Sony playing with virtual reality games

Sony has been using games to experiment with "virtual reality-type experiences" on the futuristic head-mounted display visor unveiled earlier this year.

Develop heard from Sony Worldwide Studios' senior director Mick Hocking about "a number of games including first-person shooters" in experimentation. But Develop noted that there appeared to be "no solid product launch plans for now".

"At the moment it's just a head-mounted display," said Hocking, "the head isn't being tracked. But that's something we're doing R&D on.

"I have to say, what we've done in the R&D projects has just been fantastic. We're working with a couple of games at Sony that are experimenting with virtual reality type experiences."

Hocking talked excitedly about the prospect of virtual reality gaming in June, suggesting that the stars had aligned on the '80's favourite tech-dream.

"We've now got the power to do it, we've got the screen resolution to do it, we've got the processing power to update fast enough so we can have very immersive experiences on head-mounted displays in gaming in the not too distant future," he said.

"Being in a virtual world where I can see my virtual hands or a virtual gun with all the things we can do in the gaming world is going to be absolutely amazing."

Could the HMD visor also work in tandem with the PlayStation Move motion controller?

Mick Hocking will be talking about Sony's 3D masterplan at the Develop Conference in Brighton this week. We'll be there, covering all the thrills and spills as they happen.