project morpheus
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Shuhei Yoshida on China and why PlayStation can never go Home again
One does not simply get enough of Shuhei Yoshida, the head of Sony PlayStation's Worldwide Studios. So following our nice, long chat with him at E3 (seriously, go read it), we managed to get hold of him again in Hong Kong and picked his brain with more questions about Project Morpheus. These include the VR headset's final form (you're looking at it), its compatibility with other devices and whether it'll revive the now-defunct PlayStation Home. We also took the opportunity to ask about the challenges of bringing PlayStation games into China.
State of VR: Sony's Project Morpheus in 2015
I did not get motion sickness when I demoed Sony's new and improved Project Morpheus VR headset at GDC this week in San Francisco. And that's saying a lot considering my sweaty outcome at a private E3 demo last year. But I did get somewhat hurt while using it. Blame it on the shark. I banged my head into a wall while whimpering and trying to avoid the jaws of a menacing virtual version of, well, Jaws. It's proof that compelling VR is powerful; powerful enough to send you slamming into nearby walls with a smile plastered on your face.
The Black Glove gets VR support in effort to secure funding
Day For Night Games - a studio formed largely by ex-BioShock developers - is struggling with its campaign to crowdfund The Black Glove, its first game. With less than a week left, the Kickstarter page shows only approximately $155,000 raised on a goal of $550,000. To rectify this situation, Day For Night has instituted "Operation: Save The Black Glove," which is detailed in a Kickstarter update post. "We're at a similar crossroads to where Republique was at this point in their Kickstarter campaign," the update reads, pointing to how developer Camouflaj raised 70 percent of its goal within its final week. "Taking inspiration from Camoflaq [sic] - whose Ryan Payton wrote us yesterday: 'YOU CAN DO IT!!' - we're launching Operation: Save The Black Glove." The operation largely consists of sharing images emblazoned with the #savetheblackglove hashtag and tweeting said hashtag on Twitter, but Day For Night Games has also announced VR device support for the game in an effort to rally enthusiasm. Should The Black Glove be funded, it will support both the Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus when it launches on PC, Mac, Linux and PS4. We'll find out if that's enough to entice backers when The Black Glove's Kickstarter campaign closes at 4:30 PM Eastern on November 7. [Image: Day For Night Games]
Yoshida: Project Morpheus is 85% complete
Work on Sony's Project Morpheus virtual reality hardware is nearing its completion, as Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told The Wall Street Journal that the company "finished 85 percent of the work needed to make the product available." Yoshida would not say when the headset would launch, nor would he comment on its price. He did add that a bulk of Project Morpheus' components are also found in smartphones, which would drive the device's price down. Sony announced Project Morpheus at GDC in March as a VR headset that offers a 1080p display with a 90 degree field of view and full 360 degrees of head tracking. Sony will use Project Morpheus to compete for attention in the virtual reality space with Oculus VR, which was purchased by Facebook in March for $2 billion. Sony said Facebook sought out Project Morpheus before acquiring Oculus; Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe later noted in June that the company invited Sony to check out its Oculus Rift prototypes. We went heads-on with Project Morpheus at GDC and took its luge demo for a spin at E3 in June.
Tekken team's Project Morpheus demo is voyeuristic
Bandai Namco Director Katsuhiro Harada and the team behind the Tekken series put together a demo for Sony's VR hardware, Project Morpheus, though it's just about the furthest from a fighting game you can get. The demo is called Summer Lesson and it's an interactive tour through a Japanese schoolgirl's bedroom, schoolgirl included. In the introductory video, we see players look around the sunny room, nod yes or no to the girl's questions, and make her pull back in discomfort when the viewing angle gets too invasive. Yes, really. See a video of the demo (from the Sony Computer Entertainment Japan & Asia event) below (skip to the 55:40 mark). Summer Lesson will be playable at Tokyo Game Show, which kicks off on September 18. [Image: SCEJ]
War Thunder aiming for 360-degree panoramic VR view with Project Morpheus
War Thunder's been on board the virtual reality train for a while now, given its compatibility with the Oculus Rift. Gaijin isn't stopping there, though, according to a new website posting that touts War Thunder on Sony's PlayStation 4 Project Morpheus VR prototype. There's no launch date just yet, but Gaijin promises "a 360 degree panoramic view of the battlefield."
Project Morpheus dev gives tips for overcoming the 'uncanny VR-alley'
You may be familiar with the Uncanny Valley, the idea that photorealistic human images can cause discomfort because they're the little bit off from the real thing. At GDC Europe, Sony Immersive Technology designer Jed Ashforth put forward what he called the "uncanny VR-alley," the thinking that there's a point where virtual reality becomes so immersive that the things that are slightly off are more likely to bring players out of the experience. It's an issue designers, like those on Sony's Project Morpheus team, are working out how to overcome as VR continues to gather steam at great pace. As you'd suspect, given the youthful state of VR development, there are a lot of problems still to be found as well as still to be solved. With that in mind, below the break you'll find Ashforth's six game design principles for VR development, including thoughts on how to avoid the uncanny VR-alley.
Conan 'Clueless Gamer' O'Brien luges through E3
Conan O'Brien may have not been the only clueless gamer at E3, but the TV star's take on gaming's annual LA-palooza is always worth a watch. After talking and playing Entwined, Forza 5, Sunset Overdrive, Project Morpheus and Kevin Spacey In Your Face, things get a bit creepy when 100 Nintendo ladies watch Conan firestorm Hyrule Warriors. There's more Clueless Gamer below the break with Conan playing Super Smash Bros Wii U.
Weekends with Engadget: E3 2014, getting sweaty with Sony's Project Morpheus and more!
This week, we stormed the floors of E3 2014, interviewed Shuhei Yoshida and Phil Spencer, took Sony's Project Morpheus for a test-run and watched Amazon launch its Prime Music streaming service. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Oculus CEO: 'We invited' Sony to see Oculus prototypes
Oculus VR isn't threatened by Sony's rival virtual reality headset, Project Morpheus, and Oculus even invited Sony to check out its own internal prototypes, CEO Brendan Iribe told Joystiq at E3. Sony then returned the favor and invited the Oculus team to see Project Morpheus. See? We all can be friends. Oculus made headlines recently when Facebook acquired the company for $2 billion. Iribe said that even though the deal was a surprise to most people, it made perfect sense to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey: "Many people, I still think, don't really understand or know that Palmer was the most excited about this partnership. Because he felt like, from the beginning, we got into this to make VR work and make it for the masses, and make it work at a scale and a comfort level that could hit the entire population."
Engadget Daily: Amazon Prime Music, getting sweaty with Sony's VR headset and more!
Today, we demo Street Luge on Sony's Project Morpheus VR headset, break down Amazon's new Prime Music streaming service, go hands-on with Beats' new Powerbeats2 wireless buds and learn about Sony's plan for the PlayStation TV. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Confessions of a VR Virgin: Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus
While the rest of gaming world seemingly hopped on the VR bus as soon as Oculus Rift was announced, I've been skeptical. Every time a friend or developer started to extol the virtues of strapping on a Weapon X mask to play Mirror's Edge, I'd ask the same question: How long did you play while wearing it? Half an hour tops? No way anyone's going to want to sit around marathoning Skyrim with shoebox-sized goggles on their dome. That may still be true, but my doubts were unfounded. I finally put the big gaming VR helmets on my face at E3 2014 and took them for a quick spin. I have no idea if I'll ever want to sit in my living room playing four hours of Yakuza 8 wearing an Oculus or Morpheus, but I do think VR technology adds a remarkable bodily element to video games that's unlike anything else. My experiences with Oculus and Morpheus were also dramatically different.
nDreams invites Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus to attend The Assembly
PlayStation Home content developer nDreams will be opening the door to a world of scientific discovery, experimentation and what can only be described as a seriously hostile work environment with its newly-announced game, The Assembly. Built for Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus, the game will have players solving puzzles and exploring the pristine halls of a fictional company - called The Assembly - that nDreams described to Joystiq as "Google gone rogue." We're not sure how far Google is from dissecting crows and sticking ominous devices that flash red onto the necks of mannequins, but hopefully nDreams' hypothetical comparison remains hypothetical.
Getting sweaty with the future of Sony's virtual reality
The private room, elevated above the crazed throngs of E3 attendees, was dark and oppressively stuffy. Inside, Conan O'Brien lay on a beanbag in front of Sony's newest virtual reality demo for its Project Morpheus headset: Street Luge. And he was surrounded by two Nintendo booth babes -- an awkward collision of rival gaming worlds that wasn't lost on Sony PR. Conan was finishing up a shoot for a spoof segment on Morpheus and I had to wait for the celebrity fanfare to stop.
Seen@E3: The Joystiq Project Morpheus Luge Experience
Project Morpheus didn't loom large during Sony's E3 2014 presentation on Monday, but the company's VR helmet did peek its head above ground and was available for brief demos on the show floor. In addition to the knight combat demo that appeared at the headset's GDC debut and CCP's Valkyrie, Sony had a brand new luge racing game. In the game, you're hurtling down a mountain road, hugging turns and dodging speeding semi trucks, with none of the forgiving distance of just watching a digital vehicle on a television screen. First, Anthony got into the Project Morpheus to try the luge. Then Richard got in the luge. Then Susan got in the luge. Then all of them freaked right the heck out. It looked kind of like this. Then it kind of looked like this.
Jimmy Fallon punches a dragon with Project Morpheus
Jimmy Fallon and Channing Tatum strapped into Sony's Project Morpheus virtual reality headset and came away with a strong consensus: "This is insane." Fallon and Tatum demoed Project Morpheus on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, wherein they played a round of medieval knight-punching and crossbow-shooting. We got our hands (and face) on Project Morpheus during GDC 2014, and we played the same demo, though with slightly fewer exclamations of insanity. Maybe Fallon and Tatum's suped-up excitement had something to do with the martinis they sipped beforehand. Drunken dragon slaying, anyone? [Image: NBC]
Toddler horror Among the Sleep coming to PS4, Morpheus
It's poetic that Among the Sleep is coming to a device named after the Greek god of dreams (AKA Laurence Fishburne). Developer Krillbite is now bringing the first-person horror told through two-year-old eyes to PS4, where it'll feature support for Project Morpheus, Sony's VR headset. Krillbite's psychological nightmare was already confirmed for PC, Mac and Linux with Oculus Rift support, following a successful fundraising campaign last year. The Norwegian studio is working to ensure Kickstarter backers "get a fair deal" on a PS4 version, but there are no details at present. There's no word on release details either - Among the Sleep was originally due in Q4 2013 - but Krillbite does say development is nearly completed. Krillbite's scary soiree caught our attention with its Amnesia-inspired environmental horror, all at the eye level of a toddler. As Joystiq's Richard Mitchell put it in his preview, "Among the Sleep is clearly rooted more in psychology than jump scares and gore. For sure, the premise is novel, but what's really impressive is how effectively Among the Sleep leverages fear through atmosphere and the innate physical limitations of a child. Perhaps even more impressive is that it made me love a teddy bear within the span of half an hour." [Image: Krillbite Studio]
PlayStation 4 indie devs are already using Project Morpheus
Becoming an independent PlayStation 4 developer is easy, Sony's Adam Boyes tells us: "You just have to sign up." The PlayStation VP of publisher and developer relations was explaining what the company has done to woo indie devs. Half the job was just making developer programs more accessible. "Before GDC last year we didn't even have a website where you could go and find out about it, but now we have a very well thought out process." Boyes says that anyone who qualifies as an independent developer can get a free (loaner) developer kit, too -- a similar deal applies to Project Morpheus.
Report: Facebook head sought Project Morpheus demo before buying Oculus VR
Prior to spending $2 billion on a recent surprise purchase of Oculus VR, Facebook's boy king Mark Zuckerberg took Sony's Project Morpheus headset for a spin, according to PlayStation executive Guy Longworth. "I wish he bought ours," Longworth said during a presentation at the ongoing Games Marketing Summit. Longworth recalls confusion over why Zuckerberg would request a demo of the Project Morpheus headset, though following the FTC's decision to allow the Oculus VR acquisition, it all makes sense. "All the folks at Oculus have got big smiles on today," he added. Despite missing out on that massive pay day, Longworth claims Sony is still very keen on the future potential of virtual reality. "If you think about VR, not just in terms of gaming, I think wearable technology is a huge trend that's going to continue," Longworth said. "I think that being able to have experiences that are truly deep and immersive - that it somehow makes you feel you are there - is something that people want." "If you could really deliver that in the future, that would be huge," he added, while making no mention of how Sony intends to deliver on this "huge" potential. [Image: Sony]
Sony: VR 'might be quite a social experience'
Sony is following Facebook onto the mass-market virtual reality bandwagon, according to comments made by the firm's London studio boss. Speaking with MCV, Dave Ranyard says that Sony has worked "quite hard" on something called the social screen in concert with its Project Morpheus VR headset, the former of which will attempt to link tablets or phones to a TV version of what the Morpheus user sees and thereby facilitate companion app play. "The 1970s future vision of virtual reality was a very solo experience of people playing on their own, Ranyard says. "But actually it might not be that, it might be quite a social experience."
