Sony Releases More Information About Project Morpheus

[Foxi4]

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Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, has just released an update regarding their upcoming Project Morpheus VR headset. The product has changed substantially since the prototype stage:

• OLED display – In exchange for the 5 inch LCD, the new Morpheus VR headset is equipped with a 5.7 inch 1920 X RGB X 1080 resolution OLED display. This new screen expands the field of view and enables low persistence, removing motion blur.
• 120hz refresh rate – The previous refresh rate spec has been doubled for this new prototype, which means games for Morpheus can be rendered at 120fps. When combined with the OLED display’s high refresh rate and the power of PS4, Morpheus is able to output amazingly smooth visuals.
• Super low latency – We know how critical low latency is to delivering a great VR experience, and we’ve reduced latency to less than 18ms, about half of what the first Morpheus prototype had. Low latency is critical to deliver a sense of presence, at the same time making the VR experience comfortable to players.
• More accurate tracking- To make positional tracking more precise, we’ve added three LEDs to the headset – one on the front and two on the side – for a total of nine LEDs to support robust 360 degree tracking.
• User-friendly design – We’ve made the Morpheus VR headset easier to put on and take off, with a single band design and quick release button. The headband supports the weight of the unit on the top of your head, so there is no pressure on your face. Other components have also been adjusted and configured to make the headset lighter, so that players do not find the headset cumbersome or uncomfortable to use.

Project Morpheus is expected to launch in early 2016 and will be compatible with the PlayStation 4.

Source

 

[TemplarGR]

I don't understand why release a VR headset for a console that can't properly support it. The PS4 is quite weak for a proper VR experience. 1080p at 120fps on PS4? Lol. With what levels of detail?

What the hell are they thinking? A repeat of the Virtual Boy? If the tech is not ready, it will flop. They better save this for their PS5, which will arrive sooner rather than later anyway...

 

[Densetsu]

I tried this out at the PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas last December. It was a little rough around the edges, but still much better than I thought it would be. I'm hoping this will set a new standard for gaming.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't understand why release a VR headset for a console that can't properly support it. The PS4 is quite weak for a proper VR experience. 1080p at 120fps on PS4? Lol. With what levels of detail? What the hell are they thinking? A repeat of the Virtual Boy? If the tech is not ready, it will flop. They better save this for their PS5, which will arrive sooner rather than later anyway...

With an OLED screen and running at 1920x1080p@120 FPS it already trumps or at the very least matches the Oculus Rift as far as the sheer specs are concerned. It's true that the PS4 isn't a powerhouse, but VR games we see on the Oculus Rift aren't exactly pushing gaming PC's to their limits either, they're mostly just fun 3D experiences. As for 1080p@120 FPS, it's entirely doable, as you've mentioned it yourself, with lower level of detail.

 

[TemplarGR]

With an OLED screen and running at 1920x1080p@120 FPS it already trumps or at the very least matches the Oculus Rift as far as the sheer specs are concerned. It's true that the PS4 isn't a powerhouse, but VR games we see on the Oculus Rift aren't exactly pushing gaming PC's to their limits either, they're mostly just fun 3D experiences. As for 1080p@120 FPS, it's entirely doable, as you've mentioned it yourself, with lower level of detail.

Yes, but this creates a big problem for developers: They will either have to create lower detail versions of their games in order to be VR compatible, or create another submarket of cheap VR exclusive games. Either way it will be a failure. Why pay a nice sum of money in order to play games with lower graphics or cheap VR minigames?

Proper VR needs a really high resolution (maybe 4k or even 8k) for each eye and constant 120+ fps in order to be "lifelike". Right now, these are only gimicks. If they fail to create a market, VR will suffer and will be set back. That's the true issue here.

 

[Foxi4]

Yes, but this creates a big problem for developers: They will either have to create lower detail versions of their games in order to be VR compatible, or create another submarket of cheap VR exclusive games. Either way it will be a failure. Why pay a nice sum of money in order to play games with lower graphics or cheap VR minigames?

Proper VR needs a really high resolution (maybe 4k or even 8k) for each eye and constant 120+ fps in order to be "lifelike". Right now, these are only gimicks. If they fail to create a market, VR will suffer and will be set back. That's the true issue here.

I don't think they're aiming at becoming "lifelike" quite yet, they just want to create immersive 3D experiences. As for the supposed 120 FPS+ requirement, I sincerely doubt that's the case - most people do not experience any substantial difference beyond the 72 FPS point, 120 FPS is entirely sufficient. 1920x1080 essentially means 2x960x1080 which is acceptable in my book and reaching a good framerate on a "dual" screen shouldn't be too difficult if planned from the get-go - it's no harder than implementing a split screen feature.

EDIT: OP has been updated with a video presentation of the new prototype.

 

[CathyRina]

Well I haven't Seen Split Screen on a Triple A Game that was not Nintendo for a while.
I'm afraid that most devs will be like "fuck immersion lets crank up graphical fidelity and let the game run at low res and 30FPS"

 

[billzo]

Well I haven't Seen Split Screen on a Triple A Game that was not Nintendo for a while.
I'm afraid that most devs will be like "fuck immersion lets crank up graphical fidelity and let the game run at low res and 30FPS"

And that's entirely different from what many devs already do? I think we'll see one group that does a fantastic job of taking advantage of this new tech and another that will treat it as a gimmicky cash cow.

Though, these specs do look nice. Hopefully it'll play nice with both PS3 and PS4 so early buyers won't get burned when the hardware is better able to support VR in the next gen.

 

[CathyRina]

And that's entirely different from what many devs already do?

thats why I'm afraid

 

[Minox]

I don't think they're aiming at becoming "lifelike" quite yet, they just want to create immersive 3D experiences. As for the supposed 120 FPS+ requirement, I sincerely doubt that's the case - most people do not experience any substantial difference beyond the 72 FPS point, 120 FPS is entirely sufficient. 1920x1080 essentially means 2x960x1080 which is acceptable in my book and reaching a good framerate on a "dual" screen shouldn't be too difficult if planned from the get-go - it's no harder than implementing a split screen feature.

Are you sure they're really going with the Nintendo route of 3D/VR? They seem to imply that they're going for a full 1920x1080 experience so the reason for using 120hz could quite possibly be because they plan on alternating the images displayed to both eyes similar to how Nvidia's 3D vision works.

 

[the_randomizer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't OLED screens have issues with burn-in? Wouldn't non-organic LEDs be a much better choice for the sake of longevity?

 

[Qtis]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't OLED screens have issues with burn-in? Wouldn't non-organic LEDs be a much better choice for the sake of longevity?

Burn-ins are a problem with static images over a long period of time. Still, OLEDs have improved over the years and it's not as large a problem as before.

 

[Deleted User]

I don't understand why release a VR headset for a console that can't properly support it. The PS4 is quite weak for a proper VR experience. 1080p at 120fps on PS4? Lol. With what levels of detail?

What the hell are they thinking? A repeat of the Virtual Boy? If the tech is not ready, it will flop. They better save this for their PS5, which will arrive sooner rather than later anyway...

this console gen will be longest ever, 10 years at the least.

 

[Mario92]

If I read correctly, because 120fps would have so radical impact on the games frame rate they are actually giving option to render at 60 instead and morpheus will just use frame interpolation to smooth it out (possibly increasing input lag which is bad in VR). That technology is already on almost every single TV out there and game mode usually turns it off and I do that sometimes for other content as well as there is artifacting on 30 and lower content interpolated.

I guess it could work just fine, but I still have my PS3 proving that they jumped into stereo-3D gaming way early and it's so much worse to play stereo-3D on PS3 in almost every title.

 

[HtheB]

I'm curious who will win this VR battle....

• Oculus Rift
• HTC Vive
• Sony Morpheus
• Samsung Gear VR

 

[Catastrophic]

I've never really given in to the VR hype, but I'm still very curious to see how this concept will be implemented into future games. It would be really cool if, in FPS games for example, the headset gyroscope would represent your head and the analog sticks on your controller would represent your feet.