Affordable Mainstream Virtual Reality Gaming To Be Available In The Philippines With PlayStation VR

July 29 22:12 2016 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

As of this writing the HTC Vive, the leading consumer product for immersive virtual reality is being sold in the Philippine gray market for upwards of PHP 50,000. That’s not even including the cost of a very high-end PHP 60k+ gaming PC. But thankfully Sony’s offering – aptly called the PlayStation VR – is arriving in our shores with full white market warranty and support this October for a relatively affordable price of PHP 22,900. And while that is still quite a lot of money – dedicated Virtual Reality technology is still expensive and new – the cost of ownership has definitely brought it down to more acceptable levels. Adding the cost of the camera and PS4, you wouldn’t even spend PHP 50k for the entire Virtual Reality system – and that’s essentially what can take this technology to the mainstream.

Sony’s PlayStation VR accessory will be available starting October 13 here in the Philippines – which is the same as the rest of the world, surprisingly. The base accessory kit that includes the headset and all of its’ necessary cables and in-between boxes will retail for PHP 22,900. You will, however, need a PlayStation PS4 Camera for it to work so this bundle is for people who already own that. If you don’t, Sony is going to sell a PHP 25,290 bundle which includes the needed camera. You’ll also need a PlayStation 4 to run the games and connect the headset to, of course.

Some might be wondering what the differences are between VR like this, versus Google’s inexpensive Cardboard VR accessory. Well simply put, this headset is much better in terms of comfort, display quality, optics, sensors (it has X,Y,Z sensors via the camera while Cardboard doesn’t) and of course it uses a powerful console to run the games instead of your phone.

Pre-order for the PlayStation VR will start on July 30 onwards and will be offered at Sony Center at SM Megamall & Mall of Asia, Gameline at SM North, GameXtreme at Virramall, Toy Kingdom at SM Megamall, Datablitz at SM Aura, and iTech at Glorietta 4. Check it out when you have the chance!