Sony reveals Project Morpheus – its virtual reality system for the PS4

During its Game Developers Conference presentation in San Francisco today, Sony officially announced “Project Morpheus” – a virtual reality system that will enhance the PlayStation 4, that is currently in development.

“At SCE we view innovation as an opportunity to build on our mission to push the boundaries of play,” said Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios. “Project Morpheus is the latest example of innovation from SCE, and we’re looking forward to its continued development and the games that will be created as development kits get into the hands of content creators.”

Sony says that Morpheus will be like “a window into another world” that will enhance gameplay.  The system has a head-mounted display with a visor that works with the PlayStation Camera and includes inertial sensors built into the head mount, with the PS Camera tracking head orientation and movement.  “As the player’s head rotates, the image of the virtual world rotates naturally and intuitively in real-time,” says Sony.

The PlayStation Move Controller can also be used as an object “such as a sword” and Morpheus can “reproduce the player’s hands and sword within the game so the player feels like they are physically fighting off enemies with their sword in the virtual world.”

Sony goes on to say that Morpheus uses 3D audio technology that not only includes sounds from front, rear, left and right, but also above and below players.

The Morpheus dedicated SDK is currently under development and will become available when ready and Morpheus will be on display at the Sony booth during GDC, which includes demos of Eve Valkyrie (CCP), Thief, The Deep and The Castle.

Here are some specs for Morpheus so far: