Tweet
It's been a long time coming, but Sony has finally revealed its take on the great virtual reality dream. Hot on the heels of Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus can be seen as mainstream validation of VR and the first serious attempt at bringing it to a home console since Sega's aborted 1993 vintage headset. In theory, PlayStation 4 is the perfect home for virtual reality, too - Sony has the most powerful console GPU, a ready-made 3D controller in the form of PlayStation Move and a wealth of developers with direct experience creating stereoscopic 3D games. Not only that, but it also possesses a remarkably talented R&D team.But while the mainstream access and the surrounding ecosystem are unrivalled, to what extent can Sony match the cutting-edge technology offered by Oculus Rift? The advantages of the PC for a pioneering new gameplay experience are numerous: as a completely open platform, anyone can buy the kit and experiment, from indie developers to hackers and to major game publishers. Not only that, but both the VR hardware itself and PC rendering technology can adapt and evolve more quickly. Already there has been discussion of 4K VR displays, and even that might not be quite enough for the optimal immersive experience. In working with a fixed architecture and with limited scope for enhancements, Sony has to get Morpheus right on its first attempt.
We see console VR as a major challenge for Sony on two fronts: hardware and software. On the former, what is clear is that Sony has done everything right based on the tools and technologies available. By most accounts, the Sony VR prototype is a very, very close match to the specs of the second-generation Oculus Rift dev kit. Screen resolution is the same, sensor frequency is a match and a similar system of using an external camera to check positional movement is integrated. There are just a couple of areas where Sony needs to improve - the 1080p LCD screen suffers compared to the OLED display in the second-gen Rift, while some confusion surrounds the 90-degree field of view and how that stacks up against the 110 degrees found in both iterations of the Oculus Rift.
Read more…
More...