Gizmo Guy: It's hot. No, it's nauseating. Sony's new VR for PlayStation 4 inspires extreme reactions

Sony's new virtual reality system for the PlayStation 4 game console landed in stores on Thursday and likely will provoke reactions as extreme as those expressed about this year's presidential candidates.

Some PS VR samplers will characterize this wearable tech as the hottest new thing in home entertainment.

Other first-timers may fear they've just drunk the Kool-Aid - and, ugh, might not recover.

For this tester, who has had an advance PS VR unit and software access for more than a week, the truth is a bit of both. It's highly dependent and variable on the software playing to Sony's future-now VR goggles and your stomach and skill set.

So what feels really good and spectacular? Immersive, 360-degree games that mostly propel you forward into a brave new world. Or let you create and spin objects (or yourself) in a fairly static setting. Given wild and crazy stuff to look at, places to go, and things to manipulate all around, it's easy to believe you've left your living room behind and have entered a wacky new reality.

The fun house-themed roller coaster ride/arcade shooter - Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, demanding you blast crazed clowns before they get you - is an absolute hoot and must-have at $20 (the low end of PS VR game pricing; other games go up to $60, while a few titles, such as VR Playroom, are free.)

Super HyperCube (think Rubik's cube on steroids) will have you leaning your head this way and that as you build a convoluted cube cluster and squeeze it through a changing hole constantly moving toward you.

Best viewed sitting down, the extra trippy Harmonic Music VR offers an amazing contact high and (not coincidentally) makes you feel like an artistic genius as you draw 3-D images in space.

Job Simulator offers goofy takes on running a convenience store or working an office in a future where the robots have taken over.

On the downside, some of the extra-busy PS VR games that set an environment spinning to the right while you're moving left - like the road-racing Driveclub VR or the giant robotic slugfest Rigs Mechanized Combat League - can spark a disorienting sensation in the viewer akin to seasickness, if your joystick or (easier) head-turning moves are not optimum.

Woozy me was thinking anti-nausea patches ought to be included in Sony's $399 VR starter kit. And that a new "N" rating should be applied to the most challenging titles in addition to the on-screen cautions to remove the headset at the first sign of distress. (For me, it was cold sweats, which I initially attributed to the equally real game tension.)

Fortunately I'd set off first on a PlayStation VR journey with some "walk before you run" titles - the more casual and family-friendly games that establish a very positive, eye-opening, fun-for-all feeling. Had me jotting down "what a great gift for the holidays."

And if my game brain toughens up, I will come round to the harder stuff. Jumping into the suit of Batman: Arkham VR and flying through space with the pirate pack in Eve: Valkyrie do look like fun.

Putting together a PlayStation VR rig is easy, especially if you're already one of the 42 million PlayStation 4 owners. Otherwise, you'll also need to cough up $299 (or more) for a PS4 console.

A small signal-processing box is installed in-line between the PS4 and your TV set. Then you plug in the VR goggles with an umbilical cord that limits your movement to about 12 feet from said box.

A dual-lens PlayStation 4 camera (sold separately for $59) must also be connected if you don't have one in place. That camera tracks your movements by locking onto the lights on the front and back of the VR headset and more lights glowing on wireless Move Motion Controllers (they look like microphones) and the DualShock 4 Wireless Controller. (Yes, both are essential for full enjoyment).

Having tried VR goggles from Samsung (Gear VR) and those central to the far pricier PC-centric Occulus Rift and HTC Vive systems, I can testify Sony has done its homework on the PS VR headset. It's the first I can wear for a couple of hours (not just half an hour) without feeling discomfort, thanks to a cantilevered balancing system that shifts most of the headset weight (1.5 pounds) to your forehead and back of head and also ventilates the rig with just enough gap at the bottom so you can look down and see things without having to pull the headset off.

No, the PS VR's stereoscopic screen image (1920 x 1080 resolution) isn't as sharp as those on the Rift and Vive, but it's far more eye-field filling and less grainy than you find with the Gear VR, which relies on a split-image Samsung Galaxy phone screen display.

When one watches Netflix movies streaming through the PS4, the VR's virtual movie screen is enormous. And the surround-sound audio tracks, heard through headphones or your home theater system, can be as embracing as the visuals.

BTW, many of those interesting eyewitness travel clips and entertainment shorts now the province of Gear VR and Google Cardboard are also available free on PS VR. But you'll be seeing double when trying to connect to YouTube's VR content.

takiffj@phillynews.com

215-854-5960 @JTakiff