It's actually more true for a HMD than for a TV. A TV being primarily built to watch TV without regard for gaming can actually have a negative impact on its suitability for gaming (e.g. input latency). On the other hand, a HMD built for good VR will inherently be good for gaming as well.Sure, if they make something better than their actual prototype. If they make it open. If they don't have some propietary things...
The main problem here is the "Facebookaton". As far as I'm concerned, people are just overreacting, and in the wrong way.
All I see is good news for Oculus Rift. Those guys came from a hand-made prototype, with limited money, relying on poor smartphone parts... and right now, they have access to the best tech available and have means to product them much, much faster.
They came from the small company against a giant, since Sony introduced their own thing, to a big company with bigger funds.
Also, for the people concerned about Oculus not being aimed at gamers/videogames.... do you care that the TV you're playing on was first and foremost meant to watch TV shows or movies ? Because that's what Oculus Rift is: A peripheral. The main point is the hardware, once you have the hardware, you can done anything you want with it.
Yeah, most people seem to think that this aquisition puts Sony in a better competitive position. In my opinion, especially in the short term, that really isn't a given. If Facebook doesn't screw things up royally (and I don't think they will, at least for the first few iterations) Sony just went from competing with a startup to competing with a massive company particularly adept at marketing.As long as Morpheus is locked to PlayStation 4, the little interest I have in it compared to Oculus. While the opportunity is there, it's really only there based on the panic induced hyperbole the Facebook acquisition news has generated. Facebook smashbook: worries are valid, but proof is in the execution and the fact of the matter is we don't know how Facebook will be approaching marketing, usability, and services related to Oculus. If indeed they do retain the philosophy that we've come to expect, and avoid the social network and marketing trappings so many fear, Oculus will be in an even more beneficial position than it already was pre-Facebook acquisition. One I'm not sure Sony can compete with, purely from a marketing standpoint.
Fact of the matter is that the "hardcore" market thrives on open source hardware and software, evolving in iterations at the behest of the manufacturer and/or the customers. Morpheus might be excellent tech, but Sony isn't exactly know for brilliant open source policy towards its customers. As it stands, Morpheus today is just as much of a locked, service/platform restricted device as the Facebook Oculus horror stories. I'm not sure Sony can produce and market a Morpheus device in the way the PC crowd expects while running in parallel to the PlayStation 4 device.
That said, mass market consumption will be the defining market quality of both, and VR is unproven tech in that regard. They've both got an uphill struggle, and just looking at the names quickly on paper I don't think Sony can compete with Facebook.