VR Gaming, ‘Star Wars’ Style: Are You Sold Yet?

  Like a lot of you Ego-dudes, I’m sure, I’m still a little skeptical about this whole VR gaming thing that’s kicking off. Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, climbing Mount Everest and swimming with dinosaurs from the comfort of the ass-groove in my couch? I don’t think I’m ready for that shit.  

The thing is, you can never quite tell what’s blatant techtastic gimmickry and what’s the Future of Video Games™. Not until it’s too late, anywho. Remember when Nintendo’s DS first brought us touchscreen play, what a crazy idea that seemed? Now, natch, touch controls are in every damn thing ever, but the idea was nothing less than terrifying witchcraft back in the day.

As exciting as spangly new tech always is, it’s pricetacular too, and you’ve got to be cautious. You don’t want to end up paying out for another Virtual Boy-like expensive useless disaster. What we all need is more convincing. A little reassurance. Maybe even a killer app. I’m looking at you, Star Wars Battlefront (apparently). 

Yes indeed. There’s a VR version of the PS4 shooter coming our way, and Sony seem to have a whole damn lot of faith in it. PlayStation marketing dude John Koller was speaking about that very thing with Fortune.

"We are working with EA, DICE, Lucasfilm, and Disney to try and make that experience something so special and so intrinsic to what's in many people's DNA, which is, 'How can I be in that world of Star Wars?' He said. "Battlefront is going to be one of those games that will really show gamers what it means to be in the world of VR. It's very special. And just by the nature of it being designed as a VR experience, it's going to be very different than the PlayStation 4 game."

So there it is. Battlefront VR was announced earlier this month at the Game Developers Conference, touting an experience far more cinematic than the vanilla PS4 shooter we know now. Is it just gamey/not-gamey enough to bridge the gap? We’ve got a while to wait to find out, but Sony seem confident.