The PlayStation VR officially hit the market today. The headset, meant to be paired with Sony’s own PlayStation 4, turns out to work fine without one.
Several reports on a PlayStation VR subreddit have claimed success with connecting the PS VR to Microsoft’s rival console, the Xbox One. Polygon took on the challenge and confirms it does indeed with well. It’s a simple as connecting the PS VR’s HDMI in the Xbox One and you’re good to go.
By “good to go”, I obviously don’t mean that all existing content on the Xbox One will be in VR. There is no VR-capable content on the console, obviously. But the Xbox One’s display will be visible a couple of inches from your face. There’s no head-tracking or 360º audio – again, the Xbox One has no native VR functionality – but the images are visible on the headset and the attached headphones do indeed work.
The experience, unfortunately, suffers because of the inherent incompatibility. Polygon ran Forza Motorsport 5 using the PS VR and, while the game was certainly playable, they said it just looked “fine.” Visually, the game is a step down from what you would expect from an Xbox One on an HDTV.
The question this opens up is, will the PlayStation VR work on other consoles? Japanese website Esuteru details a user who claims to have played Splatoon using the headset on his Wii U. There were no other reports as of this writing, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.
One question that remains to be answered is whether Sony’s new “exclusive” headset will work on PC. Polygon reports an emphatic “NO” on this, saying the PC refuses to even identify the hardware. However, with today’s announcement that Valve is adding support for the DualShock 4 to Steam, there may hope. Valve mentioned that they would add support for other controllers. Would they broach the subject of adding PlayStation VR support with Sony?
If not, rest assured that the PC community will definitely give this a try. Many hardware devices meant for other systems, such as Kinect and the Wiimote, have been made to work on PC. I’m not a tinker at their level by any means, but I have no doubt the wizards out in the PC space will get some use out of the headset.
