Sony’s virtual reality headset will have a built-in processor

While many people are anticipating the release of virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift, most of them don’t realize how much processing power these headsets actually require. That’s why virtual reality gaming is going to be more or less exclusive to computers for the foreseeable future, because none of the current-generation consoles are powerful enough. That being said, Sony is still trying to bring virtual reality gaming to the console market with its PlayStation VR headset, which gets around the PlayStation 4’s comparatively weak hardware by having its own built-in processor. Unfortunately, this will undoubtedly have the side effect of increasing the price of the headset, which could put it well out of the reach of most console gamers.

How large is the external processing box set to ship with PlayStation VR – and what does it actually do? Recent reports suggest that it’s quite a meaty piece of kit, “about the size of a Wii” according to Polygon’s Brian Crecente. We thought we’d look into this, sourcing full dimensions for the device, a complete list of the inputs and outputs, along with other new information on the PSVR hardware. Based on the development hardware with game-makers now – which may or may not change on the final retail design – we can confirm that the box measures up at 140x140x35mm. By comparison, the Wii measures 215x157x44mm, almost 2.2x the overall volume. A fair bit smaller then, but significantly larger than the box we saw on the first-gen Morpheus prototype. A small power supply is also included in the development kit – that’s a 12v unit rated for three amps. This is not insignificant. The external processor sits between the headset and the PS4 and in terms of IO, the rear of the unit features the power input, HDMI input and output (for the ‘social screen’ functionality) along with a USB port, which also connects to the PlayStation 4. The front of the device features bespoke dual outputs to the PlayStation VR headset. The Polygon report says that the external processor looks a lot like the image tweeted below, from VR Focus. Having seen development hardware first-hand, we can confirm that it is, in fact, entirely identical to what’s pictured here on the bottom right.