Sony To Launch VR Headset In 2016

Well, the headline above pretty much says it all. Electronics company Sony have announced that they will be ready to launch their hotly anticipated PS4 virtual reality headset as early as next year.

...And I don’t mean late next year, either. Although no official release dates have been given, Sony have assured consumers that the new VR headset will be available for purchase during the “first half” of 2016. This is exciting news for any gamer (as well as for those of us that make a living writing about such advancements!)

Project Morpheus as the headset has been nicknamed by its developers, was officially announced at the recent Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, USA. One year earlier, the annual event saw the unveiling of an early prototype headset.

This latest prototype, however, features a larger screen and exterior LED lights that aid in the tracking of movement. The new screen has a 100 Degree field of view and can render imagery at a speed of 120 frames per second.

Improvements include the redistribution of weight toward the back of the user’s head, as well as a section of the headset that accommodates the user’s eyeglasses.

Anyway. Now that the real deal is nearly ready to “rock and/or roll” (as Springfield’s Reverend Lovejoy would have it), gamers can eagerly look forward to the addition of a new dimension to their favourite pastime.

Yahoo! News reported that, Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide, announced the news, along with the following, "Our goal with VR is to deliver a sense of presence, making the player feel as though they've stepped inside the world of a game (...) The new Project Morpheus prototype brings us closer to that goal, as it improves the visual experience and tracking accuracy, both of which are critical to achieving sense of presence."

As my old Nan used to say, “it’s all clever stuff”. However, Sony aren’t the only computer company dabbling in virtual reality entertainment. HTC and Valve are expected to release their Vive system later this year, while Oculus VR are also heavily involved in the development of a similar device, the Oculus Rift headset.



As with all new technologies, there will probably be a few ‘ghosts in the machine’ to start of with, however, VR gaming is certainly going to represent a fascinating step forward in the field of computer-based entertainment.