Author: Game Infliction

Why PSVR 2 is Better Than Quest 2

The PSVR 2 is here and I’ve never been more excited to jump back into a virtual world of reality. Sure, we have our fair share of PC VR headsets and two generations of Meta’s standalone Quest, but it’s been almost seven years since we’ve gotten a console VR headset. PlayStation sure did take its time to bring us this new virtual tech, and as someone who’s been using the Quest since way back when it still said ‘Oculus’ on the box, I noticed quite a few differences that, in my opinion, make the PSVR 2 far superior to its main competition.

Comfort

Let’s start with comfort. The PSVR 2 is by far the best fitting VR headset I’ve ever used. The halo design makes it easy to adjust and the actual visor portion feels extremely lightweight. One of the Quest’s biggest advantages is also a downside: it’s all-in-one, but it’s also all on your head – and the elastic straps do little to help it stay there.

I even avoided wearing glasses with the Quest 2 because I already had a problem with light leakage because there’s nothing to really help block out environmental light. With the PSVR 2, however, it has a built-in rubberized housing fixed to the visor, which blocks out almost all environmental lighting. What’s more, the visor can be adjusted separately to make room for glasses, should the wearer, like me, do so. This is the first time I’ve been able to play VR with complete clarity and that’s huge.

PSVR 2 takes advantage of the PS5 hardware, so games look noticeably better than anything on the Quest 2

Display

Good-looking games look stunning on the PSVR 2, thanks to its 2,000 x 2,040-pixels HDR OLED display. If you’re looking for vivid images that really pop and showcase the graphical fidelity of the games you’re playing, this is it! The PSVR 2 takes full advantage of the PS5 hardware too, so the games look noticeably better than anything on the Quest 2, with its 1,832 x 1920-pixels LCD display. Of course, you can play higher-end PC games if you tether the Quest 2 to your gaming PC, but you won’t get a crisp picture because its LCD display is simply no match for PSVR 2’s OLED screens.

Immersion

PSVR 2’s rumble feature really adds to the overall immersion while you’re playing and is very similar to what PlayStation has been doing for years with its controllers. And with PSVR 2’s eye tracking, visuals are optimized in your direct line of sight thanks to its foveated rendering technology, which is a fancy way of say it reduces pixel count in your peripheral vision. I really noticed it while playing Horizon Call of the Mountain and navigating the in-game in-game using my eye movements is a nice touch.

Additionally, I used PlayStation’s Pulse 3D headset to really push the immersion, because the audio is isolated. Quest 2 has 3D audio but for me, audio immersion was ruined since you can still hear outside sound. You can of course plug in your own set of headphones, but the PSVR 2 comes paired with a set of earbuds, which is quite useful.

A lot of skeptics might hold off on the PSVR 2 because of its current library of games, but the truth is it’s only just getting started. Right now the majority of games coming out for PSVR 2 are ports of Quest 2 games, but the few you cannot get on the Quest 2 are well worth the investment if you’re interested in VR. Resident Evil Village is an amazing VR experience, and one that’s only on PSVR 2 right now. And some of the games you might’ve already played on Quest 2 are further enhanced thanks toPSVR 2’s OLED display and PS5’s hardware.

PlayStation has major plans for the PSVR 2 and I’m sure game devs will take advantage of its capabilities. So if you’re passionate about VR, or are just plain curious about how far virtual reality has come, PSVR 2 is the best experience. PlayStation has single-handedly made me excited about the future of games in VR, and I’ll be slipping on the headset every time a new release comes out.

Counter-Strike 2 Rumors Are Picking Up Steam

While its important to take all this with a grain of salt and wait for official confirmation, there have been some rumors circulating that Counter-Strike 2 may be on the way very soon.

Richard Lewis, a notable journalist and caster within the Counter-Strike community, claims to have received evidence from sources that Valve is getting ready to release a new version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the near future and that a beta may arrive as early as this month or in April.

This project is said to have a working title of Counter-Strike 2 and to have been in development “for some time.” Lewis mentions that Counter-Strike 2 has been a priority for Valve and is one of the reasons why the current version of CS:GO has been “largely unattended to for some time.”

According to these sources, Counter-Strike 2 will run on the Source 2 engine and that move “should improve the optimisation and graphical fidelity of the game.” It is also said to have, much like Valorant, 128-tick servers, which is a number that describes how fast a game’s server can process information.

Matchmaking will also be improved in this new version and Valve appears to be hoping that third-party services won’t be necessary to put players together in a more efficient way.

According to the sources, Counter-Strike 2 is “about ready to go,” but it is said to be unclear what this new version would mean for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and its competitive scene. As Lewis mentions, Dota 2 moved to Source 2 with a new version called Dota 2 Reborn and it lived alongside the original. Eventually, the two versions merged into one.

Another piece of evidence that may hint towards this rumor being true comes by the way of Gabe Follower 2, who noted that the latest NVIDIA drivers “introduced support for unknown app executables called ‘csgos2.exe’ and ‘cs2.exe.'”

Gabe Follower 2 also says that they have “fairly reliable information that Valve has been testing CS:GO on Source 2 with the help of third-party QA companies in the US and EU since at least early December. I can’t confirm this 100%, but it’s decent enough to share.”

They also say that this new version “won’t be new game, it won’t be Counter-Strike 2, it won’t be even a rebrand, just CS:GO Source 2. And your skins are fine, they will be available in new version.”

Once again, it’s important to take all of this with a grain of salt and wait for official confirmation, but at least it appears we won’t have to wait long to see if this is true, unlike some of the more nebulous “I heard so and so is in development” rumors out there.

Despite being released in 2012, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive remains one of the most-played Steam games, and is currently sitting at 583,156 concurrent players, according to SteamDB. The next highest game, Dota 2, has 262,745 players.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Feature: Nintendo eShop Selects – February 2023

Our picks for the best Switch eShop games in February!

February has, somehow, already been and gone. It feels like we barely got acquainted, right?

It was a busy month though, primarily due to the presence of the “traditional” February Nintendo Direct showcase, paving the way for the mighty Metroid Prime Remastered to finally show its face on the Switch.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel – The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Awoooooooo!

Welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

For the past two weeks, we have been focused on games from the world of the GBA. After judging the box art of Metroid Fusion, last time we took a look at the differences between the North American/European and the Japanese box art for Golden Sun and the results were expectedly distanced. The Japanese cover took home a respectable 30% of the vote, but NA/EU was the clear winner with a 70% victory.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Detective Pikachu’s Movie Sequel Might Have Found Its Director

A script writer has also reportedly been secured.

Last month, a Legendary Entertainment rep mentioned how a sequel to the Detective Pikachu movie was still in “active development”. If this wasn’t convincing enough, we’ve now got another development.

According to a Deadline report, Portlandia co-creator Jonathan Krisel is currently in negotiations to direct the live-action sequel starring Pikachu. Along with this, Chris Galetta (The Kings of Summer) is apparently taking on the script-writing duties.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Next Pokémon Build-A-Bear Appears To Have Been Leaked

The OG good boy Growlithe could be on the way.

Squishmallows might be all the rage at the moment, but don’t forget about the adorable Build-A-Bear plush line. There’s been a growing Pokémon collection in this do-it-yourself series for some time now, and the next one might have just been leaked.

According to a post on the ‘buildabear’ subreddit, the original good boy Growlithe has seemingly been spotted on the Build-A-Bear app/website and it is apparently scheduled to release at some point this month.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Valorant Episode 6 Act II: New Agent Gekko All Abilities Explained

VALORANT Episode 6 Act III features a new Agent entering the fray. Hailing from Los Angeles, Gekko and his adorable creature friends will be joining the roster. Here’s what you need to know about the latest VALORANT Agent.

Gekko’s Abilities

Gekko’s kit is fairly unique with the way his abilities are named after each of his creature buddies. He’s able to retrieve most of his abilities as well after deploying them and collecting their orbs where his abilities expired.

  • Dizzy (E): Dizzy is an almost turtle-like creature that Gekko can fire into the air. Dizzy charges then unleashes blinding plasma blasts at any enemies in her line of sight. Gekko is able to retrieve Dizzy when she’s finished her charge as an interactable globule and resets the Dizzy charge after a small cooldown.

  • Wingman (Q): Wingman is an adorable owl/penguin looking creature that, when fired, will seek out enemies and blast the first enemy he sees with a concussive blast. Living up to his name, Wingman can also defuse or plant the Spike as long as Gekko has the Spike in his inventory. Like Dizzy, Wingman can also be recharged after finding his interactive globule where he expired.

  • Mosh Pit (C): Mosh is a tiny green jello-blob that kind of looks like a tanuki head who can be thrown like a grenade (with the ability to alt fire to throw underhand). Once Mosh lands, he’ll duplicate himself across a green puddle and explode in that area marked.

  • Thrash (X): Thrash is an armored fish creature. When activated, she will lunge forward and explode detaining any enemies in a small radius. Thrash can also be retrieved as a globule and gain another charge after a cooldown. But unlike Wingman and Dizzy, Thrash can only be reclaimed once.

VALORANT Episode 6 Act II begins on March 7, 2023 and with the announcement with Gekko, Riot Games announced that Gekko’s hometown of Los Angeles will host the global final 2023 VALORANT Champions. The venues where VALORANT Champions will take place are the Shrine Auditorium and finals at the KIA Forum.

Early next week we’ll have a video breakdown of Gekko and how his abilities translate in game so be sure to follow up here at IGN for all the latest VALORANT updates.

Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she’s previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn’t streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.