Sony is set to bring your smartphone into VR for the first time with PlayStation VR, offering you “supreme relaxation”. Really.
The company’s music division, Sony Music Entertainment, today announced a new relaxation app for its upcoming headset during a Tokyo Game Show 2016 press conference. Named anywhereVR, the experience impressively projects your phone’s display inside an immersive environment, allowing you to check messages and apps without having to remove PS VR.
https://youtu.be/VHcBEM4I8FQ
A brief trailer revealed the project on-stage, showing a woman getting home from work, putting on her PS VR unit and finding herself in picturesque environments with relaxing background music. She then grabs her phone in the real world, which brings up the display in the virtual environment that mirrors her device. According to the trailer (which included the brilliant narration from above), users will be able to talk to friends, use apps like Twitter and play minigames inside the piece. It’s not yet known if all smartphone apps will be supported in the app or only a specific selection, though the trailer suggested the later.
To be clear, the footage didn’t seem to suggest that the app would fully replicate your phone’s look and position in VR; it was simply a holographic projection of the owner’s handset in a VR environment. It’ll be interesting to see if this presents any navigation issues for users.
Judging by the trailer the experience works with Sony-branded smartphones, though the company is yet to confirm exactly which handsets might support it. Sony Music also hasn’t confirmed if it will actually release outside of Japan, though it’s certainly something we’d be interested in trying for ourselves. In fact, it might be the first time that PlayStation 4 itself has connected to phones in this way.
PS VR isn’t the first headset to integrate with user’s smartphones. HTC’s Vive also allows for access to handsets when in VR to make sure you don’t miss calls or texts.
anywhereVR doesn’t have a release date just yet, though PlayStation VR is set to launch around the world on October 13th.
