A different virtual reality for PS4?
Smartphone-based headset MVR Ascend appears
Sony’s magic mask is everywhere right now, and people can’t stop talking about PS VR – but something else is out to grab a tract of Play Station’s virtual land…
Compatible with PS4, British startup company MVR has created the Ascend H1, a £ 199 wireless and smartphone-based headset that lets you play all your first-person games in virtual reality. All being well with its funding (the official Kickstarter campaign had a slow start), it’ll be arriving in summer 2017. How does it work? Slot in your Sony Xperia phone, load the Remote Play app, and you can stream games directly to the headset. Hello, the No Man’s Sky VR mode we badly want.
A sensor on the back maps noggin movements to the right thumbstick so you can look up, down and all around. The LED display in the bundled Dual Shock-esque controller contains custom “profiles” to translate sensor inputs into specific games (you can program your own profiles with free software). Our Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare test play is lag-free, and the headset is a novel way to play a shooter, but the screen, tracking and 2D graphics can’t hold a virtual candle to the clarity, smoothness and immersion of PS VR. But it’s not designed to. “We’re not trying to compare or compete with PS VR,” founder Sachin Patel stresses. “But there are people out there who aren’t sure about VR, so rather than spending the 400-odd pounds, maybe we can be the stepping stone for them into the world of VR.”
MVR MAPS HEAD MOVEMENTS TO THE RIGHT THUMBSTICK.
For a detailed run-down of MVR Ascend’s specs, head to mvrglobal.co.uk.