While Sony was happy with last year’s model of Project Morpheus, they noticed that people at events couldn’t understand how to put it on without some help. So, as Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, told Eurogamer, the hardware designers focused on making it easy with the new model revealed at GDC 2015 (above):
We really, really want people to be able to buy, open the box and use it without anyone helping, so now we have this one unified band solution. Now we’re pretty happy.
To go along with an easy to use design, Shuhei explained that Morpheus’ specs have to be right the first time around:
Because we’re a console, right? It’s a console not a PC, we have to make it right on the first time so people can use it for many years…. Our model is to produce great hardware that lasts for years, and we can cost-reduce that over the years.
Talking about some the challenges virtual reality gaming presents – such as walking into walls – Shuhei says “the game design is going to have to be very well thought out.” For something like the ability to move the camera with the right analog stick, he brought up the Alien: Isolation Oculus demo:
The mood and the suspense are great but once you start rotating the camera with a right analogue stick, it makes you feel sick. For that, we still don’t have a solution. So I asked the same question to John Carmack. He came to try our demos and he said that it’s a ‘difficult issue’ [laughs].
Shuhei concluded the interview by talking about how they’re “very friendly with the Oculus guys,” sharing opinions and inviting each other to show the latest game demos. “So for both companies,” he says, “from a management standpoint, we are helping each other to get the engineers to work harder by creating healthy competition.”
[Source: Eurogamer]
