And that’s without compromising on the hardware front. By slotting in a new processor and increasing the available memory, Oculus (Meta – this is getting tiring) has drastically improved the performance of the Quest 2, opening the door for more ambitious VR games. Not that existing titles are left wanting: courtesy of a gorgeous near-4K LCD panel refreshing at a smooth 90Hz, games and other experiences look better than anything we’ve tested before. It’s by no means a perfect headset, however. The Cosmos still suffers from a few niggling flaws, not least of which is the bloated price tag. The Cosmos controllers are unwieldy, and the lenses have a pitifully small sweet spot, so you will notice strong blurring if you move your eyes from the centre of the image. HTC’s Viveport user interface, moreover, is far less polished than the Oculus or Steam equivalents. Screen-door effect: This is when you can see the individual pixels of your headset’s display, arranged in a grid that overlays the image. It’s an unfortunate side-effect of the current limitations of VR technology; the higher the resolution of the display, the less visible the screen-door effect is. What on earth is the metaverse? When Facebook announced that it would be rebranding to “Meta”, it also revealed that it would be expanding into something called the metaverse in a major way. In the accompanying Tweet, Facebook-now-Meta described the metaverse in the most understandable manner we could find: “a place where we’ll play and connect in 3D”.

PlayStation VR 2: PSVR 2 specs, features - TechRadar PlayStation VR 2: PSVR 2 specs, features - TechRadar

Display type: You won’t need to worry too much about this, but for reference, most PCVR manufacturers are moving to fast-switch LCD panels and leaving OLED displays in the dust. This is because OLEDs are expensive, and produce a blurrier image than LCDs. Display resolution: VR headset resolutions are measured both as a whole unit, and on a per-eye basis. Modern PCVR headsets tend to have a combined display resolution of at least 2,560 x 1,440, or 1,280 x 1,440 per eye – the higher the resolution, the clearer the image, and the more you will have to pay (usually). HMD: Head-Mounted Display – The catch-all term for the VR headset itself, excluding any peripherals. How to choose the best VR headset for you (continued) What’s the difference between virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality?

One of the areas I wanted to focus on first was the idea of creating a vent in the headset to let air out, similar to the vents on the PS5 console that allows airflow," senior art director Yujin Morisawa wrote in a blog post. "Our engineers came up with this idea as a good way to allow ventilation and avoid having the lens fog up while players are immersed in their VR games". If you’re a newcomer to VR, you will probably have seen or heard the phrases above. But what exactly do they mean? In addition to the luxury VR headsets from big-hitters Oculus (or Meta, as it will henceforth be known), Valve and HTC, there’s a slew of lesser-known products from manufacturers like Pimax, Zeiss and even HP. Each year brings new possibilities to the VR market – take the new Oculus/Meta Quest 2, which is currently the best VR headset around (wireless or otherwise). And then there’s Sony’s PSVR and Nintendo’s Labo VR, which brought virtual reality console gaming to the masses. During its ' The State of Unreal' 2022 event, Epic Games revealed that several games are utilising Unreal Engine 5 for Sony's upcoming headset. While we don't know which games that includes, noted VR developers like nDreams were spotted among studios supporting this new engine. This is a VR headset for HTC loyalists, particularly those who already own additional base stations and/or the Vive Pro controllers (the Cosmos can take advantage of both). It’s also for those who want a headset that sits between the very traditional HTC Vive Pro 2 and the user-friendly Oculus Quest 2 – a spot no longer filled by the esteemed and dearly departed Oculus Rift S.

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Augmented reality: Layering computer-generated graphics on top of real-world image capturing technology. If you’ve ever played Pokemon Go, you’ve experienced augmented reality (through the lens of your smartphone). FOV: Field of Vision – how much of the virtual world you can see when peering into the lenses of your HMD. Most VR headsets have a FOV of around 100-110 degrees, which is just barely enough to make you feel like you’re inside the world, rather than just looking at a screen. The PSVR 2 is also slightly lighter, thanks to a slimmer design. Both those features make it more comfortable to play in VR for longer. PSVR 2: news and rumors At its core, that’s all the metaverse is: any collaborative virtual environment accessed via a VR headset like the Oculus/Meta Quest 2. Applications that fall under the metaverse umbrella have actually been around for a while now: VRChat and Rec Room allow users to don a headset, create an avatar and jump into a virtual world shared by others where they can play games, hang out or just sit and marvel at the scenery.

PlayStation Move

IPD slider: Inter-Pupillary Distance slider – a physical or virtual slider that allows you to widen or shrink the gap between the two lenses inside the HMD. After all, some of us have bigger heads or wider-set eyes than others. These new controllers drop the classic PS Move controller design from the original PSVR. Instead, these favor a more typical approach seen in modern VR controllers, like Oculus Quest 2's Touch controllers. The PSVR 2 controllers feature baton-like handles with a plastic orb around them. They also have the same adaptive trigger features found in the DualSense Wireless Controller. This allows for differing tensions on any given in-game action.

PlayStation VR | Live the game with the PS VR headset

To begin with, the Vive Pro 2’s display is the highest resolution we’ve ever seen on a commercial VR headset, with a boosted total resolution of 4,896 x 2,448 ( 2,448 x 2,448 per eye). It also now supports a maximum 120Hz refresh rate, as well as a wider 130-degree FOV. Provided your accompanying PC is powerful enough to meet the minimum spec requirements, then there’s absolutely nothing better for virtual reality gaming at the moment. Games like Half-Life: Alyx never looked so good. The most niche entry on this list by far, the Nintendo Labo VR Kit can only be used by those who own a Nintendo Switch already. An extension of Nintendo Labo, the Labo VR is not so much a headset as a collection of wearable cardboard “Toy-Cons” that are built by the user. To enjoy Nintendo’s virtual reality creations, you slot the Switch console into a small cardboard unit that straps onto the head, with a pair of plastic goggles acting as the lens between eyes and display. From there, you add the buildable headset attachments, each of which has its own specific set of VR mini-games. Follow this particular thread to its destination and you might imagine something like Ready Player One, where the metaverse is a thriving world complete with a functioning economy and social classes. While it’s true that several companies are buying up virtual real estate in the metaverse, however, we’re a little way off the dystopian future Cline imagines in his novel.It’s no surprise that the most expensive VR headset on this list is also the most fully featured. It’s not cheap, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the Vive Pro 2 benefits from a handful of exclusive, game-friendly features that you won’t find anywhere else. Virtual reality: Peering into a specially designed pair of goggles that display a 3D CGI environment that you can interact with using wand-like controllers (or in some cases, your hands). The only reason it misses out on taking the top spot is due to its high price. For most, the Quest 2 is good enough, but if you’re hoping to push VR to its very limits, then the Vive Pro 2 offers a virtual reality experience unlike any other.