We are right on the cusp of a commercial VR explosion. HTC and Valve are toiling away at the Vive, Oculus is finally ready to push out a consumer unit in 2016, and Sony’s now taken another step toward its releasing by dropping its “Project Morpheus” title with a new name: PlayStation VR.
Technology is filled with all kinds of rumors and speculation — real and fabricated. BitStream collects all those whispers into one place to deliver your morning buzz.
Apart from the new name (which I can only assume the Wachowskis are slightly upset about), nothing else has been mentioned about Sony’s upcoming headset. We know its coming in early 2016 and we know it will be “several hundred” dollars. At the Toyko Game Show, which starts this Thursday, PSVR will demo titles like Danganronpa VR and Final Fantasy XIV. Sony seems to be taking to heart what we’ve seen as the headset’s biggest problem: It needs more games.
PSVR is just a name, which follows the console’s many other services and hardware like Playstation TV and Playstation Vue, but it’s one more piece of the virtual reality puzzle that’s taking shape.
It’s going to be a fun couple of months.
Protect Your Nexus: Buried in listings and page sources on the Google Store, a new service called “Nexus Protect” could signify a type of AppleCare program for Google products. It could span beyond just Nexus devices and also include Chromebooks and third-party smartwatches. [Android Police]
Microsoft’s New Prez: Microsoft hasn’t had a president since 2002, but that all changed yesterday when the company announced Brad Smith as its new tech-focused commander-in-chief. Though unlike countries around the world, Microsoft will still be the headed by Satya Nadella, but Smith will also be an external figure for the company and focus on privacy, security, and environmental sustainability. [Forbes]
Waterproof Woes: Say what you will about Sony smartphones, but the one thing they’ve always had going for them is that they’ve been waterproof. One of Sony’s favorite commercial motifs is showing a happy group of youths taking underwater photos at the local pool. Now, the company is taking a step back from that staunch stance, and is taking a more “handle with care” approach: Sony now says that it’s best to not use the smartphone underwater. Although you can still submerged “safely” underwater, splashing around may not be such a good idea anymore, making an already troubled smartphone even less appealing. [Xperia Blog]
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