As soon as the Sony VR headset "Project Morpheus" was announced at GDC, the first thing that came into mind for some people is that how would it fare against the newly announced Oculus Rift Development Kit 2? According to the specs and the response to actual demos of these products, the answer may surprise you.
According to the specs of the Oculus Rift DK2 as revealed by Oculus VR, the resolution is 960 x 1080 per eye, the refresh rates are 75 Hz, 72 Hz and 60 Hz, and the persistence is 2 ms, 3 ms and full. The viewing optics also provide a nominal 100 degree field of view.
The headset also features a gyroscope, accelerometer and a magnetometer, with an update rate of 1000 Hz. Positional tracking is handled by a near infrared CMOS sensor with an update rate of 60 Hz.
The Oculus Rift works with all PC compatible control peripherals and yes, the Kinect and other Motion Capture devices work on it as well.
The Oculus Rift development kit 2 costs $350 USD.
Meanwhile, Sony revealed during GDC 2014 that its Project Morpheus prototype HMD provides a 1080p resolution and 90 degree field of view. This unit also provides accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, as well as a PlayStation camera that tracks head orientation and head movement.
This device also uses new 3D audio technology that re-creates stereoscopic sounds in all directions and changes in real-time depending on the wearer's head orientation. The device is also compatible with the DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller and PlayStation Move, making for an interesting VR experience.
"The prototype for Project Morpheus is the culmination of our work over the last 3+ years as we've refined our vision for VR," states Sony's blog. "This prototype will serve as the first development kit for PS4 developers that are as enthusiastic about this new medium as we are."
While the Oculus Rift has near unanimous approval in its test demos, the Project Morpheus was a bit lackluster when it came to the actual demos.
Ben Gilbert from Engadget.com had this to say about Project Morpheus when he tried it:
"Project Morpheus, right now, is a little uncomfortable. In so many words, it feels like a prototype still. As a demo man fit the headset on my generously sized noggin, he tightened a variety of different adjustments: one that tightened the whole unit on my head, another that brought the display portion forward toward my eyes. When you initially put it on, there's a gap between where you're looking and below -- certainly not a great way to create immersion"
"There are still some pretty major issues to overcome in Project Morpheus. Vision blur, for instance, is a much bigger problem on Morpheus than on Crystal Cove/Rift DK2. The screen resolution is also clearly not as high as DK2, making everything a bit muddier, visually speaking."
Compare that to this hands on demo of the Oculus Rift:
