This week in video games, October 17, 2016: PlayStation VR and Batman Arkham

This week, get that cowl back on in Return to Arkham and get back to Hogwarts with the Lego Harry Potter Collection. But first, PlayStation VR has arrived. Will the world ever be the same again?

PlayStation VR is the easiest way to get into virtual reality

Sony's PlayStation VR released this week, but unless you preordered, or you were standing in line on Wednesday night, you might be waiting a bit to get one.

If you want to get a taste of what's in store, you can check out one of a number of demos that PlayStation Canada are staging across Canada.

The Batman and Battlezone VR experiences are pretty solid, but the VR game I'm most looking forward to playing through is an on-rails shooter called Farpoint. And EVE: Valkyrie is as close to flying a spaceship as I'm ever going to get.

There's also a Tomb Raider VR experience that you can get with the Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration edition.

If you've got a PS4 and a PlayStation Camera, you can get virtual reality with PSVR for $550. That gets you the headset, headphones, and all cables.

If you don't already have the camera, it's $75, and some games use the Move Controllers, which come in a two-pack for $130.

All in, you're looking at $750 on top of the price of your PS4. But that's still considerably cheaper than the two other decent VR options.

The only other thing to keep in mind is that you'll need space for PSVR. PlayStation recommends a three-metre-by-three-metre space for your VR play. That might be the trickiest obstacle to overcome for many.

But I've been in there. It's worth it.

Lego Harry Potter Collection

Coming out this week is the collected story of Harry Potter and his wizarding friends as rendered with Lego bricks.

The Lego Harry Potter Collection includes remastered versions of years one to four and years five to seven, and although those games were available on multiple platforms, the Collection is a PS4 exclusive.

Priced at $60, the title also includes 10 additional characters and five additional spells that were originally released as downloadable content (DLC).

Batman Arkham series of games coming to PS4 and Xbox One/S

This week, you can pick up the best Batman video games ever made, to play them on your PS4 or Xbox One/S.

Batman: Return to Arkham collects Arkham Asylum (2009) and Arkham City (2011), two games developed by Rocksteady Studios for the previous generation of video-game hardware. In Return to Arkham, the games have been remastered to take advantage of the incredible graphical capabilities of the new systems.

Not included are Arkham Origins, the third console game in the franchise developed at WB Games Montreal, or 2015's Arkham Knight. The latter was created for PS4 and Xbox One.

I wish the Arkham Origins had been included in this package. I don't think the game from the Canadian studio got enough credit for following up Arkham City.

What is not up for debate is that Rocksteady really innovated with its Batman games, creating experiences, creative fighting systems, and the ability to soar above the city that made you really feel like you were becoming the Dark Knight.