The launch of PS VR2 is imminent and Sony is ramping up its marketing for the upcoming peripheral, releasing two teardown videos. These videos will appeal to the more tech-savvy PlayStation gamers, interested in learning how the new PSVR devices work on an internal level before picking them up on February 22nd.
The PS VR2 is the successor to the original PlayStation VR headset released back in October 2016 The PS VR2 won't only be more seamlessly compatible with the PS5, but it will also offer a more wire-free experience to gamers, using only one single wire as opposed to the multitude of cables required to use the original PSVR.
The two videos are in Japanese, with English subtitles. The first of which features the lead designer of both the PSVR and PS VR2 headsets, Takamasa Araki. Araki talks about how the Mechanical Design team took onboard consumer feedback regarding the original PSVR, and used that to help make design choices for the PSVR2, both in terms of aesthetic and from a practical perspective.
Araki reveals that it was consumer feedback that lead to the decision to maintain the maximum amount of comfort possible when coming up with the symmetrical design of the headset. That feedback also served as the inspiration behind the decision to make the device light and compact, while still feeling sturdy and durable. At 6:07 in the video, Araki shows off the way that the internal components move when the dial is rotated to adjust the lens position. He also discusses the built-in IR LEDs fitted around each lens that communicate with an IR camera in order to accurately record and follow the player’s eye movements while using the headset.
Additionally, the designer of the DualSense controller, Takeshi Igarashi, performed a teardown of the PS VR2's Sense controllers. These devices are clearly a massive step up from the antiquated Move controllers used by the original PSVR. Igarashi goes over the new features that the Sense controller boasts, including enhanced tracking technology used to augment the feeling of immersion, via a ring of 14 IR LEDs that sit under the Sense controller’s plastic cover. Another cool addition is that of finger touch detection to allow for more natural-feeling hand gestures during gameplay, in a similar vein to how the haptic feedback works on the DualSense controller.
Both of these teardown videos are worth watching for anyone interested in learning how these devices function. Watching these videos is also the only way that one should be looking at the internal components of these devices, as Sony has warned that performing a teardown of a device at home will void the warranty of that product. It sounds as though the headset will come packing a pretty solid launch lineup in terms of software, including a new VR setting for Resident Evil Village.
PlayStation VR2 launches on February 22.
