Showing posts with label Virtual reality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtual reality. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2020

PlayStation 4 Virtual Reality Headset - External Camera Player Tracking Problem


The PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset was the first VR headset to ever hit the shelves on consoles with an intuitive design and profound graphics. Overall, I really enjoy using the Virtual Reality headset because it makes games a lot more interactive, but on this headset in particular one huge negative I have is the camera player tracking. So, unlike many newer headsets like the Oculus Rift S that uses internal tracking cameras to detect the room around you and accurately detect your movements in the game, the PSVR uses external cameras to get this job done. With this brings the glaring problem of the duo sensor camera losing direct line of site with your headsets tracking sensors and motion controllers when you duck to low or move to far to the left or right. For reference, there has been several times when I was playing the game beat saber (VR "Guitar hero") and I either have to duck low to avoid an obstacle and the camera loses tracking or I swing my arms to far to the right or left and it loses tracking. This results in having to exit to the main menu and recalibrate the headset, camera, and motion controllers, which takes at least 2-5 minutes every-time.  It is a major annoyance and there is not anyway to fix it, only to prevent it as much as possible. Some methods that have worked somewhat for me is to position the PlayStation 4 tracking camera as low as possible while still maintaining sight with you when you stand up. And to alleviate tracking issues when moving to far left or right, I found that rotating the camera just enough so that the camera captures yourself and a few feet to the left and right helps keep the issue from reoccurring. This is definitely a major negative I have with this product and hope it gets an upgrade on the PlayStation VR2. 

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

How I predict video games will look like in 10 years (Prediction)

    There is no doubt in my mind that in ten years time video games will have made leaps of technological advancements and probably in hindsight look magical compared to what we have now. Right now, ray tracing has just been introduced to games and is still not widely available to a lot of people and platforms. I can see ray tracing and possibly other graphical enhancements becoming the norm in the future as hardware becomes even more powerful. If you are unaware of what ray-tracing is, it is basically a visual emulation within games that accurately replicates how light refracts and reflects off of real world objects. It makes games look much more true to life as if you were there in the game. In addition to ray tracing becoming the norm, I can see virtual reality headsets and equipment really taking off in popularity. Currently, there are only a few VR headsets available like the PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC VIVE. One of the things that deters people from buying them right now are their high prices. The HTC VIVE alone can sell for over $1,000. As technology continues to advance, I would predict that these prices will also start to become more affordable and thus more attractive to the general public. In addition to VR headsets becoming more popular,  I also think they will become so powerful that using one becomes even more realistic then they already are. A few things that virtual reality is lacking right now is resolution still isn't up to par with a television and wires on some models still keep you confined to one area. In ten 10 years, I expect every virtual reality headset to be completely wireless so that games can possibly use real-player walking/running and translate it directly into character movement inside the game. This may be a stretch but it may even be possible to not need dedicated headsets anymore but instead be able to utilize glasses with all the processing power you need inside of them. All in all, In ten years I predict video games will be so technologically advanced compared to now that they almost look "too real", games will become the ultimate escape from reality. 

Should cross-platform multiplayer be a thing for every game? (Debate)

Just five or so years ago, you would never see a multiplayer game that is capable to be played across various game consoles/PC. Now we have ...