By contrast with other headsets in the “just over a pound” range, it’s almost luxuriously comfortable, a welcome bit of indulgence for an experience that depends largely on how fast you can slip these headpieces on and get your visual field un-fuzzed. The PlayStation VR’s headpiece is effectively a crown of thick plastic inside which Sony’s laid a soft rubber-sheathed bumper of thick but pliable foam. Pluck PlayStation VR from its oblong box and the first thing you’ll notice is that it feels solid in a way the floppier cranial moorings the Rift and Vive employ don’t.

It’s still the same low-fi, cable-spaghetti, eyes-in-a-box immersion we saw earlier this year, most likely to appeal to enthusiasts who already own a PlayStation 4 but haven’t yet sprung for a Rift or Vive. PlayStation VR brings no game-changing surprises to the table, makes no audiovisual zigs or interactive zags. You’re either dazzled or disinterested, inspired or unmoved. Sony’s PlayStation VR, due October 13, won’t change your mind if your opinion’s coalesced around the tech based on this spring’s dueling headsets from HTC and Oculus.

Maybe feeling “present” in someone else’s imaginarium, with all its head-mounted headaches and bridal veil’s worth of cabling, isn’t enough to move your needle. Maybe you find it too visually crude and ergonomically strange-picture what someone playing pin the tail on the donkey would look like if their blindfold had a tether and weighed over a pound. Maybe you think virtual reality circa 2016 is a fad, a trumped up way of looking at otherwise ordinary games.

Playstation virtual reality set