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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.
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