A heads-on look at Sony's virtual reality goggles
SAN FRANCISCO — The promise of virtual reality in the living room is coming closer to, well, reality.
Sony unveiled a prototype headset this week capable of surrounding a wearer’s vision with interactive virtual worlds. The system, codenamed Project Morpheus, utilizes a 1080p head-mounted display with head-tracking capabilities and works in concert with the PlayStation 4 console to display imagery on the headset’s screen, providing a 90-degree field of view.
During a private demonstration of Project Morpheus to The Associated Press at the Game Developers Conference, the headset felt secure thanks to a sturdy yet comfortable halo-like ring that snaps into place around the head. There’s a wheel positioned on the back headband that can be turned for an even tighter fit.
It’s lighter than one might expect and certainly sleeker than the Oculus Rift, a similar VR headset that’s captured game makers’ imaginations over the past two years but has yet to be released. A long, thick cable that pokes from the side of the visor, as well as dangling headphone cords, prove cumbersome during physical movement while wearing the goggles.
A closer look at four of the interactive experiences — not actual full-fledged games — Sony was using to demonstrate Project Morpheus at GDC:
“The Deep”: This demo created specifically for Project Morpheus by Sony’s London studio cast a standing user in the role of deep sea diver — complete with virtual wet suit and flare gun — inside a shark cage that submerges into the depths of the ocean. The undersea encounter is interrupted by a great white who attacks the enclosure at the first whiff of blood.
“EVE: Valkyrie”: Developed by CCP Games and set in their “EVE” universe, “Valkyrie” is a sci-fi multiplayer dogfighter pitting players against each other in the cockpits of galactic fighter jets. Project Morpheus’ version featured richer graphics and details, like a massive carrier in the distance of the star field battleground, than the one demoed over at Oculus Rift’s booth.
NASA Mars Project: The technology demo created in tandem with NASA utilized high-resolution images captured by both satellites and the Curiosity rover to transport a user to the surface of Mars. The rover itself also made an interactive appearance, separately navigated by Project Morpheus senior software engineer Anton Mikhailov on a DualShock 4 controller.
“The Castle”: This combat-centric game demo dispatched users to a cartoony medieval training ground where they could totally abuse a dummy in a suit of armor. When armed with a pair of gesture-detecting PlayStation Move controllers in each hand, “The Castle” depicted gauntlets on the headset’s screen that could reach out and wield swords and a crossbow.
