Sony announces Project Morpheus VR headset

Sony has unveiled its own virtual-reality PlayStation 4 headset, and for now it's called Project Morpheus. It's not the first Sony headset; in fact, the company has had non-gaming models for years. This, however, is Sony's entry to VR gaming, project Morpheus is PS4-only. Project Morpheus, as it was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference panel in San Francisco.

 According to Richard Marks from Sony R&D, the plans for Project Morpheus reach beyond gaming, to promised partnerships with NASA and uses for immersive science

.The Project Morpheus dev kit Sony is currently using has a 1080p display and a "90-plus degree" field of view. It boasts position and rotation head tracking, three-meter working volume, 360 degrees of movement, and the ability to use DualShock 4 and Move controllers simultaneously. But, for now, Project Morpheus is hard-wired: wireless capability is something Sony's looking into, but don't expect any announcements anytime soon. 

Sony already has some developers onboard and working on experiences with Project Morpheus, including heavy hitters like Crytek and Epic. That's good news, and exactly what Sony will need to make its VR gaming technology succeed.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions, such as price and release date, but maybe an even more important question is whether this offers enough of an increase in immersion and interactively over traditional gaming to be worth our interest. I think it does, but in playing around with what's available today, these things are years away from producing something I'd actually consider purchasing. Traditional gaming still works for me.

   And despite the efforts of many game developers, motion-controlled gaming via Kinect and Move never really took off like Sony and Microsoft imagined. Can VR be different? Sony's latest attempt -- along with every other VR solution -- will have its work cut out for it to make the case to mainstream consumers.

• Sony plans to release the device by March 31, 2015, the end of the next fiscal year.

• They intend to sell it somewhere between $ 250 – 299 and subsidize part of the actual costs.

• Morpheus won’t work with PCs. Sony wants to recoup costs by compelling people to buy more PS4s because of the device