Microsoft: We’re willing to “see how the VR space evolves”

Sony officially announced its Project Morpheus virtual reality headset last night, and plenty of other companies have been following Oculus' lead into the VR and/or augmented reality spaces at GDC. In that light, many observers are now eagerly watching for any hints of similar plans from Microsoft beyond the already rumored head-mounted display.

[Paulie_gualtieri]

One thing i don't like about MS.Rarely willing to take a risk and try something bold.

They typically wait for someone else to break the mold and set the standard, then they buy their way in.

[JBSleek]

As opposed to if VR doesn't take off right now and they wasted time and money into the resources that aren't ready to be adopted by mainstream.

MS is a software company first and foremost.

[Paulie_gualtieri]

"As opposed to if VR doesn't take off right now"

Not my point.I'm saying they would Never be bold enough to be a leader in this forefront to begin with.

"MS is a software company first and foremost."
..who also happen to have a dedicated console hardware team with a massive R&D budget.And look where they put that budget with Xbox one.

I can switch between my tv and games on a single hdmi!

so bold!

[LOGICWINS]

Which makes sense?

If someone tries something new and it flops, I wouldn't want to be that dumbass who invested all that R&D money.

Hardware is only a good as the software running on it...and as far as software, we know next to nothing. I'll get excited about VR when I see something to get excited about.

[AceBlazer13]

Now if every company had that mentality where would we be?

[JBSleek]

Not a response to you logic.

"Now if every company had that mentality where would we be?"

Many companies do that and fail. More companies fail than they do succeed with this indeed mentality. It makes sense for MS a SOFTWARE company to wait and see what VR is and whether people want it. They do take risks. Calculated risks.

[JoGam]

Sorry buddy but MS did take some huge bold risk. Did you forget all of 2013? Did you forget all those risk MS took just to change them when it backlashed. Its great that a company take risk but it even better when they learn from the mistakes of the risk.

[Paulie_gualtieri]

How did they take a risk when they didn't commit?They had a bold vision of a an all digital future and turned heel and ran at the first sign of trouble and as soon as they realized Sony was sticking with no DRM.So much for their great plan, eh?

Edit below:
People also flipped out when Sony introduced the PS1 and Discs instead of Nintendo's standard cartridges.Same with DVD in PS2 and Blu-ray with PS3.Going against the vocal crowds and committing to your plan, to me, is more risky then what MS did last year.

[JoGam]

No dude they did take the risk. Putting out there what they wanted to do, was taking a risk. However because they didn't have the backing of the consumers they decided to backtrack. It was the consumers who made MS change their mind. We all know MS would have kept to there plan if the had the consumers backing. You think because they did'nt commit, however I call it backtrack, wasn't taking a risk? It was a risk to tell the consumers one thing and do another. It was a smart move by MS to change or not commit however it was a risk. Ask ANYBODY if MS look uncertain of what they wanted to do during that time. That was the consequence of their risk.

[No_Limit]

"Did you forget all of 2013? "

JoGam, what happened in 2013?? Was it any different from what the XB1 is now? How could it be a risk if it never existed in the final product? You are not making sense, dude. LOL

[hulk_bash1987]

@JoGam

I agree with you to a certain extent. But Microsoft didn't really take a risk in that department because they did't go through with it. As opposed to say the risk they took on HD DVD last gen. That was a risk and unfortunately it did not pay off for them. But, even though they did hurt their image with the reveal they quickly won it back by doing a complete 180. So there was really no mayor risk taken. If I had to say the risk Microsoft took this gen, it would have to be bundling in Kinect at a higer price. They had a vision for their All-in-one Console and they put it out on the market not knowing if it would be well received.

[JoGam]

No_Limit...The risk was putting out there a plan that didn't sit with consumers. That's was the RISK....REGARDLESS if they didn't fulfill that plan and decided to go with something else as which they did. What XB1 is now appose to then has nothing to do with it. LOL I'm ONLY saying MS took a RISK with the first Plan however backtrack which cause them to lose credibility.

[elninels]

@Jogam

Steam did it.

[Godmars290]

You mean like when they made a big show of their VR room and all of their fanboys jumped on board. Or Kinect or Milo to be specific.

Still, they've never really taken lead. Just try and take it over after someone else crated the market.

[Volkama]

That's absolutely not true of the Xbox division. Microsoft have been leading the console online push since the day Sega pulled out.

Sony transformed the industry with the PS One, but I think this VR headset is their first big push to move things forwards since then.

It's nice to see Sony at the forefront again, and it's no shock at all that MS will follow if VR is a breakaway success. Just as both Sony and MS tried to get a piece of the motion gaming pie.

[Godmars290]

"since the day Sega pulled out."

You say it yourself: online wasn't MS idea. Even their push into the console market was in reaction to Sony developing it to a higher level than Nintendo.

Nevermind that their first effort, the first Xbox, would have been a joke in terms of overall effort if not for Halo. That the 360, between RRoD and repeated system bans, holds an arguable position in the industry. It certainly lost ground towards the end of it life.

And online gaming itself overall has done nothing cause the exclusion of people offline. Allowed devs to become lazy if not exploitative.

[Volkama]

"And online gaming itself overall has done nothing cause the exclusion of people offline. Allowed devs to become lazy if not exploitative."

Yeah OK :|

If MS have not been driving online gaming on consoles because the Dreamcast had a dial up modem then Sony are not driving anything either. They didn't dream up VR from nothing did they?

In reality both companies have done a lot to shape the industry, and both companies will continue to shape the industry. Both copy ideas, both refine ideas, both want your money, and hopefully both enable us to play great games.

[Godmars290]

Sony didn't dream up the PS1 for that matter. Or rather Nintendo hired them to, misunderstandings and backstabbing ensued, and a console plus several incentives to mature the market was born.

Meanwhile with MS, they just saw that market and literally thought that they could buy their way in. Have been operating under that assertion, that their overall position in computing gave them dominance, which is why three consoles in its like they're making a first attempt and don't understand the market. Why they have no 1st party studios really worth mentioning or have notably done anything, or the whole thing with DRM.

Sony's done a couple of things which have been of general benefit. When MS does something, like how online has brought DRM and made patching a standard thing, its brought good and bad things. Was done mostly for MS.

[JBSleek]

No MS isn't a leader in this forefront or any forefront of hardware.

Where they do shine is in software which was my point. They aren't bold in hardware but they are in software and services.

[youndamie]

umm Windows 8 lol i kid I kid

[OpieWinston]

Well MS is the lead in the software industry so saying that they don't take risks is funny as hell. They took a risk with Direct X...Taking all Direct platforms and merging into a single driver... Which has become the LEAD driver in the gaming industry.

They use the only playable and optimized OS. Linux based OS are fundamentally flawed in every way, and no self respecting gamer uses a Mac.

They tried to work with Sony to bring next gen into the digital era with DRM....Sony pussied out (Which is funny how people choose to forget that), and left Microsoft holding the bag as they tried to justify it.

They're the ones who have been investing in VR for years now and are probably still trying to get it to work with Kinect to create a seamless experience...they deemed Illumiroom not affordable for people due to the high costs and saw no point in releasing it for the time being.

Point is...Microsoft takes PLENTY of risks but apparently some people like to ignore them.

[christocolus]

In other words "we are secretly developing ours and are not ready to announce or discuss it yet"...lol

With Oculus,Valve and Sony working on VR it only makes sense for MS to renew their patents and join the Party.. they definitly shouldnt allow the illumiroom and fortazela tech go to waste..

Three different sources have reported it already, including one confirmed by Gamespot and then late last year it was revealed that the tech team behind Kinect were busy working on the next big thing...my guess: VR and Kinect integration of some sort.this shouldnt be too surprising either since kinect has been demoed with oculus in the past a number of times.

[LackTrue4K]

"I'm shaking in my boots"
http://i.imgur.com/hk9Usky....

[LackTrue4K]

and this is just me on the PlayStation4:
http://i.imgur.com/jZDHaa3....

not to be out done by Nintendo...

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawk...

[christocolus]

Lol..You must be very happy with yourself now..right? Youve finally found the chance to use the gifs youve been saving up all this while..lol. For a console you guys claim not to give damn about you sure love to spend alot of time around it..creating gifs about it,invading related articles just to run it down and even discussing it in other unrelated topics...i swear you guys are a very weird bunch..lol. N4G rocks.

[MainstreamGamer]

lol. This is why I love N4G, the entertainment value alone in the comment section dwarf any game related article. bubbles dude.

[KonsoruMasuta]

Hopefully they can come up with something. Then maybe Rare can stop making bad kinect games and make something good again. Rare would be the perfect devs for this type of thing.

[_FantasmA_]

Rare is dead. Its been how many years since Perfect Dark? Those Rare developers didn't just freeze themselves so they could thaw themselves at just the right time in the future just to make the next big game. They are long gone. Same with Capcom. You can't expect the same types of games to come out 14 years later.

[beerzombie]

The founders left a long time ago.

[Geekman]

Google Cars, Amazon Drones, touchscreen Coca Cola machines, and now Virtual Reality. The future is finally happening.

[Volkama]

Touch screen Coca Cola machines lol. Sci-fi in a can.

[Silly gameAr]

Way to take those chances there MS.

[corvusmd]

This is the smartest choice. MS has been innovative in every other area of console development from using broadband internet, to motion capturing, to the advancement of dedicated servers/cloud computing/ability to play games on a phone entirely through cloud based services, to even starting the idea of providing achievements for game accomplishments. All these things were met with criticism, and are now staples in the business. MS has been working with VR/AR for a while, but I think that while it will become another staple within the gaming realm, I think this first wave of headsets will have to work out some minor kinks such as low latency motion tracking, and visuals/framerates that don't cause motion sickness. It seems like it's almost there, but not quite.

At this point I think it would be smarter to invest that in game development, while keeping this R&D somewhat on the back burner, then only release something when it's a solid product. Based on the snippets of patents that we've seen, it seems like the MS AR glasses are actually already a step ahead of the Occulus/Morpheus headsets. Those are pretty much just small screens that track motion....which is awesome in it's own right....but if the MS patents hold to form, it's already a step ahead.

[beerzombie]

Plus I don't think either console will have good effects for gamming its like 3d movies on 60hz. TV. You need 1080p times two I think or everything will look fuzzy. just like they are saying about Sony's VR when you move your head.

[lemoncake]

Hopefully they get behind the oculus rift rather than go it solo, one headset then for both pc and xbox.

[beerzombie]

I would agree I like to see one standard.

[maniac76]

well yeah,after the big blunder of x1 lmfao

[Yaay4me]

I think Morpheus will be a huge leap forward for gaming. I'm talking EPIC.

[Clarence]

Of course they will. M$ motto, what for someone else to do it then jump on board if it's successful.