Sony has finally made an official announcement during a press event the recently concluded Game Developers Conference regarding the launch of Sony's PlayStation VR, set on October 2016!
In its report, Ars Technica said that Sony made the much-awaited announcement two years after it unveiled its "Project Morpheus" at the same annual event. Hence it is more than certain that gamers can expect the release of PlayStation VR before the year ends, more specifically on October this year. The report added that the price for the new device will start at $399, which is exactly what most earlier reports speculated.
The report, however, noted that the $399 price still do not include the PlayStation Move camera needed to track the headset, or the PlayStation Move hand-tracking controllers, which is needed for certain games. The price nonetheless is still cheaper compared to Oculus Rift's starting price $599 or HTC Vive's starting price $799, not to mention the high-end PC that will be needed to use Rift or Vive, which could approximately cost another $1000.
As to the specs, Sony's PlayStation VR has a single 5.7-inch, 120Hz OLED display with a 100-degree field of view, running at a reported 1920 x 1080 resolution, which according to Ars Technica, is a bit faster than the 90Hz refresh rate of Rift or Vive, although the latter devices also boast of 2160 x 1200 resolution.
Along the launch of PlayStation VR are 50 compatible games although as of this writing, over 200 game developers are working on content for PlayStation VR.
Meanwhile, a new report revealed that a more powerful PlayStation 4, dubbed as "PlayStation 4.5," is in the works and may be coming before the launch of PlayStation VR.
According to Wall Street Journal, the upgraded PS4 will be able to play 4K resolution content and deliver "a richer gaming environment, including a high-end virtual reality experience." There are no reports yet as to how much the PlayStation 4.5 would cost.
