Yesterday during the 2014 Game Developers Conference, Sony formally announced that they’re working on a virtual reality headset. If you’re a hardcore gamer you’ve probably kept up with all of the rumours and speculation surrounding this Oculus Rift competitor.
Details surrounding the project are still sketchy, but we do have enough information to realize that Sony may be onto something that can boost is to the front of the Virtual Reality gaming scene. This is what we know so far:
1. The end device will probably not be called “Morpheus” as this is only the title given for the device now while in development
2. The device consists of a processing unit, and a head mount unit which connects to your PlayStation 4 via USB and HDMI, the headset is also designed to distribute weight around your head to increase comfortability.
3. It comes equipped with a Full HD landscaping LCD display going up to 960 x 1080 resolution
4. It comes with a high sensitivity accelerator and gyroscope.
5. The headset can detect the movement and actions made on the Dualshock 4 controller and the PlayStation move camera and controllers.
6. There will be a co-op ability between Project Morpheus players and DualShock 4 players.
7. Morpheus will not only be used for gaming, but other options are being investigating to display video content. Sony is working with NASA on this which means scanning and walking on the surface of the moon, virtually, will be possible.
8. Possible games that have been identified to be the first available where Thief, and EVE: Valkyrie.
9. These specs have been revealed by TechCrunch:
- 1080p display
- 1000Hz motion detection
- Only one headset at a time is supported
- Headset is currently connected to the PS4 by a 5-meter wire
- Positional/rotational head tracking
- Tracking is handled by the same camera that tracks PS4 Move controllers
- It works for people with glasses
- Content pushed to the Morpheus can be mirrored to a TV, but it sounds like it can handle asymmetric gameplay (different things on each screen) as well.
- An “Open air” design prevents the lenses from fogging up.
The guys from Kotaku managed to get a hands-on, with some game footage of The Deep. It does look freaking awesome!
10 Things we know about the Sony Project Morpheus Virtual Reality Headset
