Simply put, it’s been an exhausting year for the virtual reality (VR) industry. The HTC Vive literally changed the VR game with its Room Scale user-tracking, Oculus VR has grown into a massive organisation with movie studios and research labs and the Gear VR has finally released while the wait for major head-mounted displays (HMDs) to hit the market remains as agonising as ever. But it’s not quite over; there’s still the PlayStation Experience to go.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) held the first iteration of this fan event last year and it went down as a huge success. Designed as a show for its most dedicated followers, the company hosted a massive keynote speech with several reveals and demos. PlayStation VR, the company’s VR HMD, played a small role at last year’s show, back when it was known as Project Morpheus. But with the kit that bit closer to release and high expectations for the second event on 5th – 6th December, VR fans will hopefully learn even more about it this time around.
SCE’s last press event at Paris Games Week in October 2015 proved to be a big one for PlayStation VR. The company announced that several titles would support the device, including Tekken 7 and Gran Turismo Sport. Hopefully the spirit of these announcements will live on at the PlayStation Experience’s keynote, which will kick off at 10:00 PST on 5th December, with more major reveals and confirmation that some other Oculus Rift and HTC Vive supported experiences will be coming to the kit too.
Over the past few months there have been rampant rumours that Hello Games’ hugely anticipated space exploration title, No Man’s Sky, will support PlayStation VR, and – outside of E3 – there couldn’t be a better time to announce its integration. The developer itself continues to dodge questions about possible support as does SCE, but there couldn’t be a bigger win for the device than securing No Man’s Sky right now. Its ever-expanding universe is just begging to be explored with a HMD, and this could be one of the keynote’s biggest announcements.
Elsewhere there are several other titles SCE could confirm to be heading to PlayStation VR. A PlayStation 4-port of the Oculus Rift supported XING: The Land Beyond was announced late last month, and party brawler Gang Beasts is also confirmed to be getting PC VR support with no mention of PlayStation VR just yet. Other titles that support VR on PC such as Distance will be at the event, and it would be good to finally check some of these off of the list.
It’s also important to look at PlayStation Experience in relation to the launch of PlayStation VR itself. The device is due in H1 2016, making this likely the last major press conference before the kit’s launch, unless it comes right at the end of that window just after E3 2016 which will be held in mid-June. Either way, this seems like SCE’s last chance to share release details about the device before its goes on sale. If the past few years have taught VR fans anything, it’s to never expect a date and price for a HMD at a press conference, so it’s hard to say if the company will finally deliver the goods here.
But those details aren’t necessary for PlayStation VR to have a good showing at the PlayStation Experience. If SCE can make some significant additions to the already impressive line-up for the device then it’s sure to be a fun show. VRFocus will be at the event this year to bring you all of the latest on PlayStation VR and beyond.
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