"Virtual reality" - this phrase instantly takes me to childhood, when, as a 10-year-old boy, I was fascinated watching the fantastic film "Lawnmower", shot by the script of Stephen King. Since then, more than 20 years have passed, and virtual reality has become closer to people than ever before. 2016 should be the beginning of a new era for both the gaming industry and for many other industries in which VR can become a major help for specialists. But which of the many VR headsets will be the best choice for consumers?
On the market this year there are three major players. Each of them will offer consumers their unique vision of virtual reality, presented in the form of a unique gadget. Let us reflect together on what the three producers will be able to offer us.
Oculus Rift
As you already know, Oculus VR, now owned by Mark Zuckerberg, officially announced the release date and the price of its Rift headset. It will cost $ 599 or 699 euros if you are talking about European countries and Russia. It should also be added somewhere around $ 1000 for a good computer with a graphics card of the GTX 970 level. Expensive - would you say? Yes, it's expensive. But, according to the founder of the company Oculus VR, Palmer Lucky, the quality helmet of virtual reality by definition can not be cheap, and even at a cost of $ 599, developers will not be able to make anything from sales of the Rift headset. The main profit the company sees in the sale of software, in advertising and other additional services. We'll take Palmer's word for it. He will not blatantly lie in our face. The guy is kind of sincere.
As for the technical side of the question, the Oculus Rift really offers a very high-quality virtual reality for such money. The resolution of the matrix at 2160 by 1200 pixels allows you to output a clear stereoscopic picture of 1080 by 1200 pixels for each eye. Will your current computer handle 233 million pixels per second? The picture will be updated at a frequency of 90 Hz, which will minimize the dizziness and nausea caused by the blurred image during movements of your head. The horizontal viewing angle exceeds 90 degrees, approaching 100 degrees (there are still no exact specifications for the final version of the headset), and the angle is 110 degrees along the diagonal. Built-in headphones allow you to experience a three-dimensional sound, which is critically important for a full immersion in VR. True, many are very upset by the fact that they will not be able to use their own, more professional and high-quality headphones.
Despite the high cost (and high it was counted even in the US and European countries), the first batch of Oculus Rift, scheduled for sale in late March 2016, was sold out in the online store in 14 minutes. Russia, of course, was not included in the list of 20 countries, where the headset can be sent by mail. So Russian buyers have two options: either purchase a headset from local barygs, or use the services of delivering goods from the US, which for an additional fee will bring you anything.
Pros:
- High resolution matrix.
- High-quality graphics in games.
- The refresh rate is 90 Hz.
- High viewing angle horizontally and diagonally.
- Built-in headphones with support for 3D sound.
- Gamepad Xbox One in the kit.
- Complete IR tracker for tracking movements.
- Presence of exclusive games for Rift.
- Many developers support.
Minuses:
- A high price of 699 euros or 599 dollars.
- Controllers Oculus Touch are still unavailable.
- You need to buy an expensive computer.
- You can not use your headphones.
Vive
Vive did not expect a virtual reality headset, but it was able to surprise many with its quality. There was no collection of funds for Kickstarter, as in the case of Oculus Rift, nor a large-scale advertising campaign. The headset was simply announced by a duet of companies Valve and HTC without unnecessary hype. We still do not know how much it will cost, but it is unlikely that the price tag will be significantly lower than the cost of Rift from the main competitor. Personally, for some reason I have a feeling that Vive will cost even more and you should wait for the price at the level of 700-800 dollars. But what is this headset is better than the brainchild of Oculus VR?
In terms of technical characteristics, it is very much like what Oculus Rift developers offer us. A similar resolution of 2160 by 1200 pixels and a similar picture of 1080 by 1200 pixels for each eye. The same frequency of updating the picture at 90 Hz. A similar viewing angle along the diagonal, equal to 110 degrees. A similar set of more than 70 different sensors for orientation in space and a complete tracker for accurate tracking of the user's head. The truth tracker in this case is not just an IR camera, as in the case of Rift, but a pulsed laser system installed in two points of the room. This allows the user to comfortably run and jump in the headset on an area of 4.5 to 4.5 square meters. The main thing is not to get lost in the wires.
An important difference from competitors is the presence in the Vive headset of the built-in front camera, thanks to which at any time, by pressing a special button, the user can directly see through the game the outlines of the world around him, as if this is augmented reality. Thus, you can, without removing Vive from your head, communicate with people present in the room, looking at them on your virtual screen. This will also allow you not to fly into the surrounding objects in the midst of a virtual battle - the system will simply warn you if you approach them at a dangerously close distance, displaying their 3D contours on the screen.
Headset Vive should go on sale in April 2016, a month after the start of sales Oculus Rift. Pre-orders for it will begin to take in February, but should wait for the official announcement of the price of this VR-device first. And do not forget that a powerful computer in this case, you too will not hurt. So it's time to start saving money.
Pros:
- High resolution matrix.
- High-quality graphics in games.
- The refresh rate is 90 Hz.
- High viewing angle horizontally and diagonally.
- Presence of the camera built into the headset.
- Laser tracking system in the kit.
- Ability to use your headphones.
- Availability of complete VR-controllers.
- Many developers support.
- Full support for the Steam platform.
Minuses:
- Presumably a high price.
- You need to buy an expensive computer.
- For games, it is desirable to have a spacious room.
PlayStation VR
Whatever, but Sony is not a direct competitor to the companies Oculus VR and HTC / Vive. The PC market and the game console market exist in parallel planes, crossing only in terms of multiplatform software. The main advantage of the Sony headset is the lack of the need to purchase an expensive computer. But because of this, users will have to sacrifice high-quality graphics, which only top-end PCs can give out of 1000 dollars and higher. We can say that the PlayStation VR is a mid-level virtual reality headset that is capable of giving a lot of pleasant and even amazing emotions. But if you at least once try expensive PC headsets, then immediately you will feel the difference in the quality of the picture.
Given that Sony understands the situation with VR and the performance of its PlayStation 4 console, the engineers of the company had to make a small trick to tighten the technical specifications of the console for the new gadget. For these purposes, an external calculation unit is used, which connects to the console and with the help of an additional processor allows to improve the quality of graphics and increase the frame rate. This box will connect to the console, and already it will cling to the very headset PlayStation VR. But thanks to this move, as well as the introduction of a special algorithm for calculating frames, in the games Sony will be able to update the picture at 120 Hz, which competitors can not boast. If the developers decide to redirect power from the frame rate to improve the quality of the picture, they will also be available mode with a frequency of 60 Hz. Each developer will make this decision independently, depending on their needs.
Virtually everything you need to play with the PlayStation VR is already available to 36 million users around the world. That's how many PlayStation 4 gaming consoles have been sold to date. Can we say that today around the world can count 36 million owners of video cards of the level of GTX 970? I do not think so. It should be remembered that if you already have a PS4 console and you plan to purchase a PlayStation VR headset, you will also have to buy a PlayStation Camera that tracks the LEDs on the headset and optionally the PlayStation Move controllers. However, you can play with the usual DualShock 4, because it originally built a luminous panel, designed to monitor the camera in VR-games.
As for the technical specifications, the headset will offer you an OLED screen with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (960 at 1080 for each eye), and a viewing angle of 100 degrees. Built-in headphones are not provided, so you can use any (wired or wireless) of your choice. The incomparable advantage of the PlayStation VR is the ability to display the game picture simultaneously on the TV screen and on the headset. So people with you in the room can see what you are playing, and help you with advice. Representatives of Sony also do not exclude the possibility of an asynchronous multiplayer, when one player will see his character on the TV, and the second - in the headset. Thus, they can not spy on each other's screens while in the same room, which will add extra excitement to the game.
The price of the headset is still unknown, but if you ask me, you should wait for the price tag somewhere at the level of 400-500 dollars. Despite the statements of Sony executives that the PlayStation VR will be comparable in price to the PS4 console, in the end everything may not be so easy. Sony's helmet has not yet acquired the official release date, but it should be available in the first half of 2016. Most likely, we will hear more news at the GDC 2016 exhibition in March.
Pros:
- Presumably lower cost.
- The PS4 console is much cheaper than a PC for $ 1000.
- The picture is displayed immediately on the TV screen and on the headset.
- The presence of an auxiliary processor in the kit.
- The refresh rate is 120 Hz.
- The possibility of an asynchronous multiplayer.
- High viewing angle horizontally and diagonally.
- Ability to use your headphones.
- Presence of exclusive games for PS VR.
- Many developers support.
Minuses:
- Graphics in games can not be compared with competitors.
- Lower matrix resolution.
- You need to buy a PlayStation Camera.
- If you want, you need to buy PS Move controllers.
As you can see, each of their three sets has its pluses and minuses, but already now one can say that those who do not mind spending on a virtual reality of 1500-2000 dollars will choose between two models of VR-headsets. And people with a smaller budget are more likely to decide on a solution from Sony. Curious is the fact that each manufacturer will try to entice users to themselves with the help of exclusive games. Sony and Oculus VR, for example, have already established their own studios, which are actively working on exclusives. About HTC such rumors have not yet been, but with the support of Valve, this is not excluded. Just imagine what will happen if Half-Life 3 is released exclusively for Vive? We are only waiting with you, when all three headsets go on sale, and we, at last, will hear the first responses about them not from journalists, but from ordinary inhabitants. The benefit of waiting is not long.
The article is based on materials .
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