Virtual reality (VR) is right around the corner, and in some places it’s already here. Samsung has already launched its Gear VR headset created in collaboration with Facebook’s daughter company Oculus VR. Gaming consoles don’t want to be left behind, and on top of this movement sits Sony with its PlayStation 4-compatible PlayStation VR, which is launching early this year.
Sony has now released a reaction video to the adrenaline-fueled First-Person Shooter RIGS: Mechanized Combat League. In the video you’ll see bullet-firing mechs fighting in competitive multiplayer from a first-person perspective. While we question the “natural” excitement on the faces of the players featured in Sony’s own marketing attempts, the thought of filling gigantic robots with lead in VR is an appealing one.
Leading the video is the previously IGN-employed video game journalist and now YouTube celebrity Greg Miller from Kindafunny.com. By having Greg first try out the game and pose a few questions to the developers, then moving onto others trying the game, Sony is clearly doing its best to relay what playing the game feels like.
The company leading the gaming console arms race has been pushing the technology ever since the announcement of its own headset. With Microsoft working on its Hololens device and Nintendo being hush-hush about the development of its next console, Sony can’t afford to lose its own momentum. And since it’s really hard to convince people of what makes VR so good without having them experience it, the video puts focus on the reactions of the players who tried it. And in this Sony-produced video relating to a Sony-exclusive game, the players offered such modest feedback as, “This is the best game in VR right now!” and “Playing RIGS was really amazing!”
PlayStation VR is launching this year, and Sony has proclaimed there are over 100 developers working on titles for the device. While it most likely won’t beat HTC’s Vive or the Oculus Rift when run on high-end computers, it could hold the key to virtual reality’s mainstream breakthrough with standardized console hardware and over 30 million PlayStation 4 units sold.
