There have been rumors for quite some time that a possible evolution of the PlayStation experience would come in the form of a head-mounted display. The patent was recently made public on the USPTO, and it details some very interesting possibilities for the future of gaming.
Virtual Reality could be the motion controls of this generation
From the patent details that recently surfaced on NeoGAF, Sony’s head-mounted display sounds very similar to what the Oculus Rift is — possibly even more ambitious.
The patent is undoubtedly for playing games and immersing players even further into them. But, Sony’s also patented technology that allows the headset to track themselves in the physical world, to avoid bumping into their surroundings.
A slew of imagery made it’s way to the net a short while ago, and you can find some of the images below. This type of virtual reality would be a logical step for Sony. Oculus Rift has gotten a ton of positive response lately, following their wildly successful Kickstarter campaign and exhibitions at gaming/technology conventions.
Industry pioneers like John Carmack have even dived headlong into VR. The Doom creator recently left his position at ID Software to work without distraction on the technology. Will Sony’s VR headset be seen a few years down the line? We saw a huge shift towards motion controls during the tail end of the last-gen, and we’ll have to wait and see if this is Sony’s next big thing for the PlayStation 4.