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Sony kills its head-mounted video display to go all-in on VR

For those with long-ish memories, Sony's HMZ series of head-mounted displays were a very rudimentary way to catch movies on a "750-inch screen." Of course, strapping one to your face wasn't a very social way to spend an evening, so you can understand that the device's appeal was a bit limited. So limited, in fact, that the company is now sending the project down the Shinano river on a longboat piled high with firewood. According to Japanese news outfit AV Watch, Sony bosses have decided to devote all of its resources to improving Morpheus, the PlayStation-branded virtual reality headset, as well as the company's take on Google Glass.

Priced at $999.99, the HMZ-T3 was certainly more of a luxury item than a commuter special. The hardware was, at least, comfortable to wear, but there was still the issue of being tethered to a weighty battery pack to deal with. Considering that you can now buy "VR" style headsets for Android smartphones that do a similar job for a lot less money, it's pretty easy to see why Sony has decided to pull the plug. With any luck, the company will be able to easily meet its promised early-2016 ship date and get its bank balance back in order.