I’m not sure whether or not Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida’s recent comments about virtual reality excite me, or disappoint me. As thrilled as I am that both Oculus VR and now Sony intend to release a virtual reality product to the masses within the next year or two, I suppose I also let myself get a bit swept away by Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for a VR-enabled future. You know, the one he posted about on his personal Facebook page. That day will come eventually, but it’s not even close to “soon.”
Yoshida spoke to Dan Hsu at GamesBeat, and his comments on both Project Morpheus and the future of virtual reality as a whole are well worth reading. When asked about whether or not Sony views Oculus as a competitor, Yoshida said the following.
I was telling my people that it’s going to be like PlayStation 1 was to 3D real-time graphics for games. PS1 was the very first console that allowed developers to use realtime 3D rendering tech to make games. Initially, they were very limited arcade games, like Ridge Racer or Virtua Fighter. People weren’t sure how 3D graphics could be used for games. Some people at the large Japanese publishers were very skeptical about 3D graphics tech. But after 20 years, things have really progressed. We have amazing games like The Last of Us or Journey or Beyond — games that use 3D realtime rendering for a variety of things.
So Morpheus is virtual reality’s PS1, eh? That’s a pretty un-exciting way of phrasing it. Still, it’s not as if we can peer into the future at Morpheus version two, so here’s hoping the sheer novelty of VR-at-home will drown out some of the technology’s limitations.
Yoshida went on to say that he can foresee “another 20 years” of progress for Morpheus and VR technology, and that Zuckerberg’s prophecies describe a “future vision” rather than something we can expect in a year or two. Somewhat surprisingly, Yoshida compared Morpheus to the Wii U,saying that it could also be used in conjunction with existing technology for new types of gameplay experiences.
The London Studio guys suggested that they wanted a second screen that looked normal, so they could design a game such that the people wearing the headset can play with other people who are watching. It’s like a Wii U game. One person may be running away while all the others might be trying to catch Mario. It’s that asymmetrical gameplay.
For [Project Morpheus game] The Deep, we didn’t show this at GDC, but the demo is designed so that people watching can use a tablet and draw a line to instruct the sea turtle where to appear and swim around the cage. The shark is attracted and chases the turtle. People watching can influence the experience along with the people who are wearing the display by leading the shark and showing it where to appear. Something like that — that’s designed into the system very easily.
It’s a smart idea, thinking up creative use-cases — after all, people need ways to enjoy the technology while they wait for Morpheus Elder Scrolls and Zuck’s bold future. The interview is quite fascinating, so be sure to check out the rest of what Yoshida had to say if you need that VR news itch scratched. Whether or not virtual reality is the next paradigm after polygonal 3D remains to be seen, but either way, there’s going to be a lot of waiting involved before we find out.
