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Sony announces VR headset for the PS4

At the Game Developers Conference 2014, Sony has announced Project Morpheus, its long-rumoured VR headset, compatible with the PS4.

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Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
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At the Game Developers Conference 2014, Sony has announced Project Morpheus, its long-rumoured VR headset, compatible with the PS4.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

It's finally actually happening — Sony has announced its long-rumoured virtual-reality headset at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Called Project Morpheus — presumably after the character in The Matrix, a film in which all humans are living in virtual reality — the headset will mark serious competition for the Oculus Rift headset, which has been in development since at least early 2012 and has yet to hit the consumer market.

The headset in action. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

The headset was announced by Sony president Shuhei Yoshida, demonstrating footage of God of War played using the headset. "Nothing delivers a feeling of immersion better than VR," Yoshida said. "VR has been a dream of many gamers since the computer was invented. Many of us at PlayStation have dreamed of VR and what it could mean to the gaming community."

The headset, which is still in development, will be compatible with the PlayStation Move, PlayStation Eye and DualShock controller, and the company cited its considerable experience in optics for the visual technology. Software partners include Epic Games, Crytek, Unity and Autodesk.

Sony is yet to announce pricing release date information; we suspect that will be forthcoming later in the year. Stay tuned for more information as it arrives.