Sony to reportedly take on Oculus Rift with PlayStation 4 VR headset

Shawn Knight

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sony playstation virtual reality playstation 4 oculus rift

Multiple reports hit the web today suggesting Sony is working on a virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4. Sources claim the device borrows from the Oculus Rift in terms of functionality and is already undergoing internal testing with upcoming PS4 titles.

Sources say the device is currently being tested with DriveClub, Sony’s racing simulator and one of several PS4 launch titles. With the headset, gamers would be able to freely look around in a car’s cockpit.

The initial idea was to unveil the headset at Gamescom but those plans were scrapped at the last minute. Part of the problem appears to lie in how to market the device. Should it be sold as a must-have hardware accessory that makes it stand apart from the Xbox One or would it be best to push it as a basic gaming enhancement?

We are hearing the headset resembles Sony’s 3D HMZ headset, a 3D viewfinder that was first revealed in January 2011 and shown at last year’s Tokyo Game Show. Although it was some three ounces lighter than the HMZ-T1 shown the year before, The Verge found the unit still wasn’t terribly comfortable to wear and the $900 price tag didn’t help matters much either.

When we might actually see the headset publically reminds unknown, however, as some say it will be shown at this month’s Tokyo Game Show while others suggest it won’t be revealed until sometime next year.

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This is really really bad news for Oculus rift, sony being so big, wont have a problem marketing, the hell out of a similiar product, assuming it matches the fuctionality of RIFT.
 
The competition is good, so in the midst of this may come out a real good product. A few month ago as I watched Oculus's story I was underwhelmed by the 720P resolution they fit into this thing, sounds like something from the old days. Seriously, it is supposed to be like a cinema around you, but at that resolution it just sucks. I know that following the deserved criticism they decided to change it to 1080P, which is probably ok for most of people, or the first version of the product at least.

I would suspect Sony will introduce something that will have resolution not less than 1080P, possibly higher, given how progressive they are with screen technology... we'll see...
 
Hearing Jon Carmack speak about the rift I believe this may be interesting to see what sony has to offer. Perhaps the current downfalls of the rift and what it could take to make it better will be pushed now that Sony has brought this out.
 
@guest: Except, it'll probably be lauded as a Playstation exclusive headset. Sure someone will figure out how to hack their way into it and come up with a way to port it to the PC, but the Oculus Rift already fairly substantial base of users salivating to get their hands on a set, as well as a number of PC games already offering (a number of them being older titles) or preparing to offer support (such as the in development Star Citizen). Excluding the PS4 exclusivity that will likely occur, at $300 for the developers kit, the Sony model will have to beat that by a wide margin, else they are trying to sell a 1st party accessory for almost the same cost of the console itself since their first party users are console gamers, not PC gamers. The last time I checked console gamers don't take kindly to that.
 
Interesting to see that Sony really hasn't learnt much in the last 10 years. Instead of competing why don't they invest in the Oculus Rift.
 
This is really really bad news for Oculus rift, sony being so big, wont have a problem marketing, the hell out of a similiar product, assuming it matches the fuctionality of RIFT.

I think it is a bad move for Sony. Large companies like Sony usually get it wrong the first time around because it is a reaction to a market trend.

3D glasses and TVs are already looked at by the public as gimmicks. I fear it could be bad news for VR at this early state if Sony does a bad implementation.

If anything Sony should create a relationship (if possible, a console exclusive) with Oculus VR, to make the technology work seamlessly with PS4 and even PS3. Get the SDK put on their platform and even invest in this new company. Work with indies to make their games VR ready even if doing mild VR effects.

I would really be excited to have Move aiming and VR view where I can aim projectiles and look around separately like the Wiimote brought to console gaming.

Sony has a habit of doing things half ares and not focusing enough. PS4 is a first real sign that they are learning something from the market. Investing in indie. If they cannot get the price down for mass market and do it right they could work to hurt this new market segment before it gets a leg up in the market.
 
Oculus VR said a couple weeks back I think it was that they had no interest in
focusing on consoles.
Oculus VR says they are focusing on mobile and PC\Mac hardware.

Anyway, of course there will be like 50 different models n makers out in a short time.
Look for your local cheap China rip off version soon at a website near u....'r pc

Whatever Sony and MS will do the v1.0 will probably melt on your face from some
sort of heat problem :p
It might also be a little bit to expensive add on for console since I would be
locked @ what MS\Sony will let us have of software.
A few game titles and a couple free app's and all of them costing money.
Pretty much gone be looking at a slow crawl of incoming soft.

Ye u get the Sony movies streaming for it right out of the box, that be a plus but
sadly what if I want to look at movies and series not on their thingy?.

MS wanna play your local tv streaming station whit their new box so whatever they
come up whit will probably be a better\but cheap solution ( that will melt on ur face :p )

On Pc and mobile systems running things like Android and Win and Probably Mac..
u get a million apps and games pretty fast.
And u get the fun of being able to crawl the web and find some gems here and there
to play whit whenever u feel like messing around whit this new toy thing.

Atm I am actually sold more on Oculus for my pc than new Paystation or
Mismanagementsoft console. "see what I did there....giggles"

And then there is Star Citizen :D ............(modsuport(y) ) and we are gone get almost any
pc game ever made that u can cfg to work be suported or cracked\emulated to work whit this.

Rant End! ...... "omg shatap"
 
Oculus VR said a couple weeks back I think it was that they had no interest in
focusing on consoles.
Oculus VR says they are focusing on mobile and PC\Mac hardware.

Anyway, of course there will be like 50 different models n makers out in a short time.
Look for your local cheap China rip off version soon at a website near u....'r pc

Whatever Sony and MS will do the v1.0 will probably melt on your face from some
sort of heat problem :p
It might also be a little bit to expensive add on for console since I would be
locked @ what MS\Sony will let us have of software.
A few game titles and a couple free app's and all of them costing money.
Pretty much gone be looking at a slow crawl of incoming soft.

Ye u get the Sony movies streaming for it right out of the box, that be a plus but
sadly what if I want to look at movies and series not on their thingy?.

MS wanna play your local tv streaming station whit their new box so whatever they
come up whit will probably be a better\but cheap solution ( that will melt on ur face :p )

On Pc and mobile systems running things like Android and Win and Probably Mac..
u get a million apps and games pretty fast.
And u get the fun of being able to crawl the web and find some gems here and there
to play whit whenever u feel like messing around whit this new toy thing.

Atm I am actually sold more on Oculus for my pc than new Paystation or
Mismanagementsoft console. "see what I did there....giggles"

And then there is Star Citizen :D ............(modsuport(y) ) and we are gone get almost any
pc game ever made that u can cfg to work be suported or cracked\emulated to work whit this.

Rant End! ...... "omg shatap"
Bananas.
 
VitalyT well since your not a fan or just have a hard time reading, when the dev kits were first introduced it was made very very clear that the resolution would increase as they could get their hands on better and better screens. standard tv broadcast is 480p ([FONT=sans-serif][FONT=sans-serif][FONT=sans-serif]854×480 at its [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=sans-serif]highest [/FONT][FONT=sans-serif]aspect ratio[/FONT][FONT=sans-serif]) which is the old days since the mid 90s and even still now in some cases. small light weight and relatively cheap (cheap for the last 5years) screens that make the rift possible have only been around for maybe 10 years or less.[/FONT]

deserved criticism my a.. I haven't seen any, every one already knew that the screens would get better, it was planned.
 
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