Sci-Tech Information: Sony Unveiled at Virtual Reality Headset at GDC 2014
The rumors are true: Sony's working on virtual reality. The hardware is called "Project Morpheus" and it's headed to the PlayStation 4. The headset is two pieces: a closed display and what looks like a PlayStation Move sensor built in. SCE Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida unveiled it on-stage at GDC 2014; he said the "prototype" is "by no means final." It's the culmination of over three years of work, Yoshida said, and the prototype unveiled tonight will also double as a dev kit.
As the picture shows, a subtle PlayStation-themed blue light is emitted by Morpheus. A single wire can be seen exiting the unit on-stage; apparently carrying both an HDMI and USB connection. Sony's clearly drinking the VR Kool-Aid: there's serious talk about "presence" on-stage (the term Valve coined as the target for "true VR").
What are the specs in the headset? It's got a 1080p display and just over a 90-degree field of view. There's positional head tracking, a 3-meter working volume with full 360-degree tracking that works with the PlayStation Camera, and games can recognize the PS Move controller as a virtual object.
In terms of audio, the device has "true spatial sound" using binaural audio -- pretty neat! It's also apparently "highly adjustable" and supports custom headphones if you'd prefer your own audio choice (it plugs right into the headset). Head below for more!
The current dev kit is wired, though the wire is "very long" (around five meters). The dev kit also has a "breakout box" between the headset and your television (akin to the original Oculus Rift dev kit).
PlayStation R&D engineer Richard Marks dug into the nitty-gritty a bit: He said Morpheus needs a high-resolution, high-quality screen ("no problem," he quipped), great sound (SCE is developing binaural tech to produce sound, incorporating that into the experience), tracking (he pointed out that the PS4 camera is "almost custom-built for VR"), and control (Sony's sticking with DualShocks, cameras and Move, apparently).
Marks admitted that VR needs to be easy to use -- as in, as simple as picking it up off the coffee table and quickly jumping in. So, perhaps no wire then? That's still unclear. He finished with a plea to devs to create content for Project Morpheus, "which is why we're announcing this at GDC." Sony's already working with a handful of devs, including Epic Games and Crytek. We expect it won't be too long before the large world of game devs jumps in.
Valve Refines 'Steam Controller,' Will Demo at 2014 GDC
Valve has gone back to the drawing board and reworked its controller prototype for its living-room "Steam Machine" gaming computers. We should clarify, though, that one could also theoretically usea Steam Controller as a replacement for one's typical keyboard and mouse setup €" up to you!
The company's tweaking should come as little surprise, given that Valve already teased out some of its changes at this past January's Steam Dev Days conference. What debuted yesterday is a much more accurate rendering of what the company plans to demonstrate at this year's Game Developers Conference next week. At first glance, it appears that Valve has really taken some of the early criticisms of the device to heart.
That, or the company is reverting a bit to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality of controller design.
Surviving Valve's redesign are the controller's two touch-sensitive trackpads that replace the more common analog sticks one might otherwise find on an Xbox or PlayStation controller (to name two examples). As before, these sit in the upper right and upper left sections of the controller, and they can be used as analog stick replacements or as simple trackpads for one's mouse cursor.
Joining these are four new directional buttons located in the middle-left of the controller's lower half. They remind us a bit of what it might look like if someone swapped the bottom and top halves of one of Sony's DualShock controllers.
The move now gives gamers a more traditional D-pad setup for a different kind of control in whatever games they're playing. We'd probably see ourselves using the D-pad more for fighting games than anything else, where the touch-sensitive trackpad might not feel as comfortable or accurate for gamers used to a more conventional setup.
Valve has also borrowed a page from just about every controller design in modern history by opting to place a new diamond-shaped, four-button "A, B, X, Y" layout to the right of the aforementioned D-pad. That's a bit of a departure from its previous design, which had these four buttons sitting around the corners of the controller's built-in touchscreen display.
Also gone? Said touchscreen display. Valve has axed this feature of the controller, preferring instead to concentrate three new buttons in the center of the controller previously occupied by the touchscreen. Two smaller buttons with "stop" and "play" logos sit on the left and right sides of a larger, lit-up Steam logo button, which we can only presume is the Steam Controller's version of a "Home" button that you find on most modern controllers.
Got it? The departures are a bit radical when you slap images of the two controllers side-by-side. For gamers, however, the changes bring Valve's controller more in line with that which is commonly used in the home console space €" it might hurt the controller's innovative qualities a little bit, but we suspect it'll make for a more seamless gaming experience for those transitioning over to Valve's device.
As the picture shows, a subtle PlayStation-themed blue light is emitted by Morpheus. A single wire can be seen exiting the unit on-stage; apparently carrying both an HDMI and USB connection. Sony's clearly drinking the VR Kool-Aid: there's serious talk about "presence" on-stage (the term Valve coined as the target for "true VR").
What are the specs in the headset? It's got a 1080p display and just over a 90-degree field of view. There's positional head tracking, a 3-meter working volume with full 360-degree tracking that works with the PlayStation Camera, and games can recognize the PS Move controller as a virtual object.
In terms of audio, the device has "true spatial sound" using binaural audio -- pretty neat! It's also apparently "highly adjustable" and supports custom headphones if you'd prefer your own audio choice (it plugs right into the headset). Head below for more!
The current dev kit is wired, though the wire is "very long" (around five meters). The dev kit also has a "breakout box" between the headset and your television (akin to the original Oculus Rift dev kit).
PlayStation R&D engineer Richard Marks dug into the nitty-gritty a bit: He said Morpheus needs a high-resolution, high-quality screen ("no problem," he quipped), great sound (SCE is developing binaural tech to produce sound, incorporating that into the experience), tracking (he pointed out that the PS4 camera is "almost custom-built for VR"), and control (Sony's sticking with DualShocks, cameras and Move, apparently).
Marks admitted that VR needs to be easy to use -- as in, as simple as picking it up off the coffee table and quickly jumping in. So, perhaps no wire then? That's still unclear. He finished with a plea to devs to create content for Project Morpheus, "which is why we're announcing this at GDC." Sony's already working with a handful of devs, including Epic Games and Crytek. We expect it won't be too long before the large world of game devs jumps in.
Valve Refines 'Steam Controller,' Will Demo at 2014 GDC
Valve has gone back to the drawing board and reworked its controller prototype for its living-room "Steam Machine" gaming computers. We should clarify, though, that one could also theoretically usea Steam Controller as a replacement for one's typical keyboard and mouse setup €" up to you!
The company's tweaking should come as little surprise, given that Valve already teased out some of its changes at this past January's Steam Dev Days conference. What debuted yesterday is a much more accurate rendering of what the company plans to demonstrate at this year's Game Developers Conference next week. At first glance, it appears that Valve has really taken some of the early criticisms of the device to heart.
That, or the company is reverting a bit to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality of controller design.
Surviving Valve's redesign are the controller's two touch-sensitive trackpads that replace the more common analog sticks one might otherwise find on an Xbox or PlayStation controller (to name two examples). As before, these sit in the upper right and upper left sections of the controller, and they can be used as analog stick replacements or as simple trackpads for one's mouse cursor.
Joining these are four new directional buttons located in the middle-left of the controller's lower half. They remind us a bit of what it might look like if someone swapped the bottom and top halves of one of Sony's DualShock controllers.
The move now gives gamers a more traditional D-pad setup for a different kind of control in whatever games they're playing. We'd probably see ourselves using the D-pad more for fighting games than anything else, where the touch-sensitive trackpad might not feel as comfortable or accurate for gamers used to a more conventional setup.
Valve has also borrowed a page from just about every controller design in modern history by opting to place a new diamond-shaped, four-button "A, B, X, Y" layout to the right of the aforementioned D-pad. That's a bit of a departure from its previous design, which had these four buttons sitting around the corners of the controller's built-in touchscreen display.
Also gone? Said touchscreen display. Valve has axed this feature of the controller, preferring instead to concentrate three new buttons in the center of the controller previously occupied by the touchscreen. Two smaller buttons with "stop" and "play" logos sit on the left and right sides of a larger, lit-up Steam logo button, which we can only presume is the Steam Controller's version of a "Home" button that you find on most modern controllers.
Got it? The departures are a bit radical when you slap images of the two controllers side-by-side. For gamers, however, the changes bring Valve's controller more in line with that which is commonly used in the home console space €" it might hurt the controller's innovative qualities a little bit, but we suspect it'll make for a more seamless gaming experience for those transitioning over to Valve's device.
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