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Sony Reveals "Project Morpheus" VR Helmet For PS4

Project Morpheus

Microsoft has its Kinect technology and Nintendo has its GamePad, and now Sony has jumped into the unique peripheral ring with the reveal of a virtual reality helmet in the tradition of the Oculus Rift.  Codenamed "Project Morpheus", the unpriced, undated add-on for the PlayStation 4 uses the PlayStation Camera and, at times, the PlayStation Move to immerse players in specially designed games.  It's on display at the Game Developers Conference this week as a wired prototype, although the eventual hope is to make the final product wireless.  Here's USgamer with the details:

Much of Project Morpheus is still a mystery, including its technical specs, but Yoshida, along with Sony's Richard Marks and Anton Mikhalov, did his best to handle the baggage attached to the term "VR." When Marks took the stage, he emphasized the elements Sony intends to focus on with Project Morpheus: sight, sound, tracking, control, ease of use, and content. Anton Mikhalov later gave more detail about these qualities, all while stressing Morpheus' status as a medium rather than just a peripheral. And, frankly, the stats thrown out at tonight's presentation gave the impression that Sony wants Morpheus to make more waves than the Wii-inspired motion-control arms race that fizzled out at the end of the 2000s.  

Project Morpheus features a 1080p display, a 1,000HZ refresh rate, 360 degrees of movement, and the ergonomic design necessary for something that could be stuck to your head for hours at a time.

Morpheus excites me more than the idea of the Kinect or the GamePad, although you can bet this thing won't come cheap.  Not only will players need to buy the helmet to get involved with the technology, they'll also need the camera and a Move.  I'd hope that Sony offers a fairly priced startup kit that slightly discounts a bundle of these things as opposed to buying them all separately.  This technology could revolutionize first person shooters in a way not seen since a developer decided "Hey, let's make a game set during World War II" for the first time in the genre's history.

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