Project Morpheus Will Henceforth Be Known As 'PlayStation VR'
Sony Computer Entertainment first revealed its upcoming VR system for the PlayStation 4 console in March of 2014. Over the last year and a half, the company has built great interest in the product formerly known as Project Morpheus. The headset has been shown at various events in that time, but we haven't really learned much about it other than it is in development, and that it will be out some time around the middle of next year. That changed during Sony's Tokyo Game Show press conference, where the company revealed some basic specs, and the official product name.
Project Morpheus has dropped the internal project name referencing the 1999 blockbuster hit The Matrix, and has received the official name "PlayStation VR." The name is simple, but it makes a lot of sense. It gets the point across in as few words as possible. It can also be abbreviated to "PS VR" and remain just as effective.
Along with the official product name, SCE noted some of the specifications of the headset, most of which were already known, or surmised already. The company did state that these are not set in stone and could possibly change before the headset comes to market.
PlayStation VR will have its own processing unit built into the headset. The details of how this works remain unknown for the time being. The PS VR features a 5.7-inch OLED display with a 1080p resolution split into two 960x1080 displays -- one per eye. SCE said the field of view is approximately 100 degrees.
The display will operate at 90 Hz and 120 Hz, which presumably depends on the type of game, but this is also not yet clear. The headset uses both an accelerometer and gyroscope to track head movement, as well as nine LED lights on the headset for the PlayStation camera to track. SCE also talked about the 3D audio system it developed for PS VR, which will change the sounds players hear in relation to their head orientation.
Sony Computer Entertainment plans to release the PlayStation VR headset in the first half of 2016, but has yet to set a concrete date, and the details about the price have yet to surface.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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washmc They really should've called this Playstation View (Vue) and marketed their tv service as boring old Playstation TV. VR deserves a cooler name.Reply -
TallestJon96 1080p is reasonable, but I fear that the ps4 doesn't ha e enough power for a compelling VR experience.Reply
The oculus has a slightly higher resolution, at 90hz, but the amount of power in the basic specs (an i5 with a 970 or 290) is so immensely more powerful than the ps4. Additionally, a 970 is established as a baseline for VR, not the highest end. I imagine that something like an i7 and a single 980 ti will be the best setup for now.
Anyway, it's good to see VR support, even if it's sub-par hardware. I just hope that PS VR doesn't spoil people on the idea of VR. -
jaber2 Usually the first with a halfway decent system would dominate the market, publishers already have backup plans in case theirs doesn't make it first.Reply