Sony has shared some hilarious PlayStation VR2 prototype designs that the company worked on before deciding on the finished product for the VR headset. Over on the PlayStation Blog, the company shared the design history of the product and discussed some of the challenges it faced when making PS VR2 a reality.
According to Yasuo Takahashi, Sony’s Global Product Manager, the PS VR2 underwent a handful of design challenges. Takahashi says that since the start of the project, the company wanted to create a feature-packed VR headset and incorporate the most modern tech. That was the biggest challenge.
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It came down to creating PS VR2 and trying to make it light and compact at the same time. Sony first created a headset prototype with every feature it wanted. Even if this design was bulky and impractical at first.
Sony started by using the original PlayStation VR headset and added tracking cameras to it. It then went from one single camera to a dual-camera system. They then simply attached a DualShock 4 vibrator to another prototype to see how it felt with vibration feedback. This resulted in the haptic implementation we have today.
Mechanical design engineers removed the rumble motor from a DualShock 4 wireless controller and attached it to PS VR to try it out. They found that it actually increased the feeling of immersion and sense of reality, though there were challenges when trying to actually integrate the feature into the headset. That’s why we created the next prototype, “Eye Tracking Evaluation Prototype Part 2” with a built-in motor, and tested how the motor affected eye tracking and head tracking.
Sony also explored different controller types and designs during the development of the PS VR2. The original PS VR2 Sense Controllers were kitted with a PlayStation Move bulb at first. The controller then had one band around the hand. It then slowly evolved into the sphere design we have now. As you know, the sphere houses dozens of hidden IR lights which the camera detects during use.
We couldn’t fully envision how the controller would act and perform in an actual game, so the PlayStation Studios team provided feedback on the proposed product specifications early on in the technical review process. For example, if the player is standing and grabs an object at the waist, the head must remain facing forward, so we made sure the camera could detect an object below the headset. On the other hand, if you are pulling out a bow and arrow from your back, your arm will not be in the range of the camera. In instances like this when the controller was out of range from the camera, we had to make adjustments based on feedback, so that the tracking felt more natural.
You can read the full design history of the PlayStation VR2 headset on the blog here. You’ll be able to take a look at all the cool prototype designs on the post too.
