Microsoft is currently rumoured to be preparing to mass produce a VR headset to be revealed at E3 2015, with the final product going on sale in the second half of the year. This would put it in direct competition with the Facebook owned Oculus Rift and the Sony Project Morpheus.
Unnamed sources have reveal that the Microsoft hardware team, the same that worked on the Surface, is behind the project. Aside from that, there are few details about what this device may look like, or what kinds of games it is intended to run. Ideally, this would neatly complement the Microsoft Kinect; despite the motion sensor being less than enthusiastically received by gamers.
However, the same sources also claim that the VR headset would work across platforms and would include both Xbox and PC, as well as tablets and smartphones. This wouldn’t be surprising considering that the main goal for the next Windows operating system is to unify all of Microsoft’s device under a single banner.
Tom’s Hardware has pointed out that Microsoft had already filed a patent for this sort of device in August 2013. The patent specifies a head-mounted display with three gyroscopes and three accelerometers to track movements. It may also include an eye tracking sensor to note where the user is looking at. How many of these features have ended up on the cutting room floor is still unknown, although we should hope for the eye tracking as an additional interesting feature.
A number of manufacturers are planning to introduce VR headsets for gaming next year, despite the fact that the wearable revolution is getting off to an extremely slow start.
[Source: Digitimes]
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