Sony Announces VR2 and VR2 Sense Controller for PlayStation 5

While Microsoft continues to ignore virtual reality on its own gaming consoles, Sony continues to push forward: it has announced the next-generation PlayStation VR2 and PlayStation VR2 Sense controller for the PlayStation 5.

“PlayStation VR2 takes VR gaming to a whole new level, enabling a greater sense of presence and allowing players to escape into game worlds like never before,” Sony senior vice president Hideaki Nishino writes in the announcement post. “With the headset on and controllers in hand, players will feel a heightened range of sensations unlike any other – thanks to the creativity of the game worlds being built by our world-class developers, and the latest technology incorporated into the hardware.”

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The PS VR2 offers 4K HDR via its OLED display, Sony says, with a 110-degree field of view and foveated rendering. It provides a display resolution of 2000 × 2040 per eye with smooth frame rates of 90 or 120 Hz. The headset also provides controller tracking via integrated, embedded cameras so that your movements and the directions you look are replicated in-game without the need for external cameras.

The headset also features new sensory features by combining inputs from eye-tracking, headset feedback, 3D Audio, and the PS VR2 Sense controller for a more immersive experience. It also provides feedback that amplifies in-game actions using a built-in motor with vibrations. “Gamers can feel a character’s elevated pulse during tense moments,” Mr. Nishino notes, “the rush of objects passing close to the character’s head, or the thrust of a vehicle as the character speeds forward.

Its new eye-tracking functionality allows the PS VR2 to detect your eye movement, so you can simply look in a specific direction to provide additional in-game input. Sony says this “allows for a heightened emotional response and enhanced expression that provide a new level of realism in gaming.”

As for the new PS VR2 Sense controller, this provides haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. PS VR2 is also easier to set up with just a single cable connected directly to the PS5.

I’m not sure about pricing or availability.

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Conversation 10 comments

  • spacein_vader

    Premium Member
    05 January, 2022 - 8:34 am

    <p>Eye tracking doesn’t "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">provide a new level of realism in gaming" because its been present for years already, most notably in racing games and flight sims. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Still a welcome addition but it annoys me when companies (a certain fruity one seems to do it a lot,) claim they’ve invented something new when it’s been around for a while elsewhere. </span></p>

  • Mike_Peluso

    05 January, 2022 - 9:17 am

    <p>I’ve gotten the Quest 2 for Christmas this year. As a former PSVR owner, I can honestly say that the VR experience w/o wires and finally with a killer app (Supernatural) trumps graphics completely. I’d be all over the PSVR 2 if it had a wireless option and supernatural, but if it’s going to have a cable, I’m out. </p>

    • MoopMeep

      05 January, 2022 - 1:01 pm

      <p>My daughter plays PSVR and it scares me.</p><p>She seems to forget around the cables, so she turns completely around with the headset and walks around pretty far….. It a pain to connect up the cables too and pets like to chomp on them too….. so I agree wireless would be very welcomed.</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    05 January, 2022 - 9:57 am

    <p>Microsoft’s refusal to bring VR to Xbox is just baffling. They’ve had several years of research and insights from Hololens, and they’ve had Windows Mixed Reality out there, and now they’re partnering with Qualcomm on AR chips– but somehow, they’re ignoring VR on the one platform where they’re likely to gain traction with users and developers. </p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      05 January, 2022 - 11:20 am

      <p>They were roughly bit by Kinect, so extending the console is a sensitive area for them. They should add extended capabilities to Xbox (and should have left Kinect as a optional hardware piece), like a VR headset.</p>

    • 2ilent8cho

      05 January, 2022 - 11:58 am

      <p>VR is another reason I jumped to Playstation last gen, it made me feel even more Playstation actually care about gaming. On the Xbox One side it had a UI I did not like, was TV focused, Kinect was forced on you at launch even if you did not want it and add to that the whole game sharing screw up, and no VR, so I ran a mile from Xbox. Now I’m on PS5 and cannot wait for PS5’s VR2. </p>

  • smidgerine

    Premium Member
    05 January, 2022 - 10:27 am

    <p>If I were Microsoft a d I had something to announce, I’d not do it at ces. I’d do it at e3. </p>

  • scovious

    05 January, 2022 - 3:09 pm

    <p>Microsoft is ignoring VR, but at least they are leapfrogging it with MR. It’s unfortunate that the way MR will develop will be business facing before it’s consumer facing which is the opposite of VR. That makes it appear more boring in the short term, but in the long term Microsoft will have an infinitely better solution for everyone.</p>

    • eric_rasmussen

      Premium Member
      06 January, 2022 - 1:39 pm

      <p>I don’t think Microsoft will ever do consumer MR/AR until Apple does it and has success with it. At that point, Microsoft will play catch-up and rush some half-baked solution out the door.</p><p><br></p><p>Microsoft has historically been really good at innovating, doing nothing with that innovation, watching others make something of it, trying to catch up and then cancelling what they make because nobody uses it. If they could just monetize their innovations at the very start I think they’d be much more successful in the consumer space.</p>

  • sydney2k

    06 January, 2022 - 5:41 pm

    <p>What would really put the cat among the pigeons is if Sony puts PC capabilities to the PSVR2. With their porting games over to the PC, could PSVR be that far behind?</p>

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