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The PlayStation VR2 can’t come soon enough

I was thrilled when I learned that one of PSVR’s best games, Moss, was getting a sequel. Moss: Book 2 launched on March 31, continuing the adventures of the game’s adorable mouse hero. I was eager to dive in, but I was less excited by the hoops I’d need to go through to accomplish it. Namely, it would mean dusting off my PS VR.

After setting up my headset for the first time in well over a year — and making a mess of my entertainment center in the process — the PlayStation VR2 can’t come soon enough. It feels like a waste to play great games on a headset that’s about to become obsolete.

A long, long setup

If you’ve never set up a PS VR before, you might be surprised by how complicated the process is. The headset, which launched in 2016, was already a bit of a mess to hook up at the time. The convoluted setup only sticks out more than six years later, especially next to something as elegant as the Meta Quest 2.

The setup requires six different wires in total. That’s due to the fact that the headset comes with its own external processing unit, a black box that acts as a middleman between console and headset. A wire that splits into two connections links the headset to the processor. That black box needs to be plugged into an outlet for power, as well as connected to a PlayStation through a USB port. That’s all before getting to the HDMI setup, which requires the box to connect to both the TV and console separately. On top of that, the device needs a PlayStation camera to function, adding one last connection.

The PlayStation VR2 will hook up to a PS5 with one single wire.

Every component that comes with the PS VR laid out on a white table.
Sony

Speaking of the PS5, the current-gen console has only complicated the setup further. Since the headset was built for the PS4, it doesn’t perfectly adapt to new hardware. For one, the camera won’t connect to the PS5 without a specific adapter that has to be specially ordered from Sony (thankfully, I had one on hand). As a final complication, the PS camera tracks movement using the lightbar on the back of the PS5’s DualShock 4 controller. That feature doesn’t exist on the DualSense, so I had to dust off a dead controller, charge it, and sync it to my console before I could play.

After a long, long buildup, I finally got into Moss: Book 2, only to be reminded of how dated the actual hardware is. For one, it’s very difficult to bring the picture clearly into focus. That’s one area that headsets have really improved upon over the years, as I’m able to strap on my Quest 2 and get a clear image with no fiddling. By comparison, I’m constantly tugging on the PS VR helmet and repositioning it just to get an image that feels acceptably blurry.

As I played Moss: Book 2, I started to wonder if I was doing the game a disservice by experiencing it this way. I couldn’t help but think about how much cleaner the game would look on Sony’s upcoming console, which will include a 4K HDR display. Most enticing of all, the headset will use inside-out tracking, which means that no external camera is required. As part of that change, the headset will use two Quest-like controllers instead of a gamepad, which should make it much easier to move boxes or grab enemy bugs in VR.

The PlayStation VR2 headset along with its controllers on a white background.

To the PS VR’s credit, it’s still a comfortable headset that I can wear much longer than a Quest 2. It’s also still a bargain price-wise, which was always the device’s main appeal. But it’s hard to find the motivation to use it when I know something much better is on the horizon. This isn’t like going from a PS4 to a PS5 and getting a tech boost on games that still play great cross-gen. On paper, it feels like Sony is going from the PS1 to the PS5 with its next headset.

I can’t wait for the PlayStation VR2. I expect it to be a day one purchase for me. As I wait for an official release date, I think I’m going to hold on to games like Moss: Book 2 and return to them when I can get the most out of them. I’m sure my wire-strewn entertainment center will thank me.

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PlayStation VR2 adds even more games to its launch lineup
Gameplay from Sushi Ben, an upcoming PlayStation VR2 game.

Sony has finalized the launch lineup of the PlayStation VR2 headset just before its February 22 release. With that comes the confirmation of the new games coming to the PSVR2 platform throughout the rest of 2023, including a sequel to a critically acclaimed PlayStation VR title, as well as many exciting ports.

Starting with the newly confirmed launch titles, ports of the Viking rhythm game Ragnarock, 1980s anime-themed motorcycle combat game Runner, sci-fi simulator Startenders: Intergalactic Bartending, medieval sword-fighting game Swordsman VR, and VR Guitar Hero-like Unplugged: Air Guitar will all be available on February 22. This cements the following list as PlayStation VR2's 43-game launch game lineup.

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Bringing VR’s best Star Wars game to PlayStation VR2 was a no-brainer, devs say
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When ILMxLAB learned about the PlayStation VR2, Director Jose Perez III thought it was a "no-brainer" for the studio to bring the Oculus Quest game Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge to the new headset.
"We're always looking at how we can push the fidelity of the work that we're doing," Perez III tells Digital Trends in an interview. "PlayStation VR2 is ridiculously powerful; we got really excited about what we could bring to that. We started talking with our friends at Sony because we had a great relationship with them for Vader Immortal, and it was really a no-brainer. Then, you put the headset on, you start feeling the haptics, and you start seeing what you can do with the visual fidelity and lighting, and it's like, 'Oh, this is awesome!'"
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge - Enhanced Edition | Official Trailer | PS VR2
PlayStation VR2's launch and its first wave of games are nearly upon us, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge Enhanced Edition is one of those titles. This is a make-or-break time for VR, which is still struggling to move into the mainstream but could become more popular if Sony's headset can offer a compelling and accessible virtual reality experience. Ahead of its release, Digital Trends spoke to Director Jose Perez III and Producer Harvey Whitney from ILMxLAB to learn about the process of crafting one of these critical "no-brainer" launch games and PlayStation VR2 will ultimately stand when it comes to the future of VR gaming.
The power of PlayStation VR2
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge was originally released for Meta Quest VR headsets in November 2020. It's set on the planet of Batuu, which people also explore at Dinsey parks, and follows a Droid Technician who gets caught in the middle of a grander fight against the First Order after crash-landing on the planet. At the time, it was meant with decent reviews and only got better as its story was completed and expanded with the Last Call DLC.
After getting the "Enhanced Edition" of the game for PlayStation VR2 greenlit, ILMxLAB actually had to go and make it. As the team was dealing with new hardware for the first time, producer Harvey Whitney thought it was good that the team's first project on PlayStation VR2 was an enhanced version of an existing game.
"Early on, knowing that we already had the content that was created for the original, that changes things quite a bit," Whitney tells Digital Trends. "We're not redeveloping the story and coming up with all of that. We just had that opportunity to work as a team and ask, 'What do we really push here, and where are the changes that we want to make, and what we can do to really take advantage of this hardware?'"

The VR space is full of different headsets with unique specs, with the much higher specs of the PS VR2 standing out. The PlayStation VR2 sports some impressive specs compared to its VR peers, displaying content in a 4000x2030 HDR format at a 90Hz or 120Hz frame rate. Plus, games have the PS5's power, spatial, and brand new Sense controllers to take advantage of, rather than the 2013 console and 2010 motion controls that limited the original PlayStation VR.
PlayStation VR2 supports Roomscale, Sitting, and Standing play styles, which added more complexity as Tales from the Galaxy's Edge supports all three. Thankfully, Perez III that bringing Tales from the Galaxy's Edge to PlayStation VR2 was relatively manageable because of how impressive the system's specs were.
"A lot of the development processes are similar [to other VR platforms]," Perez III says. "We're still working inside of Unreal, and we're doing a lot of those same processes. But we don't have to look at performance quite as much as we do on some of the other devices, so we're able to open up a lot of things or not be as concerned about certain things. That comes with better hardware."
Better hardware, better games
Looking at the biggest games of the PlayStation VR2 launch window lineup, the visuals of titles like Horizon Call of the Mountain and the VR modes of Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7 are impressive. In our discussion, Whitney also made it quite clear that one of the real advantages of working on this remaster was not having to worry about strict limitations on the visuals or even the audio. "We got lucky in the sense that there's a lot more to PlayStation VR2 that we hadn't had previously," Whitney says. "We could really push the graphics and make it shine. But then there were also some other things that came into play. We totally redid the audio, it sounds amazing."

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PlayStation Plus just set a new first-party precedent with Horizon Forbidden West
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Sony revealed the games coming to PlayStation Plus Premium and PlayStation Plus Extra this month on February 21, and it's the best month that the service has had since it launched in the summer of 2022. Not only are some great PS1 classics like The Legend of Dragoon and Wild Arms 2 coming to the service, but Horizon Forbbiden West is getting added as well.
Horizon Forbidden West coming to the service one year after launch is a big deal because Sony has been resistant to putting recent first-party PS5 games on its subscription service. While it's still not adding first-party titles on day one like Xbox Game Pass does, this is possibly our first indication of how Sony will handle adding its own games to the subscription. It's not the only PS4 and PS5 title coming to the service this month either, as the following strong lineup of games was also confirmed to be coming on February 21.

The Quarry (PS4, PS5)
Resident Evil VII Biohazard (PS4)
Outriders (PS4, PS5)
Scarlet Nexus (PS4, PS5)
Borderlands 3 (PS4, PS5) 
Tekken 7 (PS4, PS5)
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PS4)
Earth Defense Force 5 (PS4)
Oninaki (PS4)
Lost Sphear (PS4)
I Am Setsuna (PS4) 
The Forgotten City (PS4, PS5) 
Destroy All Humans! (PS4)

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