When development of the PVR IRIS was first announced in late June, the team behind it touted the VR headset as being “designed for one main use – virtual reality pornography,” saying this differentiated the IRIS from the rest of the VR headsets on the market.
Aside from the marketing thrust, what makes the IRIS porn-friendly? According to its developers, the IRIS is “able to deliver resolutions far higher than other systems.”
More specifically, PVR says the IRIS has “incredible HEVC processing capability, up to 6K, 60Mbps, and with a 4K-screen resolution, the IRIS was born to deliver a viewing experience as crisp as possible while requiring half the bandwidth of other devices.” The company also reported that the inclusion of “the latest motion sickness preventing technology” would spare its users “the shame of puking on your favorite pornstar.”
Another bragging point of the IRIS is its weight, which tolls in at under 300 grams. Along with adjustable features designed to deliver optimal user comfort, PVR says it’s the “lightest and most comfortable all-in-one HMD available today.”
“You will feel like you are wearing nothing at all, and if you enjoy IRIS as much as we believe you will, you really will be wearing nothing at all,” the company said in a statement announcing the unveiling of the IRIS.
Another indication of PVR’s seriousness in declaring the IRIS’ porn-friendliness is something we truly aren’t likely to see from other VR headset manufacturers: Partnering with adult studios to develop content for the device from the word go.
“It was our mission to create an all-in-one system that requires no need for any additional products or subscriptions,” the company said in its release. “We work with several studios to bring you the best content possible, and we’ve made our tech compatible with all sorts of other pleasurable sex toys, allowing you to fully feel the tantalizing sensations of your greatest fantasies.”
Whatever the eventual consumer reception of the IRIS looks like, it quickly won over at least one enthusiastic adult industry evangelist from the moment he tried it: Utherverse Digital and HoloFilm Productions CEO Brian Shuster.
“I have worked in virtual reality for more than 15 years, and my companies have produced hundreds of VR videos,” Shuster said. “Honestly, I have never experienced anything like the PVR HMD. I believe this headset is the breakthrough that we have all been waiting for. The resolution blew my mind! It is very light weight and there are no visible pixels. Trust me when I say that there has never been a headset like this before.”
Will consumers love the IRIS as much as Shuster does? Before we can even begin to guess at the answer, PVR first has to show it can deliver – both literally and figuratively. As it stands, the expected delivery date of the “early bird” headsets is sometime in October.
Once those have been delivered — and the response of the early adopters who receive them has been gauged — we may be closer to an answer. Until then, it remains to be seen if the IRIS is the next big thing in adult VR, or if the only big thing involved is the hype which accompanied its launch.
