I had some time on the last day of E3 2014 to hang out with Anton Mikhailov and Jeff Stafford, members of the Sony Project Morpheus team. They were wrapping up their final demos and wanted me to come back to try their Street Luge demo and chat.
At the time, I was hanging out with fellow podcasters Bobby Blackwolf and Rob Roberts of the Voice of Geeks Network, and the Sony team was gracious enough to let me bring them along. While I was there, we sat down and recorded a fantastic podcast.
We start off by talking about the Street Luge demo, and how they almost didn’t show it. The question was whether or not folks would get sick, and it turns out that everyone loved it. We then talk about the history of the Castle demo, and why the dragon eats you.
I brought up that Palmer Luckey from Oculus tried Morpheus at the SVVR Conference & Expo, and they discuss how they have a great relationship with Oculus and allow each other to try their demos. It feels like the old Homebrew computer clubs, and knowledge is being openly shared.
Sony loves indie developers. We talk about the cost of the development kit and how important indie games are to the VR ecosystem. They are seeking out new demos and love to talk to these developers about their work.
We discuss the EVE: Valkyrie demos on the Morpheus and the Oculus Rift. Both experiences should be similar, but keep in mind that there are differences in the hardware.
What is that box connected to the Morpheus headset doing? It splits the screen off so a “social screen” can be viewed by other people in the room while you are using Morpheus. It also handles 3D audio.
New Morpheus development kit iterations are constantly being made. They were showing version six at E3 2014. Three years into the project, they are still working on the final form.
We dig into using Playstation Move as their VR controllers, and that they may pursue something new down the road. Right now, they are focusing on nailing their current setup. Mobile support for Morpheus on devices such as the PS Vita might also come down the road at some point.
Can I buy Morpheus and just use it on my high end PC? The question ended up taking an interesting turn.
Thanks to Anton and Jeff for inviting me back to the Sony room to chat at the end of the show.
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