Joshua Bell VR Experience (PSVR)

System: PSVR 1
Price at Time Of Review: Free
Comfort Rating: Green (No Movement)
Genre: 360 Video and Animation
Input: DualShock Controller
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG

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Description: Sit back, relax and enjoy a personal recital by award-winning violinist Joshua Bell. Performing Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 1”, Joshua is accompanied by classical pianist Sam Haywood to deliver a truly unforgettable virtual reality experience.

Review: I suppose the obvious questions here is this: Who is Joshua Bell? He is a little bit of everything. From a soloist violin player to chamber musician, recording artist, conductor and he has even done some acting! With a career spanning more than 30 years, he has gone on to become a true world-class musician as well as his many other talents. So why choose him for VR? The reason is that he is no stranger to using new technology to get his music across.

This 360 video performance was captured in 3D and true 4K resolution by multiple cameras using position tracking which in turn enables you with a PlayStation VR headset to literally move around the virtual recording space without distortion which let me tell you is a pretty impressive sight. To be able to walk up to a world-class violinist and hear him play is not to everyone’s tastes, but it blew me away.

I put my hand on my heart when I type this, the Joshua Bell VR Experience looks incredible and raises the bar on what to expect with 360 videos for the future. While it won’t be to everyone’s tastes it is still worth seeing just to check out the 3D and quality of the experience with very little stitching effect. In fact, you will have to look really close to even see it. I just hope the same technology brings lots of other artists to the PSVR platform and helps to raise the PSVR’s status above the simple gimmick gaming add-on.