It’s not long now until PlayStation VR is launched to the public and hundreds of thousands of living rooms around the world are about to welcome their very first high-end virtual reality (VR) headset.
The thing about high-end virtual reality headsets is that getting them to work takes more than just popping the headset over your eyes – there are a few more components involved and the process of setting them up isn’t necessarily self-explanatory.
Understanding this, Sony has released a series of instructional videos that will take new PlayStation VR owners through the initial setup process and show them the ideal play conditions to make sure they get the most out of their first home VR experience.
Painless VR
There are three videos, totaling eight minutes in length, and although sometimes they state the obvious, at the very least they do it with a sense of humor.
The first video starts things off nice and slow – getting all of your PSVR components out of the box and laying them out in a neat order. First impressions? Wow that’s a lot of cables. Fortunately, taking the headset itself from the box seems to trigger the appearance of God rays which should make identifying all of the cables easier.
The second video steps things up a notch, taking you through the setup itself. Sony appears to have special cables that can be laid out in neat structural patterns. Yours will not be quite so co-operative, we’re sure, so taking a moment to watch this video carefully could stop you feeling like Indiana Jones falling into that snake-filled temple.
The final video will take you through the best way to set up your room for playing which apparently involves making some pretty exact measurements and chalking out a designated area of fun.
Once you have your designated area of fun, make sure there’s nothing in it. Clear away all large objects, small objects, treasured possessions, and loved ones. The best way to do this is box them all up and throw them haphazardly. Even the loved ones.
After this you’re ready to play. If you find the camera has trouble tracking you, Sony says light sources could be your problem and advises turning off any nearby lamps and closing your curtains. It’s okay, you don’t need to see the real world any more, your reality is virtual now.
It's definitely a good idea on the part of Sony to attempt to make the set up of the PlayStation VR as painless and humor-filled as possible, particularly as it's a brand new technology most players won't have encountered until now. It's hard enough to push new technology into the mainstream without everyone abandoning it as soon as they open the box.
For a warning about the dangers of setting up a PlayStation VR without reading the manual first, check out our video of local morons Jon Porter and Gerald Lynch as they set up the PSVR for the first time.
- Undecided about purchasing a headset of your own? Check out our PlayStation VR review
