When the boys and girls at PlayStation throw their weight behind a product, you know it's going to be big. Well, apart from those weird PlayStation Move glowing wand type things. And the PS Vita. Those hiccups aside, there's a real feeling that Sony's move on Virtual Reality, with its appropriately named PlayStation VR headset, is an inspired one, that could well leave Xbox One trailing in its dust
PS VR is bound for a shop near you this October, for a relatively trim £349. While PlayStation VR lacks the power of Oculus Rift, it's significantly cheaper and will run on any of the 40 million PlayStation 4s Sony is expecting to have sold by the time it hits the shelves.
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We can also report that, having tested out the latest build, it's a slick piece of kit that sits on your head far snugger than any of the Oculus headsets we've tried. PlayStation VR will probably be your first VR experience. But what can you expect to get out of it?
Gamers try out PS VR at GDC in San Francisco
Porn. That's what. And industry folks reckon Virtual Reality smut will be a billion dollar industry by 2020.
At the GDC conference in San Francisco, Jesse Schell, a video games designer, spoke of virtual reality's pornographic potential. Somewhat unexpectedly, it involves robots. According to Schell, rudimentary robots will be released that are designed to tie in with any VR game.
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Find yourself leaning against a brick wall while hiding for cover in a VR version of Call of Duty? Schell believes a robot will be on hand to hold an actual mini wall up against you. Want to pick up the ball for a throw in while playing VR FIFA? Said robot will push a ball directly in your hand for you to lob. Of course, it's anyone's guess what these robots will be placing in your palm should you utilise them in a round of VR porn, but I'll let your imaginations hit new lows for a moment.
"This is totally, totally going to be a thing," Schell concluded. "By 2025, robots will touch you in VR. They'll touch you, and you'll like it."
While VR technology is ready now, just what you'll do with it - beyond living out your depraved sexual fantasies within the privacy of your locked and double locked bedroom - is anyone's guess. Will Mia Khalifa massage your temples as you lie in your bed? Will the distinction between porn and actual sexual intercourse blur? Will your mum walk in on you while you're rhythmically buffing one out with a VR mask strapped to your face?
Who knows. Whatever the case, it's going to change the way you spend a little time on yourself.
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Schell expects eight million VR headsets to have been sold by the end of 2016, half of them being PlayStation VR. As a result, he - and plenty of others - predict Microsoft will unveil its own VR unit for Xbox One within the next couple of years.
And after that? Well, Nintendo is sure to follow. Just don't count on the Japanese giant pushing any Princess Peach porn when its VR unit eventually comes to town.
Words by Keith Andrew
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Featured image: PA
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Gaming