Sony announced that the PlayStation VR platform would cost $399 and launch this October during the 2016 Game Developer's Conference, but the company left out the fact that the system requires the $60 PlayStation 4 camera to function. While it may be true that many players already own the camera, the fact it's mandatory does add a bit to the price discussion.

Sony has now announced that it will be selling a bundle that has every piece of hardware you need, or could want, for playing virtual reality games on the PlayStation 4. The bundle will sell for $499.99 in the US or $699.99 in Canada, and comes with the following:

◾All contents of the PS VR core bundle:
◾PS VR headset
◾PS VR cables Stereo
◾Headphones
◾PlayStation VR Demo Disc
◾PlayStation Camera
◾2 PlayStation Move motion controllers
◾PlayStation VR Worlds (disc)

"Starting at 7:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday, March 22nd, pre-orders will open for the PlayStation VR Launch Bundle at participating retailers," the official blog post states.

If you wanted to know the price of everything you will need or could want to play all existing virtual reality experiences, this is the bundle for you. You also certainly get your money's worth with the three extra pieces of hardware and the PlayStation VR Worlds experiences.

Update: GameStop will require a $100 deposit to pre-order the bundle. "Pre-orders for the PS VR can be made at any U.S. GameStop store location or online at gamestop. com with a $100 deposit that will be applied toward the $499.99 cost of the bundle," the company said in a press release. The basic, $399 PlayStation VR set will not be available for pre-order, according to Sony.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/18/112...ndle-preorders

So if you already have a camera and move controllers, you're SOL on preordering? That seems kind of lame. In all likelihood, I'll buy this and was thinking I'd be picking up a couple used move controllers and keeping an eye out for a good deal on a new or used standalone camera.

I wonder if they're not doing preorders for the standalone unit because people would be confused and order that not knowing additional components are necessary.

If there's plenty of stock, I don't think its a big deal for existing camera owners to get one on release.

So this doesn't actually have head tracking built into it? The camera sees the light from the headset and uses that to determine the position?

It sucks how all these things are forcing you to buy controllers with them.

Looks like Sony changed their mind after the complaints, the regular headset will be available for preorder next week.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/21/112...ders-no-bundle

Probably a good move. I'm still curious to see how well the pre-sells go. I'm sure they will sell through their initial stock, but a $500 (or $400) peripheral is still a big pill to swallow when the system itself goes for $300 - $350. A year from now, I bet we see some big sales on this, like the bundles for $400 and just the device for $300.

Pre-orders go live in about an hour. Is anyone here going to pre-order today?

I pre-ordered at Amazon. I need the bundle since I don't have the camera or other stuff. I figure it's risk-free, I can just cancel if I change my mind between now and launch.

I had to preorder at Walmart. Seems like Amazon sold out within a few seconds.

It seems like Best Buy is the only one with bundle pre-orders left right now, but it seems that Sony has decided to pre-order the unit by itself starting next week (3/29). I'll go that way since I already own the camera, and move controllers.

Since I can't rig up a camera easily with my Man Cave PS4 set up, I'll be waiting this one out a while. Is there an extension cable for the camera available?

I went ahead and bit on the bundle at Best Buy. I swear I saw Move controllers going for $5-$10 a couple weeks ago, but it looks like they're typically going for $25 used now, so it would hardly be any savings to go that route, not to mention I get around $45 in RZ certs between GCU and using my Best Buy card to buy it.

Damn, that didn't even cross my mind. With my new set up, I don't think I would be able to use a camera either. I don't have a Kinect, so I didn't even think about that part.

Best Buy still has pre-orders available and Amazon is opening pre-orders again today at 2pm PST.

Almost 20 minutes after pre-orders went live and it's still available on Amazon. It must be doomed!

I completely forgot about it, but it's no longer available today. I guess I'm keeping my Walmart pre-order.

Still available for pre-order via Best Buy.

In all fairness, the pre-orders only lasted about 30 mins on Amazon. I still don't understand how Best Buy has so many to offer or they are just selling through them that much slower than Amazon is.

Or in Best Buy fashion, isn't managing their stock properly

That's what I figured, but I pre-ordered it anyway.

Where's the games?