Project Morpheus, the official virtual reality product line by Sony, has been announced this week. It appears that Sony is the latest to follow in the footsteps of Oculus Rift, the 3-D VR gaming headset.
In many ways, virtual reality is the next major wave in technology. At least, that is the hope by developers who have been attempting for many years to come up with a viable, working product that uses the concept.
With Oculus Rift seeing its final dev kit released this week for its second gen model, this was the prime time for Sony to throw their hat into the ring.
At SCE [Sony Computer Entertainment] we view innovation as an opportunity to build on our mission to push the boundaries of play, President Shuhei Yoshida said in an official statement.
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.
The press release goes on to claim that developers using Project Morpheus will be able to create a sense of ‘presence’. No, not of someone else’s in the surrounding area, but your own in their projected world.
Obviously, this claim is too good to be true. Such technological capabilities are still primitive, at best. But seeing another giant take on the task is a great leap forward, after many in the past gave up after their efforts prove less than stellar.
Given our improvements in things like immersive gameplay, realistic graphics and smaller products with greater hardware, this signals that we are closer than ever to actually making such boasts a reality. A virtual reality, that is (I’m sorry, I had to).
Project Morpheus is meant to be step in the evolution of fourth gen gaming console PlayStation 4.
Along with PlayStation Camera, Wireless Controller for PS4, and PS Move, Morpheus will deliver immersive breakthrough entertainment experiences to gamers through the PS4 system, leveraging SCE’s expertise across key areas for VR – including display/optics, audio, tracking, control, ease of use, and content.
Gimmicky? Yeah, probably. A first time release of a heavily sensationalized product can be hit and miss. Just look at the aforementioned Move, which hardly gets any love at all in new games.
That doesn’t meant it won’t be cool to see how the tech pans out. Sony is also one of the better choices for such innovations, and they are probably better suited than a company like Microsoft.
Source: Sony
