PS4/PS5 PlayStation VR/VR2

[Objektiv]

[video=youtube;pWMp_o03qH4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWMp_o03qH4[/video]

Finde es richtig gut dass Sony das verfolgt. Vll mag die Version für PS4 am Ende noch nicht 100% ausgereift sein, aber spätestens zur PS5 wird das ein dickes Ding werden. Kann nicht schaden wenn sie früh Erfahrungen sammeln.

 

[Taro]

Ich hoffe, dass man das Teil als normaler Besucher auf der GamesCom testen können wird.

 

[verplant80]

Ich hoffe, dass man das Teil als normaler Besucher auf der GamesCom testen können wird.

2014 glaube ich nicht, dass Sony da noch großartig was zeigen wird.

 

[frames60]

2014 glaube ich nicht, dass Sony da noch großartig was zeigen wird.

Kommt drauf an, wie es 2014 weiter läuft... wenn MS reagiert und die Xbone an Fahrt gewinnt, könnte Sony so der PS4 wieder pushen... man ist seit der Ankündigung im Februar 2013 immer in der Aktiv-Situation und ich denke, dass will Sony so beibehalten.

 

[DarthSol]

Das Headset soll doch schon 2015 kommen. Rechne daher schon damit dass man dieses Jahr noch mehr von zeigen wird. Ob man dann natürlich auch selbst Hand anlegen darf - ok, das könnte noch schwierig werden.

 

[Otacon]

Wenn nächster Jahr release ist werden wir fett dieses Jahr dazu was sehen

 

[Otacon]

Sony's Shuhei Yoshida loves that Facebook bought Oculus, says it helps validate PlayStation's efforts

"I woke up that morning and saw the announcement," Shuhei Yoshida tells us, remembering the day Facebook acquired Oculus VR. "And I was like, yeah!" Yoshida laughs and thrusts his arms in the air like an excited child. "For me, it was a validation for VR." As head of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios, virtual reality (and Sony's Project Morpheus) has become important to Yoshida. He wants to see it, as a medium, succeed.

"We meant to validate Oculus by announcing Morpheus, and the Oculus guys knew what we were working on. I think they were waiting for us to make the announcement, so it would be Sony and Oculus together," he explains backstage at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. "But now Oculus being acquired by Facebook is helping to validate our efforts." It's big-picture thinking. Yoshida already liked the idea of Sony and Oculus calling attention to each other's efforts, but adding the Facebook name to the mix broadens the duo's exposure. "More people will know about VR!"

Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the purchase intrigues him too. "Mark said he believes VR can be the next platform after mobile," Yoshida says. "That's big thinking, and kind of excites our thinking." Sony's team has already been exploring uses for VR outside of traditional gaming, he explains, but nothing as broad as Zuckerberg's statements. "We've thought of doing virtual travel or something, but talking about a new platform? What does that mean?" Yoshida says it's given him something to think about.

Of course, a broader platform for VR means the technology will see more use -- and that technology still has several usability hurdles to conquer. "VR of the past, including our own prototype, has been very difficult to use in terms of getting headaches and becoming nauseated," he says. "Those early prototypes had larger latency and the positional tracking may not have worked as well. I feel really sorry for people developing VR stuff! They have to test it! With the kit we have now, what we demonstrated at GDC; I think it's the first time we can really provide developers with something and say, 'You can use ours, and you'll be alright.'"

Sony's been talking to medical professionals about overcoming simulation sickness, Yoshida explains, and wants hardware to be comfortable and usable without adjustment. "The Oculus DK1 has lots of adjustments available, but the Morpheus just works, the optics design. We'll continue to improve it." Eventually, the company wants to create guidelines for how old users should be, and how long they should use it for, but it's not quite there yet. Even Yoshida admits he hasn't spent extended periods of time in virtual reality, usually keeping his sessions at under 10 minutes.

Yoshida's plan for building those guidelines relies heavily on collaboration. "We need to share knowledge," he explains. "We can't just make the hardware; it's the game applications that need to be designed well. We need time for developers to experiment and find the killer application and, at the same time, we need to learn how VR applications should be designed." Providing the Morpheus dev kit to developers, Yoshida says, is the first step.

 

[OVERLORD1]

Project Morpheus: Sony kündigt Entwickler-Konferenz für den 30. April an!

 

[Otacon]

Virtual reality: Sony’s refreshingly honest thoughts on Oculus Rift, not needing triple-A, and similarities to the Wii U (exclusive)

GamesBeat: You told me that you don’t necessarily view the Oculus Rift as a competitor. Why not?

Shuhei Yoshida: VR … I was telling my people that it’s going to be like PlayStation 1 was to 3D real-time graphics for games. PS1 was the very first console that allowed developers to use realtime 3D rendering tech to make games. Initially, they were very limited arcade games, like Ridge Racer or Virtua Fighter. People weren’t sure how 3D graphics could be used for games. Some people at the large Japanese publishers were very skeptical about 3D graphics tech. But after 20 years, things have really progressed. We have amazing games like The Last of Us or Journey or Beyond — games that use 3D realtime rendering for a variety of things.

When I look at VR, it’s still very early. It’s not even starting in a real way. When we launch Project Morpheus, or when they launch Oculus as a consumer product, I can see another 20 years of progress for all kinds of things. I feel like what Mark Zuckerberg [CEO of Facebook, which recently acquired Oculus for $2B] is saying — he’s looking more at a future vision of what this can be, rather than the initial or second year.

We are still really trying to define or discover what works and what’s required for the hardware tech. Our team feels that we’re getting closer, but there are certain things that still have to be improved to make a good consumer product. The Oculus guys are saying the same thing. Even their DK2 [development kit 2] is pretty good, but still, they see some other areas they still have to work on.

So in trying these things, we are kind of helping each other. For example, DK2 has low persistence. It’s pretty good. We don’t have that. What we have is the 3D audio worked out … how we’re going to mix that and make it much easier, more comfortable to wear, for the PlayStation Move interaction that’s integrated with the headset. The positional tracking.

We’re pushing different things. Like everything in engineering, once someone does it, it’s common knowledge. Engineers, when they see that another person has done it, that elevates their perspective to push further. At this stage, we’re helping each other and trying to find solutions to a lot of problems that we’re trying to solve.

That’s the very basic way I look at the Oculus. That’s the technical side of things. Even though we don’t work with each other directly, we’re helping each other as far as announcing something or showing a proof of concept or publishing some documents or something like that.

GamesBeat: How about outside of technical considerations?

Yoshida: Another area is just creating buzz. We’ve been in stealth mode developing this for a few years. But we’ve been doing it behind closed doors. Oculus was out there in the public eye. They announced the Kickstarter and showed off their handmade prototypes and sold a lot of DK1s to developers. Developers got started making some interesting stuff. By creating and showing this proof of concept to the world, that really helped lots of people to say, “Wow, VR can be possible pretty soon.” That awareness and outreach to developers are really helping us as we introduce the Project Morpheus dev kit.

Lots of people are already making games on PC using Oculus. Those people are almost prototyping for Project Morpheus. Many people might be still thinking, “It’s fun to work with this tech, but can this be a real business? Can we put lots of resources into this and complete a game and make money back?” By having two players catering to both PC and PS4, developers feel it’s a bit less risky to make this investment. Even though indie guys are very passionate people who might do this just for the sake of it, showing them the two different platforms where they’ll eventually be able to release their game — that reduces their risk in development. That’s another area where we help each other instead of competing with each other.

GamesBeat: Isn’t it strange that a company like Sony that’s been around a very long time in the technology space is forming a sort of symbiotic relationship with a small, upstart company that got its start from Kickstarter?

Yoshida: No, no. We’re very small, really. Project Morpheus may be a similar size compared to the Oculus guys. We have a larger organization and tech that we can reach, so that’s a benefit for us, and the capital that we have … now, with venture money and Facebook money, they have a lot of that, too.

But Project Morpheus has been a very small R&D project. So in that sense, Project Morpheus has always felt like a venture operation. They’re financially supported by [Sony Computer Entertainment], but it’s in the spirit of a startup company. We’re not making a new product for an existing market. We’re trying to break into something that doesn’t exist yet.

GamesBeat: Sony is obviously a big company with a lot of resources, but do you think Oculus has an edge when it comes to brand recognition in the consumer-VR market at this point? Especially because you don’t even have a final name for Project Morpheus yet.

Yoshida: No, I don’t think so. Lots of people, smart people, send tweets to me. It’s very interesting and informative. Someone tweeted me a link to an article that showed, OK, so VR is a big thing. Facebook, Oculus, Sony were all talking about it at [the 2014 Game Developers Conference].

But is VR mass market? I forget where this article was, but it showed the buzz around Oculus and Morpheus compared to Xbox or PlayStation or the iPhone. It’s still tiny — the amount of buzz around the world. So I don’t think we should be worried about brand recognition yet. Project Morpheus is project name. We don’t even have a brand as yet.

GamesBeat: Moving forward, how will Sony end up positioning Project Morpheus? As you said, it offers a lot of similarities to Oculus. You’re going after some of the same games in the same market. How do you position it so that it stands out as more of a unique product?

Yoshida: I don’t think anyone knows as yet. In general, I think everyone agrees that the gaming market is really the first to catch on. Because PS4 is a console, it’s a very stable platform. Every single consumer has the exact same hardware. Millions of people are buying PS4s. We can introduce this to PS4 users as a very consumer-friendly proposition.

PS4 users are 99 percent gamers, right? It just makes sense, from the type of experience standpoint, and the already existing, very passionate user-base standpoint, to start positioning [Project Morpheus] as a new way to play games.

But at the same time, we’d like to explore different partnerships or collaborations with different industries. We already showed our work with NASA. There’s lots of interest inside and outside Sony from people who are creating 360-degree video. Those kinds of services already exist. Watching video that’s shot in 360 degrees or live video that’s being transmitted to other people to watch — that’ll be a really good fit.

That’s the kind of thing we’d like to explore, even if we don’t know what the business model might be at this point. As long as we have the resources to work with these companies, we’d like to try out some new ideas that look promising. When we see any of these becoming real consumer propositions, or if it looks like they will, we’ll have to come up with some good business models for them. But we already have, on PS4, many video services and applications in addition to games. We have a way to distribute or serve these services to consumers via PS4.

GamesBeat: Traditionally, when you launch a new platform, you want to get triple-A brands behind it: big-publisher or big-name games, some franchise hits, killer apps. But when we last talked, you seemed less concerned about getting those to help sell Project Morpheus. You seemed more excited about more creative independent projects.

Yoshida: Yeah, it’s totally different. There are two or three ways to explain that – some positive, some kind of negative.

In a positive sense, I don’t think the big brands and successful games transfer well to VR, unless you really spend time working on creating the VR experience. For the effort that takes, to create a great VR experience, it’s the same whether you start with a big brand or not.

It’s very nice to have some VR experiences around a brand like Call of Duty. We showed a demo related to God of War, and that may attract people’s attention. But unless the experience is comparable, people would rather move toward some new thing that really captures the potential of VR. That’s what I’m talking about when I say that I’m not worried about getting all those big brands. I am really worried about whether we’re going to get great experiences, wherever they can come from.

The other example to explain this is, when games on Facebook became a thing, there were some companies that tried to use existing [intellectual properties] there. Some companies really believed that was the way to dominate that market — or even the mobile gaming market. But the experiences that were created [specifically] for a particular medium were the ones that became the most successful – FarmVille or Clash of Clans or Puzzle & Dragons. None of these games used existing IP. And they’re even more similar to existing games than VR.

VR is way more different, in my mind. It’ll take lots of effort to create new experiences for VR. That has to be the number-one priority. If it has some existing IP, that’s great, but even if it doesn’t, people who are interested in VR will see what’s the best experience for this new medium. Those people will find new IP.

GamesBeat: How do people discover these new experiences? VR is more of an inaccessible platform.

Yoshida: Absolutely.

GamesBeat: It’s only meant for one person at a time. The person who’s wearing it is the only one who gets the full experience. How do you sell that to consumers without putting a headset on every one of them to try out?

Yoshida: That’s a huge challenge. For one, we have to try to take any opportunity to demonstrate our system and let new people try it out. That’s another area where we can help each other with Oculus. Anyone who has a good time using either Project Morpheus or Oculus will now understand and have high expectations for the future of VR. The number of people who try out either of these systems at this point is a plus for both of us.

The other thing is what we’re calling the “social screen” for Project Morpheus. The PS4 is connected to this small box called the processor unit, and that splits the output. One goes to the head-mount unit and the other looks like a conventional video game screen.

The PS4 is rendering these two distorted images that everyone’s familiar with when you see an Oculus demonstration on the PC. It’s like two circular displays [that, when combined, create the full-screen VR view]. That’s what the PS4 is rendering, and it’s sent to the head-mount unit. But this processor unit takes one image for every frame, and it’s undistorted. The processor unit has actual processor capability to compute a straight image and send it out to the TV.

GamesBeat: It flattens the image out.

Yoshida: Yeah, yeah. If you’re using Project Morpheus, other people around you can pretty clearly see what you’re watching, even though it’s not quite the same experience. That’s what you saw at GDC.

The London Studio guys suggested that they wanted a second screen that looked normal, so they could design a game such that the people wearing the headset can play with other people who are watching. It’s like a Wii U game. One person may be running away while all the others might be trying to catch Mario. It’s that asymmetrical gameplay.

For [Project Morpheus game] The Deep, we didn’t show this at GDC, but the demo is designed so that people watching can use a tablet and draw a line to instruct the sea turtle where to appear and swim around the cage. The shark is attracted and chases the turtle. People watching can influence the experience along with the people who are wearing the display by leading the shark and showing it where to appear. Something like that — that’s designed into the system very easily.

GamesBeat: Let’s say there are a few people in the living room. One person is using the headset and is immersed in the VR world. So would it be possible for the others to use a PlayStation 4 controller to interact with the screen and also play with the VR player?

Yoshida: Yeah. The game has to be designed so that the person wearing the headset isn’t looking around too much. They might be focused on looking forward, so that the people watching [from the outside] can see the game scene as well. The other people can use a controller to have an impact. It’ll be up to the game designers. But at this point, the prototype only allows the same image to be split like this.

GamesBeat: That second image always has to be what the VR player is looking at?

Yoshida: Yeah. If you want to create a Wii U-like experience, you’d need to use a second screen, like a smartphone or a tablet or a PS Vita.

 

[Otacon]

[video=youtube;pF75Qm0EPhA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF75Qm0EPhA[/video]

 

[Gelöschtes Mitglied 8401]

Hey PS4 jetzt auch mit NSA Cam. :-D

Ne Spaß sieht gut aus, ist mit Move eine ganze Ecke weiter als Oculus, aber ich wundere mich das die nicht ihre Kamera nehmen zum richtigen erfassen des Körpers usw. vielleicht zu ungenau, aber immerhin hat man so eigene Fäuste in der digitalen Welt.

 

[Otacon]

Digital Foundry: hands-on with Project Morpheus

It's been almost a year since we first heard about the existence of a Sony virtual reality headset. What began as a vague rumour about a potential Oculus Rift PS4 hook-up gradually shifted into something much bigger - and infinitely more exciting. The hardware we've tested and the demos we've played confirm that this is no mere Oculus copy: there are commonalities in the technology, but Sony has its own distinct vision for VR, and a console-specific strategy for getting the most out of the hardware.

It all starts with the behind-the-scenes organisation - the foundation on which Sony's VR development is built. At the GDC reveal earlier this year, we saw two familiar faces - Dr Richard Marks and Anton Mikhailov, key R&D staff behind PlayStation add-ons including EyeToy and the brilliant but under-utilised PlayStation Move. They are joined by the newly-formed Sony Immersive Technology Group based in Liverpool in the UK - effectively an evolution of the stereoscopic team that spearheaded Sony's PS3 experimentation with 3DTVs. Finally, in Japan we have the hardware team, whose contributions include sculpting the Project Morpheus prototype itself.

This international collaboration has produced a headset that isn't quite ready for the consumer, but clearly demonstrates that Sony is on the right path. As discussed in our recent Project Morpheus Spec Analysis, the parallels with the second-gen Oculus Rift dev kit are numerous - suggesting that two sets of gifted engineers faced with the same problems came up with very similar solutions. But having sampled the Morpheus prototype, the differences - though subtle - are actually quite profound. Sony is behind Oculus in one key respect, the display, but substantially ahead elsewhere.

In PlayStation Move, it has a 3D controller that's already part of the console's infrastructure, and has no real equivalent in the PC space that Oculus can tie into so directly. And then there are the ergonomics of the head-mounted display itself: Sony has always made exceptional hardware, and with the Morpheus prototype it has done it again. The visor itself is relatively svelte and light but can easily accommodate those who wear glasses, meaning that the multiple lenses of the original Oculus Rift aren't really needed. The headset straps on using a Rift-style band, but this is supplemented by an additional rear plastic "halo" that secures itself onto the base of your skull, clicking into place. It helps in distributing the weight of the headset, but it also houses additional LEDs - meaning that if you turn away from the PlayStation Camera, it can still track your head movements accurately.

An unwieldy head-mounted display (HMD) is a key immersion killer, but the ergonomics of Project Morpheus are an understated but hugely important feature. The headset locks in place while remaining very comfortable, so swift movements don't cause any nausea-inducing wobble in the display right in front of your face. Being designed by an international team also helps - the hardware factors in multi-racial physical characteristics (like the European Roman nose for example), with all Sony territories roadtesting the design to ensure a common fit.

However, while highly impressive for a prototype, it's clear that there is still work left to do. Bizarrely, the headset jack is currently positioned inside the visor, which doesn't seem like the best place to put it, while there's both good and bad news about the current development kit's LCD screen.


To address the main problem first, it's clear that the display suffers from motion blur issues, manifesting profoundly with any kind of fast motion - an inherent problem with LCD technology, exacerbated by the fact that your eyes are mere centimetres away from the screen. We're also fairly sure that the field of view is indeed narrower than Oculus Rift's, manifesting as black rounded edges on the left and right of your vision, intruding slightly into the field of view - but easily 'filterable' by the brain, and not unduly impactful to the experience.

The good news is that the display is no way final - Sony is actively investigating alternative technologies to address the blurring problem with OLED first and foremost in its deliberations. Elsewhere, we found that the 960x1080 per eye resolution is actually far more impressive than we thought it would be. Remember that those pixels need to accommodate both your focus and peripheral vision. On the 640x768 per eye first-gen Rift, the result was the perception of a disappointingly miniscule resolution, with a highly distracting "screen door" effect where you could see between the pixels.

This is far less of an issue with Morpheus, and we were pleasantly surprised by how good image quality is in an environment where resolution remains at a premium. In discussing the situation with Sony, it's clear that some effort has gone into judging how to best apply the fisheye lens effect that distorts the image, with a stronger focus on retaining resolution in the key focus area. Over and above that, we wouldn't be surprised if the narrower field of view also contributes to improving image integrity.

Sony hasn't ruled out a higher-resolution screen either: PS4's HDMI 1.4a support should - in theory - accommodate a 2560x1440 output at 60Hz, and assuming a full-blooded Morpheus release sometime next year, there should be plenty of mobile screens for the company to choose from. However, our money is still on a 1080p panel for the retail headset, and while higher resolution would be preferable for image quality (albeit much more challenging for developers), this is still good enough to produce a genuinely immersive experience.

The proof of the pudding can be seen in the 'social screen' - a bespoke video output that emanates from the Morpheus breakout box that's connected to the PS4's HDMI and USB ports. The social screen allows other gamers in the room to connect with the HMD wearer's VR experience by processing one of the 960x1080 eye views, removing the fisheye effect, zooming in on the focus view and outputting that to the HDTV. The result is a little strange: as it's 'undistorting' the fisheye view, the edges of the image run at a progressively lower resolution the further out you go, but it does allow you to appreciate that although VR is necessarily reduced in terms of pure pixel-count, it gets the job done.


However, in comparing Morpheus to what we've seen from Oculus VR, it's perhaps surprising to discover that a truly transformative element of the proposition comes from a piece of hardware that you might already own: PlayStation Move. Our aspirations for the hardware were never fully realised, but the hook-up with Morpheus is a match made in heaven - in fact, if there is to be a struggle for market leadership with Oculus (and potentially Microsoft), the existing motion controller is undoubtedly one of the strongest weapons in Sony's arsenal. In our look at the first Oculus Rift dev kit, one of our key conclusions was that the headset demanded an improved interface compared to keyboard and mouse or a console gamepad. Move isn't the perfect solution, but it's a fundamental step closer to a more deeply immersive form of gameplay.

Sony's Castle demo was first seen at GDC and illustrates this quite nicely with a spectacularly successful integration of Morpheus and Move. Look down and you can see your hands. By holding two Move controllers, the motion of your arms is perfectly mapped in-game to the on-screen appendages. Press the main triggers and your fingers flex. Reach down towards a sword, press the trigger and you pick it up. Turn your head towards a second sword in its stand, repeat the process with your second Move and you're dual-wielding both blades that clash as you strike one against the other.

In front of you is a vacant suit of armour to interact with using your swords. Here's where the next of Move's arsenal of technology comes into play: swiping into the air with the motion controller sees all of that kinetic energy accurately mapped in-game. Lop off the head with a swift lunge, tap the armour gently with the sword - everything reacts precisely as it should. It's a simple demo, but as a proof of concept it is compelling: Morpheus is all about immersion, but it is Move that supplies a crucial component that felt missing in our initial Oculus testing - the means to physically reach out and interact with the game world.

The castle demo concludes with a spot of archery-based target practice (think Sports Champions 2), again with Move taking centre-stage, before the demo ends with the arrival of a screen-filling dragon, demonstrating the immense sense of scale Morpheus creates - to the point where we actually backed up into a real-life wall to get a good look at the beast. But it's Move that is the star here, and at least one of the controllers - preferably two - should be bundled with the headset when it eventually hits retail: it's that crucial to the experience, and a defining factor in separating PlayStation VR from its competitors.

Sony's second demo - the Deep - is far less interactive, and more of a rollercoaster ride of sorts, designed to engender emotion via immersion. Descending under the sea in a metal cage, you find yourself checking out benign marine life before suddenly coming under attack from a shark, with only an ineffectual flare gun for defence. Controlled by the DualShock 4, the process of pointing and shooting is decidedly two-dimensional in nature compared to the castle demo, and doesn't feel quite right in comparison. You can point with PlayStation Move, and there's even a pistol-style mount for the controller - the implications here for first-person shooters are obvious. The Deep is an interesting example in emulating the fear of the unknown (you are constantly looking around in an attempt to see where the shark will strike next), but the lack of interaction is palpable. You are along for the ride, but you are not really in control of it.

We'll be returning to Morpheus soon with an account of the in-depth talk we had with the Immersive Technology Group, but several highlights from the conversation spring to mind. Firstly, Sony is treating VR almost like an offshoot platform, as opposed to a simple PS4 peripheral. The team is talking to developers, implementing recommendations for best practices, and defining a series of technical requirements that ensure a good experience. A key element is smooth frame-rate: the team defines 60fps as the bare minimum for an immersive VR experience (actual specs for the final display and its highest refresh rate are unknown right now, but there may be a higher frequency option).


The sense we get is that rather than porting triple-A console titles to Morpheus, Sony recognises that this isn't completely compatible with the best VR gameplay and is actively pushing for original content. Bearing in mind the minimum 60fps requirement, the advice the Immersive Technology Group offers is that games should be built around PS3-quality visuals as a foundation, before adding further embellishments, but always with 60fps as a base-level target. Frame-rate is the primary foundation on which immersive VR is built, and while PS4 may lose out in horsepower compared to PC, the notion of developers targeting a fixed platform can't be understated - the VR experience on console will be validated by the developer on the exact same hardware you run at home, and indeed by Sony itself. In hitting and sustaining a performance target, that kind of advantage is priceless.

Also of interest were the team's thoughts on game integration. While first-person perspective is the obvious choice, the ITG has seen great success - and much easier implementation - through relatively simple ports of third-person titles. In effect, Morpheus could bring an IMAX-like impact to video gaming. Judicious use of third-person could also play a part in addressing the VR nausea issue too. Take, for example, a first-person racing game where you crash, sending your car spinning in the air. Keeping the in-car is guaranteed to be quite unpleasant, but adjusting the camera outside to a Burnout Takedown-style viewpoint could work really well. The castle demo also introduces a new challenge to developers - if there are objects in the world, the VR viewpoint practically demands the ability to reach out and interact with them. It's not just about convincing rendering, there are serious simulation challenges ahead here too, and providing guidance to game-makers is a key element of the ITG's remit.

Oculus VR vs Sony. It's a mouth-watering proposition: two entirely independent takes on virtual reality, designed with two different platforms in mind, but with a combined audience reach that could - hopefully - make VR a financially viable prospect for games developers. Oculus has the momentum, the bleeding-edge tech and the community backing, while Morpheus has a ready-made ecosystem, VR-friendly interface hardware, an international team of skilled hardware developers and proven first-party game-makers. After our hands-on experience, the potential here is intoxicating: virtual reality could well become the true next-generation in interactive entertainment that we've been waiting for.

 

[Otacon]

[video=youtube;z44mKwHav3w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z44mKwHav3w[/video]

 

[Otacon]

Impressions ausm Gaf:


Got to try Morpheus once, and Oculus 3 times, here are some fairly detailed impressions.

I’m sure you guys have already read about these demos, so I wanted to talk about the things that really stood out to me.

Ok, so Morpheus…

I tried out the Castle demo. Of all the VR stuff I tried out, this was by far the best. Although that’s really due to the nature of the demo, it wasn’t necessarily better than anything else on a technical level, but it gave me by far the most immersive experience.

Just a quick note, you have a move controller in each hand, and the triggers make your hands in the demo clench up and make a fist.

Initially, when the put the headset on, you notice there’s some tunnel vision going on, but after about 20 seconds, your eyes kinda just lock in, and it just CLICKS so hard. Suddenly, it feels natural. Factor in some quality headphones, and there really is a strong sense of… How do I put this… I guess presence. You really do feel as if you’re inhabiting this courtyard environment you’re in, even if the graphics are pretty meh.

Honestly, the moment it all clicks, it really feels whimsical and incredible. It’s just quite a memorable first time experience to say the least. I say this as a 30 year old.

Ok, so, I start looking around, and low and behold, this shit totally checks out. I look to my right, I look above me, I look in front of me again, and kinda just take it all in. It’s so nuts. Then I very quickly do a 180 to see if there’s anything behind me, and boom, there is. Mind blown. The level of immersion if just bonkers.

I then turn back around, and look to my left, and there’s a sword rack just chilling there. I reach over, and just to see if it works, I slowly twist my wrist so that my thumb is essentially pointing down, and I grab the sword, and slowly twist my wrist back to point the sword right side up.

At this point I’m thinking this is pretty insane. I’m slowly moving the sword around, not really swinging it, but kinda just swinging it around elegantly like a wand, or a maestro.

I then decide to see if it’s possible to hand the sword over to my left hand. I try it, and it works. Suddenly, I feel something that I genuinely haven’t felt since I was 12 and played Mario 64 for the first time. Everything about this moment felt absolutely revolutionary.

I then start to beat on this dummy in front of me, and all the motions I’m trying for the most part are working pretty well. Jabbing motions, hooks, you name it, it works. Within a few seconds, I lost interest in beating on this thing, and wanna just get back to the experience of controlling myself within this environment.

So I take a step forward, and viola, I’m taking a step forward. Side step, step back, walk in tiny circles while moving my head around, it all works, and feels pretty damn natural. At this point I could care less about fighting, and am too entranced but the ability to just exist in this virtual environment. I look around, I duck, I turn around and just start walking away, at which point I crashed into a real life wall, but it didn’t matter, all of it was just so damn immersive. I crashed into the wall a couple more times just because the sensation of walking felt SO INCREDIBLE. I can’t imagine how insane it’s gonna feel to actually run. Holy shit. Such an exciting thought.

Any ways, suddenly, I’m holding a mace, and I’m just swinging it around, everything again, just feeling pretty natural when all is said and done. Then I’m magically holding a crossbow and just shooting around without any trouble. Having perfect aim like in RE4 Wii.

Then the massive dragon drops, which would’ve been awesome if it looked cool and the graphics didn’t suck, but the scale was still great, and just gave a good idea of what it would feel like to stand next to some giant creature.

Demo then ends. A really special experience to say the least.

I then rush over to Oculus cause at that point, nothing stops this train.

The Oculus demos, while still very much awesome, are nowhere near as immersive due to fact that you’re sitting, and using an xbox controller.

Valkyrie
So I get to check out the Valkyrie demo, and it’s pretty holy shit. You’re just flying around in a space ship, and I guess you’re supposed to hunt someone down and shoot at them, but I was just having more fun flying around in space.

So I basically just put myself on a trajectory that would have me going in circles around earth, while upside down. So because the cockpit was all glass, while I was flying in circles, I could look straight up, and see the earth in all its glory directly above me, and when I’d look straight, I would just see a bunch of asteroids and just ultimate outer space. The 3D and sense of scale was really fantastic. I then realized that like skydiving, I was really only looking up the whole time, so then I realize I should look down, holy shit, my body is in all out spacesuit and there’s full force instruments all around me, it was sooo cool. I then look to my left, my right, and again, the magical what’s behind me, and again, it all checks out. VERY VERY immersive. I screamed out “Shit!” so many times the Oculus people had to tell me to stop.

Super Hot
Afterwords, I got to check out Super Hot. This one was neat for all kinds of reasons that showed so much potential. This demo is essentially all about bullet time. You’re walking down a hallway while 3 men shoot at you. When you stop walking, the bullet time essentially starts. While in bullet time, it’s so rad, cause you’re able to see in every direction, and see the trajectory of the bullets that are coming at your, or have already passed by you. Basically, it does a fantastic job at giving you that sense of being in the Matrix, or the Quicksilver scene in DOFP. Lots of fun to experience.

Also, while I was in this demo, there was a statue on display, that made the idea of Virtual Museums such a blatant no brainer.

Alien
Man, ok, basically, this one was a little too rad. Imagine you’re basically inside a very well lit Ridley Scott movie, but with crappier art design. Still really moody and just has awesome atmosphere. I can’t imagine how exhilarating a game like Doom could be in VR. Wandering around trying to avoid the Alien, all while being in this super creepy ass space ship. was just soooo much fun.


In conclusion, I really feel that VR is the most impressive tech we’ve gotten since the internet. Feels like it’s gonna have even more impact on the world than smartphones. Just my hunch. But the sheer amount of potential is just mind shattering staggering.

On another note, and I hope I don’t come off as a fanboy when saying this, but it kinda saddens me that it isn’t Mario ushering in all this amazing VR goodness. We desperately need some Rez, OutRun 2, and some MGS VR Missions.

In any case, I’m very excited for the future. Thanks for reading.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=835814


Move Redeemed

 

[Otacon]

E3 2014 Virtual Reality Smackdown: Project Morpheus vs. Oculus Rift


ULTIMATE WINNER: Project Morpheus. But Oculus Rift can easily overtake it, should they invest in more inventive games and a cooler design.

 

[Phytagoras]

Naja. Die Prototype-OR Version soll ja kaum noch was wiegen. Und bzlg. "inventive" Games versteh ich es gerade nicht. Ich mein es gibt mittlerweile viele coole Konzepte/Gameideen, einige über KS, die zeigen, was möglich ist. Wobei es wohl dabei jetzt nur um die E3-Demos ging, die gezeigt wurden.

Freu mich aber auf beide und hoffe beide werden erfolgreich.

 

[Otacon]

Naja. Die Prototype-OR Version soll ja kaum noch was wiegen. Und bzlg. "inventive" Games versteh ich es gerade nicht. Ich mein es gibt mittlerweile viele coole Konzepte/Gameideen, einige über KS, die zeigen, was möglich ist. Wobei es wohl dabei jetzt nur um die E3-Demos ging, die gezeigt wurden.

Freu mich aber auf beide und hoffe beide werden erfolgreich.

Ich denke die werden am Ende beide pretty even sein, die arbeiten ja auch eng zusammen, haben beide gesagt

 

[Phytagoras]

Ja. Shu hatte ja sogar auf der Ankündigung von Morpheus gesagt, sie haben sich "inspiren" lassen von anderen Ideen

Hoffe auch, dass Morpheus nen Virtual Cinema bekommt! Wobei ich glaub 1080p werden da zu wenig sein um Filme gut darstellen zu lassen.

 

[Pillerich]

Hoffe auch, dass Morpheus nen Virtual Cinema bekommt! Wobei ich glaub 1080p werden da zu wenig sein um Filme gut darstellen zu lassen.

Ganz ehrlich, ich kann mir für Morpheus nichts unaufregenderes vorstellen als ein "Virtual Cinema". Ich meine der rießen Vorteil ist ja gerade dass man IN einer Welt bzw. IN einem Spiel sein kann... Dann in einem Virtuellen Kino wiederum auf eine 2D-Leinwand zu schauen macht mich nicht gerade heiß ;-)

 

[Katana]

naja du könntest ja im virtuellen cinema einen 3D film ansehen bei dem auf einmal die dinge wirklich aus der leinwand herauskommen... also nicht so wie im echten kino bei 3D filmen wo man eher das gefühl hat durch ein fenster hindurch zu sehen...