PS5, Xbox, Oculus… The new face of video games
While the practice of video games has increased since the lockdown, the giants of the sector are unsheathing their next-generation consoles in anticipation of Christmas.
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It’s a duel at the top that only happens every 6 or 7 years: Playstation against Xbox, Sony against Microsoft. The two enemy sisters return for new adventures with new generations of home consoles. The Playstation 5, the latest details of which were unveiled on Wednesday evening, will be released in November (if all goes well) at a price of around 500 euros, in standard version. Apart from a very futuristic design, no revolutionary technology. The Xbox Series X, on the other hand, will launch around the same time and at the same price.
These two brands will also offer “low cost” versions: a “Digital” PS5, 100% online, without a Blu-Ray player, which will cost 100 euros less (around 400 euros) and an Xbox Series S, offered around 200 euros cheaper (300 euros, approximately). Versions put on sale in an attempt to attract new, less fortunate players. Knowing that, overall, video games are doing well, as evidenced by the increase in the time spent playing during confinement (+ 17%) and which seems to be maintained at a high level.
Finally, the real novelty is the price of games, which should now flirt with the 80 euros per title, for blockbusters.
Oculus makes virtual reality even better
On the virtual reality side, franceinfo has tested the new Quest 2 headset from the American Oculus, a Facebook subsidiary. He is one of the pioneers of virtual reality. A closed mask, two controllers and let’s go for a little dream session, including nausea for some.
This new headset attempts to improve two weak points of virtual reality: the discomfort and the poor image quality caused by the proximity of the eyes to the screen. It is therefore lighter and has 50% more pixels for significantly improved image quality. Among other new features, in some games players will be able to interact directly with their hands, without controllers, which makes the notion of virtual reality even more tangible. We particularly appreciated the ISS game which allows you to move around the space station, in zero gravity, and to take yourself for Thomas Pesquet in the middle of his living room.
Even if VR does not yet seem to have really found its audience when it comes to video games, it is proving more and more interesting for professional applications, for example training.
