Sony Announces Project Morpheus VR Headset for PlayStation 4

Sony announced its own virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4 on Wednesday. Project Morpheus has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and works together with the PlayStation Camera and Move. For now it is a prototype.

Sony has been making head mounted display glasses for years, such as the Sony HMZ-T2 Personal 3D Viewer, but those are viewers that simply display movies or game images. Now the Japanese company has announced Project Morpheus, which in games, for example, lets you look sideways when you move your head and with which it directly competes with the Oculus Rift.

Sony has announced few details about the VR glasses and it is still a prototype. It is clear that it offers a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and a field of view of 90 degrees. There are accelerometers in the headset as well as a gyroscope and the PlayStation Camera plays a role in tracking head movements. Project Morpheus also works with the DualShock controllers and with Move.

At the moment, the glasses still connect to the console via wire, but Sony is aiming for the headset to function wirelessly. Sony claims to have been working on the project for three years. The company is demonstrating the virtual reality set at GDC 2014, which takes place this week in San Francisco.

Microsoft is also working on a virtual reality headset, according to sources from The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft is said to have been working on a project called “Fortaleza” for some time, which should deliver “a suite of experiences exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox products.” In addition, Microsoft is said to have filed one patent so far related to virtual reality.