection).”
That does seem to be a pretty important point- you don’t want jittering in your VR game, because that can cause motion sickness and completely ruin the experience for you. It sounds like Sony has thought ahead on this front- and that this might make their VR solution more appealing, on a proposition that goes beyond just the price.
