Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. at Game Developers Conference announces “Project Morpheus”, the company’s current development of a virtual reality (VR) system for the PlayStation 4. With Project Morpheus and PlayStation Camera, Sony intends to bring immersion of games to the next level, showing what’s possible in the future of gaming.
Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios was seen showing off the prototype VR headset at the conference keynote named ‘Driving the Future of Innovation’. He said, “At SCE we view innovation as an opportunity to build on our mission to push the boundaries of play. Project
Morpheus is the latest example of innovation from SCE, and we’re looking forward to its continued development and the games that will be created as development kits get into the
hands of content creators.”
Below are the basic specifications of the “Project Morpheus” prototype headset:
- Component: Processor unit, head-mounted unit
- Display Method: LCD
- Panel Size: 5 inches
- Panel Resolution: 1920×RGB×1080 (960×RGB×1080 per eye)
- Field of View: 90 degrees
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope
- Connection interface: HDMI + USB
- Function: 3D audio, Social Screen
The head-mounted unit has a 1080p LCD display with 90-degree viewing angles. There are inertial sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope) embedded in the unit to track the basic roll, pitch, and yaw dynamics. It integrates tightly with PlayStation Camera to track player movements, and they could then use PlayStation Move to augment an in-game object — like a sword — to interact with the virtual environment. The prototype is said to have a good airflow to prevent the display lenses from fogging up, as well as an appropriately-placed headband to shift the weight from the nose. It currently connects through HDMI and USB via a 5-meter cable, but Sony would like to make it wireless in the future.
As for the sound, Morpheus will be adopting a 3D audio technology developed by SCE. Instead of just a two-dimensional sound (front, back, left, right), the head unit can also simulate stereoscopic sounds from above and below the players, like the sound of footsteps or a chopper flying overhead. That’s pretty slick.
Throughout the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which will be ending in about two days, Sony will be demoing its VR capabilities on games such as EVE: Valkyrie (CCP) and Thief (SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd.), as well as SCE’s two demo softwares: “The Castle” and “The Deep”.
It is nice to see virtual reality gaming making a comeback, since the days of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy released in 1995, which was a commercial failure. Sony’s Project Morpheus and Oculus’ Rift will definitely strike many developers’ fancy to develop games for them. Unfortunately for now, Sony said it will not be making a consumer version of Morpheus this year.
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