Today, during the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), Sony has revealed Project Morpheus, a long rumored Virtual Reality headset for the PS4.
Project Morpheus, which gets its name from The Matric movies’ character of the same name, was shown off by Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios, who presented a prototype during an event entitled Driving the Future of Innovation. “Nothing delivers a feeling of immersion better than VR,” said Yoshida.
Yoshida admits that VR has yet to be delivered as was promised in movies decades ago, saying that “VR has been a dream of many gamers since the computer was invented. Many of us at PlayStation have dreamed of VR and what it could mean to the gaming community.”
Project Morpheus uses a 1080p LCD screen, offers a 90-degree field of view, and will function alongside the PlayStation Camera for tracking and PlayStation Move for motion control. It interfaces with the console via HDMI and USB.
The current prototype isn’t wireless, but Sony says it will be working hard to make that happen. The company says the headset doesn’t put weight on your nose or cheeks, and its design allows for airflow without the lenses fogging up.
Sony has announced that Epic Games, Crytek, Autodesk, Unity, and others are actively developing for Project Morpheus.
During GDC, Sony will be showing demos of Thief, EVE Valkryie, and more running on the headset.
Project Morpheus isn’t just for gaming. Sony also showed demos of a prototype where users can walk on the surface of Mars in conjuction with NASA.
The headset will pose as indirect competition for the Oculus Rift, a VR headset that has been in development for the PC for a couple of years after a successful kickstarter campaign.
Unlike Project Morpheus, the Rift is available to anyone in the form of a prototype dev kit for $300 while a revision will be made available in July for $350. Valve and Microsoft are also rumored to be working on VR devices.
Does the true advent of VR make the promise of the 80s seem like it is finally arriving? Sound off below!
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