GDC 16: Getting face time with the PlayStation Morpheus

et’s face it folks, the hip new trend to hit video games this generation is most definitely VR; the future of games is starting to sound like it’s not all that promising unless you’re doing it with some techno ski mask strapped to your face.

Between issues like the stability of the hardware’s performance to the very accessibility of admission to it, VR is saddled with a quite a hurdle to overcome if it has any hopes of being successful in the public eye.

It would appear that Sony has taken these obstacles into account however, and has adapted their Project Morpheus accordingly in order to best appeal to the sensibilities of the average game consumer.

I finally got the opportunity at this GDC to sit down at the Sony booth and put this thing on my face, and I have to admit, this new future of VR is looking bright for Sony if they keep up what they’re doing with the Morpheus.

As I was equipped with the apparatus upon my dome, I was told that I was able to keep my glasses on, as the visual effects would not be compromised by my corrective lenses; the reality of this boast was mostly right, as there was admittedly some inconsistency with the fidelity of the devices graphical performance.

The familiar issues of Saccadic masking did occur with my session on the Morpheus, but nowhere near to the degree of the original model of the Oculus Rift. In spite of those in-frequent moments of blurring in, and out, the graphical output was just as sharp and vivid on the Morpheus display as it would’ve been on any HDTV—rendering even the troublesome perimeters of the lenses that most other contemporaries VR sets have difficulty articulating well.

The blurring was also able to be improved from the ergonomic setup of the Morpheus, as the device isn’t bonded to your face like a mask, but is rested upon your head, with the VR portion hanging in front of your view like a visor, one that could be adjusted numerous ways for both comfort, and focus of the video quality.

As I was all geared up, the first demo that I participated in was PlayStation VR World, a game filled with several smaller titles and experience that’re specifically designed to flesh out the nuance of VR interaction. The screen faded out, and as I looked around, I was transported into the passenger seat of a getaway car, in Sony’s London Heist.

While my foul-mouth companion went on, and on about the struggles that came with the current payload that we snagged, I took the opportunity to stress just how much virtual real-estate of the stage that the Morpheus was able to scan and render, spoiler warning—it was quite a bit.

Looking to my immediate left (because I’m in London so the passenger seat’s there you silly-sallies) I was able to survey the most minute of details in a highway that careening past me with an authentic sense of momentum and velocity you’d get from riding a car at top speed down the highway. Continuing to rotate my head, I discovered that the world still went on, and that I was even able to look behind me, and actually reach into the backseat of our own car to grab items out of the back of it with my Move controller—just like everything else that was immediately in front of me prior to turning around.

The immersion didn’t have some awkward stopgap; The Morpheus is capable of populating a work that exists entirely around you, and one that can accurately respond and react to whatever motion you make accordingly. Suddenly, the spectacle of the game shifted, and our vehicle was attacked by a mob of rival gangsters, and these dudes were pissed.

The simulation remained consistently intuitive throughout the action sequence, using the one Move controller to grab magazines of ammunition in one hand from the bag next to me, and load them into the sub-automatic Uzi I was holding in the other hand, aiming and shifting from target to target, was incredibly engaging; so much so, that when it came to an end, the transition out of the game with the goggles was temporarily disorienting.

Only temporarily of course.

I also got some time with another title, one from a property that I’m very familiar with, REZ Infinite, and the way the title used the Morpheus to enhance its frenetic action was nothing short of mystifying. Applying some of the same principles that I did before, I took advantage of constantly shifting my head to look all around me, and as I had expected, the stage was fully rendered everywhere I looked, adding a new depth to the game where I felt like I had a lease on targeting enemies who once could’ve easily escape my line of sight once they flew out of it from the previous entries—The Morpheus accentuated everything that great about the game with VR.

While I would’ve hardly called myself a skeptic when it came to VR, I weirdly felt a sense of fatigue about it, and none of the damn things are even out in an official commercial capacity yet; the Morpheus however is easily the most accessible one among the herd, and fortunately, one of the more technically impressive as well.

The price point of $400 is steep, but for it what it offers, and the ease of use and access that it offers in contrast to everything else VR—October is bound to make for an exciting start to the Holiday season for Sony and PS4 owners alike, the Morpheus is the real deal, and I personally look forward to its release.