October the 13th 2016, Sony launched the PlayStation VR. I decided to buy a PSVR at launch with a whole load of games.
Reason for that was over the past 3 or 4 years at events like EGX, I’ve had the pleasure to play VR be it mobile with Gear or a full VIVE set-up and everything in between.
Since then I’ve been a big supporter of the entertainment medium which you may have seen with my personal YouTube series Enter the PlayStation VR and on Pod of War.
Now this week possibly the biggest release to use VR with PlayStation VR and maybe any of the VR platforms, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard arrived, I planned to play it in VR like 9.6% of the 2.5 Million people who have so far picked up RE7 are currently doing.
I have given it a go, however up into this point since October this has been the first time I’ve used my PSVR in over 2 months.
That is not a good sign, from someone who you know is a big fan of this technology and to be honest now, after these few months have passed that is what it still feels like just a great technology.
Somewhere like EGX, where you play possibly 50 games playing something different and unique in VR stands out from the rest as even though playing the newest Halo is great, you like me know what Halo is going to be like.
Playing something you’ve never experienced before setup for you already to go, is excellent, when you bring home VR be it PSVR or another is a different story.
PSVR is rather straight forward compared to VIVE for instance to setup, especially with a PS4 Pro that has rear USB ports. I still find it a hassle though, coming home from work one evening, getting the headset out of the cupboard, the cable from the draw then getting it all nice and snug on your head, it all takes time.
It might not be much but when you want to relax one evening, even these few minutes can be a pain, then how long can you play in VR without possibly feeling ill.
Up in till now I’ve played a whole day’s in VR and felt fine, I did feel a little woozy in Resident Evil 7 after 30 minutes of play but wasn’t bad enough for me to stop playing.
Why I stopped playing and why I won’t be playing it in VR again, is down to ease of use when I come home, I just want to press the big PS button on my Dual Shock 4, put Resident Evil 7 in the disc draw and relax (much as you can with a survival horror) along with eating that pot of pringles I really shouldn’t be.
I still think VR is a great technology with my best experiences being that experiences not games, just now it feels like there is a lot of kinks to overcome and to find the best possible way to implement it in every day entertainment.
5 years’ time who knows and I hope the likes of Sony continue to push onwards with the technology for now though it’s not for me.