Project Morpheus: Sony's Oculus Rift VR Competitor Looks Inc

[metalqueen]

By Brian Barrett 

It was only a matter of time. The Oculus Rift has caught so much attention—deservedly so—that of course one of the big dogs was going to start honing in on its virtual reality territory. Tonight, that's Sony. And its Project Morpheus VR headset sounds fantastic.

This isn't Sony's first exploration into the world of faceputers; the wonderfully weird HMZ-T1 was a wearable television that was better than it sounds. But Project Morpheus is different. Instead of TV, it's for games. And it's got a major chance of succeeding, despite currently being just a prototype.

Especially important is that Sony's got the muscle to make Morpheus a reality; while the Oculus Rift is popular, it's also relatively niche, and has run low on components recently. If Sony sees enough interest in Morpheus, it would be able to scale up the project relatively quickly. And combined with PlayStation Move and the PlayStation Camera, it could create a potent virtual environment.

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[V8Griff]

Until I see this demonstrated to journalists who have tried 'Crystal Cove' I declare this as Vapourware.

In these days of 3D printing it's easy to knock out a physical model of something that at one time would have just been a render.

I'm assuming no one actually tried this or even got close to touching it?

This smacks of exactly what Sega did in the late '90s with their headset. They made lots of noise about their HMD, worked with Virtuality, showed prototypes but then realised they couldn't build anything like the quality of the Virtuality HMD at the price point they needed so they commissioned a report by a University to say that VR was harmful and quoted that as the reason for not progressing. I was interviewed by newspapers and put the case for VR, sensationalism won in that occasion, as it sells newspapers, never let the facts get in the way of a good story eh?

Now I'm not saying Sony will do that but what they are doing is more or less quoting the spec of Crystal Cove and are waiting to see what the reaction from their installed PS4 base is. If there is great excitement and interest for this on the PS4 then they'll progress but otherwise it's just (imo) another Sony showboat to try and cash in on the work Oculus has done in reviving interest in VR.

[budda]

All these prototypes and developers kits regarding virtual reality headsets are just fluff at the moment.

Whilst it all looks so promising, nobody has released a current generation commercial virtual reality headset ... yet..

Sony of all companies just doesn't seem to have much direction these days. When they make up their mind what they want to be, then please let us all know.

[V8Griff]

Whilst it all looks so promising, nobody has released a current generation commercial virtual reality headset ... yet.. .

So what are the two Oculus DK1's I have along with the other 59,998 out there then?

[adf2006]

Whilst it all looks so promising, nobody has released a current generation commercial virtual reality headset ... yet.. .

So what are the two Oculus DK1's I have along with the other 59,998 out there then?

Well in the line before he did specifically say "all these prototypes and developer's kits," so I'm guessing he meant that the DK1 is promising but it's still not the consumer version. 60k is a lot, but in the scheme of things it's still a niche. While I wouldn't dismiss DK1 as fluff like the poster, we're still at a point where the whole VR house of cards can easily collapse.

Oculus Rift and the current VR evolution doesn't feel like a gimmick, but we're still on the inside looking out. Markets are unpredictable and all the promise in the world can fizzle out, there are too many variables at play. That said, my best guess is that Oculus WILL be successful. I can't wait for the DK2 I pre-ordered to show up. And if, god forbid, it doesn't work out, I'm certainly going to enjoy it while it lasts

Also, I got into this forum for 3d gaming and was never a big VR buff until the Rift, I would love to know more of the history of the Sega set you mentioned.

[V8Griff]

So I'm wrong about it all being bluff (which is good) but it still seems to be an Oculus DK2 (as I suggested) with a nicer looking shell.

I tend to agree that the market is still way too niche as suggested above for Sony to spend the bucks they'd need to spend to make this viable for themselves unless they're prepared to take a hit on this to save face after dithering for so long when they've had prototype HMDs for a good number of years.

I'll did out some stuff about the Sega HMD if I can find it.

[rowanunderwood]

So I'm wrong about it all being bluff (which is good) but it still seems to be an Oculus DK2 (as I suggested) with a nicer looking shell.

I tend to agree that the market is still way too niche as suggested above for Sony to spend the bucks they'd need to spend to make this viable for themselves unless they're prepared to take a hit on this to save face after dithering for so long when they've had prototype HMDs for a good number of years.

I'll did out some stuff about the Sega HMD if I can find it.

The last thing we (VR buffs) need to do is start acting like the console waring teenagers. If Sony wants to give VR a try, that's GREAT for the community. Just like competition between the various consoles, mobile devices, and PC's is good for gaming overall. Remember that a lot of cool Hacky/Niche stuff has been on Sony platforms, like Linux on the PS3, or support for Stereoscopic 3d on the PS3. A Sony headset will never be as good as an Oculus Rift simply due to the rendering hardware it will be connected to; however, this doesn't preclude it from having great software or adding the the cultural momentum of VR!

[Fredz]

it's just (imo) another Sony showboat to try and cash in on the work Oculus has done in reviving interest in VR.

It's a bit harsh towards Sony I'd say. Although they certainly didn't think about the wide FOV and low latency by themselves, it's still them who restarted the VR craze by releasing the HMZ-T1 3 years ago. And they also had rotational and positional tracking implemented with the PS Eye/PS Move (Datura demo) months before the Oculus Rift Kickstarter started.

[V8Griff]

it's just (imo) another Sony showboat to try and cash in on the work Oculus has done in reviving interest in VR.

It's a bit harsh towards Sony I'd say. Although they certainly didn't think about the wide FOV and low latency by themselves, it's still them who restarted the VR craze by releasing the HMZ-T1 3 years ago. And they also had rotational and positional tracking implemented with the PS Eye/PS Move (Datura demo) months before the Oculus Rift Kickstarter started.

I don't think I'm being harsh or a console warring teenager (Long time since I was a teenager ) You need to look much further back than a few years for Sony's VR history, I think you'll find that the HMZ-T1 was sold more as a personal video viewer rather than a VR HMD and I'm sure that Palmer will disagree about Sony starting any VR craze as he, as well as I, will be able to quote many attempts along the way to create VR HMDs such as the Virtual iO glasses (which date back to the mid '90s) and others (Some on this link here http://www.ultimate3dheaven.com/hmdhemodi1.html)

For background I own(ed) 2 x Virtuality 1000SD and a SU2000 Duo back in the 1990's. Sony was dabbling with VR then as well and later I was invited to visit Sony's advanced technology lab in Tokyo in 2000 when a business I was part of was working with them.

Sony have dabbled with the technology since the '90s and we tried a VR demo with rumble chair in Tokyo and although cool it wasn't much better (if at all) than the Virtuality kit that pre-dated it.

So I don't appear to be a 'Sony basher' they showed us 'a Japan only' really cool portable 'tablet like' PC with a touch screen and an internet enabled Wi-Fi docking base, 10 years before a certain Apple device!! Shame they didn't go with that one.

So perhaps the above example shows that as a big corporation they have never seemed to have the confidence to give products they perceive as niche the support the deserve. So maybe if they'd given the VR research the cash and positioning it needed they'd be way ahead but they didn't so as a result they always seem to be reactive rather than proactive. Until GDC and as recently as this year's CES they seemed to be still pushing the HMZ-T3 with a tracker on it as their VR offering and the guy showing it was a bit clueless (http://www.tested.com/tech/tvs/459687-c ... prototype/)

So really you have to agree that the Morpheus is just a slicker version of the DK2 which has been produced as a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the success of the Oculus DK1.

All that said I really do hope that they get a good response to the Morpheus device as it will propel VR more into the mainstream but I just find this all a bit 'me to' which is a bit disingenuous for such a big company.

[rowanunderwood]

snip

I don't think I'm being harsh or a console warring teenager (Long time since I was a teenager ) You need to look much further back than a few years for Sony's VR history, I think you'll find that the HMZ-T1 was sold more as a personal video viewer rather than a VR HMD

Yea, I had a HMZ-T1, and it was basically a couple REALLY NICE screens in a really terrible HMD. I experimented a bit with combining the HMZ-T1 with TRACK IR, but never got very good results with it. It wasn't a very good "personal video viewer" either. My biggest fear for Morpheus is that they will avoid being obvious 1:1 copy of Oculus by avoiding the ski-goggle form factor, and hence releasing something as completely unwearable as HMZ. I was really happy to hear that the Morpheus is being designed by a completely different team than HMZ

[Fredz]

I don't think I'm being harsh or a console warring teenager (Long time since I was a teenager ) You need to look much further back than a few years for Sony's VR history

It's been quite a long time since I've not been a teenager myself and I know a bit about Sony's VR history, thank you.

I didn't talk about the "first" VR craze but about the one we are currently living in. Sony was the company that launched a new HMD in 2011 that was a clear progress over what was available back then (51° FOV, 720p per eye, OLED) when nobody else wanted to take the risk. It was certainly not perfect and neither good enough for "true" VR but I think they still deserve a bit of recognition for that and should not be treated like wannabes.

And taking Palmer as a caution to dismiss the HMZ-T1 is certainly a weird option since he was the one announcing its release on MTBS3D and had only glowing things to say about it at the time :

"It seems like this absolutely blows anything by Vuzix out of the water. Even the Cinemizer would have a tough time competing, considering this has a full immersion mask and headstrap. [...] The FOV sounds really, really nice, more than double the apparent image size of the VR1200!"

As for the first VR craze in the 90's, Sony was there as well and the Virtual I/O glasses (1995) you referred to were inspired by the Visotron designed by Sony three years before (1992) (ref. 18 : Sony, "Visotron" advertisement).

So yes, even at these times they were an important contributor to VR innovation.

So maybe if they'd given the VR research the cash and positioning it needed they'd be way ahead but they didn't so as a result they always seem to be reactive rather than proactive.

That's certainly possible, but where are the companies that were proactive at the times ? Virtuality ? Virtual I/O ? Forte ? Victormaxx ? Dead. And Sony is still alive and is about to deliver a VR experience than many reviewers considered good, so maybe they did the right choice in the end.

[V8Griff]

I don't think I'm being harsh or a console warring teenager (Long time since I was a teenager ) You need to look much further back than a few years for Sony's VR history

It's been quite a long time since I've not been a teenager myself and I know a bit about Sony's VR history, thank you.

I didn't talk about the "first" VR craze but about the one we are currently living in. Sony was the company that launched a new HMD in 2011 that was a clear progress over what was available back then (51° FOV, 720p per eye, OLED) when nobody else wanted to take the risk. It was certainly not perfect and neither good enough for "true" VR but I think they still deserve a bit of recognition for that and should not be treated like wannabes.

And taking Palmer as a caution to dismiss the HMZ-T1 is certainly a weird option since he was the one announcing its release on MTBS3D and had only glowing things to say about it at the time :

"It seems like this absolutely blows anything by Vuzix out of the water. Even the Cinemizer would have a tough time competing, considering this has a full immersion mask and headstrap. [...] The FOV sounds really, really nice, more than double the apparent image size of the VR1200!"

As for the first VR craze in the 90's, Sony was there as well and the Virtual I/O glasses (1995) you referred to were inspired by the Visotron designed by Sony three years before (1992) (ref. 18 : Sony, "Visotron" advertisement).

So yes, even at these times they were an important contributor to VR innovation.

So maybe if they'd given the VR research the cash and positioning it needed they'd be way ahead but they didn't so as a result they always seem to be reactive rather than proactive.

That's certainly possible, but where are the companies that were proactive at the times ? Virtuality ? Virtual I/O ? Forte ? Victormaxx ? Dead. And Sony is still alive and is about to deliver a VR experience than many reviewers considered good, so maybe they did the right choice in the end.

I've never said they were 'wannabees' just that the Morpheus is more or less a copy of the Rift, but they certainly haven't covered themselves in glory with their advances or support of VR as in the past they have dipped a toe in the water and then backed off to their core business. They're entitled to do so and it may well be the wise choice to do so but it's not helpful.

Yes Palmer praised the HMZ-T1 and I didn't say he dismissed it, but you ignored the part where I said he wouldn't have credited Sony with re-starting the 'VR craze' as you refer to it, it's never really gone away. The HMZ was far superior to anything out there at the time but that didn't stop Palmer wanting more but I'm willing to suggest that I doubt we'd be having this discussion about the Morpheus HMD if Palmer hadn't decided to start Oculus and hit the right spot. If anyone should be credited with kickstarting the '4th coming of VR'.......

The fact that the Virtual iO glasses were based on a Sony patent that they didn't follow up with a product suggests the lack of commitment and belief I mentioned. The Virtuality headset of the same era i.e. The 1994 Visette II blew anything Sony or anyone else had out of the water for the price point. (Visette II Spec sheet

The fact that the other companies you quote are not still trading is not really relevant as they were businesses based purely on HMDs whereas Sony has always been much bigger and more diverse.

I'm not knocking Sony but as I said they do seem to be following when as you pointed out (and I alluded to) the fact that they have a long history of VR research but surprisingly few products for a company that is clearly interested in the technology and well funded enough to have perhaps gone a little further much sooner.

ETA this is just my take on it of course, who says my view is right and you are entitled to disagree.