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Project Morpheus - Sony VR headset prototype - unveiled

Mdot

Member
Thankfully, Sony doesn't seem to be in the business of shoving unwanted peripherals on people's faces at the cost of everything else with the Playstation 4.

They can easily bundle the camera with the VR Headset as needed. This is a complete non-issue.
Seriously. That's exactly what MS got ripped for (plus inferior hardware). Why would Sony do the same?
 
So I guess it is Microsoft's turn next to show what they have in the VR arena.

Really doubt they will.

As much as people are eating up the VR headset on GAF right now, this thing could crash and burn hard for Sony. They have a tightrope to walk between specs and price and considering this thing is likely going to retail at a few hundred bucks, it's definitely a high risk high reward proposition for Sony. I doubt Microsoft would want to jump in on that right now.
 

Faustek

Member
Yepp, this was good. Any guesses how long before this goes commercial? I'll say one year.

help, they just "won" the consoles wars. Your turn MS
 
So I guess it is Microsoft's turn next to show what they have in the VR arena.



The Eurogamer article that mentioned Microsoft was developing a VR headset sounded like they weren't necessarily very far along in development. That was the way it sounded. However, they could always go for Oculus Support to catch up quick.
 

epmode

Member
I wonder if the press demos will be running on real PS4s or PCs. I'm really curious about how far PS4 can take a 1080p, 3D, >= 60 FPS game.
 

Sepp

Banned
Highest possible resolution and frame rate aren't mandatory. Of course they're better, but that's always been the case and most developers don't lose sleep over it. With a PC between a PS3 and PS4 in specs I've spent plenty of time playing games like Skyrim or Just Cause 2 in 1080p 3D at a good frame rate.

That's a flawed comparison. VR is still in its infancy, and better tech will improve the experience drastically. Doubling the resolution for VR is probably like going from 320x240 to 640x480 20+ years ago.
 
This is the GDC. Games developers conference. Theyare doing this to get devs to work on mamaking games for it.

Yeah but Sony doesn't get it. This is the unveiling! Now is the time to excite people in the product. If they wanted to focus on developers here, then they should've done the unveil prior to this.
 

orioto

Good Art™
So yeah going to sleep, but i'm mixed...

It's nice that it exists, it looks good, and Sony seems to have undestood some important points about VR.

But..

It seemed like they are faaaaaaaaaaaar away from release. I mean they actually asked for games...

Also i'm worried about the FOV but people seem to say it's the same as the current Oculus.. They may make it bigger if they see they're short compared to competition i guess..

Now i'm really worried about the price... The Oculus beta was 300$ and could be more expensive in the end, with better techs.. How does Sony want to sell an equivalent tech + move + the cam for less than.. 400€ ? And that makes it 800 with the PS4..
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
kinect would work great with VR. thats not a bad thing with all systems including it as you need the camera.

They (either Sony or the live blog author) said Kinect doesn't have the fidelity for VR (the refresh isn't high enough).
 

USC-fan

Banned
I wonder if the press demos will be running on real PS4s or PCs. I'm really curious about how far PS4 can take a 1080p, 3D, >= 60 FPS game.

Games are only running at 1080p. No difference running on this or HDTV display.

Looks cool but is probably at least a year away. Maybe this will light a fire under Oculus and get the damn thing to market.

I really do not understand why people think this will kill oculus. If anything it help them a lot. This will never be plug and play with PC. Oculus can also release higher price models than sony can. They should work together. PC has unlimited power compare to the fix power of the PS4.
 
Like the look of it, hope it isn't too expensive I do want VR in my household so I hope Microsoft has something cool coming out or else I'll end up with either this or Occulus Rift.


Won't be for along while, this will be more like the wii-fit platform, it'll have a limited amount of games exclusive for it with some compatible with it.
Microsoft has Fortaleza due this year, which is there answer to VR and AR.
 

jmood88

Member
Except the reason why 3d failed wasn't wearing the glasses, it was that the content wasn't really any good; or even just good enough. Most 3d TVs made everything look like low res cardboard cutouts, a vast majority of movies weren't filmed in 3d but convert post production adding to the issues and finally you had discomfort from active 3d glasses causing headaches, nausea, etc. It wasn't having to wear glasses but the tech. If anything the last 3d fad just cements that the market is ready and wanting the immersion VR can offer.
No, the glasses weren't the sole reason it failed (I neither said nor suggested that) but they were a big reason for the lack of excitement for home 3D. I like how you ignored everything else I wrote about why 3D failed, that's cute.

I truly believe the naysayers just simply have little imagination. The difference between 3d and VR is huge; thinking something like VR will fail because people 3d failed and people wore glasses, is like saying people won't go to movies because they rather see flesh and blood of stage theater.
Your analogies don't make any sense, neither does your belief that someone who doesn't see how this will be anything other than a niche product somehow indicates a lack of imagination. That's laughable. This will be a niche product because it will be too expensive, needs people to go out of their way to buy and store 2 extra peripherals, requires extra work from developers, and forces people to wear giant things on their heads. If they are somehow able to overcome all of that to become a success, then that's good for them but I at least have concrete reasons for why I can't see this becoming a success rather than just falling prey to hype.
 
This needs to have Minecraft day one to be a mass market success.

Day one or bundled, depends on how successful Sony want it to be out of the blocks.
 
Interesting that there was no mention of vita integration, i'd have thought they would have at least touched on a few experiments with it.

As for pricing it kinda depends on the final specs of the machine (they never said what kind of display, LCD/OLED though I'm assuming they'd go with OLED). To market it well though I'd say they should shoot for $250USD with some sort of Wii Sports-esque proof of concept pack-in.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Really doubt they will.

As much as people are eating up the VR headset on GAF right now, this thing could crash and burn hard for Sony. They have a tightrope to walk between specs and price and considering this thing is likely going to retail at a few hundred bucks, it's definitely a high risk high reward proposition for Sony. I doubt Microsoft would want to jump in on that right now.

True enough, look at the Virtual Boy, I am willing to be if Nintendo tried a new VR headset the stench of the old failure would doom it right out of the gate.
 

luoapp

Member
From Sony's PR,
In addition to sounds coming from front, behind, left and right, Morpheus re-creates stereoscopic sounds heard from below and above the players,

so, does this mean it has to be used with a headphone? I would think a conventional X.1 system won't be effective to setup the stereoscopic sound stage.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
So yeah going to sleep, but i'm mixed...

It's nice that it exists, it looks good, and Sony seems to have undestood some important points about VR.

But..

It seemed like they are faaaaaaaaaaaar away from release. I mean they actually asked for games...

Also i'm worried about the FOV but people seem to say it's the same as the current Oculus.. They may make it bigger if they see they're short compared to competition i guess..

Now i'm really worried about the price... The Oculus beta was 300$ and could be more expensive in the end, with better techs.. How does Sony want to sell an equivalent tech + move + the cam for less than.. 400€ ? And that makes it 800 with the PS4..

They had to ask for games. The whole demonstration was for developers to get on board.
 

Loudninja

Member
Introducing: Project Morpheus
I have long dreamed about VR and the possibilities it brings in regards to game development. This new technology will deliver a sense of presence, where you as the player actually feel like you’re inside the game and your emotions feel that much more real.

Our current prototype for Project Morpheus features a head mounted display with 1080p resolution and a 90 degree field of view. Accelerometer and gyroscope sensors built into the head mounted unit as well as PlayStation®Camera accurately tracks head orientation and movement, so as your head rotates, the image of the virtual world rotates intuitively in real-time. Project Morpheus also features our new 3D audio technology that re-creates stereoscopic sounds in all directions and changes in real-time depending on your head orientation. In addition to PlayStation Camera, Project Morpheus works with DUALSHOCK®4 Wireless Controller and PlayStation®Move to deliver an easy-to-use, plug-and-play VR experience.

The prototype for Project Morpheus is the culmination of our work over the last 3+ years as we’ve refined our vision for VR. This prototype will serve as the first development kit for PS4 developers that are as enthusiastic about this new medium as we are.

At GDC 2014 this week, attendees will be able to check out Project Morpheus in action at the SCEA booth through a handful of technology demos.
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2014/03/19/introducing-project-morpheus/
 

epmode

Member
Games are only running at 1080p. No difference running on this or HDTV display.

A 1080p game that renders 2 perspectives requires additional processing power. Not nearly as much as 2 1080p screens of course but it's still there.

Valve was also keen about ~90 FPS + low persistence screen tech to minimize the ghosting when moving your head.
 

Quasar

Member
Well. They talk a nice game.

Will be interested to see what the feedback from the demos tomorrow are like, especially from folks who have already tried the Eve demo with a Crystal Cove Oculus
 
From Sony's PR,


so, does this mean it has to be used with a headphone? I would think a conventional X.1 system won't be effective to setup the stereoscopic sound stage.

Ideally yeah. I'm interested in knowing if it could work with speakers though, as it could adjust to your head position if you can tell it where the speakers are.
 
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Faustek

Member
They (either Sony or the live blog author) said Kinect doesn't have the fidelity for VR (the refresh isn't high enough).

Uhm, yeah? The Kinect is kinda like a piece of crap hardware backed by the most awesome software. Thought this was common knowledge.
 
So yeah going to sleep, but i'm mixed...

It's nice that it exists, it looks good, and Sony seems to have undestood some important points about VR.

But..

It seemed like they are faaaaaaaaaaaar away from release. I mean they actually asked for games...

Also i'm worried about the FOV but people seem to say it's the same as the current Oculus.. They may make it bigger if they see they're short compared to competition i guess..

Now i'm really worried about the price... The Oculus beta was 300$ and could be more expensive in the end, with better techs.. How does Sony want to sell an equivalent tech + move + the cam for less than.. 400€ ? And that makes it 800 with the PS4..



Well, you still need a computer to use the Oculus, so doesn't that factor into it's cost if you are factoring in the cost of the PS4 with the Morpheus? Also, it doesn't sound like Oculus game support is that much further ahead.
 

Shosai

Banned
When I read these posts it makes me think of this
"But what...is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

and this

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

When I read this post, it makes me thing of this:

"They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown." --Carl Sagan
 

Clott

Member
Is that all we get, a picture and a statement about "we are doing our best". This could very well change the gaming landscape so I was hoping for more juicy details. This could really be the next big thing.
 

luoapp

Member
Ideally yeah. I'm interested in knowing if it could work with speakers though, as it could adjust to your head position if you can tell it where the speakers are.

It's difficult to reproduce "stereoscopic" sound with a speaker system, can't get sufficient separation between ears.
 

Griss

Member
Fantastic reveal from Sony.

They had to get devs on board, but once they did the cat would have been out of the bag quickly. So a concise and technical but still sleek reveal at GDC is perfect. Then you show some tech demos at E3 and get devs ready for the big launch in 2015, while the hype builds from this very moment.

If it's true that the picture quality is better than Oculus, this thing could be amazing. PS4 makes it a much easier sell in the living room than a PC. It sounds amazing, my hype has gone through the roof and I don't even want VR.

The one question I have is what kind of graphics we can expect and what we'd accept. Would we accept a regression to PS2-era graphics so that the PS4 can create two HD images and do the extra processing required? Is that what we should expect?

To be honest, if I'm moving around virtually in Res Evil 4 or driving in GT4 then that'll be good enough for me. That's my level of expectation - PS2 era graphics but in 720p+ in both eyes and at 60fps. Come on Sony, deliver.

I still don't believe VR will ever properly take off in this form
 

Ryaaan14

Banned
This may have been answered but what does this mean for games locked at 30fps? No Morpheus support? Sub 1080p with 30fps?
 
From Sony's PR,


so, does this mean it has to be used with a headphone? I would think a conventional X.1 system won't be effective to setup the stereoscopic sound stage.

It's the recording/editing/ mixing that matter for stereoscopic sound. We've had the ability to listen to binaural audio on traditional headphones for decades now

.
 
This needs to be $150 with the camera. Bundle it with PS4, price it at $500. Their hardware pricing (Vita, PS4) have been lower than expected lately, so maybe they'll surprise us on that front.

If PS4 sales keep up at this pace, they could really make this work as a mainstream-friendly VR solution that can grow as the userbase does. Maybe it won't flounder like Move did because its an exotic area of gaming/interactivity. They realllly need to price it right, though.
 
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