Since it’s inception the VR technology has come a long way although abit slower than anticipated, the current stack of VR tech is far greater than what we had at the start. Since then, VR has slowly found its way into mainstream gaming as a platform that has the potential to bring games to life.
This year, VR saw its first “AAA” quality game Half-Life: Alyx, a game which is the sequel to HL1 and prequel to HL2. Since its release, Alyx quickly found its way among the Top 10 best-rated games ever on Steam and became the best selling title in the first quarter of 2020 on Steam.
As more players jump towards VR, manufacturers are also gearing towards improving their VR technology and offer next-gen hardware. Recently, it was revealed that Microsoft teamed up with Valve to work on the next-gen VR headset. Similarly, Apple is also working with Valve on a secret VR/AR project, and now Sony has also shared some insight on their next-gen PSVR.
Last year Sony had filed a patent for a hand-worn Controller Device with a number of sensors to track finger movement, something very similar to Valve’s Index controllers finger tracking technology. Yesterday, Sony shared a video showcasing their new prototype finger-tracking controller, possibly Move 2, that will be coming with PSVR 2. In the video, Sony showcases how finger-tracking works in practice with their new prototype controllers.
According to them, the controllers are able to track the movement of fingers very precisely, which enables various creative uses of it in VR. The sensors surrounding the controller are able to track position and movement of every single finger, which allows the in-game character hand to replicate real hand movement with various finger positions in real-time. This enables the in-game character to perform some really delicate things inside the VR like touching, grabbing, moving, etc. Further, Sony showcases how the controller works even if a user is wearing something that can possibly interfere with the technology, like metal rings, watches, etc.
Although one thing is sure that PSVR 2 won’t be launching with PS5, we can only expect to hear more about PSVR 2 in 2021 and market availability by 2022.
