Sony dips its feet into the virtual reality business as the electronics company unveiled Project Morpheus, a VR headset that works with PlayStation 4, during this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The announcement makes Sony the first major player to venture into virtual reality, a decades-old technology that has since become a hot topic in the video game industry after the introduction of the Oculus Rift, which has recently received $75 million in funding for a potential consumer release. Meanwhile, Microsoft has recently filed a patent that deals with the development of its own virtual reality device.
“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,” Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, said in a statement.
The gadget sports a head-mounted display that can be linked with the PlayStation Camera, as well as a “3-D audio technology” that allows players to hear sounds from all vantage points, including audio from above or below the player’s point of view. Sony adds that Project Morpheus also works with the PlayStation Move motion-based controller.
Sony has demonstrated the virtual reality headset during the conference using several titles including stealth game Thief, intergalactic dogfight shooter EVE Valkyrie, and underwater-with-the-sharks simulator The Deep.
Project Morpheus will be available in what Sony says a “future commercial launch,” without specifiying release dates.
Source: USA Today
