Ben-DutkaThe next generation of virtual reality is only about a year away.
During the 2015 Game Developers Conferene, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) revealed the new prototype of Project Morpheus, the VR tech in the works for PlayStation 4.
The device has been significantly improved upon since its initial unveiling in March 2014: Rather than a 5-inch LCD screen, Morpheus will now come equipped with a 5.7-inch 1920 x 1080p OLED display. This will help remove motion blur and flicker, expands the field of view, and "enables low persistence." We also get 120fps output. Yep, that's right; 120 images per second and thanks to an upcoming system software update, all PS4s will be capable of natively handling 120fps.
The headset will further boast accurate tracking and reduced latency, and will feature three more LEDs for a total of nine. Morpheus continues to support 360-degree tracking and these extra LEDs "improve robustness and stability." Said SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida:
"With the technical specs achieved on the new prototype, we are one step closer to realizing our vision for making amazing VR experiences on PS4, and ultimately to deliver a real sense of presence to players. We believe that the near-final technology of Morpheus combined with the power of PS4 will provide a standard for game developers to target as they build on their creative ideas and turn them into VR games and experiences."
Lastly, an estimated release window: Project Morpheus should be ready to go during the first half of 2016. Excited?
mmmh. I want one. Apparently the headset can also handle games at 60FPS (those that aren't natively 120HZ) just fine through some internal processing.
This may mean more regular PS4 games pushing for that 60FPS standard going forward. That way there'd be more compatibility and software selection with Morpheus.
BRING ON THE RACERS and spaceship games!
Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/3/2015 9:49:05 PM
Racing games………………. cvqwet1q34v6146!!?010111
Gran Turismo is going to blow up the PS4 if Kaz can play his best hand.
There's no problem for a screen of 120hz to handle 30 frames either, or any other frame rate less or equal to 120. It's no technical dependency between the two, no special processing required. But it does mean that screen tearing may be less of an issue since the images flick past so fast.
"We only played the one demo – London Studio's Heist – and it allowed us to sample what is going to be a crucial element of the Morpheus SDK. The demo itself is visually rich, apparently running at 60fps, but the PS4 uses a form of frame-rate upscaling that Sony calls reprojection in order to give the illusion of a higher frame-rate. The idea is that midway between rendering each native image, the PS4 interpolates an intermediate frame based on revised motion data fed to the console from the HMD. Right now we'd say that the jury's out on the technology – it didn't exactly feel as though it was running at a significantly higher frame-rate and indeed, at some points it felt that the 60fps target wasn't adhered to. However, even if we're not quite dealing with super-slick perfection, the quality of the immersion is absolutely remarkable. This is VR that not only works but leaves a lasting impression. An hour on from the hands-on session and I'm still excited about it."
Stop pretending you're an expert beamboom.
And many have gone on record stating 30fps looks like crap with vr. We likely won't see many if any 30fps games on the unit.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/4/2015 10:49:39 AM
I'm nowhere near an expert, but I do know what refresh rate is.
Refresh rate only describes how many times the screen is able to draw during one second. How many frames the gpus send to the screen does not matter at all – it will still refresh the picture at that same, steady rate. No special processing is required for a 120hz screen to show any frame rate at all – or a variable frame rate for that matter. They are two totally different entities.
So a 120hz screen only means it can draw 120 pictures during one second. Even if the gpus can push more than 120 frames during that second, the screen will still only refresh at a rate of 120. If it only delivers 50, those 50 frames will be displayed, but at a refresh rate on the screen of 120. That's a constant! Same with 5 fps, or 1fps. That single frame will then be displayed on that screen with a refresh rate of 120.
What you quote now, is how they apparently have "upscaled" the frame rate. That is a different topic! They are "faking" a higher rate, seemingly in a clever way. It still does not change the fact that there is no special processing required for a 120hz screen to display any number of rendered frames up to 120.
That's what it looked to me like you were claiming in your first post here, that it "apparently" can not only handle 120 fps but also 60. Well… Of course it can.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood you.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/4/2015 1:14:59 PM
cool beans. sorry for being blunt.
Thank you, Temjin.
And congrats on the smoke 🙂 What engine are you using? Or are you doing it low-level?
A bit out off topic, but does "..all PS4s will be capable of natively handling 120fps.." mean the PS4 can "force" games to run a higher fps setting?
No, only that the PS4 will be able to push 120 frames a second to this device. It can't force a program to perform better than it can.
There's two types of frame rates in this equation: One is the number of frames a game render, another is the refresh rate of the screen. And as far as I can understand it must be the latter we talk about here.
Except the ps4 can't do anything about the refresh rate. So it is not the latter but the former. It is up to the tv for the refresh rate b
Sawao, the driver (ergo the ps4 firmware) must support the hz too and obviously the screens must support it. But Sony must be talking about refresh rate and not frame rate, that must be a misinterpretation from Ben. It's not very fancypancy to do so though, but you know Sony and their hype machine…
No way the PS4 can "force" any game to produce more frames than it can. Had it only been that simple.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/4/2015 9:31:18 AM
1 1080P screen!?
ONE!?
so, 540P per eye!?
thats a joke right!?!?!?!?!?
surely $ony does not expect us to lay out 550+ bucks for the ps4, plus 300+ bucks or whatever the morpheus ends up being, plus 100+ bucks for each game, for STANDARD DEFINITION!!!!!!!!
im sorry $ony but you just cant have a VR headset with a 1080P screen you just cant!
seeing the massive success the ps4 has been i really was expecting a 2560×1600 display.
something NEEDED for VR!
It's still a prototype.
You have some interesting expectations underscore… So you expect the PS4 with additional VR processing to handle 1600p when it can just about handle 1080p without all that??
That is of course a blisteringly good point by Crabba here 🙂
yea its still a prototype but shu said its near final specs and they are using this for developers to start building games off.
if they were going to move to a 2560×1440 display they would of done it by now.
of course the ps4 cant handle UHD games, but just because the screen has a native resolution of 2560×1440 does not mean games have to run at that resolution.
games could run at 1080P and still benefit, practically eliminating the screen door effect thats plaguing even the amazing oculus rift DK2.
exactly why i barely use mine its constantly giving me splitting headaches because of the eye strain, and also it makes games look really crappy.
VR is suppose to bring you into the experience, not take it out!
and thats what really pisses me off, i can see this turning into the next 3D, simply because $ony are too tighta$$ed to put in the needed specs!
if valve and f*cking HTC can afford it, then surely one of the worlds biggest electronic companies, off the back of all the d*ck flapping at GDC of selling 20.2M ps4s, can afford it!
There's so many vr sets in production now, I'm sure you'll find a much more expensive one to complain over.
Sony can't do more than they can do with what they have. First and foremost they need to make a device that the console crowd find affordable. To throw an insane gear at an insane price on a platform that, let's face it, is for the mass market makes no business sense whatsoever. They'll not buy it. It would flop.
The whole task is to make something good enough for the market segment you are serving. And Sony usually do that.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/6/2015 5:12:37 AM
or to cheap out and completely drag down a perfectly good piece of innovative technology, like they did with move, vita, and 3D.
Vitas flop has absolutely nothing to do with "cheaping out", nor has Move. They are gone for each their reasons, but it was not due to Sony cheaping out when making them. Or do you really think that Vita would have succeeded at twice the price?! No, don't even try to claim so.
And please, stop thumbing up yourself, it looks so damn dumb.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/6/2015 10:12:53 AM
no not cheaping out, leaving out things that should be there and make the experience.
it amazes me how small minded you people really are.
$onys one of THE biggest electronic companies out there, people are going to go to the morpheous, try it, and say yep this exactly why i didnt believe the hype its crap VR just aint ready, the techs not ready yet.
and not bother trying other devices, amusing $ony is $ony, and they will be the ones bringing the best technology to it.
is that really so hard to understand!?
Interesting times indeed. It's also recently revealed that Valve is creating a VR set in cooperation with HTC, at a refresh rate of 90hz and a resolution of 1200×1080 per eye (two screens).
It's due to be released this holiday season.
Valve just should get back to Half Life 3
sounds good and sounds like they are putting the finishing touchs on this and then, let the immersion begin i guess….. well lets see how this goes aye. but i must say the specs sounds lot better
happy gaming
Cool beans. But does that update mean a smart dev could have their game run at 120fps on a normal tv? Cuz that would make for incredibleness.
yes. but to get games to appear that much smoother the GPU would have to fill the framebuffer twice as fast. So basically that means less visual complexity and detail to meet that sort of speed.
Woo hoo! I just got my linear fog shader to work.
You know how Order uses all that cool fog? I can code that =)
Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/4/2015 12:03:08 PM
It depends on the refresh rate of the TV, Temjin! That's my point in the reply further up too.
The gpus can spit out a thousand frames a second (something it easily can do on a still image with vsync turned off), you'd still only be exposed to 60 of them on a 60hz screen.
yes. it would require also a TV that outputs 120hz as Beamboom clarified.
That sorta thing to me seems obvious to anyone but I realize that's probably not true.
Congrats on the fog, The Order dust and fog is amazing.
my only issue, is that I DON'T have any interest in buying one VR set for my PS4, and another for my computer… And no offense to Sony, but I'm not about to prioritize Morpheus/PS4 over Oculus/PC. I KNOW which will put out the better performance.
Morpheus is fine for the average game that wants to try VR…
I just really have a bad feeling about all this. We have HDMI as a standard… Shouldn't we settle on a VR standard. Mutually compatible tracking protocols, protocol compliant image structure… So you could spend what you're willing to spend. Get a Morpheus on your PS4 and use it on your PC. Get an Oculus, for your PC, use it on your PS4.
I feel this is likely NOT going to be the case… And I don't see myself going out of my way to buy anything exclusively proprietary.