Dark Light

PSVR Aim will release alongside PSVR shooter Farpoint, absolutely won’t contribute to huge amounts of plastic landfill waste like all those Wii peripherals.

Who are we kidding? If Sony couldn’t get the Move to catch on, this thing is going the same way as the Guitar Hero peripherals and the stupid Wiimote tennis racket attachment.

There is an argument though, that having a little grounding in a VR experience can reduce the impacts of motion sickness. Just look at the scientific studies undertaken that found – remarkably – that adding a simple, polygonal nose to the player’s field of view dramatically reduced the urge to vomit, even on a nasty rollercoaster simulation.

Noses aren’t a silver bullet, however. The linked example looks straightforward enough when it’s a visually basic demo but there’s an additional complexity to it – to do with near fields of view and clipping planes – that make graphically convincing noses, that fit in with the visuals of your game, tricky to achieve.

So perhaps something in the physical world, a tactile implement, will be the degree of grounding players need? Enter the PSVR Aim controller.

Alright, the PSVR Aim looks stupid – with it’s tacky, Wii-esque white plastic and goofy glowing orb – but it’s the closest thing we’ve seen, on a commercially widespread basis, to a decent rifle controller. At least, until the HTC Vive tracker takes off in a big (read: not just a dicking around demo) kind of way.

You’ll be able to find out on May 17, 2017, when the PSVR Aim controller launches alongside Farpoint. You’ll be able to pick up the game for around £49.99, or with the white plastic rifle for £74.99, which is a small price to pay if it does mean you can play the game in a natural, physically-connected way.

And if it doesn’t, you can still play it with a DualShock controller.


Shop for PlayStation VR on Amazon.

Related Posts