PlayStation VR is coming, and like many others I have pre-ordered and will be sitting like a kid at Christmas waiting for DPD to keep me hanging on until the last moment to get my hands on the next phase of gaming tech. I am excited, many of my friends and colleagues are too, but is our excitement and enthusiasm clouding our judgment as to just what Sony are up to? Of all the VR experiences on offer this year, PlayStation VR has been billed as the one for the masses; the mainstream VR experience that all the developers will be working on titles for. All these statements should be true – the PS4 has sold eleventy million consoles so far, the VR headset prices are very competitive, and with the amount of people ready to commit £350 odd of their hard earned pennies, publishers know there will be a hunger for games and experiences. Brilliant… or is it?
On more than one occasion the Neo has been discussed in the office and the inner circle of the Codec Moments team, most of the responses to it have been based around the fact that 4K resolution is the only real selling point. If you haven’t got a 4K TV why bother? Is a bit of an improvement in the clock speed (2.1 Ghz compared to 1.6 Ghz), a better GPU and 25% more memory worth an upgrade? Especially when the PS4 should be merrily whirring away for years to come. I have already expressed my interest in getting one because I have two 4K TV’s in my house, and I have already earmarked the PS4 to be passed to my oldest boy child to use as (quite frankly) it is already sounding like a hyperactive asthmatic every time I play anything which gets a bit chaotic on screen. For me 4K is a good reason to upgrade, but then I started wondering a little more about it.
We have all been told that the PlayStation VR will come with a little box of tricks that does all the technical stuff allowing it to kick out 120 FPS at 18ms latency. This essentially means the experience should be motion sick proof whilst being graphically immense. All good stuff, but isn’t the release of the Neo a little too convenient on the same day as the VR unit? Sony has stated they won’t have Neo exclusive titles, I believe that from a standard PS4 perspective, as that’s a little too obvious and people would get the hump as you would expect. But what could be a little less obvious is if there is a big jump in the quality or experience that the Neo can offer VR compared to the PS4.
Sony have stated the Neo will have hardware more inline with the VR’s capability, so what’s to stop them having to limit the FPS or graphical detail of PS4 VR games compared to the Neo? Would an improved experience on the VR using the Neo be worth upgrading from the PS4? If you look at 4K vs HD, 4K looks better side-by-side, but in isolation on a large screen when you’re sat at least 8 feet away? Probably not something most people will spend any time thinking about. If you’ve got the PSVR doing the donkey work as well with some games, then the resources put aside for 4K in the Neo are being wasted whenever you’re using that kit. Wouldn’t it make sense to put that extra grunt in to improving the VR side of things? VR is all about the experience after all. Could it have people running for an upgrade if they saw a difference in the PSVR tech? I think this would happen, and the suspicious side of me thinks Sony will be banking on the user base making a switch, which could then make the route to specific Neo titles a little more easy to justify.
Graham
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I also reckon the NEO is a back door way to improve VR – having said that I dont blame them. Once the 1st wave of PSVR have hit I will be more than happy to spend another £300-£350 on an updated PS4 if my PSVR kit stays the same but gives me better graphical VR titles. It will extend the life of the PSVR kit for early adopters, retain compatibility with my old library of PS4 games – which may also get a buff to frame rate making a replay of older titles more attractive – just look at Red Dead Redemption constant 30fps on the xbox 1 recently added to its backwards compatibility. Plus we get even better NEO versions of future titles. Either way we will have to stump up extra money for a new PSVR v.2 or a newer version PS4 – thats just the way it goes. If Sony can ease its customers through this in bite sized stages I am all for it. I am not so sure about the Xbox Scorpio because the spec does indicate a much higher price tag which when its released may put it in the wrealms of do I buy a PC or and Xbox1 Scorpio? especially as all the titles from xbox are in future going to be released simultaneously on PC and Xbox1. I also agree 4k is not an issue for gamers at the moment – my TV is only a year old and i expect 5 years life in it at least. I would rather have better PSVR than 4k at the moment. Its a really exciting time for gamers and I applaud the way sony has chipped away via the move controllers and camera (which I own and never used) at the base entry price in order to bring VR to the masses.
ill get neo and trade ps4 I hade an xbox one sold it love sony
Hello Graham, enjoyed your article. I’ve got PSVR ordered. I enjoyed your article. I think the PSVR as far as I have read online, has its own processor. So I really don’t know if the Neo will provide much of a difference. Ill likely get one anyway. With regards your PS4 being noisey. I am not a technical guy, but it is really easy to sort. Go on youtube and type in how to fix a noisey ps4. There are step by step guides. All you basically do is take a few screws out and a plastic cover off, and get a clean dry cloth and hoover head and gently clean the dust from its innards and gently use a cloth to.clean the fan. I did that caise during certain games ot would whir like a jet plane. Now it is silent and like brand new. Don’t be frightened its so easy. Good luck.
I’ve loved my PS4 since day one, but an upgrade after 3 years works for me. Samsung UN55KS9000 55 inch 4K HDR TV and Playstaion 4.5 this October, Greatness awaits.