Sony's Morpheus VR headset slated for 2016 release

Sony is forging ahead with their highly anticipated Project Morpheus – a virtual reality headset – and today announced that Morpheus will see an early 2016 release.
Shuhei Yoshida –  the president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios division – made the announcement, alongside new information on the forthcoming headsets specifications.

An update over the first version of Morpheus showcased at the 2014 Game Developer’s Conference, the headset now features an OLED display with a 1080p resolution. Additionally,  images will be generated at 120 frames per second – twice over the frame-rate Sony announced last year.
Additionally, Morpheus now features total eye encasement, which, according to Sony, immerses users completely in the environment projected within the headset.
Yoshida also confirmed that Morpheus display will have an 18 millisecond (ms) latency – a close match to the 10ms the human eye experiences when looking at – and registering – a subject.
Yoshida further acknowledged the increasingly busy market space Morpheus is set to imminently enter, citing competition in the forms of the Oculus Rift, Sony’s Gear VR, and Valve’s HTC produced Vive headset, which is set for release at year end.
However, Sony’s intention with Project Morpheus is to produce a congruent experience between the company’s PlayStation 4 console, and the impending popularity of virtual-reality titles.

Sony_Morpheus_Unveiled_Wide
Yoshida unveils Morpheus in March, last year

Yoshida claimed that the Playstation 4, alongside the Morpheus headset, will “provide a new standard” for game developers to target with virtual reality titles in future. Yoshida likened the imminent ‘era of virtual reality’ to the switch from 2D to 3D game titles that occurred during the 1990s.
While Sony have clear intentions with the development of Morpheus, and the gestalt virtual reality experience it will provide through the Playstation 4, the company’s position is not so assured. Valve’s HTC produced headset is widely expected to be a strong contender, considering the vast number of titles the company presently can offer through its Steam service.
Morpheus is expected to be released within the first quarter of 2016, with as yet unknown – but rumoured competitive – pricing.
 
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