Extra Credits takes on Virtual Reality

[DivinePaladin]

SWORDF1SH said:
Basically points we already know. Motion control needs software to get buyers but we need an install base for developers to support it.
With over 100 games that will support Move it will have a good platform to build from.
I don't think shoehorning in PSMove into non-motion games will cheapen the experience and in theory should be relatively easy to do. For instance Move in gt, project cars and DriveClub will still be pretty cool and easy to easyish to implement without pumping to much money into it. Shooting games might be a little harder but still developers should be able to implement a good motion control experience with a small budget.

I edited your comment seriously; there's no intent of trolling here. My point is that these same arguments we've heard before work incredibly well with Sony's past products. I could even use the phrase "Vita" and to an extent it'd work. I'd have to change the listed games of course but I was lazy and didn't change them above either. 

 

Whether you want to believe VR is gonna happen or not this go around, you can't assume that it'll work if all we're getting is promises and assumptions that because it's probably easy to shoehorn in it will be received well. I still remember Kevin Butler at E3 2010, six months before the Move launch, when he gave that fantastic speech about gaming. Remember how many games he directly referenced there? One, and it was Sports Champions. Six months before launch and we had one big title and a bunch of questionably compatible ones. We're supposedly close to a PSVR release date and we've had not a single key title, but rather a number of titles in development, many of which are shoehorned just as you describe. I have no doubts those titles will work; PS Move had a bunch of games that worked well with shoehorned compatability. I have big concerns about how Sony is going about this. They're notoriously bad at dual-platform support - look at the PSP to an extent, but more so PS Move, Wonderbook (lol), the Vita, etc. - and they've shown a willingness to abandon ship before it's even been hit both with a dozen different PS3 games and the Vita/Move as a whole.

 

I love me some Sony - again this is all coming from love - but I cannot see PSVR working for them without No Man's Sky as an exclusive selling point. Even then it's iffy but they know they need a killer app - it's been really good fortune and marketing that they've done this well with the PS4 without some huge broad-audience killer apps - but that same crowd of fans old and new alike now know that Sony's been slow on the uptake lately. Some may be hesitant because it seems like they pulled resources from PS4 titles or something to work on VR just as they did for some Vita games, some may just want Uncharted 4 by now dammit, et alia res, but a several hundred dollar add-on to a decently-supported console isn't going to fly off shelves unless there's a HUGE Minecraft-level revolution to push it.

 

I see this ending for Sony only two ways: Silently killing it off around late 2017 with only one generation of PSVR headsets, and letting support trickle out and die before (or even after) announcing the PS5 or their next venture; or pushing PC compatability and silently pushing it toward that realm while they prepare the PS5 or whatever comes next. There is no room for success here in my eyes, unless No Man's Sky creates a miracle, or they GREATLY hype up something in this build-up period that can act as the killer app until they get one - or the price is WELL below what is estimated and it ends up accessible to more than just the small crowd of huge gaming enthusiasts. 

 

Anyway I'm rambling again, as I do in these VR threads. My point is that VR simply can't work well for Sony with their current tried-and-true model. Oculus is a different story but even then I think the hardware simply isn't there at a cost that people are willing to pay for a working rig.