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Johnw1104 on 24 May 2016
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Ganoncrotch said:
Johnw1104 said:

It is immaterial if some Dance Dance people have these things lying around, to market a product as being $400 when really you can't actually use it as intended without dropping another $70 or so is deceptive. It is akin to when the Wii U had a lower price but virtually no hard drive and would use that price in all the marketing with a tiny asterisk beside it, except in that case people actually gave them shit for it.

For all intents and purposes, the entry cost for Sony's VR is much closer to $500 than it is $400, not including the actual console which it requires and exclusively runs on. Consider that the Oculus, a superior piece of hardware, costs $600 while INCLUDING a headset, sensor, remote, cables, Xbox1 Controller, and a game, and it's fairly evident how Sony managed to leave crucial pieces out to make their VR look like it's a far better deal than it actually is.

That they've actually succeeded in convincing everyone to list their VR as being $400 next to Oculus's $600, despite being incomplete while Oculus includes everything you could need, is some of the most successful deceptive marketing I've seen in some time in the industry. Everyone knew they'd get raked over the coals if it came in over $400 (especially as the man in charge of the project expressed "surprise" at the other two costing $600 and $800, as if that was unreasonable) so they took a few necessary components out of the bundle to meet the price ceiling.

I'm probably worse for pointing this out, but @bold do you think that every game should also include the price of the console and TV when it is being marketed because obviously a disk is useless without them.

And @ underlined, I wasn't aware that the oculus included the high spec PC required to use it, that is very cheap in comparison to the PSVR if it is the case indeed!

The bold was merely to point out that it's still an entry cost approaching $900, as console owners so love to point out that you need a $1,000 PC to use the Oculus. There's still a large ~$600-$800 gap (both will drop as hardware improves and PS4's become cheaper), but those who like to point at the high costs associated with the Oculus or Hive seem to forget that it's still damn expensive for an inferior product on the PS4.

As for the second, I'll put it simply as you seem to be confused: The Oculus actually comes equipped with everything you might need to fully experience the device on your PC. Sony's VR, however, and I'll use the asterisk from their site:

 "*PlayStation®4, PlayStation®Camera and PlayStation®VR software sold separately."

They didn't even include the Playstation Move in their asterisk, which will also be used. Likewise, and while I understand this isn't necessary in the Sony VR's case I feel it's worth mentioning to further show how poorly priced this is in comparison with the Oculus, you get an XBox 1 controller and a full game included with the $600.

Essentially, you get the complete package with Oculus, whereas Sony's VR has left essential parts out to feign a lower $400 price.

For the record, I don't have any dislike for the SonyVR and, assuming it doesn't wind up being bad, I plan to get it. This marketing, however, utilizing asterisks and tiny fonts, is deceptive.