Sony Morpheus Virtual Reality Helmet Ready for Launch in 2016

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Morpheus, the code name for Sony’s new virtual reality headset, will be expected to release next year according to the company. Of course, the release date is not a hundred percent certain, since 2016 is pretty far away, but we hope the gadget will release as soon as possible. Sony announced at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that they are releasing an upgraded Morpheus helmet in 2016, which will be superior to the current one. The headgear will be compatible with Sony’s gaming console, the Playstation 4. This headset would be a great deal for the company, since if they can make the Morpheus the official virtual reality headgear for the PS4, most of Playstation consoles owners will purchase Sony’s helmet, instead of other companies’ headgears.

The look stayed almost the same, however the hardware and the functions have gone through a serious upgrade in the VR headset. To bring the Morpheus in line with its biggest rival, Facebook’s Oculus Rift, they changed the LCD display to a more beautiful OLED one. Sony also stated that their virtual reality headgear will have a capability to show graphics at 120 FPS (Frames Per Seconds). This new upgrade on the FPS will enhance the gaming experience, since the graphics will be much smoother. It could sound weird, however higher frame rate is healthier, as low fps could cause nausea, while high frames per seconds can reduce the risk of the issue. 120 FPS is the frame rate, where gamers don’t realize any changes to the graphics. The announced frame rate caused an impact on the market too, since so far Sony has the only VR headset, which frame rate can go up to 120. Amongst the competitors HTC’s Vive has the highest FPS, which is only 90. This will attract hardcore (or customers who like more FPS in video games) gamers to the Sony Morpheus.

Sony Morpheus Virtual Reality HelmetSony announced a software update for the VR headset, fixing bugs, tweaking different functions, and most importantly, allowing the gadget to double its frame rate (from 60 to 120) with the use of creating an “in-between frame”.

The Details
Sony announced that Morpheus will have a change in latency rate too. Latency is the time gap between the user moving his or her head and the responding of the headgear. The latency has caused several problems in the VR gaming, since high latency will result in, the nightmare of the gamers, lag. To avoid the latter problem, Sony has changed the Morpheus’s latency rate from 0.04 seconds to 0.018. The rate is almost twice as low as it was in the previous version of the product. The time frames would not seem too much, since 0.04 seconds is not really a long tract. However, that duration could ruin someone’s gaming experience.

Sony changed the size of the display too. It was 5 inches before, now it is 5.7 inches (which is 14.5 cm). The screen will provide a higher FOV (field of view) for the users, making it 100. This will be more than enough for most of the games.

The number of head movement tracker LEDs has been increased from the previous version’s six to 9. This will greatly improve the stability of the 360 degree tracking. The tracking is made by a separate camera of the Playstation 4.

Removing the headgear will become much easier too, since Sony has implemented a new “remove headset button”.

Playstation executive, Shuhei Yoshida, said that this version of the Morpheus virtual reality headset is in a near final state. This means that the company will make several improvements and fixes in the near future. So, if we call the previous version of the VR gear “alpha” and the now upgraded one “beta”, most probably the next version will be the final.

So Far, So Good
The new, upgraded version of Sony’s Morpheus headgear has gone through quite a lot of major improvements, which will affect gaming experience in a rather positive way. It seems like they fixed one of the biggest problems of the previous version of the hardware, the high latency and the rough visuals. With the, “near final” virtual reality Morpheus headset, Sony can make a really a huge impact in the market.

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