Sony unveils its VR headset: Project Morpheus

Last night, Sony gave even more credibility to the virtual reality market, unveiling its Project Morpheus headset for the PlayStation 4 at the GDC 2014 event.

The Kickstarter-backed Oculus Rift had already revealed a promising future for VR, but Sony's new prototype should speed up the consumer adoption of such technology.

Morpheus is two pieces, a closed eyewear display with a PlayStation Move-esque sensor.

The new prototype is "a culmination of three years of work" says the company, and the VR headset is now available as a dev kit.

Sony says the LCD is 5-inches, with panel resolution of 1920�RGB�1080 (960�RGB�1080 per eye). The full field of view is 90 degrees and the device will have an HDMI + USB connection and built-in accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. On the audio side, the headset has "true spatial sound using binaural audio" and there is the option for your own headphones, as well. The device also has positional head tracking with full 360-degree tracking that can work with the existing PlayStation Camera.

The company showed off demos of EVE Valkyrie, Thief, The Deep and The Castle, with much more games in the future expected to have Morpheus support.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 Mar 2014 21:24

DarthMopar

If this thing pans out, It'll revolutionize FPS's...pretty cool.

19.3.2014 21:46 #1

b4mv

I'd really like to know what these do when you can only see out of one eye. :/

Technology seems to be leaving me behind lol

20.3.2014 08:11 #2

Jemborg

Wow... kicking goals and ass Sony.

It looks pretty big from images of people wearing it... I hope it's light.

For the PS5 it'll have an ECG interface. :)

Originally posted by b4mv: I'd really like to know what these do when you can only see out of one eye. :/

Technology seems to be leaving me behind lol You can do what other single eyed people do and shift you head slightly and almost imperceptibly to create a pseudo 3d effect to judge distance.

You know how there are people out there who for one reason or another do not have stereo vision even though they have two eyes? They can be trained to see depth through exercises where eventually and suddenly their brain just "gets it". So in other words 3d is a trick your brain does even though it feels natural. And shifting your head is another way of creating the effect.

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Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

20.3.2014 10:24 #3

bobiroc

Originally posted by DarthMopar: If this thing pans out, It'll revolutionize FPS's...pretty cool. And that is about it too. I do not see the appeal really.. Put this big visor on your head that looks like after a little while of use will be uncomfortable and cause neck strain. On top of that these visors have been known to cause major eye strain because of the images so close to your eyes.

I guess I will try to keep an open mind and wait till this and the competitor products from Oculus Rift and Microsoft go to market.

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20.3.2014 20:58 #4

Jemborg

Originally posted by bobiroc: ...On top of that these visors have been known to cause major eye strain because of the images so close to your eyes.
OR you can try the other new ones that project the image directly to you eye with lasers... haha.

I'm not kidding!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_retinal_display

This tech from Sony MS et al is only a stopgap measure.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

21.3.2014 08:59 #5

mrkfour

Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by DarthMopar: If this thing pans out, It'll revolutionize FPS's...pretty cool. And that is about it too.
Have you thought about racing games? a Gran Turismo with this and a playseat is the ultimate setup.

Theres also the flight/combat sim games where a VR would greatly enhance gameplay.

Tbh, VR for FPS's will be hard to not only achieve but also to be an actual enhancement. If the VR's goal is to put us in the head of the soldier, moving your head will do just that in the game : you gun will keep pointing straight ahead......unless your controller becomes the gun and gets tracked by the PS4.

Now that's an interesting idea...but not sure it would appeal many players as it would be a clear handicap against players using only a controller. For flight and racing sims, VR would give you an edge over the controller only players

21.3.2014 12:38 #6

bobiroc

Originally posted by mrkfour: Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by DarthMopar: If this thing pans out, It'll revolutionize FPS's...pretty cool. And that is about it too.
Have you thought about racing games? a Gran Turismo with this and a playseat is the ultimate setup.

Theres also the flight/combat sim games where a VR would greatly enhance gameplay.

Tbh, VR for FPS's will be hard to not only achieve but also to be an actual enhancement. If the VR's goal is to put us in the head of the soldier, moving your head will do just that in the game : you gun will keep pointing straight ahead......unless your controller becomes the gun and gets tracked by the PS4.

Now that's an interesting idea...but not sure it would appeal many players as it would be a clear handicap against players using only a controller. For flight and racing sims, VR would give you an edge over the controller only players

yeah.. First person view type games is what I meant by "that's about it" Still think it looks uncomfortable to wear for any period of time and TV is bad enough for your eyes let alone something displaying an image that close to your eyes while blocking out all the light around you.

AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 256GB OCZ Vertex 4, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.

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21.3.2014 12:43 #7

b4mv

Originally posted by Jemborg: Wow... kicking goals and ass Sony.

It looks pretty big from images of people wearing it... I hope it's light.

For the PS5 it'll have an ECG interface. :)

Originally posted by b4mv: I'd really like to know what these do when you can only see out of one eye. :/

Technology seems to be leaving me behind lol You can do what other single eyed people do and shift you head slightly and almost imperceptibly to create a pseudo 3d effect to judge distance.

You know how there are people out there who for one reason or another do not have stereo vision even though they have two eyes? They can be trained to see depth through exercises where eventually and suddenly their brain just "gets it". So in other words 3d is a trick your brain does even though it feels natural. And shifting your head is another way of creating the effect.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- I understand what your saying, and I've had one eye since birth. I know all about pseudo-depth, It'd be difficult to get around, or drive without it.

You can't really shift your face, when the thing fits specifically over your eyes, much like the way sunglasses would. I wondering more for a way to shift the image it produces to one side or the other.

21.3.2014 12:47 #8

mrkfour

Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by mrkfour: Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by DarthMopar: If this thing pans out, It'll revolutionize FPS's...pretty cool. And that is about it too.
Have you thought about racing games? a Gran Turismo with this and a playseat is the ultimate setup.

Theres also the flight/combat sim games where a VR would greatly enhance gameplay.

Tbh, VR for FPS's will be hard to not only achieve but also to be an actual enhancement. If the VR's goal is to put us in the head of the soldier, moving your head will do just that in the game : you gun will keep pointing straight ahead......unless your controller becomes the gun and gets tracked by the PS4.

Now that's an interesting idea...but not sure it would appeal many players as it would be a clear handicap against players using only a controller. For flight and racing sims, VR would give you an edge over the controller only players

yeah.. First person view type games is what I meant by "that's about it" Still think it looks uncomfortable to wear for any period of time and TV is bad enough for your eyes let alone something displaying an image that close to your eyes while blocking out all the light around you. If that's what you meant, then I must say that you are stating the obvious.

We wont know how comfortable/uncomfortable it is until we try it. As for being bad, I agree with all you say but I dont see this as a big step up or difference to the problems resulting from watching tv for a long time and/or sitting too close to it

21.3.2014 12:54 #9

Mr_Bill06

Don't know if 3D will ever be able to work for just one eye. We have 2 eyes to help with giving depth and other things. I am sure our eyes work just like 3D does both different images are lined up and our brain makes 1 combined image as well as blocking out our nose. It's all very interesting and I might be wrong and 3D could be possible in the future for people who only have one eye.

There goes cautious Sony waiting for others to take the risk and when they succeed (Oculus Rift) make your own copy and profit.

21.3.2014 13:45 #10

KillerBug

Originally posted by mrkfour: Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by mrkfour: Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by DarthMopar: If this thing pans out, It'll revolutionize FPS's...pretty cool. And that is about it too.
Have you thought about racing games? a Gran Turismo with this and a playseat is the ultimate setup.

Theres also the flight/combat sim games where a VR would greatly enhance gameplay.

Tbh, VR for FPS's will be hard to not only achieve but also to be an actual enhancement. If the VR's goal is to put us in the head of the soldier, moving your head will do just that in the game : you gun will keep pointing straight ahead......unless your controller becomes the gun and gets tracked by the PS4.

Now that's an interesting idea...but not sure it would appeal many players as it would be a clear handicap against players using only a controller. For flight and racing sims, VR would give you an edge over the controller only players

yeah.. First person view type games is what I meant by "that's about it" Still think it looks uncomfortable to wear for any period of time and TV is bad enough for your eyes let alone something displaying an image that close to your eyes while blocking out all the light around you. If that's what you meant, then I must say that you are stating the obvious.

We wont know how comfortable/uncomfortable it is until we try it. As for being bad, I agree with all you say but I dont see this as a big step up or difference to the problems resulting from watching tv for a long time and/or sitting too close to it I'd figure the uses would go beyond game (and btw...fps would be my last choice for this, as you would also need a treadmill and gun-like controller).

Imagine you want to see proteins folding in 3D from various angles. Yes, you can do it with a big monitor and a mouse...but you can do it better and faster with this. Maybe you are an architect showing a design to prospective clients...would you rather have them see it on a TV or walk through it? How about an engineering teacher...imagine taking students "into" a design to see things in a way no cross-section could ever attempt. Or maybe you are just a typical business traveler...would you rather watch a movie on a 14" LCD or something that puts iMax to shame? Heck, even the soccer moms will love this...put the kids into separate VR environments and you won't hear "He's looking at me!".

Video games might be the inspiration, but when we look at sales 10 years from now it will be hard to believe they were anything but an afterthought.

21.3.2014 17:35 #11

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