Sony enters the world of VR with Project Morpheus.
With the Oculus Rift gaining support and praise from everyone in the gaming industry, Sony has decided to finally throw their hat in the ring, or VR headset in this case. It was rumored that Sony was working on a VR headset that was similar to the Oculus Rift in nature. Some speculated that the HMZ-T3W aka Sony’s 3D head mounted display would the one going head to head with the Rift. This was not the case. In actuality it’s not Sony’s computer arm of the company handling development of the new VR set but the Playstation side of the company.
At the Driving the Future of Innovations at SCE panel, President of SCE Worldwide was on hand to reveal their entry into VR, Project Morpheus. It seems that Morpheus takes all of the technologies that Sony has developed over the years for the Playstation consoles (PS Eye, PS Move, 3D) and integrated them into this headset.
The specs of the prototype are as follows and since this is just a prototype, are subject to change:
• Component – Processor unit, head-mounted unit
• Display Method – LCD
• Panel Size – 5 inches
• Panel Resolution – 1920xRGBx1080 (960xRGBx1080 per eye)
• Field of View – 90 degrees
• Sensors – Accelerometer, Gyroscope
• Connection interface – HDMI + USB
• Function – 3D audio, Social Screen
For those who are attending GDC 2014 this week, Sony will have demo units of Project Morpheus in their booth for attendees to try out.
Personally, I think the headset looks really slick and really reflects Sony’s reputation of making really nice looking devices. It seems less cumbersome than the Rift and easier on the neck. I also think that Morpheus has a leg up on the Rift even though the Oculus Rift has been out longer. The reason being is that for the Rift, it’s up to the developers to actually make the device work and not Oculus VR, the developers of the Oculus Rift. In Sony’s case, they have a huge list of first and second party developers who work closely with the Playstation brand for years that can tinker around with the Morpheus. They don’t need to go shopping around for developer support as hard as Oculus VR. As there is the fact that more Japanese developers will probably jump on this than the American made Rift.
Just when the console wars were over and everyone was about to just settle down with their platform of choice, Sony reignite it with a foray into uncharted territory. Now all there is left to do is see how Microsoft and Nintendo respond, as well as Oculus VR and see how quickly they can get their product out to market first.
