Virtual Reality has been a thing for years now. Unfortunately, it either hasn't been very good, or expensive, or more commonly both. That has seemed poised to change in recent years with the slow but steady development of the Oculus Rift, a head mounted VR display being developed for PC use. Unfortunately, the inventor of the Rift has long said that it will not be coming to consoles as they aren't powerful enough to handle the technology.
Sony seems to disagree. yesterday at GDC 2014, the console giant unveiled what it calls Project Morpheus, a head mounted VR display for the Playstation 4. During the reveal, PlayStation head Shuhei Yoshida said that virtual reality "may well shape the future of games". Citing the increasing immersion that comes with a VR headset, he then moved on to show the early prototypes of the headset, including a Playstation Move duct taped to one. He continued on to say ""We believe Morpheus will further enhance the world of PlayStation 4 with seamless integration with PlayStation Camera, DualShock 4, and PS Move."
The Morpheus protoype includes a 1080p display, full 360 degree positional tracking and low latency. Sony has also apparently placed an emphasis on ergonomic design and says that Morpheus will allow the use of wireless audio headsets. As might be expected, software was a bit limited with Sony showing off an undersea demo titled "The Deep" as well as announcing compatibility for Thief and EVE Valkyrie. Interestingly, Sony stated that they were treating VR "as a medium, not a peripheral."
Even more interesting, perhaps, is the fact that Sony is apparently working on a virtual space walk on the surface of Mars in partnership with NASA. It was also revealed that the ttacking for Morpheus can be handled not only by PlayStation Move technology, but also the PlayStation Camera. It will also take advantage of the DualShock 4's sensors.
All in all, it was an interesting showing, but it remains to be seen what the final price point will be for Morpheus, or how much traction it will gain among gamers who already see, to be weary of gimmicky peripherals.
