Playstation VR

[Chirpychicken]

I have been told that there is now a demo of Tethered for PSVR in the Store in the demo section (not in the the VR section)

[Yak]

We just got a Pro! Oh hey let's quickly copy over the stuff from our old ps4...

*sets up copy*

"9 HOURS REMAINING"

...Oh. No spaceship time for me tonight then!

[Bod]

Blimey! How long did it take in total?

[gilesgoat]

Blimey! How long did it take in total?

Surely the whole 9 hours, we left it overnight.

[CrashedAlex]

It's confirmed. Lethal will be out on Tuesday for PSVR owners.

We liked VR so figured we'd make a game for it. Small team of 7 and we made the whole thing in about seven weeks for the HTC Vive. PSVR version took probably double that - different HW, tracking system, more limitations, and a much longer submission process.

We'd love to make another VR title so we hope that there is an audience out there who a) have the hardware b) have the controllers and c) buy games digitally!

On another forum someone was asking "why don't the targets shoot back?" - well the ENTIRE concept of the game is that it's a VR gun range experience based on the opening bit in the original "Point Break" -it's about speed and accuracy and cardboard targets don't shoot back!

Point Break opening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8daVFhrGww

It's also based on the pistol shooting competition from "Magnum Force" (the second "Dirty Harry" picture if you're old enough to have heard of that character)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWFMT3Qgkq0 (there are three parts to the video)

When I was starting work on BLACK for PlayStation2 I went to a gun range in the United States. I wanted to see if they had anything close to the experiences shown in those movie clips. I actually got to try a PC video based police training simulation. There was a room with a big projection screen - full of bullet holes. A guy sat on the back with a PC which ran a sort of LaserDisc type game. I stood in the dark with a handgun (Colt 45) and a box of bullets. Various scenarios played where the police approached different encounters - teenagers spraying graffiti, drunk guy in a mall and the most bizarre one - woman freaking out in suburban front garden. At different moments, the video blipped and one of two follow-on scenes played - the person onscreen revealed and then opened fire with a weapon of some sort - or something normal. I remember the graffiti kid spun around with an Uzi, the drunk guy dual wielded pistols and the crazy lady whipped out a sawn off shotgun!

It was pretty intense and I remember being filled with adrenalin and fumbling reloading the chamber in the dark with the instructor guy shouting "ARE YOU READY?!" at me in the dark.

In Lethal we have handguns and submachine guns and also throwing knives and throwing stars, then combinations of each.

[Misfit]

Sounds great. I shall be buying for the holiday.

I guess as they are targets rather than people, we may be able to let my son play too. He's 9 and we're really trying not to get into killing games yet (although it Minecraft multiplayer seems to have sneaked through).

[CrashedAlex]

Thanks for the support - it means a lot to a tiny studio like us.

[Misfit]

Thanks for the support - it means a lot to a tiny studio like us.

We're tinier!

But we don't make games, we make eRecruitment software (yawn!).

Of course we have to sell far fewer to survive and they pay us to keep using it each year...

Still not rich though.

[Misfit]

Classic mode coming as free content to Battlezone on the 20th. Complete with glowy green vectors!

[zbandito]

I left my damn Battlezone disc in the Ps4 when I returned it and got a pro!

[Misfit]

No much new this week. Tethered has a demo, which may have been mentioned, but it's now showing under the VR section.

I expect you to die is out in the US store if you want it 'early' and seems to be getting rave reviews (but again is another short one). It's apparently an James Bond style escape room game when you have to escape from tricky situations, I guess without dying. Trying not to watch anything on this so the solutions are spoiled.

[zbandito]

So how much of the PSVR hardware is exposed to the SDK or an inventive programmer? I'm just curious. I see there are 15 pins on the cable to the headset (plus the HDMI, which may only carry video signal). But the interface box connects via USB; can you address any of the extra hardware that way, or is that all handled by the PS4 OS and hidden away from devs? Presumably the connection to the headset contains VCC+, Ground, Audio L, Audio R, Volume Up, Volume Down, Mute Switch, Power Switch, IR Detection, and IMU data via I2C or similar. I realize the IMU data comes back to the PS4 via USB at supposedly 1000hz, and handshakes the PS4 which I believe is emulated on PC now? Does the headset switch video modes automagically by watching the HDMI mode or is it set explicitly via USB? etc.

[gilesgoat]

So how much of the PSVR hardware is exposed to the SDK or an inventive programmer? I'm just curious. I see there are 15 pins on the cable to the headset (plus the HDMI, which may only carry video signal). But the interface box connects via USB; can you address any of the extra hardware that way, or is that all handled by the PS4 OS and hidden away from devs? Presumably the connection to the headset contains VCC+, Ground, Audio L, Audio R, Volume Up, Volume Down, Mute Switch, Power Switch, IR Detection, and IMU data via I2C or similar. I realize the IMU data comes back to the PS4 via USB at supposedly 1000hz, and handshakes the PS4 which I believe is emulated on PC now? Does the headset switch video modes automagically by watching the HDMI mode or is it set explicitly via USB? etc.

Look ... "you don't go that much into the HW" as "it could well change", during the course of the N prototypes we worked with I lost count how many times HW/Firmware/optics/stuff changed.

The SDK gives you really "all you need" to make it work properly.

The thing about "would it ever/be possible to have PSVR working on/with PCs ?" I did ask it reaaally long time ago, my impression is that "yes in theory it could in a snap" but I suppose there are "lot of other issues" that has not much to do with HW or SW for that not to happen .. anytime soon.

I'd reccomend you look around/study a thing about all those VR sensors/system and what they call about "sensor fusion" and a certain "filter with a funny name I can't remember" without it makes "almost analyticalally impossible" to solve a set of things and get meaningful results out.

I.e. you think you just would have a magnetometer/accelerometer output and with that you can "combine" someway and get a reliable indication of where you are looking at .. good luck ... you won't get it that easily with just "raw data" and you won't get anywhere without "proper prediction" and knowing precisely all the various delays involved in the "chain" starting from the sensors, to the cables, to the delays introduced by the PC drivers.

I heard OR people got *MAD* to have all this reliably working on a PC and even that "it's not so perfect" cause PC/Windows/drivers issues.

On the other side, in "semi theory and even practice", you COULD buy some "modules" for that, get a high res display and probably now even some optics "already made by someone" and make your own VR system "probably with not extreme difficulties".

Your best bet to know all this would be to send "an inventive CV" to Sony and see if they'd hire you in their HW team

Then you'd be tied by NDA you would not be able to write anything about it anywhere

Anyway told you that PSVR was the best VR

Now the only thing that one day will supersede all that will be Light Field Technology.

[gilesgoat]

However so far from all I am seeing so far I could say "I am NOT super satisfied of VR things around" I mean we really are just on the TIP of an iceberg , there's SO SO MUCH more work AND investments needed to have "more stuff".

The HW is good, for what it is and such is OK .. but the SW is NOT so ok .. it needs more complex stuff, it needs lot more investment in time and money, it needs stuff that really makes one think "YAY this is what VR is for".

It needs A LOT more CARE in what is done, even with PRO "I've seen things" that I could say "this is not what I'd expect from" ..

Again "it shows lot of potential, but we are not properly there yet".

As a developer I KNOW that things CAN be done BUT they need time and such.

As a buyer I'd say "yes there's some good things I really really love" but "just a few", interesting anyway and to an extent maybe "better so that load of too many things a la' iOS/android market".

It's still very much infancy, but needs "a few big things" to keep it going someone has still to pull out more of deeper wallet but even MORE important LOT MORE OF WORK into it, good work.

And also "stop thinking" at "things like made quick to make some quick stuff", here we are already into "realm" of "no you need much longer projects/times/experimentation".

That's what is needed, VR is .. complicated ..

[Chirpychicken]

My lovely girlfriend came back from Derby town centre with a ps pro with a copy of infinite second son for me today.

Rather than transfer everything I decided to just upload my saves to the cloud on the old ps4 and just download the games I'm currently going through on the pro and then grab my saves. It is still going to take ages (Battlefront alone is saying 4hrs left at the minute).

I need to go and research which games have pro patches so I can test it all out. Looking forward to testing out vr too.